Sailor Kiraguro Ink (translation)

[thibaulthalpern]

I received my Sailor Kiraguro black ink. I took two pictures of the side panels that seem to contain relevant information. Could someone be so kind as to translate what the the sentences say? Maybe there are some warnings? I'm one of the few people who actually do flip through manuals ;-)

 

 

[thibaulthalpern]

Hmm...no replies so far eh?

 

I emailed Michael Masuyama about the ink asking him if he thinks it's a good ink for fountain pens. This is his reply and he also gave me permission to post it on FPN:

 

Sailor "KIWAGURO" carbon ink is safe to use for fountain pens as it was developed for fountain pen use.

However, this is a "pigment" type ink where majority of fountain pen ink is "die" colored ink. The following precautions should be take.

 

1) Do not leave Kiwaguro ink in your fountain pen for a long time without using the pen. Do not let the ink

dry in the pen. Do not store your pen with this ink inside.

 

The Kiwaguro ink has "nano" size carbon particles(pigment). Another words, there is ultra fine powder in this ink. Once you write with it and the powder stays on paper dry, it stays and it becomes permanent. If you let this ink dry in fountain pen feed, it clogs up the channel. If you use your pen with this ink every so often (few times a week, if not everyday.) It will be safe. Clean your pen with water every 2-3 filling.

 

 

2) If you leave this ink in your pen and ink thickened and you experience bad flow, take the front section of your pen off, and submerged it in warm water overnight, and clean with water next morning. If you have a ultra sonic cleaner, it is the best to use it.

 

Majority of fountain pen is is die ink. Die color was dissolved in water and it does not clog feed channel even if you let ink dry once. But pigment ink such as this has powder in it. Once you let the ink dry in the feed, this powder clogs the feed channels and becomes hardened. It will be very hard to clean the channel if this happens.

 

I hope this tip will help you.

This Kiwaguro ink is the best "permanent" black ink. Because of "nano" powder, it gives you extra "oily smooth" writing feel. I use this in my Bexley pen everyday for the last 12 month and never had any problem.

 

I asked him what he meant by "long time " and he replied with this:

 

The "long time" can be vary by pen. What I mean is that different pen has different time for the nib to get dried.

Some nib becomes dry quickly (if the pen is not healthy and having a little dry flow...) and some nib stays wet for weeks without using it. (stays wet means that you pick up the pen after a week of not using it and the pen start flow as soon as you start on paper.)

 

If you know that you have a dry flow pen, I would try to use other ink. If you know that the pen has a good flow, I would use this Kiwaguro ink only 1, 2 times a week without worrying about it.

 

They key here is not to let the pen dry with this ink in the system. And this is true for any pigment type permanent fountain pen ink. (As a matter of fact, it is true for any ink as many fountain pen ink has acid in it, and if you let it dry in your pen, acidity thickens and it could harm plastic and rubber parts.)

 

 

[Margana]

Thanks for posting this information. It's really helpful to understand in advance what to expect from an ink.

[troglokev]

This is a rough translation. Not quite literal, because some of the expressions would sound silly in English.

 

Caution:

- Please do not use for anything other than writing. (Okay, that does sound silly, but that's what it says!)

- The ink evaporates quickly, so please be certain to replace the cap after use.

- When you change the ink colour, thoroughly flush the section and feed.

- If swallowed, drink water and seek medical advice. In case of contact with eyes, flush with clean water and seek medical advice.

- The ink is water based, however it is hard to remove if you drop it on your clothing.

- Keep out of reach of children

- If you don't plan to use the pen for a while, flush the section and feed thoroughly before storing.

- Don't use in fountain pens other than Sailor.

 

All sage advice, apart from the last...

 

Now for the gold coloured one...

 

It's a microcluster pigment ink (nanoink), so

1. It has excellent water resistance.

2. It produces a clean written line with no clogging

3. にじまず裏うつりもない (?) Not sure about this one: doesn't blot or bleed through?

4. Suitable for official documents

Don't use in fountain pens other than Sailor.

 

Best I can do. Taki-san may have some corrections, later.

Edited November 8, 2008 by troglokev

[thibaulthalpern]

Thank you very much, troglokev. I wanted to make sure that it wasn't something I didn't already know.

 

Here is what Michael Masuyama has to say about Noodler's bulletproof ink when I asked him what his opinion on the ink is. There is a reference to Sailor pens at the bottom. Again, he gave me permission to post this.

