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Thread: Staining in the Visconti Pen

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    Default Staining in the Visconti Pen

    Hi,

    I have a Visconti Homo Sapiens Chiantishire pen that I failed to take care of. It had Visconti Red ink and stayed in my pen case a little too long. It seems like some ink seeped in between the resin and the metal piece that holds the piston rod. what you see as a "solid red band of ink stain" should have been a metal part and the feathering extends beyond that. I tried to clean but was not successful. Following is what I have tried:

    1. Rinse with DI water
    2. Rinsed with and soaked in DI water. Overnight, then, up to 120 hours at room temperature
    3. Flushed with homemade pen flush (10% ammonia in DI water, with a couple of drops of dish soap)
    4. Rinsed with and soaked in the homemade pen flush overnight at room temperature


    After all these steps, when I ink with a Sailor Manyo yellow ink, I can tell that there is a slight tint of red that passes to the ink (I had a control sample of another Visconti with the exact same nib with the same ink).

    At this point, I can think of only a couple of other things. (i) Rinse with DI water and/or homemade flush at higher temperature, (ii) clean with an ultrasonic jewelry cleaner. My question to experienced folks: Are these things risk the pen unnecessarily? Are there other things that I can try.

    Thanks in advance for all the help.
    -per

    P.S. This is one of my early posts. Preview showed the attached picture pretty large and I can't figure out how to make it smaller. If that annoyed you, please be kind

    IMG_0343.jpg

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    Senior Member FredRydr's Avatar
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    Default Re: Staining in the Visconti Pen



    Rapido-Eze You can can buy it from several sources online, or contact Chartpak.

    I would explore unscrewing the assembly from the barrel with the proper tool and cleaning the threads with a cotton bud or a test-tube brush, but I am not familiar with your model Visconti to make a recommendation.

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    Default Re: Staining in the Visconti Pen

    Just in case you have an ink called Sailor Jentle Doyou it has been mentioned in the past as a good "cleaner ink" in situations like this. However, I can't imagine that it could efficiently clean any red ink out that is past the internal part of the barrel. Another "cleaner ink" that I've previously heard of is original Parker Quink that contains Solv-X. Blue or Blue-black has been mentioned. I've never had to try it out so I can't say for sure whether it will work or not.
    Last edited by Chrissy; March 24th, 2022 at 11:23 AM.
    Regards, Chrissy | My Review Blog: inkyfountainpens

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    Default Re: Staining in the Visconti Pen

    I would tend to give it a run through with a short fill of Doyou - the staining looks to be above the plunger and for some reason a cleaner ink sometimes just does a better job than many proprietary cleaners without the need for disassembly.

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    Default Re: Staining in the Visconti Pen

    Thank you for the suggestions... I have read "Sailor Jentle Doyou" earlier, but couldn't find it available (some other line has a Doyou). I ended up trying Manyo just because of that.

    I will try the other two (Rapido-eze and Parker Quink). Hopefully one of them will work.

    Tangent topic: Rapido-eze is made by Koh-I-noor, a company which also makes my favorite basmati rice -- true diversity in product line.

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    Senior Member mizgeorge's Avatar
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    Default Re: Staining in the Visconti Pen

    LOL, not the same Koh i Noor, I suspect - one is a Czech company that specialises in art supplies (including some very good document inks and lovely pencils), and the other is a long established Indian food company!

    Doyou comes under the Sailor Shikiori brand now. Of these, only the Doyou seems to work as a cleaner ink. I believe there are some Noodlers inks (I think it's the eel series) that do the same job.

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    Default Re: Staining in the Visconti Pen

    Quote Originally Posted by alperozt View Post
    Thank you for the suggestions... I have read "Sailor Jentle Doyou" earlier, but couldn't find it available (some other line has a Doyou). I ended up trying Manyo just because of that.

    I will try the other two (Rapido-eze and Parker Quink). Hopefully one of them will work.

    Tangent topic: Rapido-eze is made by Koh-I-noor, a company which also makes my favorite basmati rice -- true diversity in product line.
    Sailor Jentle Doyou might now be called Sailor Shikiori Doyou. 20 ml bottles rather than the old 50ml bottles. You might be able to get a sample.
    Regards, Chrissy | My Review Blog: inkyfountainpens

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    Default Re: Staining in the Visconti Pen

    Quote Originally Posted by mizgeorge View Post
    LOL, not the same Koh i Noor, I suspect - one is a Czech company that specialises in art supplies (including some very good document inks and lovely pencils), and the other is a long established Indian food company!

    Doyou comes under the Sailor Shikiori brand now. Of these, only the Doyou seems to work as a cleaner ink. I believe there are some Noodlers inks (I think it's the eel series) that do the same job.
    I had a hunch... thanks.

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    Default Re: Staining in the Visconti Pen

    Quick update for those who are really interested in this. I received the Rapido-eze relatively quickly. Out of the bottle it looked to thick to me, so I mixed 4 part Rapido-eze with 1 part water. Flushing the pen twice resulted in some ink coming out (orange/yellow tint) which got me excited but the staining did not come off. I then started the soaking first for a full hour, then for 4 hours. Here's where I am at.

    IMG_0348.jpg

    While the staining seems to be reduced a little, the ring of ink seems pretty stable between the resin body and the metal hardware. As I was thinking through opening up the gap between resin and metal through thermal expansion by putting the pen in the fridge, I vaguely remembered leaving my pen case in the car overnight a while ago. Not sure if that contributed to the ink getting stuck in between. Leaving the Rapido-eze filled pen in the fridge didn't help, and I wasn't surprised when I noticed how thick the rapido-eze got at 36F / 2C fridge. Once I receive the doyou ink, I'll give it another try.

    More to come...

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    Default Re: Staining in the Visconti Pen

    I don't believe that Rapido-eze should be diluted but I don't remember thinking mine looked particularly thick. Probably less thick than ink but not as thick as olive oil.
    Regards, Chrissy | My Review Blog: inkyfountainpens

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    Default Re: Staining in the Visconti Pen

    The instructions said to use as is for clogged pens, and dilute 1 part Rapido-eze, 4 parts water for routine cleaning. So I chose somewhere in between. I'll try again before the doyou ink comes -- I'll use undiluted.

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    Default Re: Staining in the Visconti Pen

    Quote Originally Posted by alperozt View Post
    The instructions said to use as is for clogged pens, and dilute 1 part Rapido-eze, 4 parts water for routine cleaning. So I chose somewhere in between. I'll try again before the doyou ink comes -- I'll use undiluted.
    Perhaps I wouldn't call your stain "routine cleaning." It's a bit more than what I understand routine cleaning to be. Routine cleaning would be a quick flush through the section after having already cleaned it out with water.
    Regards, Chrissy | My Review Blog: inkyfountainpens

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    Default Re: Staining in the Visconti Pen

    I agree... this is definitely way more than a routine cleaning. that's why I didn't use the 1:4 R-E to water ratio cited. I had 4:1 R-E to water. Like I said, I'll give it a shot with the full power next time. If doyou doesn't work either, the only thing that I can think of is ultrasonic cleaning... and I am apprehensive of that.

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    Default Re: Staining in the Visconti Pen

    It depends on what cleaning solution you use in your USC. I once had to clean a Mb with a stuck piston in mine but if you're considering dunking the whole thing in there then after it comes out you will likely need to be able to get inside the barrel in order to ensure you can add a bit of lubrication to the piston. I don't know Viscontis so don't know how easy or difficult that might be.
    Regards, Chrissy | My Review Blog: inkyfountainpens

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