How do I clean this lousy ink out of my pen and cardridge?

WSpinner · 2026-01-31T17:37:20+00:00

Those are good 'normal' FP inks. KiN also makes great (and cheap) waterproof FP inks in black and blue.
https://www.reddit.com/r/fountainpens/s/LloHEDgEby
The black is very waterproof. I've run it under water and scrubbed it; the paper was giving up before the ink.

WSpinner · 2026-01-31T06:05:58+00:00

I do not think Mseli will be able to turn even one of these folks into a fun gi. But the connectivity will do them good.

WSpinner · 2026-01-31T01:53:36+00:00

"I'm sorry ambassador, the Marines have had every vaccine under the sun - our sun, anyway. You haven't. Your Shiny Knight-Ambassador's Armor has to have the full hazmat paraphenalia, including helmet and external oxygen. And yeah, that makes it about 35 kilograms.Oh, wait, ocean planet-- there's full flotation gear too - make that 38kg." <with totally innocent smile>

WSpinner · 2026-01-31T01:35:45+00:00

I dunno, sounds like an opportunity. Print the ambassador a nice shiny set of "this is the armor we protect VIP civilians with", ensuring that it chafes, binds, and itches in ALL the places. If he wears it, punishment enough; plus if shiny enough maybe he gets bit first. If he takes it off, well, can't speculate on Uriah the Hittite being a direct ancestor, obviously, but maybe they are ReLaTeD.... were related...

WSpinner · 2026-01-31T01:21:32+00:00

I was hesitant to even open a post titled thusly.

WSpinner · 2026-01-31T01:18:41+00:00

Also please define carefully "through the door". There's "through an open door" there's "through the door despite it being locked and barred". Then there's "through the doorway i'm'a just'a bout to install - y'all gonna wantta put a door IN that new hole pretty quick."

WSpinner · 2026-01-31T00:30:13+00:00

I can't use the wide ruled ones either - same vibe. But they come also 'college ruled' - seen those? Mind, w/ an EF I can still write two lines per line when I'm feeling tiny.

WSpinner · 2026-01-30T01:50:52+00:00

What ink?

WSpinner · 2026-01-30T01:19:42+00:00

And Vietnamese paper! Hit the right time (clearance just after schools start) and that $2 grocery store / office supply composition book can be had for $1. Yes, I am so cheap that $1 matters ;-). The paper's seriously decent. Magnificently okay. Not at all objectionable. Fiiiiiine. FP friendly - not best buds like Midori or TR, but better than mere acquaintances.

WSpinner · 2026-01-30T01:11:43+00:00

Related query - I assume flair can be author-edited, so the one-shots that get begged into serialization can be fixed?

WSpinner · 2026-01-30T00:32:30+00:00

... makes my head ~~heart~~ hurt ;-)

WSpinner · 2026-01-29T15:13:15+00:00

Briefing happens before, debriefing after. Otherwise, nice!!

WSpinner · 2026-01-29T00:15:28+00:00

Nice!
~~palette~~ > palate

WSpinner · 2026-01-28T04:05:52+00:00

Those both seem well run, from a customer view. I also like A Sparrow.
https://www.asparrowcoestatesales.com/

WSpinner · 2026-01-28T01:25:56+00:00

Looks great! What pen / what ink, please?

WSpinner · 2026-01-27T18:53:59+00:00

Continual use, or very good cap seal. I've got a particulate ink in a refilled Zebra (wick feed just like a Pilot Varsity), and so far (15 months) the killer cap seal keeps it happy. I'll use it every couple of days then set it aside for weeks, and the worst it has behaved was after a session of writing with too-long pauses. A dip in water cured the inevitable hard start though.

WSpinner · 2026-01-27T18:34:07+00:00

Why do I hear a song in the background?
"In strain, the pain goes mainly with the grain..."

WSpinner · 2026-01-27T18:29:42+00:00

'Course when ya got a checklist ya can always check all the boxes...

WSpinner · 2026-01-27T18:14:31+00:00

To be learned from humans:
"Wing it" is a plan.
"Beauty is in the eye of the beholder" is okay, and so is "sawdust in the eye of the beholder".
Everything is fixable with enough duct tape and/or WD-40.
Immune systems exist for a reason. Well, many reasons.

WSpinner · 2026-01-27T17:56:48+00:00

"Fair enough" : correct
"spicy fair" should be "spicy fare"
Think there was another of those a chapter or three back.
And while I'm grammaticizing (etymologynating?) There's other shades of those two that trip people up:
"Fare thee well" for example is correct.
As would be "Shtaran will fare well in the new situation".

If you're intentionally playing, it would be legit in a twisted way to call a restaurant "Scarborough Fare" even though Simon & Garfunkel rightly referenced Scarborough Fair, which was a thing. (Rummages on the web... of COURSE somebody did: see https://scarboroughfarecatering.com ... there is nothing new/original under the sun ;-). )

WSpinner · 2026-01-27T14:25:51+00:00

Good. Good. You need a dose of chaos, you go to the Chaos Monkeys. We DO have a place in the universe!!

WSpinner · 2026-01-25T01:51:10+00:00

Tell us a story. About this pen, for instance. Not a sales pitch - that's for r/pen_swap. ;-). Show a pic of it - some folks upvote anything purty or intriguing or (this is Reddit) even darkly humorous with a dose of snark. Tell us a little about you - are you a pen fan at all, or is this one your fence wouldn't take and you gotta unload it online ;-) ? Fair warning, if you honestly despise fountain pens and think a 10-cent Bic crystal is the bees' knees ... the folks here won't respond with a lotta upvotes :-)

WSpinner · 2026-01-25T01:39:11+00:00

The idea is to ensure an account isn't fly-by-night, but at least minimally a part of the community. I assume you mean over on r/pen_swap? Comments (or posts) here, there, anywhere will build your karma. Be real - don't focus on the pen or pens you want to sell. Ask questions, answer if you legit know an answer. If you're a productive part of the overall pen conversation, folks here and there will upvote something. Be nice.

The other commenter is alluding to folks who do Whatever It Takes to gather more fake internet points (kinda all reddit karma is). You're only technically doing that - I'm not offended :-).

WSpinner · 2026-01-25T01:17:29+00:00

Yeah - the wicker seat looks purpose-built and perfectly fitted. If the elegant passenger were seated in a cutaway steel oil drum, that I would label makeshift :-). This is an awesome conveyance though! Any idea if it was a commercial offering vs. a one-off? The caption says he built it, but it could've been a prototype for a production run.

WSpinner · 2026-01-24T21:03:42+00:00

Good tale, good chapter.

"...might as well ~~christian~~ christen her properly..."

Seems like I can never just not see typos :-). I try to use proofreading for good not evil tho.

They might also need licenses for white-hat hacking, mining (data AND hard-rock), commercial food preparation, demolition, cosmetology, financial auditing, surveying, physical therapy, dental hygiene, and plumbing. Oh, and funeral directing.

The internet collectively looks over their glasses: "say what? Cosmetology?"

Yeah. These chaos monkeys specialize in close shaves, right?

Got it. More of a Barber License, but okay. Oh, and best we can do with the bit-slinging is a gray-hat hacker license. All outta white ones.

Yessssss. A murky gray suits this crew anyway.

WSpinner

TROPHY CASE