Is Lamy Blue Black Waterproof?

[theriddler]

I used to use the Tesco 99p fountain pen for fun. Now I have bought a Lamy Nexx to use for uni.

 

Is the new formulation of Lamy blue-black bottled ink waterproof?

 

The seller I bought my pen from said that the bottled ink is the same as the cartridge.

 

I need the ink to be waterproof because I want to highlight my notes, and the condensation from cold drinks will smear the ink.

 

Noodler's ink is too expensive to get shipped from the US.

[WendyNC]

The stuff in the cartridges was never waterproof. The bottled ink used to be iron gall (which provided some good water resistance), but the formula was changed in the last year so that the ink in the bottles is the same as the ink in the cartridges.

[kushbaby]

The old bottled formulation is waterproof/resistant and great. Then they went and changed it... Which is why I bought enough to last me through the zombie apocalypse. Bring it on - I'm ready for anything!

[N2theBreach]

I just bought a bottle of Lamy blue black. It is not waterproof. It is somewhat waterresistant. If you splash water on it, it will bleed some of the ink, but it is till legible. I also ran it under a tap for 3-5 seconds. The bulk of the ink washed away, however there was a shadow left, again still legible. It probably would not hold up well to a water-based highlighter.

 

The color is a bit disappointing. There is not as much blue as I had hoped, and it looks light gray under some lighting.

 

Hope this helps.

[MaikeruS]

Hmm, if you're interesting in the old Lamy Blue-Black, you might like Montblanc Midnight Blue. It's more expensive, sure, but the bottle is pretty nice, it's just as waterproof as the Lamy ink, and the color is less grey. Melpens, a Malaysian company, has it for $19 USD before shipping.

[bunnspecial]

Hmm, if you're interesting in the old Lamy Blue-Black, you might like Montblanc Midnight Blue. It's more expensive, sure, but the bottle is pretty nice, it's just as waterproof as the Lamy ink, and the color is less grey. Melpens, a Malaysian company, has it for $19 USD before shipping.

 

Even though I still have 3/4 of a bottle of the old iron gall Lamy, I bought a bottle of Midnight Blue and have pretty much switched over to using it. It's a slightly different feeling ink than the Lamy and goes down with more of a purple tinge rather than the blue-green of the Lamy, but once dried I don't see much difference between the two. I also think that the Montblanc is a little bit wetter(and more lubricating) than the Lamy, although both are fairly dry inks.

 

I think that anyone who likes the old Lamy will like the Montblanc also.

[theriddler]

How's Diamine Registrar's Ink?

 

As it happens, I live in Malaysia so it's cheaper buying from these few Malaysian sites.

[shahrincamille]

If you live in the Klang Valley and interested in Diamine's inks you might want to check them out at both PenGallery at The Weld, and KS Gill's at Jalan TAR opposite the Tune Hotel. The latter also has in stock Lamy's inks, and if I'm not mistaken the iron-gall Blue-Black one too but I can't be too sure of the current situation as I haven't been to both places for quite some time due to work commitments.

 

KS Gill's also has an in-house pen repairer, so if you have any pens that require repairs or tuning you might want to bring them along too

 

 

 

Shahrin

[Sandy1]

Hi,

 

You may also consider using Pelikan Blue-Black or Pilot/Namiki Blue-Black.

 

Those inks have a Blue colour dye component that might not be totally resistant to highlighter ink, so the Blue would be added to the colour of the highlighter ink - hopefully without too much smudging.

 

So if you're using a highlighter with Yellow colour ink, the result might be a somewhat Green colour highlight. Green is often a good thing - it can be seen more readily than Yellow under ye olde fashioned filament incandescent light bulbs.

 

Bye,

S1

[MaikeruS]

How's Diamine Registrar's Ink?

 

As it happens, I live in Malaysia so it's cheaper buying from these few Malaysian sites.

 

Diamine Registrar's Ink is much like the old Lamy Blue-Black, just more expensive, and turns more to grey-black after time.

 

The new Blue-Black is actually quite nice, and rather more blue. It is water-resistant but not quite to the level of iron-gall inks. I direct you to Sandy1's excellent review of the Lamy Blue-Black cartridge ink, which is made to the same formula.

