posted on March 31, 2001 07:12:49 PM
Just got back from an auction where I purchased a box of old ink bottles. Two questions: (1) What is the best and easiest method to clean out old dried up ink from inside the bottles, and (2) What's the proper term for those short round bottles that fit into the hole in the desk? Are they all called ink bottles (including the tall ones?)
Most old types of ink were water soluble. Try warm, soapy water if there are no paper labels to worry about. If there are labels, it will require more care of course. I think they're called ink wells if they fit into a recessed hole.
All others are called bottles, whether short or tall.
[ edited by loosecannon on Mar 31, 2001 07:29 PM ]
posted on March 31, 2001 08:07:38 PM
joycel - If soapy water does not do the trick, dissolve some powdered dishwasher detergent (such as Cascade) in some very hot water and leave it standing in the bottles overnight.
posted on March 31, 2001 08:20:25 PM
I don't know. I thought it was called an ink well because it's a little "well" of ink that a pen was dipped into.
These would have been used with the old fashioned "dip" pens most likely.
Other ink bottles were meant for fountain pens. A fountain pen is any of many types of pen that has some kind of "resevoir" for holding a small quantity of ink.
