Inks For Flex To Kick Those Railroads

[lamder]

There have been quite a few "best inks for flex writing" threads in the past, but I found most of them focused on aspects like featherproofness, wet/dry, shading and color. All important aspects that I care about too, but here I am asking for suggestions for inks that are good for a few finicky flex nibs that tend to railroad more than others. Examples of what I am looking for are Yoda4561's experience with Burma Road Brown (https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/index.php?/topic/183968-best-inks-for-flex-pens/page__view__findpost__p__1855183) and Surnia's thoughts on Diamine Chocolate Brown a few comments further down.

 

Thanks,

Sam

[lamder]

From personal experience, I found in general yellow/orange/green inks have a greater tendency to railroad more than other colors. Sailor Shigure was a surprise winner among the Jentle samples I have. Diamine Golden Brown, Oxblood, Majestic Blue have worked well in several of my flex pens, but I have had seen some bad days with them on the most finicky nibs, so I am not so sure any more.

 

Finally, through all these testing I also learned it is important to clean/dry the pens thoroughly because the presence of excess water or an 'incompatible' ink of another color seem to affect the tendency to railroad quite a bit.

 

Sam

[Mauricio]

Sam,

 

Railroading when using flexible nibs and flexible writing is caused either by:

 

1. The flex nib
2. The inner components of the pen that are uncapable to supply the larger amounts of ink required by those flex nibs in certain strokes
3. The pen/nib setup.

Most fountain pen inks available in the marketplace are good inks and should not make a huge difference in regards to railroading. But, the pen, nib and the pen/nib setup will certainly make a huge difference. Even some fo the best flexible nibs and best fountain pens cannot keep up with the ink demands from those flexible nibs unless they have been nicely setup for those demands. Please check the following article as I elaborate quite a bit on what makes Performance Flexible Writing

 

 

[lamder]

Sam,

 

Railroading when using flexible nibs and flexible writing is caused either by:

 

1. The flex nib
2. The inner components of the pen that are uncapable to supply the larger amounts of ink required by those flex nibs in certain strokes
3. The pen/nib setup.

Most fountain pen inks available in the marketplace are good inks and should not make a huge difference in regards to railroading. But, the pen, nib and the pen/nib setup will certainly make a huge difference. Even some fo the best flexible nibs and best fountain pens cannot keep up with the ink demands from those flexible nibs unless they have been nicely setup for those demands. Please check the following article as I elaborate quite a bit on what makes Performance Flexible Writing

 

Thanks for the pointers, Mauricio. I have always enjoyed your posts/comments and that URL link was no different. I would agree that of all the factors that goes into making a flex pen write the way you want it to, ink choice is among the least important.

 

I am lucky to own a few vintage superflex pens that are high-performing. I can pretty much throw any decent FP ink at them and they will write well, even when highly flexed. However, I also have a few pens whose nibs are more finicky. When using them I seem to see some correlation between ink choice and how easy they railroad when flexed.

 

I also noticed a similar behavior when testing inks using dip pen nibs. I know it is not the same thing but perhaps one way to look at the dip pen tests is that I have eliminated everything else about the pen but the nib. The tests vary a single component, which is the ink used. What I observed is that there seems to be just something about certain inks that makes it harder to for them to maintain a film between the tines when the nib is substantially flexed. I have not found any patterns in terms of what works better or worse other than that the inks I have with a yellow component seem to railroad more than others on both dip pens and FPs.

 

Having said all this, I still have no definitive proof that ink choice can affect "railroadability" on less accommodating flex nibs since I can easily be a victim of observer bias, operator incosistency or mere small sample sizes.

 

Cheers,

Sam

[Uncle Red]

I have inks that work almost all the time, almost. Try PR Velvet Black and Diamine Washable Blue.

[codster]

Namiki Blue and Namiki Black solved all of my railroading problems with my Pilot FA nib. Previously my best options were Waterman Purple, Green, and South Seas Blue which were alright but still left me frustrated with railroading.

 

Pilot Iroshizuku Yama Guri has been the only ink I tried from that expensive line, and it also performed well but not to the same extent of Namiki Blue or Black.

 

My most disappointing ink has been Diamine Meadow. This green does the splits in every flex nib I have tried. Even in regular pens, it seems to take on poor flow issues after a few days.

[lamder]

I have inks that work almost all the time, almost. Try PR Velvet Black and Diamine Washable Blue.

 

Thanks, Uncle Red. Still had a sample of PR Velvet Black so I put it to do. Yep, works pretty well with a pen dipped with it, I can imagine it being quite reliable if one uses it to fill. Washable Blue is looking very intriguing right now.

 

Namiki Blue and Namiki Black solved all of my railroading problems with my Pilot FA nib. Previously my best options were Waterman Purple, Green, and South Seas Blue which were alright but still left me frustrated with railroading.

 

Pilot Iroshizuku Yama Guri has been the only ink I tried from that expensive line, and it also performed well but not to the same extent of Namiki Blue or Black.

 

My most disappointing ink has been Diamine Meadow. This green does the splits in every flex nib I have tried. Even in regular pens, it seems to take on poor flow issues after a few days.

 

Thanks, codster. Have never tried Namiki inks, maybe I would spring for a sample or two now. I had a chance to play with Yama Guri, and I thought it did quite okay in my finicky pens. I really like how it looked on cream paper, with subtle but nice visible shading for an ink this dark.

 

Sam