 

In general, it is safe to use any ink made for fountain pen use in any pens. But there are inks that are high in acid content and there are some that are almost PH nutral. Fountain pen nib is made of gold alloy because gold is the only known metal that stands acid which was found in almost all inks in old days. There are some that are PH nutral or almost neutral these days.

 

Pen manufacturers formulate their ink to work the best with their own feed system and the materials. PH value, surface tension, viscosity, chemical additives are all set so that the materials used for their own pen is absolutely safe. But they do not check all materials used by other manufacturers. It is always safe to use the same brand ink for exotic, expensive material pen for this reason.

 

Nathan claims that he formulate most of his ink PH nutral. For that reason, his ink is safe to use for all pens I suppose. However, there are always matching issues between ink and pens. For example, Noodler's pemanent black you mentioned has a matching issue with Sailor feed, I do not know why, but I know that the Noodler's black does not flow well with Sailor 1911 fountain pen. If your pen works well with the Noodler's black, it is a good ink other than the time you try to wash it off your hands.

 

I have also asked two other well-regarded nibmeisters what they thought about Noodler's bulletproof ink. Because I didn't ask them persmission to post their comments I won't say who they are and won't quote from them. One said that some pens have difficulty with the Noodler's bulletproof while others don't. He also says that he has seen serious flow issues with some pens that use Noodler's bulletproof, but he doesn't say stay away from Noodler's bulletproof. The other nibmeister was much more cautious and said do not use Noodler's bulletproof at all as it will destroy your feed. I think the latter opinion is a bit too alarmist/cautious and tend to go with the first anonymous nibmeister. Seems to me that Noodler's bulletproof ink is like Sailor Kiwaguro ink which means it is more high maintenance than other inks and needs more frequent flushing, making sure the pen is used often, and if not used then flush away until clear.

Edited November 8, 2008 by thibaulthalpern

[thibaulthalpern]

Thanks for posting this information. It's really helpful to understand in advance what to expect from an ink.

 

Yes, I find it very helpful to get the opinions of nibmeisters because they are the ones who really see feeds and nibs day in and day out so I am keen to hear their experiences. Now that I know what Michael has to say about the Sailor Kiwaguro ink, I am now comfortable using it knowing what pens it should and shouldn't go into and what maintenance pens using that ink need.

[troglokev]

I guess that would explain Sailor's insistence that it should only be used with their pens.

[Neill78]

This is a rough translation. Not quite literal, because some of the expressions would sound silly in English.

 

 

It's a microcluster pigment ink, so

 

3. にじまず裏うつりもない (?) Not sure about this one: doesn't blot or bleed through?

 

 

"Doesn't bleed or show through."

 

Neill

[Levatio]

I use several Noodler's inks with my Pelikan pens without any problems so far, mostly fine and medium cursive italic nibs. Noodler's Baystate Blue is feeding my Platinum #3776 with a Music nib for signatures. Beautiful blue!! Be careful handling Baystate as it may stain some materials and is hard to clean from your fingers. But the color is worth the extra care. My Sailor 1911 with Mr. Nagahara's Cross Concord Emperor nib is currently inked with Noodler's blue. No abnormal problems so far. I do flush often. No more than 2-3 fills without a good flush. And my pens in rotation do not stay idle for a long time as I write a lot.

[Neill78]

I received my Sailor Kiraguro black ink. I took two pictures of the side panels that seem to contain relevant information. Could someone be so kind as to translate what the the sentences say? Maybe there are some warnings? I'm one of the few people who actually do flip through manuals ;-)

 

Glad to see you got someone to translate the warnings for you. They aren't really any different than warnings on other ink brands. The gold panel is also translated in my review. By the way the ink's name is "kiwaguro."

 

Neill

[ameya bhabal]

Hi,

I was just reading Neill78's excellent review about this ink, since I'm looking for a very dark black ink. After reading the warnings, i was kinda worried about using it in my rotring 600. The nib is EF and it has no breather hole either. Would it be safer or much more troublesome to use it?

Thanks,

Ameya

[JLT]

This is a rough translation. Not quite literal, because some of the expressions would sound silly in English.

 

Caution:

- Please do not use for anything other than writing. (Okay, that does sound silly, but that's what it says!)

 

And we print "Do Not Eat" on silica gel packets . . .

 

If nothing else, it's entertaining.

Edited November 3, 2010 by JLT

[SamCapote]

Excellent thread. I wondered the exact same thing. I figured it said something like "Magic nano dust ink" or something. :roflmho: