How to Clean, Refill and Maintain Namiki Emperor Fountain Pens (4K)

[@GeorgeKyprianides]

Best to use distilled water when cleaning such pens mainly because you don't know the water quality of tap water (minerals and other contaminants). It won't make a difference in the short term but over time, you will start noticing imperfections. So, best to be safe than sorry and use distilled water when performing maintenance or cleaning these. What process would you recommend for unclogging? Nice details and explanations that are very useful for early collectors to avoid damaging these masterpieces.

[@JapansPerfectPens]

Good comment George, thanks! I was deciding on this video whether to go full-blown best-of-the-best practices or not, and in the end I went with the more general 'good enough' level which I felt was consistent with the Namiki booklet supplied with the pens, and with the way they treat the pens themselves. But you are absolutely right, the purer the water the better if you live in an area with high minerals, limescale etc., some types of water will eventually cause imperfections which some people may notice. I've not had an issue with clogged ink yet on my Emperors, even after one got left inked with kon-peki on my desk (in its kimono) for 3 months when I got caught overseas with travel restrictions just as covid started, it actually wrote fine on my return and when I decided to clean 'just in case' it cleaned out nicely with water. The Namiki retailers and collectors I know well are all old-school and just use water (the collectors send the pen in for cleaning if it is clearly not working properly but that is rare) but I wouldn't read much into that, obviously plenty of people say use mild detergent with water but again I'm not going to take a position based on what I've heard when Namiki don't give their own advice.

[@lzalab2286]

it’s my dream Fountain Pen 😊

[@redemissarium]

this is actually very important video. I remember destroy one of my cheaper pilot metropolitan white tiger cleaning it with a eyeglass cleaner liquid because I never believe it really had japanese lacquer since it so cheap. I think its coating merely a cheap plastic coating like pylox airbrush 😅 Thanx got its not any makie fountain pen 😅

[@franciscomachado9946]

so appreciative for the vid.

[@JapansPerfectPens]

Most welcome!

[@Aj_98]

hi great view much appreciate it just wanted to touch on the back of the feed developing bubbles is this something that warranty will cover ? I know Namiki are great with product support especially lifetime warranty

[@mis8024]

Great info. Thank you

[@evavillamilsoler]

Thank you for this video. I just bought a Namiki Urushi 50 vermillion, and it was very practical for me. I am wondering that, given the felt like substance inside the cap, if it would be better to abstain from cleaning the insides with water.

[@radshet3830]

Thanks for the video. Do you need to apply silicone grease. Any recommendations on ink. As far as safe and also what goes through the feed. I like herbin pousierre de lune for its shading in general. I also have kon peki.

[@JapansPerfectPens]

Although I hear for other eyedropper pens (or preppy conversions etc) that silicone grease is necessary, it isn't for these and I've not met an owner who uses it for that (although I'm sure they exist).

[@GrantZaitchick]

Just to be clear, silicone grease is normally used if you have converted a pen to an eyedropper after purchasing it as a cartridge/converter. You do not want to use silicone grease if the pen was made to be an eyedropper in the first place.

[@adrianhughes5831]

I would recommend using a plastic bowl rather than a sink like this. If you drop your pen into the sink it is going to land on a very hard surface and could cause damage. A plastic bowl inside the sink eliminates such a hazard.

[@JapansPerfectPens]

Thanks Adrian, good practical advice.

[@TheRaizerx]

Thanks for this!

[@JapansPerfectPens]

You're most welcome!

[@TheWatchEnabler]

Silly question from a new 50 owner: Do you leave the back plunger open whilst writing, or do you fill the section, close it, and write till the ink gets thin, and reopen/refill?

[@jeffpark58]

Is it okay to clean and rinse the maki-e or Chinkin emperor as the same way you did with the No.50 urushi? Because it seems like maki-e or chinkin emperor is more delicate/fragile. Also, I have read some comments about urushi finishing on the feed might potentially cause bubbling, does this happens to all emperor line? I have so much to ask about this pen!

