Mystery Inks #51, 52, and 53

[Yazeh]

I soaked the Sonnecken for two days in water, and flushing intermittently. Then I had a bit of left over cloudy Monteverde solution and I let it soak there for 15 minutes. Then I soaked in water.
Frustrated as the waterlogged tissue around the nib and deed was black I soaked it over night in a clear solution. I was surprised when the solution was cloudy. I rinsed and soaked in water, still the tissue turned dirty. This afternoon I soaked again, in the same solution. Now it seems clean.

Just look at the cleaning solution, colour.

Did you experience this level of cleaning difficulty with Yama-Guri?

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[mreeveshp]

What kind of cleaning solution do you all use? I'm using a homemade solution of 10:1 water and clear ammonia with a few drops of dish soap. I havent started cleaning any of the mystery ink out, im hoping the rubber converter for the metropolitan isn't going to be too much of a pain to get the pilot blue black out.

I use my Monteverde Mountain as my dedicated BSB pen and started having flow issues about a week ago and even after a ton of flushes and a ton of time soaking it is still very slow to even draw up water.

I'm debating on using the ultrasonic cleaner I use to clean gun parts to clean the BSB pen and might do the MI pens at the same time. I've never used it for pens just thought about it a few times. I don't know if it would be better to use the solution I made or maybe the jewelry cleaning solution I have.

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[Yazeh]

I can't find ammonia here, so this is what I get:
https://vanness1938.com/en-ca/produc...erde-pen-flush

[Lithium466]

Did you experience this level of cleaning difficulty with Yama-Guri?

Not at all, but all my pens have easily removable nib and feed. Still I don't recall Yama-guri being hard to clean.

[Sailor Kenshin]

I haven't tried cleaning Yama Guri yet, but the lazy way is working pretty well on the Pilot BB.

[junglejim]

Yazeh, did you previously use the Yama-Guri fountain pen with IG inks? If so, the pen has to be rinsed out first with a weak vinegar solution, followed by many flushes of water before using with other inks... Iroshizuku inks ( and many other Japanese inks) have a high pH, which will cause residue ig ink, which is acidic, to precipitate and cause nastys in the feed and ink chamber (if it was a piston filler.)

[Sailor Kenshin]

And I am cleaning the Pilot BB from my Lamy AlStar… the lazy way. Dumped the section and cartridge into a plastic water container and left it overnight. In the morning, the water was dark blue. Rinsed and refilled. I wonder how long this will take. 😆

Please let us know. I for one am really interested.

Chrissy, it's done. And it was pretty easy; just three or four passive soaks and two active (water only, home made bulb flusher, syringe for the cartridge, no staining).

Given that a Lamy Safari is similar to the Al Star (AlStar? Al*Star? Al-Star?), it puzzles me why you had a tough time.

[Yazeh]

Yazeh, did you previously use the Yama-Guri fountain pen with IG inks? If so, the pen has to be rinsed out first with a weak vinegar solution, followed by many flushes of water before using with other inks... Iroshizuku inks ( and many other Japanese inks) have a high pH, which will cause residue ig ink, which is acidic, to precipitate and cause nastys in the feed and ink chamber (if it was a piston filler.)

Yes I did. I used Essri for quite a while. But it had been rinsed many times with solutions/ water. And I had used other inks afterwards. I didn't know about the vinegar solution. Thank you for letting me know. I'll see how it works in other pens. I think the IG/Iroshizuku has given the pen indigestion

[mreeveshp]

@Yazeh I might have to get some at some point but the main ingredients are the same as what I make

Do any of you take the converter apart when cleaning and if so how do you know if it even can be taken apart

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[Chrissy]

And I am cleaning the Pilot BB from my Lamy AlStar… the lazy way. Dumped the section and cartridge into a plastic water container and left it overnight. In the morning, the water was dark blue. Rinsed and refilled. I wonder how long this will take. 😆

Please let us know. I for one am really interested.

Chrissy, it's done. And it was pretty easy; just three or four passive soaks and two active (water only, home made bulb flusher, syringe for the cartridge, no staining).

Given that a Lamy Safari is similar to the Al Star (AlStar? Al*Star? Al-Star?), it puzzles me why you had a tough time.

I haven't cleaned out the red Lamy Safari yet as there is still some Pilot BB ink left in there and I want to write on some other papers with it. But when I swap out the nibs while reviewing I use a rubber glove on my left hand. That became badly stained on the thumb and finger and I got a thumb print on the pen barrel as well as a blue mark on the section from filling. When I can soak/flush the pen they will probably completely clean off with no problem. They didn't clean off by wiping with a piece of kitchen towel, nor when swabbing with a Q-tip dipped in water. They mostly came off when I dipped the Q tip in pen flush but I needed to be careful with that on the nib end of the section. The glove didn't come clean with plain water or soapy water. I just washed my hand and my glove with Lava soap. They both came clean with that.

[Sailor Kenshin]

I like the Pilot BB color, but I'm gonna save it for my Plumix.

[Yazeh]

@Yazeh I might have to get some at some point but the main ingredients are the same as what I make

Do any of you take the converter apart when cleaning and if so how do you know if it even can be taken apart

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Yes. I do it most of the times with the Lamy Safari convertor. It's easier to clean and it's my reviewing pen

[Yazeh]

Yazeh, did you previously use the Yama-Guri fountain pen with IG inks? If so, the pen has to be rinsed out first with a weak vinegar solution, followed by many flushes of water before using with other inks... Iroshizuku inks ( and many other Japanese inks) have a high pH, which will cause residue ig ink, which is acidic, to precipitate and cause nastys in the feed and ink chamber (if it was a piston filler.)

I did the weak vinegar just in case and I think the problem is solved mostly. I'm not cleaning Yama-Guri from Safari. Let it soak over night, will see how it fared