MONDAY BLOG: Fill Me In! A Guide To Fountain Pen Filling Mechanisms (Part One) 🖋️

Discover the different filling systems and find the perfect match for your writing style!

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June 22, 2026 11:51am EDT

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Fill Me In! A Guide To Fountain Pen Filling Mechanisms (Part One)

You bought a fountain pen. Wonderful! But how do you fill it with ink? Don't worry, it isn't hard, and I'll explain in simple terms the easiest way for new fountain pen owners to get started. The deep-dive answer, though, may be more interesting and complicated than you think.

Did you know there are more than thirty different kinds of fountain pen converters? Modern fountain pens may also be filled using built-in piston, vacuum, pump-vacuum, or crescent-filling mechanisms, not to mention eyedropper filling! Let's take a look at all the different ways to fill fountain pens, along with some of the most popular pens designed to use each system.

In Part One, I'll cover cartridge/converter pens and piston fillers. Next week, I'll be back with Part Two to explore the rest!

Cartridge/Converter
The easiest and most convenient way to fill a fountain pen is with a cartridge: a disposable tube of ink that is simply pressed into the pen's section (the part you grip while writing), used until empty, then removed and replaced with a new one.

The majority of modern fountain pens accept cartridges, and your first fountain pen is pretty likely to be one of these, such as a Pilot Kaküno, Explorer, or MR (also known as the Metropolitan); a LAMY Safari or AL-Star; a Platinum Preppy; or a Kaweco Perkeo or Sport.

However, most pens that accept cartridges can also use a converter. This type of pen is known as a cartridge/converter, or C/C, pen. "Converter" is short for "cartridge-converter," because it converts a cartridge-filling pen into one that can be refilled from an ink bottle again and again. Like a cartridge, a converter is a removable ink reservoir, but it includes a built-in filling mechanism for drawing up ink.

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MONDAY BLOG: Fill Me In! A Guide To Fountain Pen Filling Mechanisms (Part One) 🖋️

Discover the different filling systems and find the perfect match for your writing style!

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