Inky T O D - How Much Ink Do You Really Use?

[amberleadavis]

Well, a fellow FPNer asked about ways that some of us ink hoarders use our ink (or if we just sleep on it like inky dragons).

 

How much ink do you use? BTW, gifting it does count.

[JefferyS]

I have an ink glut.

[ellenspn]

I have no clue yet. I'm just getting started with this addiction hobby.

[WaskiSquirrel]

I have too much ink, but I buy black ink several times a year. The colored inks seem to last.

 

The black gets used up in writing my novel.

[amberleadavis]

Here was a post from a few weeks ago.

 

Find out how much ink you use. I use a LOT, but then I play with my ink ... a LOT. Even still, I'm probably not going to use up all my inks in my lifetime. In college I would use about a bottle a semester, and I wrote 15 pages per 1.5 hour class, so that would be 10 pages per credit hour .... 60 ml would 1800 pages for me (I think). 1 filled 2 pens each night they had small converters, and I used a Sheaffer cartridge every day. Oh, so maybe I used more ink than I thought. I don't think most people write that much, and let's get real, word processing back then was a real pain.

Anyway, 2 ml samples, should be a couple of fills on the fine or extra fine nib - if you write a lot you probably won't use at 2ml in a week.

Now, Skyperre's cat has an ink problem.

Skyppere

http://i147.photobucket.com/albums/r315/skyppere/IMG_3923-002_zpse2e37dd3.jpg

[SeeksAdvice]

I don't get this low ink use thing. Admittedly, I have a couple of "wet" writers, but, I can drain my M400 pretty fast in trials, and that's with swapping to a different pen/color for cross-exam, etc.

Right now, I have ~41 bottles of ink. Only a handful, Empire Red comes to mind (why, oh why did I buy that...), have not had visible draw downs on them. Diamine Poppy Red and Sherwood Green have had some help from catastrophic TWSBI failures, resulting in taking more out of them than I'd expect. Pretty sad when a 1950's Pelikan 140 that's been dropped, has a broken grip section, and slightly out-of-alignment tines, is more reliable than a 580 Diamond ...

[amberleadavis]

I don't get this low ink use thing. Admittedly, I have a couple of "wet" writers, but, I can drain my M400 pretty fast in trials, and that's with swapping to a different pen/color for cross-exam, etc.

Right now, I have ~41 bottles of ink. Only a handful, Empire Red comes to mind (why, oh why did I buy that...), have not had visible draw downs on them. Diamine Poppy Red and Sherwood Green have had some help from catastrophic TWSBI failures, resulting in taking more out of them than I'd expect. Pretty sad when a 1950's Pelikan 140 that's been dropped, has a broken grip section, and slightly out-of-alignment tines, is more reliable than a 580 Diamond ...

 

 

Seeks, I feel bad for you, because I have been you. The reason I got so involved in FPN was to get advice about all the crazy experiences I was having.

[AllenG]

As far as I can tell ink bottles do not have bottoms.

 

A BIC pen holds about .3ml of ink and can write for about 2 miles.

That means a 50ml bottle is good for around 300 miles.

I have 26 bottles of ink, so I will have drawn a line 6000 miles long before I deplete my stock.

 

I probably go through no more than 450 miles of ink a year.

Edited May 5, 2014 by AllenG

[FayeV]

I have never reached the bottom of any ink bottle. Yet I feel compelled to window shop for more ink.

I don't need to buy more ink, yet I ordered 7 bottles last week and I'm still looking to buy more ink. Then I got sidetracked while window shopping for ink and entertained the idea of buying a MB 144 ... and I'm not even a big fan of MB pens ... but then nixed the idea and got back on track, browsing more ink colors ...

 

[Davros]

I use more some weeks than others for sure, and I definitely buy more than I use. Work notes, casual and formal, grading, editing and markup, notes from reading, personal writing, etc. together use at least 5 ml a week if I stick to very fine nibs.

 

But buying ink is about joy, not necessity.

 

As far as I can tell ink bottles do not have bottoms.

A BIC pen holds about .3ml of ink and can write for about 2 miles.

That means a 50ml bottle is good for around 300 miles.

I have 26 bottles of ink, so I will have drawn a line 6000 miles long before I deplete my stock.

I probably go through no more than 450 miles of ink a year.

Bic ink lasts longer, because it is stingy, miserable stuff.

[Komitadjie]

Honestly, I don't use even a fraction of the ink that I'd like to THINK I do. Well, at least that my budget would like to think I do, anyway. Fountain pens and their ink are so much cheaper, because you can refill them from that one bottle so many times... Right? ... Right? Anyone? *Crickets* Ahhh, right, that mysterious 'one bottle' person... If you have pens, you simply HAVE to have a range of inks! Aaaaaand along with that comes enough usable line length to draw a life-size sketch of the friggin' MOON. With a wet pen. On newsprint.

[dizzypen]

Honestly, not much. My ink hoard will outlive me.

 

I'd be shocked if I go through more than 1 mil every week. When I was a grad student I used a lot more ink.

[Fuzzy_Bear]

Like most, my inks will outlast me. With that said, here is me.

 

For the first year, all black, Aurora Black. I keep a pen loaded with black at all times. I am a Noodler's ams Private Reserve fan.

 

I keep pens loaded with all different colors and change them on a whim. Only a couple of colors go back in the bottle, my Dromgooles. In the years, I have been through maybe 6 bottles of ink.

