How to Revive a Gel Pen [A Complete Guide]

Gel pen is elegant with its own qualities. It is smooth-flowing, more vivid, water and rust-resistant. Who won’t love this multi-purpose gel pen? It thrills every customer from kids to young or old generation. It will give you an extraordinary writing experience.

Of course, it’s upsetting when your gel pen suddenly stops working. No worries, you can fix it. Without skipping, just read our complete guide about how to revive a gel pen.

Also Read: The Best Mechanical Pencil Lead Reviews

Why My Gel Pen Doesn’t Work?

Before you are going to apply any technique to get your gel pen revive, you have to figure out the reasons why your gel pen does not work. Here are some reasons.

When the air gets inside the ink: Sometimes when you are in a hurry, you may forget to put the cap on your pen. Keep in mind that you allow the air to get inside the ink holder. If it happens, the ink flow of your pen will block slowly and causing it not to flow thoroughly. Finally, your pen will just stop working.

When you don’t use them for a long time: Gel pens are prone to dry out easily. Especially when you leave your gel pen unused for a long time, it will clog or dries out the ink. Then slowly it will stop working.

When you store your pen in an improper way: Do you just leave your pens anywhere carelessly after using them? Never do it. Keep your gel pen in an upright position so that the ink won’t leak and will not release unnecessary ink. If it happens, they skip and stop working badly.

Avoid them from falling on the ground: When your gel pens fall repeatedly on the ground, they can create the cause to stop working. Try to avoid it.

Handle your gel pens carefully: If you don’t handle your pen sensibly, it might not work. So, it’s necessary to maintain them carefully with watchfulness.

Why Do Gel Pens Dry Out?

Gel pens dry out because they use a water-based ink that is made of powder pigments. It has tendency to vaporize than ballpoint pens ink which is made of dye and entirely dissolved in oil-based ink.

It also dries out if you place the pen with the tip facing up or forget to put the cap. Sometimes you may not use it for a long time which can be a reason to dry out your favorite gel pen ink.

How to Revive a Gel Pen: Follow these Steps

Suppose you were writing down something important or special with your favorite gel pen and unexpectedly it stopped functioning. You continuously tried to get some ink out. But badly you failed. Oops, it’s so irritating! It’s just spoiling your mood, right?

Don’t be upset, good news for you. You can revive your pen. Just follow some tips and tricks. Here are some tips on how to revive a gel pen. Let’s have a look –

Shake Your Pen: As we said before in ‘Why My Gel Pen Doesn’t Work’, when you leave your pen uncapped, air can easily get inside the cartridge. It can obstruct the ink flow and as a result, pen can stop working.

You can solve the problem by shaking the pen properly. Just hold your pen in a proper way. Hold on the opposite side of the tip. Then give it a few shakes in an upward and downward motion.

Clean the Tip of the Pen: Check if there is any dried ink on the tip of the pen. If needed, you can use a magnifying glass to check it. If you notice any dried ink, use a wet cloth to clean it properly. To avoid damage, don’t use any sharp objects to clean the tip.

Soak the Nib in Warm Water: When you notice that the tip doesn’t give you a positive result, you might need to clean the nib in warm water. It will help to liquefy the clogged ink.

For doing the task take a bowl or something else which can hold water. Then take a small amount of warm water in it. Unscrew the tip of the pen. Just soak the nib in warm water. Be careful. Don’t take too much warm water.

After soaking for a few minutes, screw the tip again and check the gel pen on a piece of paper whether it’s working or not. I hope it works.

Drop a Small Amount of Warm Water inside the Ink Cartridge: If you don’t use your gel pen for a long period, the ink of the cartridge can dry easily.

If you guess that, unscrew the cap of the pen and take the ink cartridge out from the barrel. Then drop a little amount of warm water inside the ink cartridge. Never take too much warm water. It may cause to severe damage of your ink cartridge. You can use a small dropper to pour water.

Give it proper shakes. Do the whole process slowly. It will help to liquefy the dry ink and maintain the ink flow thoroughly. Now time to put the ink cartridge in the barrel and screw the tip. Check that your gel pen is working smoothly again.

Soak the Tip in a Small Amount of Acetone: Acetone is one kind of chemical. It’s a colorless liquid. It can help in unclogging the ink of a gel pen. Take a small amount of acetone. Then soak the nib of your pen in acetone. Don’t take too much time. A few seconds is enough. Use a soft cloth to clean or dry the tip. Now try to write with it.

Use Rubbing Alcohol on the Tip to Liquefy the Dry Ink: You can use rubbing alcohol to revive your gel pen. Its application process is similar to using acetone. You can follow the procedure in ‘Soak the tip in a small amount of acetone’. Just use rubbing alcohol instead of acetone. Try to follow the trick when the warm water method doesn’t work.

Final Thoughts

It’s time to say yes to enjoy a great writing experience with your elegant gel pen. Whenever you are facing any problem with your gel pen, follow our tips to fix it. Save your money by reviving your gel pen. Use them carefully and always store them in a proper way to save them from drying again. I hope this article can help you enough. Enjoy it.