1 Orange And 26 Brown Inks...

[wimg]

Dear Good Folks of FPN,

 

While I was working on my review of FPN Galileo Manuscript Brown ( https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/in...dpost&p=166199), I thought this was a good opportunity to compare a few brown inks. BTW, this is the low bandwidth version of this article.

 

In order to do this comparison, I had to choose a pen, or a nib. As it really is a lot of work to properly rinse and flush a pen in order to clean it from all ink remnants, and the use of a single pen for 27 inks would have meant at least 27*2=54 days, if not more, to carry out this experiment, I opted for the use of a dip nib.

 

The dip nib used is a medium italic dip nib, without tipping, but with a little reservoir. This is nib #3 as used in the FPN Galileo Manuscript Brown review, and I have used this nib also in other ink reviews, often also as #3 in the list of used nibs.

 

The choice fell on this nib, apart from the advantages a dip nib has with regard to cleaning over a fountain pen nib, because it behaves very similarly to a fountain pen nib, in my experience. It is not as finicky with fountain pen inks, which are rather thin compared to dip nib inks, as most other dip nibs are, in my experience anyway. It is a bit more sensitive to ink flow than fountain pen inks, but basically, if an ink behaves quite well with this pen, from my experience it generally behaves well to very well in a fountain pen.

 

In order to see more of a variety in behaviour, I used not only my standard fountain pen friendly paper, but also a few quality papers for testing, namely FPN Notepad paper, and a very creamy, heavy paper, with which brown inks combine very nicely in my opinion.

 

The writing samples are presented very much as I do with ink reviews, namely with the aid of clickable thumbnails, which open new browser windows in order to show a more detailed version of the page, and a link wich shows all pages, one after the other, to check out at your ease.

 

The inks of which writng sample are shown are:

• 1. Noodler's FPN Galileo Manuscript Brown
• 2. AM Tobacco
• 3. Caran d'Ache Grand Canyon
• 4. Stipula Calamo Terra di Siena
• 5. J Herbin Cacao du Brésil
• 6. J Herbin Café des Îles
• 7. J Herbin Lie de Thé
• 8. Montblanc Season's Greetings
• 9. Montblanc Sepia
• 10. Noodler's Red Black
• 11. Noodler's Kiowa Pecan
• 12. Swishmix Cocoa
• 13. Omas Sepia
• 14. Parker Penman Mocha
• 15. PR Copperburst
• 16. PR Chocolat
• 17. Sailor Jentle Brown
• 18. Sailor Jentle Red Brown
• 19. Visconti Sepia
• 20. Waterman Havana
• 21. De Atramentis Kupferbraun
• 22. De Atramentis Havanna
• 23. De Atramentis Sepiabraun
• 24. De Atramentis Rotbraun
• 25. De Atramentis Terra di Siena
• 26. Swisher Maroon
• 27. Noodler's Cayenne

Here are the clickable thumbnails:

 

 

 

 

 

And here is the link to all pages:

All 27 inks viewable in a single browser window

 

Short notes as to performance of these inks:

1. Noodler's FPN Galileo Manuscript Brown - A great ink, easy to use, and performs extremely well, even in a dip nib.

2. AM Tobacco - Feathers very badly, and a very watery ink.

3. Caran d'Ache Grand Canyon - A difficult starter, and in my opinion too dark.

4. Stipula Calamo Terra di Siena - This is an extremely difficult ink to write with, the flow is essentially free fall.

5. J Herbin Cacao du Brésil - This ink is ok, except on the FPN notepad, and is also too dark IMO.

6. J Herbin Café des Îles - This is a very hard starting ink. I like this ink and actually use it in one pen, but I had to adjust the flow dramaticaly in that pen just to get it to write properly.

7. J Herbin Lie de Thé - Also a very hard starting, and thin ink.

8. Montblance Season's Greetings - Very hard starting, and way too dark. It is supposed to smell of chocolate, but to me it smells like licorice, and the colour looks like licorice as well.

