The best advice in terms of care and maintenance of your fountain pen is to use it!

Most problems occur when pens sit, unused for a period of time, and ink dries and clogs up the feed system.

If you have only one pen you have a less of a chance of your pen clogging up than those who have a large number of pens. Some tend to sit around, partially filled with ink for long periods of time. Multiple-poen owners, have a disciplined schedule to rotate the use of your pens.

A Regular Flush

A regular floshing of your fountain pen is one of the better preventative maintaince procedures you can follow. My experience is all based on what many would call modern pens. Rubber-based vintage pens need special care. Letter a rubber-based pen sit in water will cause discoloration. A flush of water, however, without sitting in it, will always help.

• Empty the pen of ink.
• Flush the pen with regular room-temperature water by drawing ink up and expelling it out of the pen. Repeat a few times.
• Don't use hot water as the heat can loosen seals.
• Don't use cleaning fluids inside the pen.
• Sometimes a tablespoon of non-sudsy amonia in a one litre of water can help with the cleaning but for the most part I just use regular water.

If you are cleaning your pen over the sink, cover the sink drain, you don't need that dissapointment (experience is speaking) of watching a pen section do down the drain.

Let the tap water run over the nib until no more ink flows. Draw the water up and expel out a fews times until no ink shows.

If the pen still has problems, let the pen, nib down, sit in a glass of room temperature water. You don't have to insert the entire pen in the water. If you have any concern, just make sure the nib section is covered by the water. This will help with that section of the pen.

Go back in an hour and you will be amazed at the ink solids that have dissolved and flowed out of the pen.

Make sure the pen in sitting in regular water. Ammonia, for example, will cause discolouration. Also, do not use ammonia on a celluloid pen, period.

This method is for modern pens. If you have vintage pens, where parts are made from rubber, do not leave them in water as the rubber will discolour.

Lightly run the pen nib over a cotton cloth or paper towel to draw out water that may be in the feed section.

I place paper towel in a bottom of a tall glass. Place the washed pen, nib point down into the paper towel. After about 20 minutes the towel and gravity will draw out the remaining water.

If you wash out the cap of the pen, make sure you dry it with a paper towel as moisture left in the cap can cause condensation one the pen is closed.

Changing Ink Colours

A big part of having a fountain pen is the ability to select a range of ink colours.

Change the brand of ink, then flush the pen to remove the current ink before filling with the next. Some inks do react with each other and it is best to start fresh.

Storing Pens

Have the pens sit, nib up. If the nib is pointing down, gravity is a universal force, and over time, ink will flow down through the nib.

Of course if you are going to store and not use your pens for a while, flush them out so that there is no ink in the pen.

Cleaning the Body of a Pen

For plastic, resin and celluloid pens do not use cleaning fluids. A damp cotton cloth will do wonders with just a light rubbing. Polish the pen dry with a clean dry cloth.

For sterling silver pens, you will have to use some silver cleaner from time to time as the pen will tarnish. Don't put the silver cleaner on the pen, rather place a little on a clean cloth and then rub the pen, and then polish the pen with a clean cloth. Start with very small amounts. Use a good cotton cloth as you will have to go under the clips and you don't want threads catching. I have a soft brush that I use to buff out any silver cleaner that may be left in the engraved portions of the silver.

Let your pen rest in a glass of room-temperature water after you have flushed the ink out. You will see streams of ink being pulled by gravity from the pen. This advice is for modern pens, if you have vintage pens, which have sections made from rubber, do not let the pen sit in water as the rubber will discolour.