Best School Ink?

[Jezza]

My favorite standard ink is Pilot blue. It's quite affordable in a 70ml bottle, and behaves pretty well. Of course, it also depends on your pen. We can all recommend some great inks, but if your pen doesn't like them, it's all for naught.

[minddance]

My favorite standard ink is Pilot blue. It's quite affordable in a 70ml bottle, and behaves pretty well. Of course, it also depends on your pen. We can all recommend some great inks, but if your pen doesn't like them, it's all for naught.

Hi, what pen do you ink Pilot Blue with, if I may ask?

[Arkanabar]

To start, Behold the Index of Ink Reviews!! https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/160612-index-of-ink-reviews/

And it's not like you're hurting for choice. Between blue and black, and $15 and under, the Goulets have over 100 choices.

I would stay away from Baystate Blue in your circumstances. It fades like crazy, and will turn into an insoluble glop if mixed with even small residues of any other ink. Borealis Black feathers a lot IMX, though this can be somewhat mitigated by 1:1 dilution with distilled water. I'm not too fond of Bad Black Moccasin because it was really hard to clean out of a pen it dried up in. It also is improved by 1:1 dilution. So too is Noodler's Black, which otherwise tends to smudge.

Pelikan Brilliant Black has an excellent reputation. While its formulation is likely to have changed in the 25+ years since I last used it, I remember it having pretty good water and fade resistance.

R&K Salix deserves special mention, as it's the only iron gall ink in the list. IG inks contain a transparent solution that oxidizes into a dark gray solid on contact with air. They have been safely used in fountain pens for as long as there have been fountain pens, and the warnings you'll see about regular maintenance appear not to matter as much when you use the pen constantly. These inks are also noted for being waterproof and not feathering, ghosting, or striking through even the worst paper.

[welch]

Get a student-friendly ink: easily washable, in black, blue, or blue-black. If a review says that an ink won't wash out, it probably wants to stick inside carpets, clothes, desks, other furniture. About 60 years ago, I used Sheaffer Washable Black and Washable Blue-black. My parents insisted, since they had seen too many disasters with permanent inks when they were in school in the '30s.

 

Current makers?

 

- less concentrated Diamine inks, such as Sapphire Blue or Imperial Blue. Maybe their Blue-Black, but not Oxford Blue or Midnight Blue. Both will wash off hands, but it takes time.

 

- Pelikan Royal Blue.

 

- Current Parker Permanent Blue (I got a bottle from The Writing Desk in the UK. With shipping it was about $10 - $12 to US)

 

- Aurora Black, Blue, Blue-Black

 

- J. Herbin inks (expensive, though)

 

Pilot Iroshizuku inks,such as my favorite, Asa Gao, cost about $30 a bottle in the US. The simple Pilot inks are semi-permanent inks.

Edited March 25, 2018 by welch

[Torrilin]

Pilot Black is supposed to be pretty washable and it’s nice and cheap and writes very black. But I dislike how it feathers on many cheap papers. It can also be a touch smeary. I like their blue black, but I like most blue black inks. I hate most blue inks. The 70mL bottle is pretty and a good size to start with. The 350mL bottle is insanely cheap.

 

Lamy Black writes fairly dark despite being on the less saturated end. And it definitely fits the budget and the bottle can be reused. The blotting paper with the bottle is very helpful. Pelikan comes in 62.5mL bottles for $14, so it fits the budget. It writes very black and is quite popular, and Pelikan and Lamy both have good reputations for cheap paper.

 

Diamine you’ll get 80mL for your budget. There’s about a zillion choices (ok, call it 40ish). If you’re the sort who finds black ink soothing tho there’s rather fewer.

 

I’d definitely talk to your parents because you can definitely get a very large ink supply without breaking the budget (you’ll sometimes see the 350mL Pilot bottles for under $17 with free shipping). And if their main concern is that you don’t run out, that’s good to know. If they’d prefer less risk of ink stains that’s also good to know. And if their main concern is cost per mL, well, you can guess what they’ll vote for.

