What Is A Good Iron Gall Ink?

[fiberdrunk]

Chesterfield Archival Vault is repackaged Diamine Registrar's Ink. It's a little easier to come by in the States. XFountainPens has it. Of all the commercial iron gall inks, it seems to be more permanent than the others. However, if you can get some of Pharmacist's blue-black iron gall (Urkundentinte or Document Ink), that's the most permanent and archival one out there.

[Felix1]

The Montblanc USA web site still lists Midnight Blue as of right now. Just bought another bottle recently, maybe I won't open it until this gets sorted out. I think the expiration date is late 2017.

[Felix1]

amberlea did test the MB ink, e.g. https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/index.php/topic/215715-how-much-sun-can-my-ink-take/page-4?do=findComment&comment=2396145

 

Thanks for that link!

[wallylynn]

Wheeler's Luxury Goods have confirmed in an e-mail, the following:

 

I am sorry but Mont Blanc are in the process of releasing a new midnight blue ink

[Ada]

I am currently working my way through my last bottle of Montblanc Blue/Black and I have a bottle of Midnight Blue ready for when that one is finished. I have been happily using this in my daily writer for many years.

 

I could be tempted to try a bottle of R&K Scabiosa if I could find someplace that stocks it, although I probably have enough Purple/Violet inks that I am not using. :-)

 

I'll tempt you -- The Writing Desk has R&K Scabiosa.

[RudyR]

 

Felt same, bought new bottle today as a backup. If it all goes according to the recent trends, they are probably going to remove the IG in it and replace it with artificial IG ink.

[inkstainedruth]

+1 on Pharmacist's inks. The ones I have are Turkish Night (which is gorgeous -- it's cyan goes to dark teal green as it oxidizes), Darkening Absinthe (green-black) and his original formula of Terra Incinerata (greenish sepia), and I've gotten a chance to try his original Urkundentinte (blue-black). At some point I want to try some of the others: Sang Real (red-black), Oriens-Occidens (orange-brown), and Purpura Imperialis (purple-black), and the reformulated Terra Incinerata, plus get a back-up bottle of Turkish Night, and a bottle of Urkundentinte. Note that these have, as I understand it, a higher iron content than most of the commercial inks, but they're still pretty FP safe as long as you use a little more rigorous maintenance (which is really just flushing more frequently and and using a vinegar solution rinse, followed by distilled water, before using an ammonia rinse.

I also like R&K Salix, which stays bluer longer than other standard IG inks; I've got a sample of Scabiosa coming in the mail. Wasn't that impressed with Diamine Registrar Blue-Black, though -- it oxidized to a weird blue-ish grey (although it did have a lot of shading). Have not tried the others mentioned.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[cybaea]

Wheeler's Luxury Goods have confirmed in an e-mail, the following:

 

I am sorry but Mont Blanc are in the process of releasing a new midnight blue ink.

 

As of yet we do not have a delivery date, therefore the product has been removed from our site.

 

It will be available again online once the new ink has been released.

 

In the meantime, we only have the ink bottles available in the colours displayed on our website.

 

This would appear to be the same as the Lavender Purple. Lucky I got a couple of bottles of Midnight Blue at the end of last year. I wonder if the new one will have the bit of iron gall?

 

Interesting. Fortunately I still have a bottle and 2/3 of the old Blue-Black ( ) so I am good. But I wonder why. I am guessing that changing the formula and leaving the shops without ink is not something done on a whim.

 

I would have thought that Montblanc needs one 'document' ink in their lineup, but of course it does not have to be iron-gall anymore; just ask De Atramentis or Noodler's.

 

My guess it that it is a minor adjustment (I am hoping more blue, less black) but if it is a bigger one then my guess would be to move from iron-gall to a more modern set of chemicals for permanence and to align with the ISO standards for ballpoint inks.

[Bemo]

I would welcome more blue in their blue black formulation. The bottle of Midnight Blue that I bought just a few months ago is basically black. I think it's one reason I find the ESSRI so great is that the blue is in the foreground. But I hope MB doesn't do away with the iron gall formulation all together.

[lapis]

Check here and go down to Article 44 and on... It looks as if not only Midnight but also Lavender is now missing. Sure am excited to see what any "improvements" will yield...

 

Mike

[Felix1]

Check here and go down to Article 44 and on... It looks as if not only Midnight but also Lavender is now missing. Sure am excited to see what any "improvements" will yield...

