I wanted to pass along something that has helped me in pen maintenance and cleaning. I use a Teflon coated cookie tray with raised edges. The Teflon coating makes it easy to clean up ink spills. The raised edges contain the ink within the cookie tray. I have even used the corners to pour ink back into the jar after a bad spill. Of course it is a good idea to keep the tray clean of dust and debris if you intend to use it this way.
The tray is also useful for keeping pen parts in one place when doing dis-assembly and assembly. The edges keep small bits from sliding or rolling away. In the case of an expensive pen you may want to place a cloth in the bottom while performing these tasks just to protect the finish.
In conjunction with the cookie tray I have several baby food jars. These I use to contain distilled water for cleaning and rinsing. I often mix water and cleaning fluid in a taller baby food jar for the purpose of soaking nibs, feeds, and other pen components.
The combination of the tray and jars helps speed my cleaning and maintenance tasks. The tray keeps me from unfortunate spills or loss of components. A cookie tray is large enough that you don't feel crowded while performing these tasks. The edges are low so they don't get in the way of your hands.
Well, today is clean and fill day so I better get busy...
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