 

But I still buy a couple every year, esp. At the Dallas pen show.

[Oranges and Apples]

I use about ~0.8 or ~0.9 ml of ink per working day. This is because I run my Pilot Vanishing Point in a broad point dry every working day and then I have a Pilot Acroball 3 Multipen to use. So in a week I use from ~4ml to ~4.5ml. In a month I use ~18ml. In a year I use about ~200ml. This is with the Con-20 converter.

[Elyptic]

Up until receiving my second pen, I only had my Pilot VP with a F nib. Using this daily for all my note taking and journal writing, I probably refill about twice a week. So that would mean around 1.5ml per week.

 

However, with a second pen (especially with a medium nib), and my need to write increasing, I would expect this to increase to around 2.5 ml / week.

 

Essentially, my two bottles of ink will last well into 2015. And yet, I still feel the urge to pick up more options besides blue and black. Perhaps a nice green, red and of course some purple for the wife...

[Bo Bo Olson]

Of course with @ 50 inks I have too many....some I don't like....some are some day when I grow there more....like murky greens.

Some are rare....should I use them now...use them before I use up the common ink...or save it to pour over my grave?

 

Jut because I have 12 pens inked don't mean I'm using up enough ink....I've slipped into a bad habit.....inking a pen with the same ink...Again!!!!

 

I inked a pen with Lie d'Thee instead of that MB Christmas brown...silver capped cinnamon from years a go, I lucked into and bought extra.

It was so special...it slipped my mind when it came time to ink a fancy repaired pen. MB rolled gold 742 (51-54/5), 'flexi'/maxi-semi-flex F....one of them grand '50's nibs.

 

Should I use old rare inks now? Yes.....empty pen, go clean pen....put in rare inks....midnight is not guaranteed.

Thanks.

 

Glad no one can see me sniffing ink...might think I didn't have a dollar bill left over.

 

In I have my pens in colored cups, by what color the ink is and have too many inked...often a pen will be dry. I have a German rubber Postal cup with sponge....that one can find similar on US Ebay...in after no lick stamps came in post offices no longer carry that. I'm glad I live in a lick and go stamp world....I just dip the nib in the wet sponge and am writing.

Edited May 8, 2014 by Bo Bo Olson

[Bookman]

I have gone through multiple bottles of a handful of inks in five years, and I empty the bottle (jar in the case of Sailor Jentle Blue) before I go to the next one. I'm on my 5th or 6th jar of Sailor Jentle Blue; 5th bottle of Visconti Blue; 4th bottles of Aurora Black and Aurora Blue; 3rd or 4th bottle of Waterman (née) Florida Blue; 3rd bottles of Pelikan 4001 Black and Platimun Blue-Black; and 2nd bottle of Sheaffer Red. I would be working on my 2nd bottle of Noodler's Old Manhattan Black, but I got bored with it, so I switched to Noodler's Bulletproof Black. And then I have 20-25 first bottles I'm still working on, some (like Noodler's American Eel Blue, Diamine Imperial Blue, and Diamine Orange) dating back to summer 0f 2009. I'll soon need a 2nd bottle of R&K Salix.

Edited May 8, 2014 by Bookman

[lapis]

Sort of like a few of the above members, I do use what I have but not all that much. After all, I didn't buy them just to use them, but just to collect them and in my spare time -- like when I can't sleep -- count them instead of counting sheep, Frigzample, yup, all 30 old CdAs are there, all 8 Lamys, 37 Herbins, 22 Pelikans, 8 Graf vons, 19 R&Ks, 9 Watermans etc. Sure, I have a few more, but, boy, as re new CdAs, Iroshis, Sailors, Parkers, Bung Box, De Atramentis, Noodler's and Diamines... those all make up tons of inks I still need.

[sadiemagic]

I probably use more ink than many others, because I do not like writing with fine nibs and would never in a million years write with an XF. I don't even care for most M nibs, although I have some. Most of my nibs are B, BB, stubs, or B/BB ground to CIs.

 

I was just mulling over my ink collection, and how many bottles/colors/brands that I likely will never finish. I tend to reorder my favorite inks, and try new ones.

 

Hard to quantify but in the last 4 or 5 years, I have re-ordered several bottles each of PRDCSSB, PR Electric DC Blue, PRAB, Iroshizuku Kon-Peki, Noodler's Ottoman Azure, Iroshizuku Tsuki-yo. I know this because I write the dates on the boxes, and keep the old ones to fill from for a while.

 

I will be using less ink now, however, as I retired last fall and have less occasion to write. I miss it, in fact - far more than I miss the stress of the job!

[amberleadavis]

Sort of like a few of the above members, I do use what I have but not all that much. After all, I didn't buy them just to use them, but just to collect them and in my spare time -- like when I can't sleep -- count them instead of counting sheep, Frigzample, yup, all 30 old CdAs are there, all 8 Lamys, 37 Herbins, 22 Pelikans, 8 Graf vons, 19 R&Ks, 9 Watermans etc. Sure, I have a few more, but, boy, as re new CdAs, Iroshis, Sailors, Parkers, Bung Box, De Atramentis, Noodler's and Diamines... those all make up tons of inks I still need.

 

 

Lapis, be sure to see how I have taken your name in shame. Aka Amber The Kettle

 

 

For got the hyperlink