Looking After Pens So They Do Not Dry Out

Most pens are thrown away with ink still in them. The causes are few and mostly preventable.

Store pens with the tip down — usually

For ballpoints and rollerballs, storing tip down keeps ink at the writing end and reduces the air gap that causes skipping. A pen cup is the right storage for these.

For fountain pens the rule reverses: store them horizontally or nib up if they will not be used for a while, so ink does not sit in the feed and dry, or leak.

Cap them

Obvious and routinely neglected. An uncapped rollerball or fineliner dries at the tip within hours. Ballpoints tolerate it better but still skip on the first strokes afterwards.

If a pen has a click mechanism rather than a cap, retract it. The mechanism seals the tip against a plug.

Why a pen skips

Air in the ink column

Common in ballpoints carried in a bag, particularly if they have been at altitude or in heat. Scribbling in circles on scrap paper usually clears it. Warming the tip briefly in a hand can help.

Dried ink at the tip

The tip has been left uncapped. Wiping the tip on damp paper often revives a rollerball; a fineliner left uncapped for days is usually gone.

Paper

Very smooth or coated paper can make a ballpoint skip because the ball does not get enough friction to rotate. This is a paper problem, not a pen problem.

Temperature matters more than expected

Ballpoint ink thickens when cold and thins when hot. A pen left in a car in summer can leak; the same pen in winter will write faintly until warmed.

Do not store pens on a windowsill or near a heater. Sunlight also fades ink in the barrel over time.

Fountain pens

• Flush with cool water when changing ink colour, or every month or two with regular use.
• Never use hot water — it can damage the feed.
• If a pen is being put away for a long period, empty and flush it. Ink left to dry in a feed is the most common cause of a blocked fountain pen.
• Use ink intended for fountain pens. Drawing and calligraphy inks contain particles or shellac that will clog a feed.

Gel pens

Gel ink dries slowly on the page and quickly in the tip. Cap them promptly, and expect them to need a few strokes to restart after a day or two idle.

They also empty faster than ballpoints — a gel pen laying down more ink per line is the reason it writes more smoothly.

Markers and highlighters

Store horizontally. Chisel-tip markers stored vertically pool ink at one end and the tip either floods or dries.

A highlighter that has dried can sometimes be revived by standing it tip down for a few minutes — but not if it has been uncapped for weeks.

When a pen is genuinely finished

You can usually see the ink level in a ballpoint refill. If there is ink and it will not write after scribbling and a tip wipe, the ball or its housing is damaged and the refill needs replacing.

For pens that take refills, replacing the refill is cheaper than replacing the pen and produces less waste. Note the refill type — it is usually printed on the refill itself.

Browse the Pens range — nib size, ink type and pack quantity on every listing — or ask us what else is at the counter.