9. Montblanc Sepia - Rather hard starting, but writes reasonably after.

10. Noodler's Red Black - An excellent ink.

11. Noodler's Kiowa Pecan - Also excellent, but a little on the light side for a brown ink.

12. Swishmix Cocoa - This writes ok, but it does show too much feathering.

13. Omas Sepia - Also ok, only little difficulties writing with it.

14. Parker Penman Mocha - Ok, but too dark IMO.

15. PR Copperburst - A reasonable, middle of the road in everything ink.

16. PR Chocolat - This is not such a great performer, and too dark IMO.

17. Sailor Jentle Brown - A reasonable ink, be it a bit thin.

18. Sailor Jentle Red Brown - This one is ok, but rather thinnish.

19. Visconti Sepia - Ok performance wise, but maybe a tad light.

20. Waterman Havana - A very good performer, almost as good as Noodler's FPN Galileo Manuscript Brown and Noodler's Red Black.

21. De Atramentis Kupferbraun - Not a very borown colour, and dries much too slowly.

22. De Atramentis Havanna - This is ok, maybe a bit too thin, but again dries slowly.

23. De Atramentis Sepiabraun - This is good, a bit dark maybe.

24. De Atramentis Rotbraun - An ok performer, but a bit thin, and too red IMO.

25. De Atramentis Terra di Siena - This a a good ink.

26. Swisher Maroon - A very good to excellent peformer, but really too red for a proper brown.

27. Noodler's Cayenne - Just added to fill the page really: it is very good, but of course too orange for a brown ink.

 

When you write with so many inks, you really start admiring Noodler's inks. They perform generally very, very well, compared to any other manufacturer's inks. Actually, they just work much better in most instances.

 

In conclusion, the top three performers, in my opinion, of these inks are:

1. Noodler's FPN Galileo Manuscript Brown

2. Noodler's Red Black

3. Waterman Havana

 

These will work well with any pen, just that in that regard, in my opinion, Galileo Manuscript Brown outperforms all others.

 

Anyway, I hope you found this article useful!

 

Warm regards, Wim

Edited November 8, 2010 by wimg
fixed links

[greydog]

Thank you for all the work. I am looking to replace Parker Mocha. This was so help full.

[Ondina]

Fantastic review of browns. Quite a bit of work. The choice of cream paper really makes the browns stand out.

[Gran]

Thank you very much for this. It is a most helpful reference. How kind of you to share the results of so much work.

[dannyboy]

Fantastic and very helpful review! You've introduced me to several browns I didn't know about, especially your Number 1 choice among the group. Thank you for the time and effort involved in doing this review--very much appreciated since browns are my favorites.

[Federalist Pens]

Well Done- Thank You!

 

You have confirmed my interest in some tones, and showed a few

I was not aware of!

 

I am always looking for darker browns!

 

[Peter from Sherwood Park]

Thank you -- this is very useful.

[holgalee]

This is amazing!! Thank you so much, it really helps as I'm looking for a brown.

[thinkink]

Just stumbled across this and wow! it's a great reference point for someone looking for a good brown ink.

 

I was looking at the J Herbin but have now decided to go for the Waterman Havana Brown.

 

Thank you!

[CatBookMom]

Just stumbled across this and wow! it's a great reference point for someone looking for a good brown ink.

 

I was looking at the J Herbin but have now decided to go for the Waterman Havana Brown.

 

Thank you!

 

Pear Street Pens and Goulet Pens have swabs of all kinds of inks and colors. Incredibly useful, and they sell samples. Waterman Havana Brown is a very nice reddish brown, good flow, quick drying.

[ethernautrix]

Wow. That is lovely and useful! Thanks, wim!

[Horseknitter]

Amazing reference. Thanks so much. Off to get some FPN Galileo Manuscript brown!

[SamCapote]

Great rescued thread!

[drifting]

Question: #2 AM Tobacco.

 

AM?

[SamCapote]

Question: #2 AM Tobacco.

 

AM?

 

I'm guessing that was an AGFA Inkjet ink.

[Scribe_Not]

Holy Moly! Just ran across this… Thank you for your efforts! Just made my due diligence much easier!

[lapis]

Holy Moly! Just ran across this… Thank you for your efforts! Just made my due diligence much easier!

DITTO. Wim, you did it again. What a lot of work. Too bad for me that I didn't discover this thread 8 years ago....

 

Mike

[visvamitra]

Great review - I wonder whether these are scans or photos? Recently I've made comparison of 26 brown inks for polish fountain pen forum but on scans most of my browns looked purplish. So I took photos - but I'm not really happy with them

 

Great work anyway.

 

I love Lie de The because its color is unique.