[@JapansPerfectPens]

Hi! Yes I have both chinkin and maki-e and I'd rinse both happily enough, then I'd dry them off. Urushi is used for dishes/plates in Japan so isn't going to be damaged by a little water for a few minutes. I don't think the chinkin is much more fragile than the 50 urushi, since the gold powder on the chinkin is chiselled into the thick urushi then more clear urushi is put on top - but the maki-e urushi mix will be a little more delicate as it doesn't have that layer of clear urushi (but still tough stuff that lasts a long long time as long as you care for it). The bubbling looks like it happens with humidity caused by inked pens with the caps on and temperature changes impacting the urushi on the feed but not on the rest of the pen - I've not seen any emperor with bubbling that wasn't inked and used regularly. It isn't something which I know in detail about other than to say it doesn't particularly bother me and if ever I did plan to sell my inked maki-e 50 I'd probably consider sending it in to Namiki and the plastic feed will be the cheapest part of the pen to replace if necessary.

[@aag24]

That’s fascinating. Thank you very much, sir! (You live in Canada, I thought you were British. Sorry for the confusion and question regarding the situation in the U.K.).

[@JapansPerfectPens]

This is a transition year for me, the channel is a Canada channel and I am indeed British despite having lived most of my adult life in different countries.

[@herograw]

I would recommend not squeezing the bulb so much before drawing up ink. Based on how much water was drawn up it came dangerously close to going past the glass and entering into the bulb. Most fountain pen inks will be inert to glass but not necessarily so with the bulb. Additionally, you might not realize that there is ink left in the bulb, which would lead to future contamination.

[@strshooter7399]

Hi, since I don’t own an Emperor, I noticed that when filling (with water) and then rinsing, you didn’t open the valve. … At least I think you didn’t… . So, opening or having it closed doesn’t affect whether or not the barrel can be filled? I mean, it sure looked like it didn’t need to be open. With that being the case, how does the valve work in closing off the feed section if having it closed doesn’t affect the filling/cleaning of the barrel? (Maybe this is something very obvious if I had a pen right in front of me, so my apologies for being a little dense). Thanks again for you great looking videos, and sharing your pens with us 🤗😎.

[@JapansPerfectPens]

Hi! It's a good question as how it fits together is not very obvious. With the valve closed, the plug part (which is slightly mushroom shaped) that is at the opposite end of the barrel to where you turn the valve is at its most forward, and it is sealed against the section. This stops ink moving between the barrel and section. When you unscrew the valve, you are pulling this plug back down the pen and away from the section, and a gap opens up allowing the ink through. Where it is a little confusing on the visuals is that when you unscrew the section from the barrel, the plug isn't sealed against that end of the barrel in any way (it looks like a small mushroom on a long stalk disappearing into the barrel), so you can fill ink past it or wash the pen out without unscrewing it at all. The only sealing happens when the valve is completely closed and the section is attached, then it the plug seals the section.

[@strshooter7399]

@@JapansPerfectPens wow, great explanation! Thank you :-) Your collection is really fantastic.

[@JapansPerfectPens]

It's not my collection, almost all of it is loaned to me for reviewing :) but my single Emperor Goldfish is indeed fantastic and I treasure it!

[@strshooter7399]

@@JapansPerfectPens I remember that review, beautiful pen :-) . You do a wondrrful job of videoing (is that a word?) , lighting. Images are clear. Regardless, thank you for your time and effort. :-)

[@JapansPerfectPens]

@@strshooter7399 Thank you! I've fortunately got a good camera and lenses for this work, and since I started recording have picked up a good microphone so the quality of the videos now from a purely technical side is much better now and eventually I'll re-record the first few videos to make them all consistent.

