Retro Tech and Movie Blog

A couple days ago, I happened across my old stock of fountain pen ink cartridges, which we used to sell from our home fountain pen business over a decade ago. I would have thought not much could go wrong with sealed ink stored for just over a decade. I was about to find out differently.

These days, I typically just fill my fountain pens from bottled ink. But, during my day-time job at the office, having a few cartridges on hand were really helpful, in case I ever ran out of ink while away from home. I still use my fountain pens, but certainly a lot less frequently than I used to.

During my inspection of some of the ink cartridges I noticed that every one of them that I examined were half empty (or less)! This was really surprising to me, as they were never used. The little stoppers that plugs the open end, which is broken when inserted into the nib of the fountain pen, were all still in place. These were all “new old stock”, never used, yet only half full. I didn’t think it possible, but I suppose that, over the last decade, the water was able to evaporate out of the little plastic vials. It didn’t seem to matter, whether if the capsules were wrapped and sealed or just loose in the box. Every one of the cartridges I checked were affected.

This was a real shame to see, as I thought, with the amount of unsold stock I still had stored away, I would be set for fountain pen ink for a very long time. I was a little depressed about it. But, then I noticed there was no indication of any ink (pigment anyway) leaking out of the cartridges. Maybe it was just the water that evaporated. If so, could I somehow just add water to reconstitute the pigment concentration that remained? I decided to give it a try. Low and behold, the remedy worked! Once I injected enough distilled water to fill the cartridge, then gave it a little shake and some time to dissolve, I put the cartridge in a fountain pen to give it a try. The results were perfect and the pen wrote and laid down the ink as expected. I was so pleased to see that my inventory of fountain pen ink was recoverable.

I really like my collection of fountain pens. Not only do I find fountain pens much nicer to write with than a ball point pen, but I also admire how nice they are to look at. There are so many designs available, I don’t think anyone could ever collect each and every one that’s out there. They also provide so many different writing experiences to suite everyone’s individual needs and writing styles. Heavy weight, light weight, long and wide barrels, short and slender barrels, fine tip nibs, broad tip nibs, wet nibs, dry nibs, plunger reservoirs, bladder reservoirs… on and on and on.

Here’s a look at the bulk of my fountain pen collection, which I’ve been able to gather up over the past 18 years or so, since I began collecting them.

Some of my favorites, in the gallery below include a few from the collection we sold through our home business. These we called “Scribe’s Choice” and they were my own designs, that were given to our pen manufacturer at the time, who did such a wonderful job at producing them.

The “Executive” (#6 in the photos below) is a nice brass bodied pen with black and chrome accents and has a unique “hooded” nib. I just though it had a real board room sort of look, hence the name.

The “Apollo” (#5) was a throwback to the Buck Rogers day, with it’s sleek rocket ship design. Each pen is unique, as the patterns in the acrylic body are never the same as another.

The “Renascence” (#7) has a regal look to it, with the gold accents and the black grip section. These are also unique, as the patterns in the acrylic body are never repeated between pens.

Ultimately, I enjoy each and every one of my fountain pens and think they truly are little works of art all on their own.