Two New (ish) Guy Questions

Hello gentlemen. I'm on able to find anything while searching with a mobile device, so I hope you will indulge me with a couple of questions that are undoubtedly answered here already.

I have a metropolitan medium, model 91101, that I have been using for a while now. I purchased some ink samples and have enjoyed most of them. My wife also picked me up some cartridges, the plastic Pilot/Namiki cartridges. In those there is a sepia that I like a lot. I was wondering if any of you could recommend a nice sepia that comes in a bottle? It need not be the exact same color, something even a little more towards the orange-ish side would be fine. I think this is a decent ink, but it writes pretty rough.

Second: I have converters for this pen. I've never really figured out how to fill them without making a mess. I know one may use a syringe. What I don't understand is how do you dip the pen into the bottle and suck up the ink without having to use 8000 towels on the nib and back to clean off the ink that sticks to it?

Thank you for any assistance.

Diamine makes a sepia. You might like Diamine Ancient Copper. I have quite a few Diamine colors and they have all been excellent and trouble free.

Don't ask me how to ink a pen while keeping all ink off your fingers - I've only done that once. You don't need to keep cleaning the feed (back). I don't think the ink will ever stop if you keep applying a nice absorbent towel to the feed. Give the nib a quick blot front and back and go on your merry way.

Thanks Keith, exactly what I need to know. Also good to know that I wasn't crazy on the whole cleaning thing. Just never really figured that out.

When I fill a pen from an ink bottle, I make sure to clean off the section well, then just give the nib and feed a quick wipe if they need it. The ink will just keep coming out of the feed and nib if you keep wiping them.

That must be like the new guy test, tell him to go wipe off the nearby after filling the pen.

Go Islanders!

musicman1951 said:

Diamine makes a sepia. You might like Diamine Ancient Copper. I have quite a few Diamine colors and they have all been excellent and trouble free.

Don't ask me how to ink a pen while keeping all ink off your fingers - I've only done that once. You don't need to keep cleaning the feed (back). I don't think the ink will ever stop if you keep applying a nice absorbent towel to the feed. Give the nib a quick blot front and back and go on your merry way.

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+1, get some lava soap, that's what I use and a few paper towels to clean up pen

Well, I may get kicked out of the clubhouse for this one then. I wear those blue gloves to keep my hands clean while I am refilling the pen.

-2 scribe points.
Getting ink on your fingers is a right of passage and part of the fun of tinkering with fountain pens.

LBussy said:

Well, I may get kicked out of the clubhouse for this one then. I wear those blue gloves to keep my hands clean while I am refilling the pen.

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I do the same when flushing/cleaning a large batch of pens. Normally keep around a dozen inked, so the gloves come in handy.

Visconti has a nice brown too. It flows very well.

Jut said:

Visconti has a nice brown too. It flows very well.

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Visconti might be my favorite brown too. Darker than the Diamine Ancient Copper that Musicman suggested, which I like also. But the first ink I thought of when you mentioned leaning to the orange component was Pelikan Brilliant Brown.

As for filling your pen, there are some very informative videos that demonstrate the correct technique. It shouldn't take a lot of wiping up. I use a square of cloth (old white t-shirt) the size of a handkerchief. One wipe and the pen is clean.

Here is a video done by Brian Goulet that offers a ton of info on the Pilot Metropolitan. Example of filling the pen begins at 10:20.

I feel pretty good about getting it filled - I was just real iffy on how the heck to clean it up.

I have some inks coming, pretty psyched about that. New post incoming with my newest first world problem.

In that video where it shows him filling the pen, it also shows him cleaning after a fill. Thought that might come in handy.

danek said:

In that video where it shows him filling the pen, it also shows him cleaning after a fill. Thought that might come in handy.

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Gotcha. I'll have a look, thank you.

Rohrer & Klinger make a nice Sepia ink.

LBussy said:

Well, I may get kicked out of the clubhouse for this one then. I wear those blue gloves to keep my hands clean while I am refilling the pen.

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Andy said:

I do the same when flushing/cleaning a large batch of pens. Normally keep around a dozen inked, so the gloves come in handy.

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I'm in the same club, although I frequently go gloveless. The Iroshizuku ink I use comes off pretty quickly when I shower or wash my hands a few times.
To the OP's original question, I use a paper towel to wipe off the barrel, and then make a quick pass down the nib to get the excess ink off. If you keep wiping the nib and feed you're going to keep drawing ink out. Paper towels are just that: paper. It's almost like you're writing with the back of the pen, and it will keep ink flowing because it's functioning well. You could conceivably waste an entire fill of you keep wiping over the feed or tip.

I'm glad to hear I'm not crazy then.

Yesterday I skipped the mess and used a syringe to fill the converter. Of course I did not REALLY skip the mess because it overflowed. Next time though ....

PMT said:

+1, get some lava soap, that's what I use and a few paper towels to clean up pen

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+1 on the lava soap. Also, I have been taking the converter off and just filling it directly from the bottle. Sometimes you have to prime the nib to get it flowing again, but it's less messy and saves on paper towels.

SpaceCadet1 said:

+1 on the lava soap. Also, I have been taking the converter off and just filling it directly from the bottle. Sometimes you have to prime the nib to get it flowing again, but it's less messy and saves on paper towels.

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I've tried this with my Lamy converters, but I can't get a good fill.