Don't Leave Your Pens in Hot Cars

Now that summer weather is upon most of us, I thought it timely to mention that you should not leave your fine pen sitting in your hot car. Temperatures inside of your closed car can quickly soar into the  mid to upper 100's, which can cause cartridges to pop or materials to warp or split.

I learned this the hard way last April when temperatures were probably only in the 80's or 90's and one of my ballpoint pens popped a refill, which totally gummed up the mechanism. It took much rinsing with a formula of clear ammonia and water and many twisted up paper towels inserted into the pen to clean out the majority of the mess and get the pen working again.

So be safe - don't leave your pen in your hot car!

How to Keep Your Fountain Pen Writing Smoothly

The number one problem fountain pen users have is keeping their pen running smoothly. We hear this all the time: "I bought this pen a while ago and it wrote fine at first, but now it skips or doesn't write at all."

As a general rule, all that's needed is a cleaning as there is dried ink pigment clogging the works. What this means is that the nib and feed section must be flushed out. If you have the "converter", which is an optional device to fill the pen from a bottle, or if the pen has a built in piston, you will operate these to fill and flush your pen repeatedly until the water runs clear. Just use tepid water, no soap, no cleaning agents of any sort.

If you have been using cartridges, you still have to flush the system, but you're going to have to actually blow water repeatedly through the works. I do this all of the time here at the shop and it works very well.

If your fountain pen is still being stubborn after these steps, you can ramp up the cleaning solution with 10% clear ammonia. Ammonia will dissolve any remaining ink pigment in the feed. Obviously, you cannot to this if you are lacking a converter or piston. Do not put this kind of solution in your mouth!

Usually these simple methods will get your pen back in original working order.

Manufacturer Warranties

All pens at Scottsdale Pen carry a guarantee, or warranty, varying in length from one year to a lifetime.
Once a pen has been used and something goes wrong, and as long as the pen is within the warranty period, the item is shipped to the manufacturer for service. Each manufacturer handles these repairs in their own way, sometimes replacing defective parts, and at other times replacing the entire pen. The only cost to the customer is the shipping charges in a warranty situation.

There are often lengthy waiting periods for repairs ranging from a few weeks to a few months depending upon the manufacturer. The average waiting time is in the 8-12 week range.

Outside of the warranty period it is up to the consumer whether or not their pen is worth repairing and those decisions are made on a case-by-case basis.

Delta Hawaii Limited Ballpoint Arrives at Scottsdale Pen

Scottsdale Pen has just received it's first Delta Hawaii Kanaka Maoli Limited Edition Ballpoint Pen. This is the latest issue in the Delta Indigenous Peoples Collection, and many say this is their finest effort yet! As an avid fan of the Hawaiian Islands, the people, the history, and the culture, I have to agree. See for yourself by clicking here: http://www.scottsdalepen.com/delta-hawaii-kanaka-maoli-limited-edition-ballpoint-p-3431.html

Expanded Rhodia Selection at Scottsdale Pen

I have to admit, I'm a year behind on updating my Rhodia web pages. Today I finally added in many items that have been here since last spring. If you regularly visit our store you've seen the Rhodia tower not too far from the front door, but at last if you are an on-line shopper you can see a better representation of what Rhodia products we carry.

http://www.scottsdalepen.com/rhodia-writing-pads-c-418.html?osCsid=a68f8399354508679c25fa2932618d18