How To Get Ink To Flow In A Fountain Pen

Welcome to the world of fountain pens. If you are new to fountain pens and how they work, it tin can be disruptive and even frustrating. Fear not! One time you become started, you lot volition truly relish your new writing musical instrument.

In this article, I am going to intermission down how to fill it with ink and how to write with a fountain pen. I'thou also going to throw in some sweet tips for getting the most out of your fountain pens.

Offset, all the same, you need to at to the lowest degree be a piffling bit familiar with the parts of a fountain pen before going in and changing out the ink.

The Major Parts of the Fountain Pen

1.) The Nib

The fountain pen nib is the metal bespeak where the tip of the pen comes in contact with the paper. The nib is commonly fashioned out of stainless steel or gold alloys that permit the signal to flex with the move and force per unit area of writing.

Once upon a time, nibs were predominately fabricated out of soft metals similar gold that are naturally anti-corrosive, but alas, these metals are non the near durable and frequently fissure or the tips intermission off. When y'all notice a gilt pen nib nowadays, they tend to be tipped with a hard metal to prevent these issues.

The little slit and pigsty in the nib serve integral purposes of both feeding ink to the tip and preventing structural damage to the pen while information technology is in use.

The "sabbatical hole" also allows air dorsum into the reservoir to forbid a vacuum. Air vacuums in fountain pens are bad—"pen exploding all over white clothing on an aeroplane" bad. Come across bellow for more info on this and how to prevent that sort of catastrophe.

You can find a variety of sizes for the betoken from actress fine to double broad. Each size serves its ain purpose, merely a fine or medium pecker are great sized for beginners.

There is also an entire category of nibs for calligraphy, drawing, and more.

2.) The Feed

The fountain pen feed is that black plastic slice on the backside of the nib. Information technology creates a route to draw ink to the tip and allows air to catamenia dorsum up into the reservoir.

iii.) The Ink Reservoir

The ink reservoir is exactly what it sounds like: it's the identify where the fountain pen ink goes.

The two about mutual fountain pen ink filling systems are:

disposable ink cartridges
piston ink converters

Near fountain pens use universal 1/4 inch refill ink cartridges. But it is ever good to check and make sure you take the right ink cartridge for your particular pen. If the cartridge came with the pen, either loose in the packaging or in the barrel, you lot are good to apply that cartridge.

Dispensable Ink Cartridges

The dispensable ink cartridge is a plastic tube filled with ink that is inserted into the internal opening of the feed.

Ink cartridges are pretty hassle-free, but they aren't as cost-effective as converters.

Piston Ink Converters

An ink converter is a reservoir that allows you to draw ink up into the barrel of the pen, essentially creating your ain ink cartridge.

Ink converters work either with a piston (where y'all twist the knob at the acme drawing ink into the reservoir) or as a safety tube (where you clasp the air out of the reservoir, place information technology in the fountain pen ink, and then release it to draw the ink in through air pressure level).

Ink converters require bottled ink to fill your fountain pen, so you'll likely have to buy that separate, just there are so many options out there for fountain pen ink.

Some fountain pens allow for both converters and ink cartridges interchangeably. Other than that, your fountain pens will come with the converter built into the pen itself.

How to Refill Your Fountain Pen

How to Load Disposable Ink Cartridges:

Unscrew the barrel from the grip department
Insert the sealed end of the cartridge into the grip section and printing firmly. You will probable feel the seal break when the cartridge is securely lodged Note: in nigh ink cartridges, the sealed end will be the narrower section with the ridge.
Reassemble your pen

How to Load an Ink Converter into a Fountain pen:

Before get-go, y'all will need:

the correct converter for your brand of fountain pen
bottled ink
a slice of paper towel

Here's how to load your ink converter:

Remove the cap and unscrew the barrel from the grip
Insert the converter into the opening, pressing firmly until it stops moving
Twist the knob of your converter to send the piston all the way to the lesser of the converter. (Y'all should see the piston descending to the lesser of the converter.)
Submerge the beak past the sabbatical hole into the ink bottle and twist knob in the reverse direction to describe ink into the reservoir, filling the converter with ink. You will see the reservoir fill.
Remove the nib of the pen from the bottle, reassemble the barrel of the pen, and your pen is ready for use.

Tips for Getting Your Ink Flowing:

For the disposable cartridge:

It can take a moment for the ink to saturate the cartridge pen and menstruum through the feed. Don't worry if your fountain pen does not start writing straight away.

If the ink does not brainstorm flowing subsequently a couple of minutes, you tin gently squeeze the cartridge to get the nib wet, or dip the nib in water to start the flow. When you use a water to start the ink, you ink flow will showtime quite "watery". Just scribble on newspaper until pure ink flows.

For the ink cartridge converter:

Since the entire nib is dipped in the ink bottle, the pen should offset writing very quickly because it is already saturated in ink.

If needed, you can always remove the barrel and twist the fully loaded converter to release just a drop or two of ink from the tip. Fair warning, if you twist too much, you volition drip a lot of ink so exist prepared with a newspaper towel or water.

How to Use a Fountain Pen:

At present that your luxury fountain pen is filled with ink and ready to go... how the heck to y'all use this thing?

In a lot of ways... just like whatever other pen! Hither are just a couple tips to make writing with fountain pens easier, just all in all once your pen has ink flowing you should be pretty good get.

Tip #one: Place the pen at a 45 caste bending.

Tip #2: Don't press too hard.

Fountain pen nibs need much less force per unit area to write than a ballpoint pen since they accept liquid ink. But moving the tip evenly across the paper should yield the best results.

Pressing also firmly tin actually damage the pen causing the nib to curve or crevice

Tip #3: Use higher quality paper.

It can exist helpful to grab some higher quality newspaper peculiarly for start time users. Printer or notebook newspaper can be thinner and harder to piece of work with.

Problems acquired by paper include the pen skipping, the ink running, and the ink feathering (when the ink bleeds into the fibers of the paper).

Tip #4: Cap your fountain pen

Information technology is important to keep your pen cap on when you are not using it. Since the ink oftentimes has water in it, the ink in the nib tin dry if left exposed to air and volition non write when you lot go to utilize information technology next.

Fret not if your pen dries out! Just scribble for a fleck or wet the nib with a picayune water to rehydrate the ink.

Tip #v: Clean your fountain pen regularly.

Every 1-2 months, its practiced to do a quick cleaning of your fountain pen so everything keeps running dainty and smooth.

I like to clean my fountain pen whenever I refill the converter or pop in a fresh dispensable cartridge.

For pens that have non been used in a while and are particularly stale out, effort dropping the feed and bill structure into a loving cup of h2o and letting it soak for an hour or so. Rinse and repeat till your water stays clear.

Tip #half dozen: Store your fountain pen properly.

How yous store your fountain pen will largely come up down to how much you employ it. All in all, the best style is to store it laying flat. This allows the ink to stay wet in the beak without excess ink pooling in the cap.

Decision

You are now fully equipped to chuck that old ballpoint away, fill your new fountain pen with a cartridge or ink bottle, and go to writing.

I hope this has helped y'all from feeling daunted by your new pen.

If you're looking to buy a new fountain pen, check out our wide selection of engraved pens from brands like Cross, Parker, and Waterman. Or check out our list of best-selling pens!

Earlier you go, please feel gratis to leave a comment with your thoughts, questions, or fountain pen stories!