[theriddler]

I'm considering Diamine Registrar's ink over MontBlanc Blue Black because it's cheaper.

 

I have a blue black cartridge that the seller included with my Lamy Nexx. Highlighters only smear it a little but my main concern is wet hands and condensation from cold drinks ruining the ink.

[emiliovillegas]

I would say it's not bulletproof but waterresistant and I also think that it is still an iron gall ink.

Cheers

[DanielCoffey]

If you can get Diamine Registrar's, I'd say try it. If you find it works for you, go up a size to the big bottle.

 

Once it is dry on the paper, only the (very weak) blue component will shift with water or highlighter leaving the iron gall behind. See the water test pics in my review HERE.

 

Cleaning instructions if you ever get a clog with iron galls are... water rinse, white vinegar soak (to dissolve the iron), water rinse, dilute ammonia soak (to dissolve the dye), water rinse. Remember to clean the pen and cap WELL before filling with iron gall and afterwards if changing back to a standard ink.

 

If you are a one pen - one ink person, there is NO reason not to use an iron gall ink if you like the colour or behaviour. It will not eat your pen as the modern FP-friendly inks are designed to be balanced.

[yoitzo]

How do you know if you have the old formulation or the new formulation? My boyfriend bought one a year ago and wants to use it in his vintage pens but we're not sure if it's the new formulation or the old one...

[Laura N]

How do you know if you have the old formulation or the new formulation? My boyfriend bought one a year ago and wants to use it in his vintage pens but we're not sure if it's the new formulation or the old one...

 

That should definitely be the iron gall version. The changeover seems to have happened recently. To verify, just write something and check the waterproofness.

 

By the way, I have the iron gall version in a vintage Pelikan, myself. Don't be scared to use it. It's a drier ink, so it's a great match for a pen that writes wet. Daniel Coffey has excellent cleaning instructions, above.

[cvac]

I purchased a bottle recently off Amazon through a 3rd party seller and it is definitely waterproof - I tested it twice. I had no idea about the changeover in ingredients...maybe it hasn't happened yet or maybe a lot of sellers are sitting on old stock. If it's true that newer bottles aren't waterproof/iron gall that's really too bad.

 

Sure you can get other blue/black i.g./waterproof inks but a lot of those just write black/gray and don't look like the Lamy b/b stuff does...

 

I have a bottle of Diamine Registrar's that I need to try and I will prob get ESRRI too, but I'm glad to have the lamy .

[yoitzo]

I'll definitely be testing it out! Thanks!

[wallylynn]

Sure you can get other blue/black i.g./waterproof inks but a lot of those just write black/gray and don't look like the Lamy b/b stuff does...

I guess your experience is the opposite of mine. My Lamy B/B was much too pale to write with. I had to add extra blue. My MontBlanc Midnight Blue, and Chesterfield Archival (aka. repackaged Diamine Registrars) were both much darker. That was with a Vista. Now I'm using a Nib Creaper and the Archival might be too dark. I'll try the Lamy again. Oh woe is me. Should I save that Lamy ink?

[cvac]

What nib size is your Vista? You may want to try it in a different pen and/or different paper.

 

I've used it in a Lamy 2000 Medium and my NOS Clipper fine semi-flex...it's plenty dark in those pens.

 

For paper I've used Rhodia, Clairfontaine, Mnemosyne, and Staples Sustainable Earth. No problems on any of them.

 

Sure you can get other blue/black i.g./waterproof inks but a lot of those just write black/gray and don't look like the Lamy b/b stuff does...

I guess your experience is the opposite of mine. My Lamy B/B was much too pale to write with. I had to add extra blue. My MontBlanc Midnight Blue, and Chesterfield Archival (aka. repackaged Diamine Registrars) were both much darker. That was with a Vista. Now I'm using a Nib Creaper and the Archival might be too dark. I'll try the Lamy again. Oh woe is me. Should I save that Lamy ink?

[wallylynn]

I guess my Vista (F nib, my only pen as EDC) was just a really dry writer. It was like that no matter what paper I used. I just filled my nib creaper with the lamy and it's quite legible now.