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Any thoughts what could be the concept behind slow evaporating inks, like e.g. Private Reserve Infinity? Some ideas: use > 20% glycerol. Downside: Ink will smudge other humectants sorbitol, urea, LiCl If it is too hygroscopic, the ink will never dry. LiCl will dissolve in its own water. use 2 separate humectants, e.g. glycerol + urea. Not sure why this doesn't smudge patent here: https://patents.google.com/patent/JP4722462B2/en Evaporation suppressing monolayers, e.g. octadecan-1-ol (stearyl alcohol, very common in hair conditioners) will slow down evaporation by about 50%. Ethylene glycol monooctadecyl ether will slow down the evaporation by 10x. These would be ideal, if one could get them through the feed. Downside is they have very low water solubility. Maybe it doesn't matter, as only tiny amounts are required Commercial products for pools are WaterSavr, AquaGuard, CoverFree, which is supposed to reduce evaporation by 85% Could disperse in ink, potentially together with surfactant Use a water-soluble polymer that might concentrate near the surface and act similarly to the monolayer Does PEG have such an effect? PVA, PVP, ... Combination of polymer + surfactant This patent shows a drawing of polyacrylic acid acting together with one of the monolayers above. Other polymers mentioned: soluble polymer may include a homopolymer or copolymer derived from at least one compound selected from the group consisting of acrylic acid, methacrylic acid, acrylamide, N-alkyl acrylamide, glycerol, ethyleneimine, ethylene oxide, vinyl pyrrolidone, vinyl acetate, the hydrolysis products of vinyl acetate, 2-hydroxyethyl acrylate, maleic acid, maleic anhydride and dimethylaminoethylacrylate. Nonionic surfactants might have a good balance between solubility and forming a layer on the surface some compounds to try: Ethoxylates, such as octaethylene glycol monododecyl ether, laureth-4, ... Triton X

I have a handlful of Vintage and new Pens. Parker Vacumatic, Parker Duofolds, Skyline Everysharps, Pelikan 400nn. Pelikan M200's, M400, Sailor 1911, Various TWSBI's. Inks: Only "wetter" inks. Aurora, Diamine, Waterman, Iroshizuku. Mostly blues. I have read that pens should be flushed or cleaned regularly to extend the life of the feed and nib and prevent ink drying out and build up. I have been using the above pens regularly, every 1-2 weeks or much more, for some time. Should I be emptying the ink and cleaning out the pens every so often? How often? Or, is it not necessary as long as the pens are inked and used regularly? Thanks for your help. jim

I write relatively long durations, but it is not writing 100% of the time. There will be brief pauses, when I will be reading or reflecting, with pen being held open in hand or resting on desk. It is a distraction to close the pen every time when there is a need for 30 seconds pause in writing. Most of the time, ceiling fan will also be on. Under these circumstances, how can I reduce the drying of ink on the nib as much as possible? Will any choice of type of nib (fine vs broad) or type of ink (dry vs wet) or adjusting ink flow help reduce drying? What do you do in such circumstance? Thanks in advance.

This is a custom hard rubber Shawn Newton pen with a vintage Waterman nib in it, configured as an eyedropper. Last year I dropped it and broke the section at the ink window, which Shawn mended for me. It wrote okay after that for awhile but not really. It had the common eyedropper problems of blorping but this wasn't when it was near empty but just say three quarters full. And then it started writing very poorly. As though ink could barely get through to the nib. Upon refilling it would not start without dipping it in ink, or shaking it until drops flew. And it grew steadily worse, writing more dry and skipping all the time until I gave up struggling with it. This is a beautiful (and expensive) pen with a glorious flexible nib in it but something is clearly bigly wrong with it. I am emphatically not a mechanically-minded person but I am hoping for something to try that may preclude me sending it out yet again.

