this post was submitted on 26 Feb 2024
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Fountain Pens

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Welcome fountain pen enthusiasts from around the world! Share your fountain pen obsession with fellow enthusiasts. Pens, inks, paper - everything fountain pen related is welcome!

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What's your favourite fountain pen tips/tricks/hacks? (lemmy.ca)
submitted 8 months ago by [email protected] to c/fountainpens
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What's your favourite that you want to share? Let's hear them!

My absolute favourite hack is for people who don't own brass shims to floss a nib that has collected a lot of paper fibre. If you get mail with a plastic window, you can carefully trim a strip long enough that you can hold between your fingers so there is tension. This is often enough to floss a tine.

If you're an occasional sample user that tends to forget about using them, have a nice eyedropper in the collection. I'm not a huge samples owner and a little forgetful, I found my samples started evaporating before I finished them. Things changed when I got an Opus 88 Demonstrator. Now when I get a sample from a local swap meet, I can drop 3.56ml into the tank, so often that's an entire sample.

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 8 months ago

For people who don't have anywhere to grab a single blunt nose syringe for a reasonable price, go to your local pharmacy and see if they can sell you a single syringe with a gauge of 23 or lower. I found larger pharmacies and ones attached to hospitals have a larger selection. When you get home, carefully grind down the sharp bit using a sharpening stone or a patio stone. Once that's done, give it a rinse by running some dish soap and water through it and you are good to go. It might be a little awkward to ask for a single needle, but if it makes you feel better, you can always tell them you need a blunt nose syringe to transfer liquids into a small container and can't find one so you're making one yourself.