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Welp, it's #FountainPen cleaning and re-inking day. #Today I re-learned why I don't use shimmer inks in my #TWSBI Diamond 580. In fact, I usually reserve them exclusively for dip pens.

Time to meticulously clean out a clogged feed. It didn't even make it a paragraph.

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in reply to Jonathan Lamothe

I've got J. Herbin's 1670 Emerald of Chivor in my TWSBI Diamond 580, and it's working fine. I'm not seeing any shimmer though, as I've got an EF nib on it. It looks REALLY cool inside the pen.


I recently got a #Sailor #Hokoro dip pen, and much to my chagrin have found that several of my #FountainPen inks do not work well in it. It's almost like the ink refuses to be picked up by the nib/feed.

Has anyone else encountered this? Is there a solution?

Edit: the paper also seems to be a factor

in reply to Jonathan Lamothe

do you have a nib with or without reservoir? It works better with reservoir so I put them on all the nibs. You do have to keep it dipped in the ink for a few seconds for the reservoir to fill up, which is something that’s not necessarily intuitive.
This entry was edited (6 days ago)
in reply to paradoxmo

@paradoxmo Ohhhhhh... I do have a reservoir. I shall have to try keeping it submerged a moment.
in reply to Jonathan Lamothe

I've had good luck with cleaning the nib gently with an extra-soft fine toothbrush and a little toothpaste. Wash the natural oils off your fingers before handling the nibs as well.
As to the ink- some of my fountain pen inks absolutely refuse to work with my various dip pen nibs, while other ftn pen inks of mine work fine and coat/cling nicely.
Adding about 1/5 volume of Gum Arabic does work to adapt a small vial of ftn pen ink for dip pens, but then don't use that ink for your ftn pens. The gum-treated inks tend to dry a bit shiny and make shimmer inks less shimmery... something to keep in mind. There are dip pen-specific inks for sale, of course.
For black waterproof ink that works really well right out of the bottle in both ftn pens and dip pens, I like my De Atramentis 'Archive' black ink. It's luxurious! That ink can also be used for drawing and then watercoloring over when dry, btw.


It's that time again: time to clean my #BaystateBlue #FountainPen. How many times do you think I'll have to run it through the ultrasonic 'till the water stops turning blue?

Time will tell.



I know this is very first-world-problem, but now that I have my favourite #FountainPen back in working order, I had to make a tough decision about which pen gets the boot from the limited pen slots in my messenger bag. I imagine it's a bit like choosing favourites amongst one's children.

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friendica (DFRN) - Link to source
Jonathan Lamothe
@Parker51 I mean, who only has four pens, right?
in reply to Jonathan Lamothe

I can't limit myself, I put different color ink in each pen to justify bringing them all.


Finally got the replacement barrel for my TWSBI Diamond 580 #FountainPen from the factory.


Hooray! I finally got my #BaystateBlue #FountainPen flowing properly again. It only took about a month of finicking with it. Now all I have to do is not leave ink to dry out in it for over a year again...
in reply to Jonathan Lamothe

I’m not surprised that it was a Safari. I’ve had similar issues with ink drying out on my LAMY nibs (not as badly as Parker pens tho).

So that nib doesn’t dry out on me, I’ve started using that pen daily for journaling. Justttt in case, I also have a little water container to dip it in if it gets dry.

in reply to Julian Lopez

@Julian Lopez I've now instituted a weekly pen cleaning day. Every inked pen gets cleaned every Sunday whether it needs it or not.


Okay, so I've seen a thing were people will send a box of #FountainPen ink samples around by mail from person to person. Individuals will add and remove inks from this box, recording the changes in a log book. It seems like a really cool way to get exposed to new inks, and I'd really like to participate in one of these. Is anyone doing this in Canada?

This is an example of what I'm talking about.

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in reply to Kevin Davy

@Kevin Davy Maybe that's the route to go. I wish I personally knew enough people who were into the hobby locally to be able to bootstrap such a thing.
in reply to Jonathan Lamothe

Put the word out, see what happens and then work out the logistics, if anything comes from it.


Does anyone in the #FountainPen community know how to dismantle a LAMY Z28 converter for cleaning? I found a video on YouTube that supposedly demonstrates this

but my converters look different than theirs. I suspect mine are of an older design. I suspect they're just missing the metal part, but I want to make sure I'm not going to break them by trying this.

This is what all of my converters look like:

in reply to Jonathan Lamothe

It seems they are the same design after all, it's just that the metal ring has some sort of coating on it for some reason. I've gotten the offending converter apart and am running it through the cleaner. We'll see if I can get it back together again afterward.

Fortunately, I have a few converters and don't usually ink up all of my LAMYs at once.

in reply to Jonathan Lamothe

I got it cleaned, dried and put back together without incident. Probably not something I'd want to do on a regular basis, but a good thing to know how to do when necessary.
in reply to Jonathan Lamothe

If the black band doesn't unscrew, it may be glued. Soaking and shaking with it half full of water should get it clean. Pen flush if it's stubborn. DIY flush is a cup of water, a drop of dish detergent, and a few drops of ammonia.


One of the things nobody tells you about wearing #glasses is how annoying it is to keep them clean. I had resigned myself to the fact that there would just always be some degree of smearing in my field of vision. Try as I might, I could never get them quite as clean as the day I got them.

Then I got an ultrasonic cleaner for my #FountainPen hobby and realized I could use it to clean my glasses as well.

10/10 would recommend. Seriously, if you wear glasses, I highly recommend investing in one. It was one of the best purchases I've ever made.

in reply to Jonathan Lamothe

yeah actually most I know who have one of these use it to clean glasses or jewelry
Unknown parent

friendica (DFRN) - Link to source
Jonathan Lamothe
@FRONTINE LeFEVRE That's what I had been using. They do an okay job, but not quite as good.


On a more positive note. One of the inks I ordered came with a free eye-dropper #FountainPen. For a free (with purchase) pen, it's pretty nice.


Theoretically, my replacement TWSBI cap will arrive today. Man, I've missed being able to use that #FountainPen.
in reply to Jonathan Lamothe

Well, the end of the delivery window elapsed two and a half hours ago and it hasn't yet been updated. I'm guessing I'm not getting it today after all.
in reply to Jonathan Lamothe

I suppose that if they don't update the estimated delivery window, at least I don't have to be disappointed when they miss it yet again. πŸ™ƒ


So it seems that to get the full effect of these new #FountainPen #inks, we need to get our hands on a wetter pen than the ones we've been using.

I have a TWSBI Diamond 580 that should fit the bill, but I'm waiting on a replacement cap that's stuck in the mail strike.

In the meantime, can anyone recommend a reasonably priced (ideally in the sub $100 range) that lays down a good amount of ink?

in reply to Jonathan Lamothe

I have a 1.5 stub in my 580 and it is extremely wet. And very smooth as well.
in reply to Jonathan Lamothe

I find the Pilot Metropolitan and Faber Castell Hexo both very wet Medium writers. My TWSBI Swipe is also a generous writer but I have tuned the nib to write more cursive italic.


How old does a #FountainPen have to be before it's considered #vintage? The very first one I ever bought back in 2012 (a Parker GT Urban) doesn't seem to be available any more, though it is still available in ballpoint. Still, maybe I'm just getting old but 2012 doesn't feel very "vintage" to me.

I mean, it's kinda scuffed up because I was a newbie who had no idea how to take care of it, but I'm not looking to sell it or anything. It's more of a curiosity, really.

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in reply to Jonathan Lamothe

general rule for vintage as far as I know is "older than 20 years"
in reply to Anke

@Anke Someone else said 50. I suppose it's not a hard and fast rule though. πŸ€·β€β™‚οΈ
@Anke
in reply to Jonathan Lamothe

generally the guideline is 25 for semi-vintage and 50 for vintage. Except, if the exact model is still in production, it might not be considered vintage (e.g. Lamy 2000 or Pilot Capless). Similarly if a pen is out of production, it might be considered vintage earlier than normal. But anything produced after 2000 is well within modern by any standard
This entry was edited (3 months ago)


Picking up a new #FountainPen ink tomorrow (WEARINGEUL 13 Children)
πŸ™‚βœ’οΈ
Unknown parent

friendica (DFRN) - Link to source
Jonathan Lamothe

@FPLover The whole WEARINGEUL brand is pretty nice* but yeah this is it here.

* perhaps a little dry, but I've only actually tried one so far

Unknown parent

friendica (DFRN) - Link to source
Jonathan Lamothe

@FPLover

*looks at my collection of inks*

*whistles innocently*

To be fair, they're mostly samples, relatively few actual bottles.



So while the paper in this dollar store notebook is surprisingly good, I'm starting to see how it's not quite on the level of my Rhodia notepad. I am finally noticing some minor feathering and bleed through when I use some inks in my #FountainPen

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in reply to Jonathan Lamothe

I use Carolina A7 Mini Composition Books, because they fit in a shirt pocket. $1.99 for a pack of 4 at Bi-Mart, so they're a fraction of the price of fancy notepads. And yet they have a sewn binding, and the paper is adequate. Part of my everyday carry.

bimart.com/carolina-pad-mini-m…



Since we broke the pens out of storage, Katy's been taking up calligraphy. She's rather good at it too.

Anyhow, I cautioned her against using cheap paper with a #FountainPen because I've found it to be an unpleasant experience. Despite this, she's using a notepad from the dollar store. As it turns out, the paper is surprisingly good quality. No feathering or bleed through whatsoever.

Colour me impressed.

in reply to Jonathan Lamothe

I've used fountain pens on a variety of papers. Cheap American notebooks are usually not bad -- in fact my gripe with them is usually that the ruling is always too dark, the paper itself is okay.
This entry was edited (5 months ago)
in reply to Jonathan Lamothe

generally, Vietnamese paper is pretty good for FPs. Vietnamese paper often shows up in cheap binder notebook paper or composition books, so I’m not surprised that it could show up in a dollar store notepad


So, while there is a #FountainPen community here in the fedi, is there a #teeline community?

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Unknown parent

friendica (DFRN) - Link to source
Jonathan Lamothe

@Seven βœ¨πŸ‚βœ¨ For me, it's part practical, part just because it's cool. I have ADHD and sometimes my brain runs faster than my hand can write. I tend to type notes, but I don't always have a keyboard handy.

I also like being able to write notes without having someone read over my shoulder... unless of course they happen to be a British journalist, which is unlikely in Canada.



So I've got my dedicated #BaystateBlue #FountainPen back to about 90% working again. I'm now leaving it soaking in distilled water for a few days to hopefully get the flow through the feed completely back to normal. I usually use regular tap water, but since our water's so hard here, I figured it was worth using distilled instead, especially since we still had some laying around.

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