[woleizihan]

The 350ml big bottle Pilot standard black or blueblack. At ~$25, it's One of the most affordable ink out there. A standard Noodler's ink is ~$12 for 90ml.

[surprise123]

ESSRI, hands down. It's notoriously resistant to feathering and bleed-through on even the most substandard papers, and you get 100ml of gorgeous blue-black iron-gall goodness for just over $20. http://www.registrarsink.co.uk/registrars_ink.html

 

As a college professor/doctoral student/former high school English Literature & Language Arts teacher, I cannot recommend this ink highly enough. It's all I've used for several years with no melted ink sacs, no disintegrated feeds, and no ruined nibs. The worst that has happened has been a stained ink window. In fact, I so believe this ink will perform flawlessly that I will pay for your bottle if this is what you choose. PM an address where you would like it shipped, and I'll take care of the rest.

My mom would did ask (as of a few minutes ago) : (excuse the language) IS HE A PEDOPHILE? Anything regarding my real name, address, age, SSN, location, financial position, grade, and political views is off limits. Yeah, pretty tight constraints. I didn't tell her about the time someone kindly PIF'd a Parker 25 set to "my" address, which was actually my English teacher's. She has already used up a whole bottle of Noodler's Apache Sunset, so I'm betting it's seeing heavy usage with grading papers. All of my papers have orange on them now.

 

Another thing is iron-gall. I primarily use vintage pens for my writing purposes (Parker 51, Esties from flea markets, Sheaffers, etc.) The Parker 51 is an exception, but something tells me the Esties (set of 4 for 10 dollars), which are unrestored, will break down. The Sheaffers are a huge no-go with iron-gall inks. But thanks for the generosity of you offer. It's nice that people out there still do things like that.

[surprise123]

So everyone has been yelling Pilot, Diamine, and Noodler's.

 

 

 

This is giving me a headache. If I do recall, Pilot inks are slightly alkaline which raised my eyebrow with it. Any of you guys have experience with that?

[Colors_and_beads]

Personnally, I grew up with the standard blue ink (waterman serenity blue or equivalent), and used a bunch of eraser markers (the equivalent of white-out ).

[sansenri]

Pelikan royal blue is a rather dry ink.

Waterman Serenity blue is wetter, is a very nice neutral blue, should be reasonably cheap, and is an old tested formula very mild on vintage pens.

It's a very sober blue, but not faint, it's quite vivid, a real favourite of mine despite there are so many blue inks out there.

[TSherbs]

...This is giving me a headache. ....

 

 

Just buy one. It will work fine. And move on to more important aspects in your education.

[ParkerDuofold]

Personnally, I grew up with the standard blue ink (waterman serenity blue or equivalent), and used a bunch of eraser markers (the equivalent of white-out ).

 

Pelikan royal blue is a rather dry ink.

Waterman Serenity blue is wetter, is a very nice neutral blue, should be reasonably cheap, and is an old tested formula very mild on vintage pens.

It's a very sober blue, but not faint, it's quite vivid, a real favourite of mine despite there are so many blue inks out there.

 

Just buy one. It will work fine. And move on to more important aspects in your education.

 

Hi Surprise,

 

I was trying to help you explore this yourself to help you to make your own decision before, but since this has become a maze that rivals the one at the Overlook Hotel, (reference to The Shining),... ...just go with this:

 

Waterman Serenity Blue... it's so safe, you can drink it like a tonic,... it's cheap... extremely well behaved... erasable... and it's a beautiful, rich blue... it's the safest bet there is in pendom.

 

Enjoy it.

 

 

- Anthony

[max dog]

For a gentle ink, you probably can't go wrong with anything Waterman. I like Waterman Mysterious Blue, which is a pleasant blue black (similar to MB Diamond Blue), that can have an antiquated look on paper, which would go well with your vintage pens.

[bluebellrose]

So everyone has been yelling Pilot, Diamine, and Noodler's.

 

 

 

This is giving me a headache. If I do recall, Pilot inks are slightly alkaline which raised my eyebrow with it. Any of you guys have experience with that?

I yelled Platinum Black!

