Care For Your Pen

Caring for your Writing Instruments

Wooden Pen Care

Your New Pen is made from natural Wood. As with any fine instrument made from wood some care must be taken to maintain the beauty and the structural integrity of this Handmade Classic.

DO NOT leave your pen in the car. The temperature extremes experienced in a car can damage or destroy your writing instrument. Treat it as you would any fine, delicate instrument. Although it can withstand a lifetime of use it will not tolerate abuse.

DO NOT use cleaning fluids or any abrasive substance (car wax) on any part of your new writing instrument. The fluids and/or abrasives will damage fine finish.

Do care for your writing instrument the way you would any fine wooden product. Protect it with a light coat of good furniture paste wax designed for wooden products. After proper drying buff with a soft, clean cloth.

Do keep your pen from extremes of heat and cold. Both are enemies of wood. Some woods are very temperature sensitive and may split or develop cracks from extremes of heat and cold. Protect it and it will deliver years of service.

Do use your pen. It is designed to be written with not placed in a drawer.

Resin Pen Care

The Acrylics shown in the products area are man made products.

These materials are more tolerant to extreme heat & cold and therefore more stable in these conditions.

However DO NOT drop your pen, these materials are more brittle and can crack or chip if dropped.

Do use plastic polish to revive the luster, also a quality rubbing compound can buff out light scratches.

Fountain Pen Care

Do not press hard when writing, as this will this will damage the nib. A good fountain pen should glide effortlessly across paper

Periodically flush it out, filling it with cool water and emptying it a few times. Doing this once every few months will keep dried ink from building up and interfering with ink flow. Do not use hot water or solvents. Use only inks intended for fountain pens

Carry your pen nib upwards and you should have no trouble with leakage. Keep your pen full of ink, since ink flow can become irregular if the ink chamber is close to empty. 95% of "leaky" pens can be cured by the above two precautions!

DO NOT soak any part of your pen other than the nib assembly! Pens are designed to hold liquids, not to be immersed in them. If ink gets into the inside of the cap, wipe it out with a damp cotton swab. Dunking the entire cap (or the entire barrel) into water is unnecessary and may harm your pen. If your pen is clogged with dried ink, soak it by placing it nib-down in only enough water to cover the nib and the lower part of the section, leaving the barrel dry.

When placing the cap on the end of the barrel, set it in place gently, like putting on a hat. Pressing the cap on the end of the barrel in a rough manner will most likely cause damage to the wood or acrylic body. If your pen has a screw end on the barrel, just place the cap on lightly... you do not want to screw the cap on either the body end or the nib end tightly.

More Fountain Pen Tips

Non-permanent ink is the easiest on your pen. If you desire to use permanent ink, weekly washing and cleaning of your pen is absolutely necessary. Colored ink (other than blue, blue-black or black) is hard on fountain pens. They require frequent cleaning to prevent clogging your pen’s feed. Use a good quality ink in your pen.. the better quality inks are made to keep your pen writing smoothly. My personal preference is Private Reserve. I purchase mine from 'A Pen Lovers Paradise'
Don’t drop, throw or otherwise bang your pen around. It is a fine instrument, not a Bic™ or a dart (even though Bic™, the pen behemoth, bought Sheaffer in 2001).
DO NOT loan your pen to someone else, especially if they are opposite handed to you. Your pen’s nib breaks in to your specific handwriting style. Use of your pen by someone else will tweak the nib differently and the pen will not perform well for you. (This point is debated by many pen aficionados. I prefer to err on the side of caution with my precious pens.)
Clean, rinse the nib and feed and flush the pen with clear, baby bottle warm water monthly. If your pen will be unused for a protracted period of time (two weeks or more), clean it, let it air dry and store it empty.
When flying with your pen, it is highly advisable to empty it first. The change in atmospheric pressure, even in a pressurized cabin, can cause your pen to leak ink all over everything!
After filling your pen, wipe the lower portions that have been immersed in ink with a soft fabric. Using facial tissue can leave fibers on the nib that will cause smearing.
Occasionally, you can use a cloth dampened with a mild dish soap solution to clean skin oils and other dirt from the outside of your pen. Be sure to rinse it thoroughly, then dry it with a soft cloth. Any time you clean the nib and feed, you should allow it to air dry.
A fountain pen should not be gripped. It should be held lightly. NO pressure should be exerted on the pen while writing. The pen should be allowed to glide smoothly across the paper.
A good quality, smooth finish paper (such as that your bank checks are printed on) should be used. If the paper is too soft, the nib may catch on the fibers. If it is too absorbent, the writing quality can be fuzzy and look smeared. Coated papers will not absorb ink and may cause the nib to become clogged.
If your pen doesn't "start" right away (i.e., after not being used for a couple of weeks), ink has probably dried and clogged the nib and/or the feed. To start the ink flowing again, resist the urge to press down hard on the pen. Instead, wet the point of the nib with water or ink of the same color. If that doesn't work, wash the pen out.