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On Permanent Inks. I have noticed that there have been a lot of discussions on Permanent inks. A lot of questions have risen through time. I will list a few of them below and try to answer them as good as possible. Is it safe for fountain pens What are the requirements for a ink to be considered permanent Are they really permanent Can these inks be used without doubts/regular Fountain Pen maintenance Is it safe for Fountain Pens?This depends on what the ink is made of. Throughout history inks were made with either soot or Iron gall. The advantage is they are very permanent and lightfast. The disadvantage is that they are not safe for fountain pens. Iron Gall inks Iron gall inks damage the Nib and clog up the nib and feed. Iron gall, because off the iron gall acid may also damage the paper. They tend to ‘eat away the paper’. An example of this ‘eating away the paper can be found in the archives of the Dutch East Indies Company (VOC). Although the ink is perfectly legible, the paper from the 17th century is severely damaged today. Soot based inks. Soot has been used for Ink making since the antiquity. I have published an article on that called “Ink History Antiquity”. You can find the article following the link below. A major advantage of these inks is that they are not only permanent. But they are truly black. This being truly black isn’t always the case today. Down here you find a link of my Fountain pen hero SBRE Brown. In this video he tests several black inks to see whether they are really black or more like greyish. www.youtube.com/watch?v=kvfGrJIpKBQ These soot based inks are for Fountain Pens because they clog the feed of the pens. Beware both Iron Gall and Soot based inks your beloved Fountain Pen! What are the requirements for a ink to be considered permanent. To be considered permanent and suitable for use by i.e. lawyer and registers. The ink has to comply with certain standards. The international certification is ISO 12757-2. Requirements for permancy · Waterproofness · Light fastness · Resistance against any outer (chemical) influences · The ink may not be removed without damaging the paper · Light fastness can be tested with the wool scale. A scale for testing light fastness in the textile and offset industry stars grades Wool Scale Adapted and translated from Wikipedia Germany: Wollskala description 1 und 2 not light fast * 3 Very little light fast ** 4 Little lightfast *** 5 und 6 Light fast **** 7 Highly light fast ***** 8 Highest light fastness • Resistance against any outer (chemical) influences It has to be resistant against chemical substances like alcohol or cleaning agents • The ink may not be removed without damaging the paper This way the texts cannot be manipulated without leaving traces This is achieved by a certain surface tension. The ink has to drench in order to be permanent. This is what the old inks, as described in the VOC example, did. In a review on the new Montblanc permanent inks on FPN this ink was praised for the absence of bleed through. This means that the ink is sort of ‘laying on the paper’, without drenching the fibres of the paper. Whether this ink is truly permanent is questionable. The ink has to drench the paper without damaging it. The disadvantage of bleed trough can be countered by the use of thicker paper like =>100 grs or by using a finer nib. Are they really permanent There are now inks on the market that are both permanent and safe for Fountain Pens. As mentioned above they have to apply to the ISO 12757-2 standard and drench the paper. These inks are truly permanent and suited for use by lawyers, doctors and registrars Down here are some manufactures that produce permanent or bulletproof inks · Noodlers www.noodlersink.com Do not only make flexible nibs (for line variation and nice shading of inks) They also have nice variety of bulletproof inks in several colours Just a warning on the Noodlers Baystate Blue as mentioned by the Foutain Pen Professor Richard Binder on it’s website But since this article only mentions the Bay State Blue… Just go for their other nice Bulletproof inks J · Montblanc Permanent Ink (www.montblanc.com ) Only two colours black and blue Is it truly permanent see above Quite expensive Nice bottles though Caution: As far as I know the old Montblanc inks were based on iron gall, although I am not sure.Better be careful · De Atramentis (www.deatramentis.com ) (www.tinten-online.de with more ink info) De Atramentis is a small German company with a vast array of (255) inks. Their nano particle document ink apply with the ISO 12757-2 and do drench the paper Following colours are available Blue, Dark Blue, Black, Magenta, Turquoise. A green document inks is being developed at the moment I have already poste a review on DA Document Ink Blue. It is not cheap (€18 /$20 a 30 ml. bottle). But it is truly permanent and writes superbly https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/index.php/topic/263866-de-atramentis-document-ink/ I am working on a review on the DA Document Ink Dark Blue now which is a Black blue Ink. I have posted a photo of a handwritten page here. The full review of DA Document black will be online soon (with scans) as will the other DA Document colours will be too soon. Can these inks be used without doubts/regular Fountain Pen maintenanceNO NO NO!!! Richard Binder THE Fountain Pen Professor has written a nice article on that. With nano particle ink you should clean your Fountain Pen regularly. I have been using De Atramentis Document ink for about a year now. I always have In of my pens filled with it. I clean it every 2-3 month and hav not experienced any problems what so ever. http://richardspens.com/ Article:Inks The good the Bad and the Ugly Most Ink Companies warn you to clean your Fountain Pen more often if you use permanent ink. Please do so In fact always clean your Fountain Pens every 2-3 months Too conclude I am very much interested in your experiences with permanent inks. And I would like to see some of your reviews with Noodler’s Bullet proof inks. I Hope this was informative. For more information check the excellent website of Richard Binder. THE Fountain Pen Professor. Warmest regards,