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Does writing on my skin damage the ballpoint cartridge?
I have a LAMY ballpoint pen, and before I put it to paper (copying notes or sketching) I do a quick stroke on the back of my hand, to get the ink going. But recently I find that the ink runs out really fast, or perhaps the ball mechanism is failing. Is that bad practice? Perhaps, oil from the skin messes up the ball?
1 Answer
- UserLv 74 years agoFavorite Answer
This is very common in ballpoints and is typically due to the wear (caused by friction) of the ball point tip.
I doubt very much that it is a consequence of writing on your skin - though that is not beyond all possibility.
I read an interesting article recently about China. Apparently their steel-making technology at the current time is not advanced enough to produce the ball of a ballpoint pen (which requires an especially hard and fine grade of steel), and as a result they have to import all of their pen balls for pen-making. The Chinese government has announced a program attempting to bring advanced steel-making technology into the country so that they make their own pen balls!
So: the manufacturing of a reliable ball point pen is actually at the "cutting edge" of steel-making technology, and that is why it is so common for such pens to begin to fail, to release ink more and more quickly, as the ball points see more use.
