Crusty Old Pens

pjgh

pjgh

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Location
Halifax, Republic of Yorkshire
Crusty Old Pens ... no, not that crusty old thing ... :icon_rolleyes:

Hi folks! You know me ...

Do I need another obsession? Pens? Really?

Well, I've avoided this forum for fear that my wallet might collapse, but finally, I've decided to jump in and see what's going on and curiously, I already have a bunch of pens.

I have a whole load of '80s and '90s Parkers and Platignums. I used to be a bit of a writer back in my 20s and loved the flow of real ink. Quink blue black, for me.

Rediscovering this, I found most of my pens are gummed up, dried and crusty. I have one Parker which I think they call a Vector today which still writes and a refill which is still wet, so I'm rather enjoying some practice writing this evening.

So, those pens which are all dried up, how do I revive them? Soak in water, fill and go for it?

Looking around, I do like the idea of a dipping nib. I've seen a nice mahogany holder, but I'm stumped as to nibs - they all seem to be calligraphy nibs. I've seen mixed bags of antique and vintage nibs - is this the sort of deal I need to be looking out for?

You advice would be very much appreciated. Meanwhile, I have a flowing Parker and I'm going to use it!
 
RE: Yo! I'll jump in here ...

pjgh said:
So, those pens which are all dried up, how do I revive them? Soak in water, fill and go for it?
Click to expand...


If you have an ultrasonic cleaner, you could use that, I certainly do with my two FPs. Just a couple of cycles in warm water seems to do the trick. I dab them dry with kitchen roll then get some ink through them straight away.

As to the "Do I need another obsession question", if you have to ask, it's already too late :icon_razz::icon_razz::icon_razz:
 
If you don't have an ultrasonic cleaner you could give it a lengthy soak in warm water with the pen disassembled as much as possible. If the pen has a converter (as opposed to a cartridge) you could flush the pen a few times with warm water that has a drop of washing-up liquid in it, then finish flushing with clean water until it runs clear.
 
chrisbell said:
pjgh said:
I don't have an ultrasonic cleaner (yet) ... but we'll see if Santa got the hint.
Click to expand...

Supposedly a weak ammonia solution does the trick, but finding ammonia in this country isn't easy as far as I can make out.
Click to expand...

Didn't want to buy a whole bottle of ammonia, so I thought about what there was available with it in it. Window Cleaner. Windex Original had a weak dilution of it so... Tried it. Seemed to work. Made sure I rinsed it well before I filled it with ink.
 
Okay, report time ...

I've had some success with the Parkers and they all work.

The Platignum is a different matter - the nib is broken with part of the "ball" snapped off so it's scratchy, but when I got to cleaning it, the nib housing has corroded and snapped, the feed pipe up into the bladder is gummed up solid.

I have a nib-less pen - I see from a preliminary search that I can buy a replacement for around a fiver, although with a little research I wonder if it will house a better nib. I know it's a cheap pen, but it's worth investigating all angles.

Meanwhile, I went mad ...

... and have a dip pen housing with around 40 vintage nibs arriving shortly. What? It's cheaper than shaving :D
 
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