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 period of time and ink dries and clogs up the feed system.

If you only had one pen, the chance of this happening is less than for many of us who have more than one pen, and some of them sit around, partially filled with ink.

Once a Month Flush

Empty the pen of ink and flush the pen with regular room-temperature water. Don't use hot water as the heat can loosen seals. Don't use cleaning fluids in the pen. Sometimes a tablespoon of non-sudsy amonia in a the water can help with the cleaning.

Cover the sink drain, you don't need that dissapointment, and let the tap water run over the nib until no more ink flows. Draw the water up and expel out a fews times again, until no ink shows.

If the pen still has problems, let the pen, nib down, sit in a glass of room temperature water. 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.

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

So to repeat, it is a very little ammonia. Also, do not use ammonia on a celluloid pen, period.

If you wash out the cap of the pen, make sure you dry it with a paper towel and moisture will 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. Changing brands 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. 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.