Tricks to Stop Fountain Pens From Drying Out

Image this: you’ve received a superb thought you’re wanting to jot down, or possibly you simply must pour your ideas into your journal. You agree in at your desk, open your pocket book, unscrew your pen, and… nothing. The ink gained’t circulate. You attempt scribbling, possibly give the pen a delicate shake, however nonetheless—nothing.

A dried-out fountain pen is a standard and irritating problem many customers face. Fortunately, it’s utterly preventable. With slightly care and a few easy practices, you’ll be able to hold your pen writing easily and keep away from this annoyance altogether.

Learn on for ideas and tips to maintain your fountain pen in tip-top situation for years to come back.

Why Do Fountain Pens Dry Out

Whereas it’s a very widespread prevalence to have ink dry out in a fountain pen, understanding the rationale why it occurs will help you establish methods to forestall it. The most typical elements for why ink dries out embrace:

Air Publicity: Fountain pens have a nib and feed system that depends on capillary motion, making them weak to evaporation when uncovered to air for prolonged durations.

Ink Properties: Some inks dry sooner than others due to their formulation. That is very true of inks with extra water content material of their formulation.

Insufficient Storage: Improper storage can hasten the drying course of. If the cap isn’t screwed tightly or storing a pen nib-side up can all have an effect on a fountain pen drying out.

Rare Use: Common use retains ink flowing and prevents clogs because the ink doesn’t have time to dry out.

Find out how to Stop Your Pen From Drying Out

Retailer Your Pen Accurately

Storage is without doubt one of the most missed elements of fountain pen care. Due to this, we put collectively a whole information on the perfect methods to retailer your pens. Our information covers all the things from humidity and temperature issues to the proper place to forestall arduous stops. We advocate beginning right here as storage is a large contributor to dry pens!

Use Excessive High quality Ink

The kind of ink you employ can considerably influence how shortly it dries out. Fountain pen inks are specifically formulated to circulate easily and resist drying in comparison with different sorts of ink, resembling calligraphy or India ink. Choosing inks with lubricating properties can additional improve circulate and delay drying. Fashionable manufacturers like Pilot Iroshizuku and Diamine are recognized for his or her balanced efficiency, providing vivid colours and gradual drying instances. Shimmer inks are infamous for inflicting clogs, so be conscious of your storing and cleansing habits if these are your desire.

Correctly Cap Your Pen

Talking of uncapping your pen, not correctly capping is an open invitation for ink evaporation. All the time make sure the pen is securely capped when not in use. Pens with hermetic caps, like Esterbrook’s cushion cap closure, are particularly efficient in minimizing air publicity. When you have a tendency to go away your pen uncapped whereas jotting notes, attempt to cap it throughout even temporary pauses in writing. Over time, this behavior will cut back pointless evaporation and hold the nib primed to be used with out having to flush your pen too typically.

Clear Your Pen Usually

Cleansing is significant to forestall ink residue from drying and clogging the pen. A cleansing routine ensures easy efficiency and prolongs the lifetime of the feed and nib. Whereas there isn’t any hardset rule of when you need to clear your pens, it’s really useful each few weeks or while you change inks – however in fact, this depends upon how a lot you’re utilizing your pen!

A easy cleansing routine is to make use of lukewarm water to rinse the nib and feed totally, utilizing the fountain pen’s capillary mechanism to attract the water up and rinse with ease. For persistent clogs, an answer of water combined with just a few drops of pen-safe cleansing fluid can dissolve dried ink. After cleansing, permit the pen to air-dry utterly earlier than refilling it with ink.

Write Usually

Fountain pens are designed for use typically. Writing frequently helps keep ink circulate and prevents the nib and feed from drying out. When you rotate between a number of pens, make it some extent to even scribble just a few strains on a sheet to maintain the ink flowing and moist.

Widespread Fountain Pen Errors and Myths

When troubleshooting a dried-out fountain pen, it’s straightforward to fall for myths or undertake practices that is probably not as efficient—or vital—as they appear. One widespread perception is that solely distilled water must be used to scrub your pen. Whereas distilled water may be useful in stopping mineral buildup, most pens tolerate common faucet water until your native water provide is exceptionally arduous.

One other humorous observe is nib-licking. This outdated trick, thought to “reactivate” ink circulate, would possibly work momentarily as a result of moisture out of your saliva. Nonetheless, it’s not hygienic and will introduce oils or particles to the nib. As an alternative, a fast rinse with water is a safer, cleaner different.

Lastly, the parable that horizontal storage causes pens to dry out persists. In actuality, trendy fountain pens are designed to perform properly whether or not saved horizontally or vertically (the place the nib is dealing with up). The important thing to stopping dry-out is guaranteeing the cap is correctly sealed, not the storage orientation.

Troubleshooting A Dried Out Fountain Pen

Even for longtime fountain pen customers, dried nibs are simply part of life. For these cussed nibs which are providing you with a tough begin, right here’s tips on how to get it flowing once more!

Examine the Nib and Feed: Verify for seen ink clogs or dryness, letting you know the way extreme the clog may be and if it’s brought on by, say, inactivity or some shimmer that’s gunked up the works, so to talk
Flush with Water: Begin by rinsing the nib part underneath lukewarm working water. For extra thorough cleansing, soak the nib and feed in water for just a few hours to loosen dried ink.
Use Cleansing Options: If plain water is inadequate, apply just a few drops of pen-safe cleansing fluid into the water and repeat the soaking course of. These options are particularly formulated to dissolve dried ink with out damaging the pen.
Take a look at Ink Stream: After cleansing, refill the pen with contemporary ink and take a look at it on scrap paper. Write just a few strokes to encourage the ink to circulate via the nib and feed.
Deal with Persisten Points: If the ink circulate stays inconsistent, disassemble the pen (if doable) and clear every half individually. For pens with everlasting blockages, it may be finest to seek the advice of your pen retailer or producer as it might be a manufacturing facility problem that may be addressed

Concerning the Creator

Brett F. Braley-Palko works within the pen trade by day and is a novelist, marketing consultant, and freelance author by evening. You could find his work in quite a lot of publications, like British GQ and Robb Report. Comply with him on Instagram at @brettfbraley or go to his web site at brettfbraley.com