Ink Looks Faded

[Redsoxmd]

I wasn't sure about where to post this.

I bought a new Edison stub nib. Works great. I flushed the pen, and now the Waterman Serenitie looks faded. I let the nib dry overnight.

Any ideas?

The ink looks darker when the nib is new, but after the first flushing and re-fill, it doesn't look the same. In fact; it happens with all of my pens?

Is this normal or something I'm doing wrong?

Thanks!

[Jon Szanto]

When you say you let the nib "dry overnight", do you mean just sitting there? Normally, if you flush a pen, you need to get all the water out, first by maybe blowing air through it with an bulb/ear syringe. Another variation is to shake the pen, nib side down, like a thermometer, but you run the risk of it flying out of your hand; a number of people have built centrifuges for this out of salad spinners!

Mostly, though, you should bundle up some tissue or paper towel, place it in a narrow vial or glass, and then put the pen in there, nib facing down. The paper/tissue should draw any of the moisture out through capillary action, just as if the pen were filled with ink. This should wick out all the moisture.

There isn't any reason other than dilution for ink to come out faded (or, really, diluted or lighter in color) in a fresh pen. For ink to fade on paper after days, weeks, months, yes, this is not uncommon with some inks.

HTH.

[earthdawn]

What Jon said 100%

[AndyT]

+1. There are one or two inks which show a marked colour difference between a fresh fill and when it's been standing in the pen for a while (it will dry the same given time), but this isn't one of them.

[Jeph]

+1 more Jon nailed it.

I have had pens that I have cleaned and left for days to dry that still had water in them.
Some pens are easier to dry than others.
This makes them write faded until the water is purged.
Usually it only takes a few lines of writing to get back to writing normally though.

[Jon Szanto]

Ok, grab your coffee / hot cocoa / single malt, it's semi-related story time!

The other night I was going through a few pens. I try to be good about usage and proper pen hygiene but, you know, #lifealwaysgetsintheway. Anyhow, I had forgotten which pens might have gone out of use before I cleaned and flushed them. I picked up this cool Sheaffer vac-fill in carmine with a Minuskin stub that I got from Gerry Berg (phew...) and dipped the nib in a glass of water I had filled for the purpose. I noticed some traces of orange whisps starting to swirl. I turned to the paper and...

... I had successfully resurrected the ink that was last put in the pen... at the 2013 LA Pen Show in February! We were in the lobby after hours, and Lisa Miyako had just taken 'delivery' of some Akkerman inks and was sharing. I don't remember the name of the color, but it was a saffron / yellow-gold kind of ink. Was able to write about a half page. After that I properly flushed the pen and filled it with Diamine Poppy Red for some card signatures for the time of year.

It was a bit shocking to see how many of my pens revealed "Yeah, pal, thanks for flushing me before putting me out of rotation - NOT!" as I dipped them in the water. Well, that's life.

[Redsoxmd]

Jon, I never knew that. I just let them sit. I 'll try that tonight!

[tandaina]

Eh. I just flush, blot dry with a paper towel, fill and go. The first little bit might be a little dilute but within less than a page the ink is writing as dark as ever. I don't have time for huge rituals or days of drying time. Flush, blot, go.

[kaisnowbird]

Good story, Jon.

I faithfully flush my pens until they run clear then blot them dry before putting them away. Yet, every once a while when I got one out, it would write straight away without being inked, as if:
a) it had a hidden reservoir of 1 drop of ink that I don't know about, or
b) it came out to play with my ink when no one is home , or
c) both.

[Runnin_Ute]

Eh. I just flush, blot dry with a paper towel, fill and go. The first little bit might be a little dilute but within less than a page the ink is writing as dark as ever. I don't have time for huge rituals or days of drying time. Flush, blot, go.

This at least approximates what I do. Unless I flush the cap, then I roll up a paper towel and dry out the cap good.

[ac12]

Good story, Jon.

I faithfully flush my pens until they run clear then blot them dry before putting them away. Yet, every once a while when I got one out, it would write straight away without being inked, as if:
a) it had a hidden reservoir of 1 drop of ink that I don't know about, or
b) it came out to play with my ink when no one is home , or
c) both.

@Kai
When you flush, you also need to soak the section. There in an ink reservoir inside the feed/section that holds a fair amount of ink. This reservoir cannot be flushed, because it is out of the direct flow of the ink channels. Think of them like rooms off the hall way. The only way I have found to clean them is multiple overnight/all day soaks, with the tip down. The ink will dissolve and gradually drift out of the feed by gravity, the ink being heavier than water. After the soak I will flush and blot the pen, then stick it back in for another round of soaking, until no more ink drifts out and the blotting is clean. This is a slow tedious process that I have not been able to figure out how to speed up.

Well the only way that I know of to speed it up is, IF your pen can be completely disassembled, like a Parker 45, so you can get to the ink reservoir directly.

And NO, an ultrasonic cleaner (USC) will not speed it up...much, I tried.

[kaisnowbird]

Soak my pen overnight? I know probably most folks here do this, but I just don't feel I can leave my pen in water unattended, not even for an hour. Besides, I'm not sure I have enough patience for that kind of cleaning.

I'd rather:
a) take them apart for a thorough clean, or
b) for pens that I cannot disassemble completely, make sure the ink used is fairly harmless and let them keep that final half of a drop if they want to.

Wait, may be it's time I think about the salad-spinner solution.

[ac12]

@Kai
Yup the salad spinner would also work to draw out the water/ink.

Actually, depending on the pen, it can be WAY more than half a drop that is stored in the ink reservoir in the feed/section. I have had my soak water turn VERY DARK with ink from the feed reservoir.

So, why can't you leave a pen soaking?
Do you have a cat that will tip it over?

You may not have the patience to clean now, but you will need to learn to develop it.
If you ever buy a used pen off eBay, you will face that kind of deep long cleaning to get the old dry ink out of the pen. I have received pens that were so clogged with dry ink that I could not force any water thru the pen, it had to be unclogged first.