If you happen to have bought a fountain pen recently, you are probably thrilled with your purchase. A good fountain pen can swoop you back to an era before computers. Fountain pens write smoothly, and they do so without making your hand or wrist ache at all. It even sometimes seems as though a fountain pen enables you to express your thoughts more clearly than you ever could with a computer or a ballpoint pen! But if you recently purchased a fountain pen, there is also a chance that you have come to be frustrated with your purchase. Perhaps the ink is sticking. Perhaps it is not writing as smoothly as you would like! You might even have a pen where no ink is coming out at all. If you have found any of these to be the case, you might be due for a lesson in fountain pen care.

One of the first things you need to know about your fountain pen is that it should always be stored with the point facing upward. If you store it with the point facing downward, ink can dry in the nib. Furthermore, whenever you are not using your fountain pen, you should make sure to keep the cap on it. This will also help to make sure ink is not drying in the nib.

Do not shake the pen like you would with a regular pen, if the ink gets stuck. Do not start scraping it all across the paper, pressed down really hard! These are both very bad for your fountain pen. Instead, you should remove the back end of the pen, and you should push the ink down just a bit. Your pen will start writing just fine once you do this, as this will open up the nib.

Lasly, keep in mind that one of the purposes of a fountain pen is for you to be able to write without pressing down really hard. Not only will you negate the benefits of a fountain pen if you get yourself in the habit of pressing down really hard with it, but you will also hurt your pen so that it eventually will no longer work like it is supposed to.

For anyone who enjoys journaling or keeping thoughts in a notebook, there are few joys as wonderful as a fountain pen. And your fountain pen can remain a real treat for you for a long time if you take the time to learn proper fountain pen care.