[@nurmister]

Great video! It seems you're right about the source of feed-bubbles: cap condensation attacking the feed urushi. To test this, I've been using my No. 50 and then leaving it uncapped between uses for about the past month. No bubbles. And this is Singapore, so there's enough humidity out in the open, too. Other hypotheses I had seen about this online pointed to bubbles being inevitable if the feed got wet. Mine has accidentally got wet during cleaning a few times, so I doubt this is true. Speaking of water, though, I'm surprised you wash the pen's body and section so liberally with water; I've avoided this, using a damp cloth at most. It seems like it has no effect on your pen, since you don't seem to soak the body. In both the feed and body cases it seems the issue is prolonged exposure. I wish they had just used black/red ebonite for Namiki-line feeds, though. I can't see why not. There's another subtle issue with this, too. The plastic back of the feed is ribbed. Pressing the feed while cleaning of water has left indentations in the urushi as it sinks into the depressions between the ribs. I use a Nakaya kimono for the emperor, it just fits. And I too use the Nakaya cloth, haha. What's the silk pouch you've shown here?

[@JapansPerfectPens]

I'm happy to get it wet to clean it but won't leave it sitting in water and as soon as the video finished I wiped it off. I think the feed bubbles on the black 50 urushi were exaggerated when I left it inked but unused for 3 months due to being away and flights home being cancelled - my goldfish has less and very small bubbling, and a friend's much older in-use 50 has much more bubbling. As I mentioned I'm not particulally bothered by it, and I presume they have good reasons for building it the way they do (though I'd like to know the logic). I use my Izumo kimono and may well also use a Nakaya kimono when it arrives on my 17mm long cigar Nakaya later this year, the pouch I found in Kyoto and it is nice but permanently open in one direction at the end so I just rotate it downwards away from the light. Still not found a perfect kimono for the 50s yet, but what I have is sufficient for keeping them well.

[@nurmister]

@@JapansPerfectPens Yes, I'm sure there's a deliberate reason. The 80th anniversary "Yukari Royales" had urushi on the finned feed which didn't age well, and so they didn't include it in the production line, perhaps because of this issue. Maybe they don't consider the bubbling a problem enough. As for the Nakaya kimono, if it's the blue one with the golden rose pattern you'll be receiving, that fits the No. 50 snugly. The lining is polyester instead of silk which isn't ideal but it should induce scratches on rubbing with urushi. Just wish the kimono was a tiny bit longer and wider.

[@JapansPerfectPens]

Ah thanks good to know, I was thinking of asking them to send me an extra kimono so one for the Nakaya and the other for the Goldfish but I'd prefer it if the design wasn't identical so I dont have to identify the pens by feel each time :)

[@jonandresen1483]

Whoa, better to use a screen over the drain!

[@JapansPerfectPens]

It's too big to fit through.. usually there is a plastic cover on top as well but I removed it this one time :) although if I'd done that part of the review with the Goldfish instead it would have remained in place!

[@jhs1710]

Using a syringe for filling is much safer, since the ink can bubble quite excessively when using the eyedropper.

[@yuhsiang5852]

Yes I agree with you, I always using a syringe for filling too.

[@JapansPerfectPens]

Excellent point and if I was filling a cartridge I'd undoubtably prefer a syringe, but for these huge capacity barrels the ink is going to splash a little down into the barrel however you put it in, and any significant shake of the pen would be causing bubbles as well. So I decided to go ahead and use the eyedropper that is supplied with the pen on the basis that this video is showing what Namiki think needs to be done to maintain the pens (and it isn't a big enough worry for them to supply a syringe instead of an eyedropper which would probably be cheaper). But in general I completely agree that a syringe is a generally more useful way of filling up ink in fountain pens. Thinking about it I suppose the capacity being so large, when you fill up the proportion of liquid ink to bubbles is going to be less bubbly than filling up something smaller, and so it is less likely to generate the associated problems - certainly I've never had a bubble-generated problem from writing with my 50s.

[@coveringgrape5251]

Sorry but first view and comment!

[@JapansPerfectPens]

I'd love to offer you a pen as a reward but the channel will need to grow by a few thousand times to pay for a Preppy :)

[@yuhsiang5852]

@@JapansPerfectPens I believe that more and more people will like such high-quality videos and these beautiful artworks

[@coveringgrape5251]

@@JapansPerfectPens These pens are a motivation for me to work harder. I hope to buy and emperor level pen in a decade or two, need to wait for a design I like.