[honza]

- Has to be worth the money milliliter to dollar wise

 

 

Pelikan Royal Blue is hard to beat in this case - in Germany, if you buy it by a litre the cost is 0.03 EUR/ml (That's what I did, since me, my wife and our three children all use fountain pens )

[Mech-for-i]

I would stick with a good Iron Gail type Blue Black .. or even Carbon Black

[Maccabeus]

My mom would did ask (as of a few minutes ago) : (excuse the language) IS HE A PEDOPHILE? Anything regarding my real name, address, age, SSN, location, financial position, grade, and political views is off limits. Yeah, pretty tight constraints. I didn't tell her about the time someone kindly PIF'd a Parker 25 set to "my" address, which was actually my English teacher's. She has already used up a whole bottle of Noodler's Apache Sunset, so I'm betting it's seeing heavy usage with grading papers. All of my papers have orange on them now.

 

Another thing is iron-gall. I primarily use vintage pens for my writing purposes (Parker 51, Esties from flea markets, Sheaffers, etc.) The Parker 51 is an exception, but something tells me the Esties (set of 4 for 10 dollars), which are unrestored, will break down. The Sheaffers are a huge no-go with iron-gall inks. But thanks for the generosity of you offer. It's nice that people out there still do things like that.

 

I did not want or expect your home address. Modern IG formulations are much less harmful than the old ones. If you change your mind, the offer stands

[KLscribbler]

First of all - happy spring break!

 

Now, between blue and black, if you had to use only one for a long time, which one would you prefer?

 

Your original post implies a liking for deep, "blackest-black" inks - in which case, the recommendation for Aurora Black is great. It tops a lot of "blackest black" review lists, is a fairly neutral shade of black, and is very gentle on pens, vintage or modern. IIRC someone here on FPN did a pH test on it once, and it came in almost neutral - it was something like 6.8 or 6.9. Won't eat sacs nor celluloid nor breather tubes/plunger filler wires/etc.

 

For blues on the other hand - what shades of blue do you prefer? Lighter, or darker? More neutral blues, blues that lean slightly purple, or other preferences? For worry-free use in vintage pens, Waterman Serenity Blue and Pelikan 4001 Royal Blue are both great choices, but you'll need to decide if either one stokes your fancy color-wise. (They are both pretty light, for one, and 4001 Royal Blue has a slight purplish tint to it. It used to remind me of hydrangeas as a kid.)

 

If you find both those blues too light, you might want to check out Diamine's range of blue inks. They come in at about $15 for 80ml, pretty decent budget-wise. All of them are well behaved and generally vintage-pen-safe (except the shimmering inks, and the Registrar's iron-gall needs more attention to pen maintenance, but you probably know that). Which one to pick is primarily a matter of which shade of blue you like most. It might take a while to sort through all of them and their reviews - take your time.

 

FWIW, fourteen years ago, I was in the same situation as you. Schoolkid with a vintage pen (Parker Super 21 in my case) looking for a daily ink. My parents were not as strict on the "ONLY ONE" rule, so I ended up with a revolving roster of Pelikan 4001 Royal Blue, Waterman Blue (it wasn't yet called Serenity Blue at the time), and later 4001 Turquoise (because I discovered my teachers had a really liberal interpretation of what "blue" meant...). Those three got me through high school and proved fuss-free and dependable. And that Super 21 is still working the same as it ever did today.

 

There is one drawback to Pelikan 4001 Royal Blue that you need to know: it can fade, sometimes badly. I have journals written in that ink from 10+ years ago that were stored in the dark, in a controlled environment (with dehumidifier packets and all), and most of them are barely readable today. For schoolwork that will only need to remain legible for a year or three, it's totally fine. Just don't use that ink to write anything you might want to read again many years later. Don't use it to write your diary - unless you plan to burn it in a couple years time.

[surprise123]

I know lots of people are going to glare at me for wasting their time: Aurora Black it is. I'll be going to the town center next week, which has Bert's Inkwell, so I'll bring along my Parker and try out an ink or two to buy there.

[KLscribbler]

No time wasted, we just want you to find the ink you'll be most happy with

 

Have fun! It sure is nice to live in a city where a brick and mortar fountain pen store still exists.