Owned well, a good pen outlasts the desk it sits on.

Fountain pen care and flushing

A fountain pen that writes every day rarely needs flushing. The act of writing keeps the ink flowing. The pen that needs care is the one that has been sitting, uncapped and unused, for more than a week or two.

To flush a Parker fountain pen, remove the cartridge or converter and run cool water through the nib section until the water runs clear. Do not use hot water and do not disassemble the nib unless the pen is genuinely blocked. Let the nib section air-dry, nib-down on a folded piece of kitchen paper, for a few hours before reinserting a cartridge.

If the pen has dried out completely and a water flush does not clear it, a fifteen-minute soak in cool water usually will. The Parker nibs are robust. Patience is the tool.

For storage over weeks: cap the pen firmly, store it horizontally or nib-up, and do not leave it in direct sun or in a hot car. Fountain pen inks are dye-based and will fade with UV exposure over time if left uncapped.

Changing and choosing refills

The Parker G2-format refill fits the Jotter ballpoint and most other Parker ballpoints. It is the most common premium refill format in the world and is available in fine and medium nibs, in black and blue, from authorised Australian stockists. We carry Parker refills in the Refills & Inks category.

Rollerball refills use a different format from ballpoint refills. The Parker rollerball takes a dedicated liquid-ink cartridge, which is not interchangeable with the ballpoint G2 refill. Check your pen model before ordering. The refill type is printed on the packaging and on the cartridge itself.

For gel pens, Uni-Ball and Uni refills are proprietary to their pen model. The refill SKU is usually printed in the pen instructions or on the barrel under the grip section. When in doubt, contact us with the pen model and we will confirm the correct refill.

Marker and pigment care

Posca and other water-based paint markers have a soft valve tip that primes before first use: shake well with the cap on, then press the tip gently onto a spare surface several times until the pigment flows consistently. Do not prime on the surface you care about.

After use, recap immediately. A Posca left uncapped for more than a few minutes will start to dry at the tip. If the tip has dried, remove it carefully with fine-nosed tweezers, soak in water for ten minutes, and reinstall. The barrel of pigment inside is almost certainly fine.

Store markers horizontally. Vertical storage, particularly nib-down, can flood the tip and nib-up can let the pigment settle away from the valve. Horizontal is the neutral position.

For Staedtler Lumocolor and Pigment Liner pens: these are pigment ink, waterproof when dry, and extremely long-lived if capped. If a Pigment Liner has dried out, it almost always means the cap was left off. There is no revival for a dried pigment-ink fineliner: replace the pen. This is not a quality flaw, it is physics.

Metal and lacquer finishes

The Parker Sonnet and Duofold are lacquered barrels over brass. They are not fragile, but they are not indestructible either. Avoid prolonged contact with solvents, perfumes and sunscreen, which will cloud a lacquer finish over time. Wipe with a soft, dry cloth after use. Do not use abrasive cleaners.

Brushed stainless steel, the finish on the Parker IM and Jotter stainless, scratches at first and then develops a patina. This is not a defect. The brushed finish is designed to age into something that looks owned. Let it.

Chrome-plated trim, the rings and clips on most Parker models, can be cleaned with a dry cloth. Do not use metal polish unless the chrome has genuinely tarnished, which is rare in normal use.

Resin and acrylic barrels, found on some Staedtler and specialist pens, are the most durable finish for everyday use. Wipe clean. They do not require any special treatment.

General longevity

A premium pen looked after properly is a companion for decades. The things that kill a pen early are the obvious ones: leaving it uncapped in a bag, dropping it nib-first onto a hard surface, or letting ink dry in a fountain pen and then using force to clear it.

A pen that writes every day is easier to maintain than one that sits unused. If you know you will not be using a pen for more than two or three weeks, flush a fountain pen, remove the cartridge, and store the pen dry. A ballpoint or rollerball can be capped and left indefinitely.

If a pen is not writing as it should, the answer is almost always the refill or the ink, not the pen. A blocked nib, a skipping ballpoint, a dried-out gel: in almost every case, a fresh refill will fix the problem. Do not assume the pen is broken.