 

Mike

Apparently the Montblanc USA site hasn't caught up yet. I just checked yesterday and Midnight Blue was still listed.

[wallylynn]

+1 on Pharmacist's inks.

Does pharmacist still make them? I haven't seen any posts recently and I think I saw one where he was on hiatus or something. Maybe I need to get some before that's discontinued too. And some akkerman. Blasted overseas shipping costs...

[Sinistral1]

I have been trying to contact Pharmacist recently to no avail - I hope these iron gall inks are only on holiday and not permanently unavailable. I've never even seen an example of the colors available (snif)....

 

I have the Akkerman #8 and adore it! I bought it for the bottle, but have been very pleased with the ink in my Waterman 14 with a very flexible wet noodle. I don't think it is an iron gall ink, but until I get some of the real thing, I am content with pretending it is!

[inkstainedruth]

I know he was having some family issues in the spring, and before that he said he had a batch ruined because his cleaning lady mixed up the distilled water with tap water.

I certainly hope things are clearing up for him -- he's a really good guy to deal with. I had a bottle break during shipment, and it leaked through the packaging. I contacted him immediately, and he replaced the entire order -- not just the one bottle! (Sadly, it was the bottle of Turkish Night, which is why I want to get an extra bottle at some point....)

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[Blade Runner]

Another MB blue black/midnight blue user. I've used it every work day over my entire career. I just flush once a month and never let it dry out in a pen, and I've never had a problem.

[D B Holtz]

I also recommend MB Midnight Blue. It also has the bonus of coming in the best bottle.

[lapis]

I also recommend MB Midnight Blue. It also has the bonus of coming in the best bottle.

+N on that. Nonetheless, buy as many as you find necessary before they are all gone. Plus... wait a month and see what its successors will offer.

 

Mike

[cybaea]

Another MB blue black/midnight blue user. I've used it every work day over my entire career. I just flush once a month and never let it dry out in a pen, and I've never had a problem.

 

I have used Blue-Black/Midnight Blue exclusively in my MB 149 since I got it in 1993 and the poor thing has been left for months with the ink drying out in it (I wasn't always as careful as I am now). Doesn't seem to have done it any damage. Even the ink window is clear.

 

I do think the pen wants to try another ink now. Been over 20 years on the diet Maybe the Midnight Black or Royal Blue for a change of menu.

 

(Edit: Ah. Mike posted at the same time as I did. Now I think I will let the pen rest for a month and then try to get the new document inks from MB. Just as I predicted.)

Edited September 11, 2013 by cybaea

[hari317]

My Ranking:

 

• MB Blue-Black discontinued, most maintanence free, very permanent.
• Diamine Registrar's requires more care while filling pen to avoid sucking in the precipitate
• Akkerman's No 10, I am still testing this but it's very promising.

 

 

I recently bought the bottle of Akkerman's no 10. It smells exactly the same as Diamine RI, but the behavior on the same paper is very different.

 

My Diamine RI goes dark blue on paper and turns black very quickly. On the same paper, the no 10 goes light blue(still a nice color) and turns quite dark taking nearly 2 days for this transformation.

 

I have used up nearly 90ml of the Diamine RI and in the meanwhile also used much from my stash of the old formula MB BB. The Diamine is the winner, it darkens the blackest on the same paper.

 

MB BB is superior in the sense that it dumps zero precipitate, have used up two bottles, on my third one of the stuff. These guys know how to make/get inks made. I use this ink in any pen, it is so good.

 

Diamine dumps excessive precipitate, it is reserved only for my ED pens where I can take the whole pen including the nib unit apart. YMMV.

 

Akkerman, no precipitate is visible yet, but still early days to conclude.

 

Salix and Scabiosa are too washed out and the transformation is very subtle IMO, I don't like them much anymore. I need a super duper wet pen to get them to write the way i like.

 

I also bought a couple of bottles of Platinum Blue-Black reading that the inks were IG. The ink shade is excellent, nice flow and behaviour, but there is little to no color transformation and the writing itself is not very much waterfast, just a faint line remains after a water wash. Disappointed me actually.

 

HTH.

[lapis]

(Edit: Ah. Mike posted at the same time as I did. Now I think I will let the pen rest for a month and then try to get the new document inks from MB. Just as I predicted.)

Aha... so you'll let your 149 have a rest for a month? And you yourself? I can't rest that long!