Inky fingers...

[An old bloke]

I just read another post complaining about ink stains on fingers from filling pens. Fair enough. Yet, why is it a problem today when everyone from medical professionals and food service workers to motor mechanics and beauticians are wearing readily available nitrile gloves? Surely, i am not the only pen user who snaps one a pair of 'hospital gloves' when I give a pen a transfusion of Diamine.

[Pterodactylus]

I just read another post complaining about ink stains on fingers from filling pens. Fair enough. Yet, why is it a problem today when everyone from medical professionals and food service workers to motor mechanics and beauticians are wearing readily available nitrile gloves? Surely, i am not the only pen user who snaps one a pair of 'hospital gloves' when I give a pen a transfusion of Diamine.

I never felt the need to use gloves when just refilling my pens.
Usually I stick the pen into the ink bottle and not my fingers.

What’s the problem:

1. pen into bottle
2. suck ink
3. wipe pen with a sheet of kitchen roll

Done
....neither complicated nor messy once you get used to it.

Usually I only get inky fingers when I tinker around with a pen, and also then personally I do not wear gloves.

And even you get ink on your finger, there is nothing what soap or in heavier cases Reduran couldn’t fix.

Makes me wonder if the root cause of the possible problem is more likely the kind of pen or the user itself.


And there are people like my son (currently 11) where I‘m not sure if he is sometimes writing with his fingers on the nib (possibly all of his fingers). 🙃
But this is not related to FP‘s only, for me he seems to be able to do this with all kind of pens.....

[Chrissy]

I just read another post complaining about ink stains on fingers from filling pens. Fair enough. Yet, why is it a problem today when everyone from medical professionals and food service workers to motor mechanics and beauticians are wearing readily available nitrile gloves? Surely, i am not the only pen user who snaps one a pair of 'hospital gloves' when I give a pen a transfusion of Diamine.

I don't snap on a pair of "hospital gloves" when I give a pen a transfusion of any ink.
a) I don't have a huge stock of "hospital gloves" and
b) I never have any trouble keeping my fingers clean when filling my pens.
In case I ever get ink on my fingers, and it's often from using the other side of a cotton bud when the first side might still be inky, while swabbing different inks, I wash my hands.

[Fangfarrier]

Surely inky fingers are the battle scars of pen and ink addictions?


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[Chuck Naill]

If I am careless, I can get ink on my fingers when filling. An old cotton cloth or paper towel works well and with the cloth could be washed.

[Kaputnik]

I buy disposable latex gloves, but use them mostly for household cleaning tasks. I just try to be careful when filling pens, and do it over some sort of ink catcher to protect the tabletop, but don't worry too much about my fingers. If I get a little stain, I can clean it off well enough.

Actually, most of my "digital" ink stains come from an unconscious habit of tapping the tip of a pen against my fingers when I'm deep in thought about what I'm writing. I used to get ink stains from ballpoints due to this. Since I've switched to fountain pens I've been able to keep it mostly under control, but I still catch myself every now and then.

[mizgeorge]

I rather like my inkstained fingers. Much easier than nail polish, and just as many pretty colours.

[FredRydr]

https://www.organicdye.com/dyes/reduran/

[Wahl]

I have a feeling my pens would seriously complain if I touched them with nitrile gloves, it´s just a total lack of respect for them

If I do find some ink on my fingers, I will consider it a badge of my hobby and just wash my hands.

[eachan]

I'm in the nitrile gloves camp, for restoration at least. Some of those stinky old inks are better on the gloves than my skin.

[grainweevil]

Disposable gloves seem unnecessary addition to the rubbish with which we're already cluttering the planet. It's only ink, for heaven's sake.

[Chuck Naill]

Use Waterman and it washes off easily.

[Ole Juul]

I generally use inks that don't just wash away, but still, the last satin usually goes away by the end of the day. I'm also learning to fill my pens more carefully so I don't mess my fingers.

[mizgeorge]

Here's an strange thing though. I fill pens with bottled ink pretty much every day. I very rarely get any on my fingers. This evening, they're bright purple as I had to fit a cartridge to my shiny new Pocket Six and get it to flow - I'd forgotten how much I hate cartridges. I need to find a converter that works with it...

[An old bloke]

First off, I started this thread because a bloke posted on another thread here that he was giving up on fountain pens and going back to ballpoints because he was fed up with ink stains on his fingers from filling pens. This seemed ridiculous to me. Recognising that not everyone is careful with inks, I thought it fair, and with some degree of humour, to offer an option.

For the record, I only rarely use gloves to refill pens and even more rarely get inks on my fingers. Diamine for instance usually washes off with a wee bit of soap and water as well. Hence his comment seemed almost laughable. Occasionally, I may use nitrile gloves knowing that they can be rinsed off and reused repeatedly and not thrown in the bin. In fact the pair I have in my drawer next to the wad of paper towel (also used time and again) has been there for at least 4 months.

I doubt that he has read any of our comments, but one can hope.

