How to Refill a Pilot Varsity

I am in California right now and I don't have any fountain pens with me because I don't have a very good system down for traveling with my pens. But I miss them and I've been meaning to write this post for a while now. I also need writing practice for an upcoming ACT test. So here we go...

Things you will need:

• An Empty Varsity
• Paper towels (Ink can be messy)
• Pliers (may not be necessary)
• Pipette or eyedropper
• Fountain Pen Ink

The Pilot Varsity is a really nice little pen for the price. They are "disposable", but they can get more use if you know how to refill them. Below is a picture of my two Varsitys, I have one that came filled with purple ink and another that came filled with blue ink. The original ink colour is indicated by the top of the cap. I scraped the grey coating off of the purple one, you can see the difference below. I will be refilling the purple one, so you'll get to see what it looks like inside.

 

Start out by removing the nib/feed from the pen body. You may need to use the pliers if this is the first time you are refilling. Make sure you cover the nib with a paper towel to protect it from the pliers. Then wash the nib/feed. I'm using a cup for the demonstation, but a sink works better, just be careful to not to let anything go down the drain. Seperate the nib from the feed and rinse until water is clear of ink.

 Pictured below is the feed with the nib removed.

 Rinse out the body and the cap. Let them air dry on a paper towel.

The Pilot Varsity has a unique wick feed. The ink is drawn down the wick to the nib, rather than the normal method of the writing paper drawing the ink from the feed.

Because of this feature, you need to make sure you rinse the wick out really well, especially if you want to refill with a lighter coloured ink.

I'm going to refill with Noodler's Dark Matter Ink. I wrote a review of it here.

 Use your pipette or eye dropper to fill up the body of the pen. Don't fill it past the little ridge on the body. As you can see, the ink doesn't fill the entire body, but the ink capacity is quite a bit compared to other pens.

 

Put the nib back on the feed. The Varsity has a medium nib size, but I think it is more broad than other Japanese mediums.

 

 Reassemble the pen. Make sure you get the feed all the way back in or it will leak.

 Let the pen sit upside down for about an hour to let the wick start drawing the ink.

That's it! When you first begin to write with it the ink may appear watery from water in the wick, but it should fix itself.

Fountain Pen Ink Review: Noodler's Dark Matter

I enjoy nice writing instruments, especially fountain pens. Over the last year I have "gotten into" fountain pens. It is a very enjoyable "hobby" if I may even call it that, for fountain pens to me are not merely something fun to use (though they are), but practical tools I use daily. Today I would like to present my first fountain pen ink:

Black and blue inks are obvious staples, and for my first ink, I was practically inclined to purchase one of the two afore mentioned colours. I prefer black over blue for most things, so I went on a hunt for the black ink I wanted to use for a long time (because one does not use up a bottle of ink very quickly). First off, I don't require a super black black ink, so that was not one of the factors in my choice. Dark Matter could be discribed as a very dark grey on some paper, but for all my intents and purposes, it is black. In the end, what really sold on this particular ink verses all the others was that the story behind this ink is science related, and it's got a cool name: Dark Matter. I had also heard many good things about Noodler's Ink and thought that it would be a wise choice to purchase one of their inks.

So without further ado, here is my sample:

Yeah, I know, a Varsity is not very impressive, but that is the only pen I have Dark Matter in right now. But Varsitys write really well, can be refilled, and only cost a few dollars.

Being a novice to ink, this review is mainly for apearence/colour reference, and not for specifics like flow or lubrication.

Picture reference as well as where one may purchase this ink: Goulet Pen Co.

The story of this ink can be found here at Noodler's website.