How to Clean a Fountain Pen

Why Should You Clean Your Fountain Pen?

We sell a lot of fountain pens, so people quite often ask us about cleaning them. But do you need to? Over time and use, some ink can dry up in the feed, and the nib and feed can get dust and other particles inside, which can make ink flow less reliable. You could see a bit of skipping or a less smooth feel, and cleaning could help.

It's also quite possible to use a fountain pen for years without any of these things happening, so if you don't have a problem, you probably don't need to clean your pen. But a bit of preventative maintenance doesn't hurt, either.

How Often Should You Clean Your Fountain Pen?

Opinion varies on that, and some people say they should be cleaned every now and again, but for the most part, we don’t really worry about it unless there’s a problem. 

If you really like your fountain pen and want to make sure it stays in tip-top condition then you could clean it once every one to two months. 

You should definitely clean your pen if it gets clogged up with dried ink, or if you are changing the ink you are putting in it. If you don’t, the previous colour will tend to linger, changing the colour of the new ink for a while. Although it’s very rare, there are a few combinations of inks that can react together, so a good cleaning can avoid them mixing. Almost all fountain pen inks can ‘touch’ each other with no bad effects, though, other than the colour looking a little different to the intended shade.

How to Clean Your Fountain Pen

If you'd prefer a quick video to show you how, we made one. It's less than two minutes long, we won't waste your time! If not, read on.

If you don't have a converter

Step One

Unscrew the nib section (the front bit of the pen) from the barrel and remove any cartridge you might have in there.

Step Two

Soak the nib section in a glass of water. This should remove any dried-up ink clogging it up. To make sure the job is fully done, replace the inky water until it remains clear.

• TIP: If you have a particularly stubborn fountain pen, run the nib section under a cold tap for a few seconds before putting it in the glass. That should speed up this step.

WARNING: While it won’t apply to many people, we should mention at this point that soaking in water can be a problem for some vintage pens. Most are fine, but some are made of a plastic called casein, which is damaged by prolonged contact with water. If it’s an old pen of any value, you might want to do a little research on what it’s likely to be made of before you soak it, just in case. Casein pens are fairly rare, so it's unlikely you have one.

Step Three

Leave the nib section to dry completely. Otherwise, it can take quite a while for the water to clear out of the feed. You don't want to be writing a page in water the next time you try to use your pen! Wrapping the nib up in tissue can help draw the water out a good bit quicker, too.

Step Four

Reassemble the pen, pop some ink in, and get to writing.

If you do have a converter

The most useful piece of equipment is something you may well already have - a converter. It’s the ‘refillable cartridge’ that lets a cartridge-filled pen use bottled ink. If you don’t have one, you can probably manage without, but it’s a fairly cheap addition that can be useful for cleaning, and lets you use a lot more inks. Many fountain pens come with a converter, so even if you don't use one, it might be worth checking the box, in case there's one in there.

Step One

Unscrew the nib section (the front bit of the pen) from the barrel.

Step Two (Optional)

Remove the converter if it's fitted in the pen.

Soak the nib section in a glass of water. This should remove any dried-up ink clogging it up. To make sure the job is fully done, replace the inky water until it remains clear.

TIP: If you have a particularly stubborn fountain pen, run the nib section under a cold tap for a few seconds before putting it in the glass. That should speed up this step.

Doing this step will take more time overall, but should make the next step easier, so it should make for less effort.

WARNING: While it won’t apply to many people, we should mention at this point that soaking in water can be a problem for some vintage pens. Most are fine, but some are made of a plastic called casein, which is damaged by prolonged contact with water. If it’s an old pen of any value, you might want to do a little research on what it’s likely to be made of before you soak it, just in case.

Step Three

Put the converter back in if you removed it, and repeatedly fill and empty the pen until the water is coming out clear. This can take a while, and it's up to you how thorough you want to be. Getting it mostly clear is perfectly fine, your pen just isn't left quite as clean is it would be if you continued, but it'll still be pretty clean.

Step Four

Leave the bits of pen to dry completely. Otherwise, it can take quite a while for the water to clear out of the feed. You don't want to be writing a page in water the next time you try to use your pen! Wrapping the nib up in tissue can help draw the water out a good bit quicker, too.

Step Five

Reassemble the pen, get some ink in there and get to writing. 

 Other methods and equipment

• Ear bulb. Yes. We know it sounds a bit odd. But hear us out. There are large rubber bulbs available for filling with warm water, used to flush out ear wax. The nozzle is often just about the right size that you can hold it firmly against the back of a fountain pen’s feed, and use it to push a lot of water through quickly. Some people love this method, especially those with a whole collection of pens to clean.

• Cleaning fluids. There are several specialist fluids available for cleaning fountain pens. We do sell them, so we’re certainly not saying you shouldn’t use them, and if you have a stubborn pen, or just want to make the job as quick and easy as possible, they’re very good - it’s just that plain water does a good enough job almost every time.

• Ultrasonic jewellery cleaner. We use one of these in our office, and they’re very good. You fill it with warm water, and it uses sound waves in the water to vibrate dirt and ink out of the nooks and crannies of a pen feed. You’d need to have a few things to use it for to justify buying one, but they’re also quite fun to watch ink that wouldn’t come out any other way just magically floats out of the pen! While there have been very occasional reports of these cleaners causing gold plating to flake away, problems are very rare, and in these odd cases, it’s likely the plating hadn’t adhered correctly in the first place - we’ve used ours a lot, with no problems.