[SlowMovingTarget]

I'm not particularly dexterous, so I do end up with ink on my hands when I fill a pen, though it is usually for a few particular reasons. When holding either the pen or a syringe in the ink to fill it, the end of my hand touches the rim of the bottle and the ink from the rim transfers. The other reason is me putting the pen (in the case of a piston filler) too far into the bottle, touching the pen to the side of the mouth, then getting my fingers on the transferred ink before I can wipe it off with my "ink shirt" (an old cotton t-shirt I use as a rag).

All of these are things I could be more careful about. If I gave it a bit more care, I'd wipe the rim before filling. I'd use an ink well instead of just straight from the bottle. But I really don't mind. I stopped minding once I had a child. Messes lose their stigma, especially comparatively clean ones.

[Ole Juul]

I'm not particularly dexterous, so I do end up with ink on my hands when I fill a pen, though it is usually for a few particular reasons. When holding either the pen or a syringe in the ink to fill it, the end of my hand touches the rim of the bottle and the ink from the rim transfers. The other reason is me putting the pen (in the case of a piston filler) too far into the bottle, touching the pen to the side of the mouth, then getting my fingers on the transferred ink before I can wipe it off with my "ink shirt" (an old cotton t-shirt I use as a rag).

All of these are things I could be more careful about. If I gave it a bit more care, I'd wipe the rim before filling. I'd use an ink well instead of just straight from the bottle. But I really don't mind. I stopped minding once I had a child. Messes lose their stigma, especially comparatively clean ones.

I sometimes put a wooden clothes pin on the pen to prevent it going too far into the ink, and also prevent me from touching the top of the bottle. It's a 2 cent accessory that works very well.

[Chuck Naill]

First off, I started this thread because a bloke posted on another thread here that he was giving up on fountain pens and going back to ballpoints because he was fed up with ink stains on his fingers from filling pens. This seemed ridiculous to me. Recognising that not everyone is careful with inks, I thought it fair, and with some degree of humour, to offer an option.

For the record, I only rarely use gloves to refill pens and even more rarely get inks on my fingers. Diamine for instance usually washes off with a wee bit of soap and water as well. Hence his comment seemed almost laughable. Occasionally, I may use nitrile gloves knowing that they can be rinsed off and reused repeatedly and not thrown in the bin. In fact the pair I have in my drawer next to the wad of paper towel (also used time and again) has been there for at least 4 months.

I doubt that he has read any of our comments, but one can hope.

I knew the thread you were referring. To stay clean changing diapers, changing engine oil, or other things requires some pre planning. Filling a pen with ink is no different. It is not a big deal unless it is. As with most things, there is a method.

[pajaro]

First off, I started this thread because a bloke posted on another thread here that he was giving up on fountain pens and going back to ballpoints because he was fed up with ink stains on his fingers from filling pens. This seemed ridiculous to me. Recognising that not everyone is careful with inks, I thought it fair, and with some degree of humour, to offer an option.

For the record, I only rarely use gloves to refill pens and even more rarely get inks on my fingers. Diamine for instance usually washes off with a wee bit of soap and water as well. Hence his comment seemed almost laughable. Occasionally, I may use nitrile gloves knowing that they can be rinsed off and reused repeatedly and not thrown in the bin. In fact the pair I have in my drawer next to the wad of paper towel (also used time and again) has been there for at least 4 months.

I doubt that he has read any of our comments, but one can hope.

I knew the thread you were referring. To stay clean changing diapers, changing engine oil, or other things requires some pre planning. Filling a pen with ink is no different. It is not a big deal unless it is. As with most things, there is a method.

I suppose I am entitled to be tired of ink on my hands from filling and handling fountain pens. I am using fountain pens less and ballpoints and rollerballs more, particularly out of the house. The thing that keeps me using fountain pens is that the writing is easier to read. Ballpoints write a very thin line and rollerballs just about the same. I can use darker green, red, black and blue black in fountain pens and the written line seems to be wider, even from extra fine nibs. Ballpoints are more versatile on the move. Some refills give a better line, easier to read, than others.

[Kaputnik]

Yesterday, I decided that I wasn't using my Esterbrook Dip-Less desk pen enough to justify putting more ink in it, so I decided to disassemble it and clean it very thoroughly before putting it away for a while. For those not familiar with these pens, they use regular Esterbrook fountain pen nib/feed units in a sort of dip pen handle. The feed soaks up enough ink to write for a couple of journal sized pages before re-dipping, so you have to dip less often.

This is the style where the the nib of the pen sits in a nest of rods that soak up ink from the well by capillary action. I decided to be really thorough and take all the individual rods out so that I could clean the ink off completely. Wasn't sure that the ultrasonic cleaner would have worked with them still in the holder. I don't think that I lost any when I put them back in. I ran the nib unit and holder through the cleaner.

Anyway, I did wear latex gloves for part of this, but at a couple of points, when I wanted better dexterity, took them off. I did get some ink on my fingers, a mixture of Private Reserve Ebony Purple, and whatever brown ink I hadn't completely gotten rid of last time. But the ink is gone from my fingers this morning, and the pen is clean and dry. There are no ink stains in the sink, either.