Mastodawn

I'm seeing unverified claims that alcohol hurts plastic. I can believe that it hurts /some/ materials, but a petroleum product doesn't sound like one of them.

So it's experiment time! Mr. Preppy, here's your glass of Conundrum.

btw, even red wine is /very/ pale.

(The cracks were already there. Because it's a brand new Preppy.)

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Kevin B 2d ago

I just noticed that I didn't hashtag the first post. oh well.

2 months later, I'm not seeing any effect from the alcohol on the plastic. Maybe I should say *this* plastic, as there are many different types.

So anyways, if you wanted to try adding pure alcohol to ink, perhaps to help it dry faster, there are at least *some* pens that it won't hurt.

#fountainpens

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StarSloth 2d ago

@keraba twsbi pens can't handle it (maybe no instant effects but increases the risk of cracking), but it also depends on the alcohol. Some places in Europe at least there's sneaky acetone added to rubbing alcohol and yea, that'll hurt any plastic.

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Kevin B 2d ago

@silhelm

I would have thought that anything you did to a TWSBI would only decrease the risk of cracking ;-) but good to know.

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StarSloth

@keraba there's a warning label on the clip of the eco when it arrives. I don't actually personally know anyone with cracked pens (and I have a dozen myself, not being extra gentle with them either), though it's a wellknown phenomenon by word of mouth. Since it's a fixable issue, I guess it's rare enough it costs less (replacements plus customer dissatisfaction) than actually changing things for twsbi, which means it's not a big percentage.