Vintage (Ink Sac Equipped) Safe Inks? A Tale of pH?

[amberleadavis]

My 1990 Pelikan Blue Black was one of my inks that deteriorated.  I think the IG inks are more prone to breaking down, but that is only anecdotal.  However, vintage SKRIP ink especially Peacock blue are among my favorites.

[essayfaire]

16 hours ago, inkstainedruth said:

A lot are still out there, and (as long as they aren't IG formulations

This is interesting.  Some of the advice seems to be to use IG formulations in vintage pens as that's what was commonly used at that time.  What's the issue with old ones- do they degrade in bottle but not on the paper?

 

I just saw this was somewhat answered above- I should have read to the next page of the thread!

Edited January 17, 2023 by essayfaire
lack of attention

[inkstainedruth]

1 hour ago, essayfaire said:

This is interesting.  Some of the advice seems to be to use IG formulations in vintage pens as that's what was commonly used at that time.  What's the issue with old ones- do they degrade in bottle but not on the paper?

 

I just saw this was somewhat answered above- I should have read to the next page of the thread!

Yes, IG inks can have the iron content precipitate out.  I had a vintage bottle of IIRC Pen-It Blue Black which destroyed the sac in a Pilot Con-B converter; and I'm probably going to also have to dump the (still nearly full bottle) of Akkerman IJzer-Galnoten because it went bad (and that was a modern ink...).

I do know that someone a few years ago was going to use some IG ink (modern, IIRC) in a vintage Esterbrook pen, just to see how long it would actually work before having to flush the pen out and/or re-sac it (don't know whether or not there's been an update on that experiment).

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth