Writing problems- Cleaning a fountain pen advice

[John Earland]

Hi everyone,
My MB149 doesn't seem to allow the ink to flow well. When I am scribbling away the down strokes to make an 'I' or 'l' for example often results in no ink-really frustrating! I've tried using Quink, Waterman and Shaefer inks with the same results though Waterman is better. Haven't used MB ink for a long while so can't remember if that's the same. I am wondering whether I need to clean it more or keep trying different inks-any advice would be really helpful.
Best wishes
John

[tandaina]

if the pen were brand new the advice would be to clean with dilute dish soap water to get machining grease and gunk out... But doesn't sound new and as long as you are properly flushing with water between fills that probably isn't the issue.

Has this always been a problem or is this a new issue? If it has always been that way the tines may be too tight together and need adjustment, as this restricts ink flow. If it worked fine with some ink ages ago and doesn't now I'd go back and try that old ink again!

[John Earland]

Thank you for that advice. I don't recall it being a big problem and, no, it's not a new pen-23 yrs young now!! I've just order some Diamine ink to try-we'll see.
What's the best way to clean it-any tips?

[tandaina]

Load the piston and empty with water until it runs clear. Really very simple.

If you worry there is gunk in there from old fills you could try some Pen Flush from a place like Goulet Pens. Or put a single drop of dish detergent (like Dawn) in a nice big thing of water and use that to flush. Be sure to then flush out the detergent water well with plain water. Big thing is to flush with water until no ink residue is left in the water being expelled from the piston. Not much else to it!

(I use plain water only, and have no issue even with quite old pens.)

[AndyT]

10% household ammonia solution is good (and cheap). Ammonia is also a flow enhancer, but not usually in a good way, so you should flush with clean water afterwards.

Caveat: don't use ammonia for cleaning if you've been using iron gall ink. 10% white vinegar solution is the stuff.

Waterman inks tend to be about as trouble-free as ink gets, by the way, especially Florida Blue and Blue-Black.

[KrazyIvan]

If you do use pen flush, the piston may need to be lubricated afterward as the flush can possibly wash away the piston lubrication. Not sure what's involved (well, I do but I'm not qualified in MB repair nor do I have experience with MB) with that and your particular pen but service center visits are sometimes involved if you can't do it yourself.

[John Earland]

Thanks everyone for all your help. I have a feeling it's how I'm writing with it that's to blame too butbit's frustrating to have to go over letters etc because of feed problems. Thanks to everyone. John

[talkinghead]

Caveat: don't use ammonia for cleaning if you've been using iron gall ink. 10% white vinegar solution is the stuff.


Is this true for all commercial iron gall inks? Or more specifically for certain "home brews", or smaller, private vendor's inks....

Curious..

Thanks,

Rick

[AndyT]

Is this true for all commercial iron gall inks?

I don't know for sure, but I strongly suspect so. The problem is that ammonia precipitates out the iron gall component - I demonstrated that to my own satisfaction by filling a sample vial with water, adding a few drops of IG ink (ESSRI if memory serves) and a drop of ammonia ... it's a rather instructive little experiment.

This unfortunate reaction doesn't seem to have been discussed widely - I stumbled across it on page 10 of an ink review elsewhere (http://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/index.php/topic/205705-ecclesiastical-stationery-supplies-registrars-ink/page-10). The first post by pharmacist is the relevant one.