Whether you use proprietary or International standard fountain pen ink cartridges there is a way for the ink in the cartridge to be refilled, but is not something the manufacturers of the pen or the ink cartridges have readily provided the tools to do so. Help is at hand, if the idea of building your own ink cartridge refilling production line is of interest to you, read on
Table of Contents
Can any Ink Cartridge be refilled?
Yes, the ink cartridge is simply a plastic container and to enable it to be transported and stored the top of the cartridge is sealed, until inserted into the pen where the seal is broken and the ink flows into the pen. It is not possible to reveal the cartridge but it is certainly possible to refill any cartridge.
Collecting used Ink Cartridges
Recycling Fountain pen cartridges appear in the main not be made of recyclable plastic, collecting spent containers for future use is a great way to recycle. More so if you own several different pens that take different types of fountain pen ink cartridge. Bare in mind, you can not store a refilled ink cartridge anywhere other than in the pen.
Tools required to refill your fountain pen ink cartridge
A blunt tipped syringe is one of the best tool options
Step 1: Cleaning a used Fountain Pen Ink Cartridge
Once your pen has exhausted the ink from the cartridge it is ready to be cleaned. This can be done with warm water under the tap or more effectively fill the syringe with water and proceed to clean the cartridge from all traces of the original ink. If you are planning on storing used cartridges it is a good idea to go through the cleaning process as soon as you remove the smooth ink cartridge form the pen. It is easier to remove ink that has not dried.
Step 2: Selecting your fountain pen bottled Ink
The range of bottled inks and colours is extremely broad, follow our tips
Blackest of Black Fountain Pen Ink
There is something quite satisfying in writing in the deep depths of black ink. The contrast against the paper is something to behold and there are allot of inks to choose from. Writing in Black presents quite a formal going places tone to you’re writing. These are some of our favourite black inks for you to try.
Noodler’s Bulletproof Black
Bright Fountain Pen inks that Pop
- Amberlea Davis
- high saturation,
- Private Reserve
- Noodler’s
Archive inks that last
Fountain pen ink does fade over time, with light, water or other chemical exposure. Lets put this into some context, I can still look at my old school books from decades ago and can still read the text. History has shown us that some of the biggest events have concluded with the stroke of the pen and any trip to a museum will show you, those signatures are still eligible today. To solve a problem, however large or small, manufactures have come out to produce a line of bulletproof inks for the job. Some of the best include:
- Noodler’s Black ink to resist any chemical assault that would not also destroy the paper
- Warden inks,
- nano-pigment inks,
- De Atramentis’ Dokument line,
- MontBlanc Permanent Blue.
Colour Fountain pen ink
There is something about filling a pen with any colour other than black or blue, and with that colour you soon realise your fountain pen has turned into a title writing instrument. The expression of purple, burgundy, green, grey inks will jazz up anyones page. Some of our favourite colour inks:
- Shady
- Sheeny
- Subtle
Step 3: Refilling your Fountain Pen Ink Cartridge
Do not do this procedure over your brand new white rug resting on your new trousers. Taking care to do this over the sink, open your chosen ink bottle, and insert your syringe. With draw a suitable amount of ink. Holding the ink cartridge, insert the need of the syringe into the open end of the In cartridge. Slowly release the contents of the syringe into the empty ink cartridge. Excess ink in the syringe can be release back into the ink jar. But of course, always make sure your syringe is perfectly clean to begin with.
Careful to keep your refilled ink cartridge up right, insert into your empty fountain ink pen.
You could possibly use the same ink cartridge for a year or more.
