wooden pen holders becoming waterlogged

[Leanda]

I recently upgraded from my standard Speedball oblique holder to a couple of lovely handturned wooden ones (like Century type). I really enjoy using them and think my writing has drastically improved. However, I'm experiencing a couple of problems. First off, when I dip into the pot, the base of the holder gets covered in ink. Secondly, I'm really anxious about washing them and worried that the wood will split from becoming waterlogged. Any helpful tips would be welcome!

[Salman Khattak]

Ideally the holders should be kept dry and free of ink. Transferring your ink to a wide mouth bottle helps a lot with not dipping too deeply and for keeping the holder from touching the sides. For occasional smears, you can wipe the ink off with a wet tissue or rag. I don't think you need to wash the holder.

The small 1oz. jam jars are great for this purpose - as are dinky dips from JNB.

Salman

[Ergative]

I myself like the ink-bespattered look of a well-used wooden holder. The only holders I've ever damaged or broken have either been the result of the ferrule of a straight holder rusting (because of poor nib hygiene and sloppy washing), or the plastic of an oblique holder snapping when I tried to pull the nib out of the flange (which was rusted/dry-inked into place, again due to poor nib hygiene and this time no washing).

So if you extrapolate from my experience, the weak points are the plastic and metal components, not the wood.

[YokePenCo]

Keep it out of the ink

Other than that you can seal the end of the holder with Beeswax.

[Leanda]

Keep it out of the ink

Other than that you can seal the end of the holder with Beeswax.

Thank you Christopher, I guess that's the definitive answer! I'm better at keeping it dry now

[AmyNeub]

I seal mine with clear nail polish. That really helps and you can easily wipe off the ink.

[Leanda]

I seal mine with clear nail polish. That really helps and you can easily wipe off the ink.

Great tip! Thanks Amy