Best Ink For Cheap Paper?

[BlotBot]

I use my fountain pens at work where the paper is made by Skilcraft, and other providers of cheap, crappy stuff. What inks do people find behave well on this stuff? So far, I have found that Platinum Pigmented Blue has low feathering and bleeding on cheap paper.

[Sandy1]

Hi,

 

Off the cuff I'll suggest trying an ink with an iron-gall component, such as R&K Salix or Ecclesiastic Stationery Supplies Registrars Ink (ESSRI).

 

For a profoundly robust ink, I've found Noodler's 54^th Massachusetts does very well on FP-hostile papers, though it does have some idiosyncrasies.

 

For a good all-rounder, we have the Pilot Blue and Blue-Black inks, which require no more than the usual attention to care & feeding.

 

I suggest availing yourself of the trove of contributions in the Ink Review Forum and the ICS&T Forum.

 

Bye,

S1

[yogalarva]

I'll put in a vote for R&K Scabiosa. Salix hasn't performed quite as well, at least not in my opinion... But iron galls are very good for cheap paper - it's been rare that I've had one feather or bleed.

[Scycotic]

Salix, Noodler's Black both serve me well on cheap paper. The Black takes forever to dry on good quality stuff like Clairefontaine though.

[wnclee]

Hello. Hope you're well. My Italian-made Aurora, the "gold-standard of black inks" and Waterman "Florida blue both work great with little or no feathering on a cheap practice notebook I use...Even the Aurora is affordable. For another and darker blue, there is the Noodler's Blue. Their plain, no special properties' blue. They have so many "types" & "styles" in the same colors...

[ac12]

Your pen should also be on the dry side, to deal with FP unfriendly paper.

[onepuff]

I regularly use R&K Salix as it's well behaved and is fairly low maintenance. It hasn't (so far) harmed any of my pens and I can keep a Pelikan piston filler inked for weeks between flushing with no sedimentation or staining. In fact, it's the best behaved all-round ink I've ever tried writing slightly dry but with some shading and no feathering or bleed. I find it ideal for writing on newsprint when doing the crossword. I would recommend Salix for business use over Scabiosa purely because the colour is a more sober blue/black rather than purple.

[BlotBot]

Thank you for the suggestions. I had not been considering the iron gall inks as I understand they tend towards the acidic. But as I use mostly inexpensive pens, I will give them a try. Any suggestions outside the blue/black specturm are welcome.

 

Does anyone use the pigmented inks?

[redbike]

My solution to cheap office and tablet paper is to use a fine nib, which minimizes feathering or bleed through. Works pretty well.

[Sandy1]

Thank you for the suggestions. I had not been considering the iron gall inks as I understand they tend towards the acidic. But as I use mostly inexpensive pens, I will give them a try. Any suggestions outside the blue/black specturm are welcome.

 

Does anyone use the pigmented inks?

 

Hi,

 

The iron-gall inks that are designed for FP use are not any more acidic than some of the dye-based inks, so you're not putting modern pens at undue risk - just don't let the ink dry-out in your pen, refill and use it on a routine basis, and don't let it linger in an unused pen.

 

One favourable aspect of the R&K Salix & Scabiosa I-G inks is that they can be safely intermingled with other R&K FP inks, other than Sepia. Consequently, to move 'outside the blue/black spectrum' you can formulate your own recipe using those I-G ink/s as a base (perhaps 75% of the total volume) to establish a high performance profile, then add other R&K ink/s to tune the colour.

 

As for pigmented inks, we have 'nano particle' inks from Platinum, Sailor and one stateside atelier. However, the maintenance overhead is higher than most other inks, so you'd have to consider how your practices match those inks' requirements.

‑ Also, a few Members use the Magic Color acrylic pigment inks, but they require very high vigilance. My practice is to use a c/c pen, charge it, do the writing that needs doing, then cleanse the pen - all within a few hours at the outside.

 

Wheee!

 

Bye,

S1

Edited January 29, 2014 by Sandy1

[SeeksAdvice]

IG inks for paper that is unworthy to be used in the bathroom.

However, some paper is just so bad that nothing works. Had writing pads that MB-MB and DRI feathered and bled with.

X-Feather from Noodler's might do okay for you. Just don't expect fast dry times.

Carbon blacks are well behaved on the page, just need thorough cleaning. My Phileas (EF) didn't like them. Still trying to get it clean.

[I like mango cheesecake]

I could tell you what not to use: MB Oyster Gray. That ink feathers like crazy on cheap paper. I have that in my Mottishaw grounded 149 and it sucks on cheap paper and that ink is a write-off for cheap paper.

[carlos.q]

My solution to cheap office and tablet paper is to use a fine nib, which minimizes feathering or bleed through. Works pretty well.

+1

For cheap paper and newspapers I use a Parker 51 with fine nib and Noodlers black.

[doriath19]

Noodlers black performs well on cheap paper.

Alo Pilot blue is a good all around ink.

[yogalarva]

 

Hi,

 

The iron-gall inks that are designed for FP use are not any more acidic than some of the dye-based inks, so you're not putting modern pens at undue risk - just don't let the ink dry-out in your pen, refill and use it on a routine basis, and don't let it linger in an unused pen.

 

One favourable aspect of the R&K Salix & Scabiosa I-G inks is that they can be safely intermingled with other R&K FP inks, other than Sepia. Consequently, to move 'outside the blue/black spectrum' you can formulate your own recipe using those I-G ink/s as a base (perhaps 75% of the total volume) to establish a high performance profile, then add other R&K ink/s to tune the colour.

 

As for pigmented inks, we have 'nano particle' inks from Platinum, Sailor and one stateside atelier. However, the maintenance overhead is higher than most other inks, so you'd have to consider how your practices match those inks' requirements.

‑ Also, a few Members use the Magic Color acrylic pigment inks, but they require very high vigilance. My practice is to use a c/c pen, charge it, do the writing that needs doing, then cleanse the pen - all within a few hours at the outside.

 

Wheee!

 

Bye,

S1

 

I had no idea the R&K IG inks could be mixed with their other colors! While I like Salix and Scabiosa on their own, this gives me hope for if I ever get bored of the colors but don't want to lose their wonderful properties. :-)