How is everyone's experience with the effectiveness of the cap seal on Platinum #3776 fountain pen models not designated Century, and are thus without the "Slip and Seal" mechanism? The celluloid models with product identifiers PTB-30000S (as opposed to the current production batches identified as PTB-35000S, which are obviously more expensive but designated Century), and earlier batches of the models with briarwood barrels (PTB-30000BN and PTB-50000BS), were not designated Century. I have one of the earlier brown tortoiseshell celluloid models and two of the briarwood models, and today I discovered the ink has all dried out in their converters after not having been used for four or so weeks. In contrast, not so my two kanazawa-haku models (PNB-30000H) or basic Bourgogne models of the Platinum #3776 Century pens. That pretty much cured me of the persistently resurfacing desire to complete the 'collection' of briarwood models I'm still missing the one with the light-coloured smooth finish or buy more of the celluloid models when I see them offered 'cheaply' on Amazon.

Hello fellow ink users, I have a question about one issue I've been wondering about for a while now. I have noticed that some inks - if pen is not used for some time - when applied to paper, tend to stay wet for 5-10 minutes if not more. In my mind - this is almost forever. This happens mostly with my vintage pens, and by "not used for some time" it can be anywhere between 3-5 days up to 10 or more days. Pens are stored properly. I've noticed this with modern pens as well. Most of the issues I have with Noodler's, J. Herbin... and Diamine too. When I use inks from big brand names (Pelikan, Pilot, Sailor, Montblanc, Caran d'Ache, Faber Castell etc) I don't see this problem. Since I'm using either Rhodia or Tomoe River (Nanami) paper - for all my writing - and same pens, same conditions - I wonder what is the deal with this? Should I consider using aforementioned "boutique" inks for shorter period? What would be the reason for this? I was thinking that maybe some settling occurs (not very likely) or carrier fluid evaporates thus pigment is left as a more viscous ink. It is annoying issue, I love Noodler's Habanero, Cayene and so on... Thank you!

In the few short months I've been involved with fountain pens I've bought and used around a half dozen ink samples. My favorite so far is Diamine Syrah. (Most of the images online show too red [or my sample isn't red enough!], but this FPN review is what I see on Rhodia paper.) Although in gel pens I tend toward dark colors (black, green-black, brown-black), so far I've found I like medium tones like this particular brown with a hint of red. I like it more than the cartridges I have in the darker Diamine Chocolate Brown. But... I'm a lefty and this ink's long dry times are getting me down.And the ink feathers on cheap paper I sometimes need to use (at least with a M nib) What are some alternative mid-brown inks that similarly have a hint of red in them that I might want to consider trying that dry faster, perhaps while also being more paper-agnostic? (Not too red though - for example I like Diamine Oxblood but not pages of it.)

Friends, I'm looking for suggestions for ink for grading/marking student papers. Constraints: I need to avoid feathering and bleed-through on a very wide range of papers used by students. I can't control their paper choices.Drying time is less critical, but still important. I'd like to be able to make a comment, turn the page, and go on reading and writing, not necessarily in a fraction of a second, but within a second or two.I don't want to use black or blue, because students often use these colors themselves.I don't want to use red, because students perceive red comments as hostile, even when they are not.Green, purple, or brown are good color choices, but if you have just the perfect ink in pink or orange or plaid or whatever, do, please, suggest it. Fountain pens are very much my favorite writing implements, but I'm not at all a collector of pens or of inks, though I celebrate those of you who are. I can't afford to experiment with a dozen different pens and inks, so I'm hoping something that will just work will emerge from this obviously stupendously informed body. I'm currently using Waterman Tender Purple ink and an extra-fine nib. This works much of the time, but I still have to switch to a roller-ball much more commonly than I would like. Thanks in advance, Tim

I've gotten more than one Platinum Preppy fountain pen lately. I am cleaning and flushing them all. A problem I'm running into is that they take so long to dry out. All in all, a Preppy will take about three or four days to completely dry out once I've gotten done with cleaning it. I really would like to have the drying process take a lot less time. I also don't like a pen with enclosed parts to be wet and exposed to the atmosphere for that length of time because it increases the possibility that something will start to grow in the water in that part. The problem is the collector, or whatever it may be called, in the section. That's the thing with all of the fins on it that fits in the section and into which the nib and feed fit. I have been able to remove the nib/feed unit from the Preppy, but that collector thing, which is the same color plastic as the cap, is giving me trouble. Has anyone ever been able to remove that piece of plastic? If so how did you do it? I can't find anything that will even get a grip on the thing. Thanks for any help with this.