Technical Pens

• October 7th, 2004 • • cleaning, pens, supplies •

As mentioned in my previous post, I have recently aquired a number of technical pens. Today, I have been cleaning them. Most are not too bad (Koh-I-Nor), but about four of them (Faber-Castille) were left for oh, probably 10+ years with a full ink resevoir. This makes for some fun fun fun cleaning! Actually I like cleaning technical pens, much to the horror of some people I knew back in college. There is something quite meditative about taking apart a tiny piece of equipment and carefully cleaning each bit of it.

In cleaning pens with 10+ year-old ink in them, I could’ve really used a miniature bottle brush. The resevoirs were slightly gummy, and needed that kind of care. All of the other pen parts fit into the jars of cleaning solution I have, though I will probably have to buy new solution soon. The two solutions I have are pure black and going empty!

There are noticiable differences between these old pens and the ones I am used to buying. Most prominent is the size of the ink reserve. It is easily double the size of today’s pens. It is also easier to take the entire nib apart. That is, I can disassemble the entire mechanism and give it a most thorough cleaning. Unfortunately this led to the demise of two nibs, bent beyond usability. (Though I was able to cannibalize a few parts from other pens for later use.)

The technical pens shared their basket with a number of calligraphic pen nibs as well. Those have fortunately not rusted, and are decidedly in good condition. I suppose I will now have to learn calligraphy.

Lastly, a photo of my little operation:

My biggest beef with my garage studio is that it has no sink. You NEVER realize how much you use a sink until you are without. This is up in my apartment’s kitchen.

One Response to ' Technical Pens '

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1. elementc said,
   
   

   on September 2nd, 2006 at 3:38 pm

   Yeah I just got a set of seven Koh I Noor pens but I still need to get some cleaner. I’m afraid that I’ll mess something up or get them horribly clogged if I don’t clean them constantly. Damn those instructions for making me paranoid!!

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