Diamine Registrar's Ink (And Other Modern Iron-Galls)

[Sandy1]

Thanks for the answers, everyone

 

I've been cleaning and rinsing my pen each Sunday before switching to a different one. This works without problems, but one: I can't get the ESSRI out of the convertors. Even soaking in warm water doesn't help, so I tried the least aggressive version of Steradent. (That's the stuff used to clean dentures / false teeth.) I disassemble the convertor, and soak it in a cup of warm water that has a quarter tablet of Steradent in it. Within half an hour, the convertors are clean.

 

Obviously, I rinse them liberally with clear water.

 

Now, I only hope the insides of the pen don't have the same problems as the convertors....

 

Hi,

 

Many thanks for keeping us up to date as things progress. Your attention to detail is admirable, and gives a sound basis for evaluation and comment.

 

I have no idea why the converters are not coming clean. (?) They'd be the last place the ink would dry-out, so I rather doubt that what's left after a clean-up would be anything iron based. I've not noticed such behaviour in converters or ink windows of piston fillers. If you take a very slender swab, then very gentley introduce it into the ink tank of the converter, will the residue wipe free?

 

Other than Steraclean, did you use any chemicals stronger than a very dilute acetic acid rinse in the clean-up? As mentioned by Member pharmacist, (ESSRI IR Post № 271), the acetic acid rinse should be done prior to using other clean-up chemistry.

 

Bye,

S1

 

__ Edit to add: When you take the pens out of rotation do you leave them disassembled? It is my personal practice cap them, but without the converter attached to the section.

Edited June 15, 2014 by Sandy1

[FloatingFountain]

 

Hi,

 

Many thanks for keeping us up to date as things progress. Your attention to detail is admirable, and gives a sound basis for evaluation and comment.

 

Thanks

 

 

I have no idea why the converters are not coming clean. (?) They'd be the last place the ink would dry-out, so I rather doubt that what's left after a clean-up would be anything iron based. I've not noticed such behaviour in converters or ink windows of piston fillers. If you take a very slender swab, then very gentley introduce it into the ink tank of the converter, will the residue wipe free?

 

It depends if the cotton swab can make enough contact with the residue in the Sailor convertors. Most of it will come out, but some seems to be almost impossible to remove.

 

I don't have a swab thin enough to fit the Parker converter from the front, but I have discovered that the Duofold convertor (which has a golden top, instead of the normal silver) disassembles, so next time, I'll stick the swab into its rear end. (That sounded so... not right....)

 

 

 

Other than Steraclean, did you use any chemicals stronger than a very dilute acetic acid rinse in the clean-up? As mentioned by Member pharmacist, (ESSRI IR Post № 271), the acetic acid rinse should be done prior to using other clean-up chemistry.

 

 

For the convertors, I have only used a quarter of a Steradent tablet in a cup of lukewarm water, and rinsing with clean water afterward.

 

When I flush the pen, I use 20% white vinegar and 80% lukewarm water, as was recommended by Pharmacist in several posts on this forum, and follow that up with liberal flushing with clean water.

 

 

__ Edit to add: When you take the pens out of rotation do you leave them disassembled? It is my personal practice cap them, but without the converter attached to the section.

 

I only disassemble pens when I suspect that they might not be cleaning out correctly, i.e. if it skips, or has been idle too long. That has not yet happened with this ink and probably never will, because I now only have one pen inked at a time. One pen in total, not one pen with ESSRI. Yeah, I'm a wussy.

 

If I disassemble a pen for cleaning, I leave it on a paper towel during the night, and then assemble it again and cap it before I store it into the pen pouch. Normally I put the convertor into it. Why do you leave it out?

Edited June 15, 2014 by FloatingFountain

[h_s_shrivastava]

@FloatingFountain

Now that such a long time has elapsed, I suppose you must have gathered quite an experience with IG ink in Sonnet, Duofold and Sapporo.

Please, tell us your experience. We are eager to hear.

[Arkanabar]

I filled a Noodler's eyedropper, which is an inexpensive Indian acrylic eyedropper provided with the 4.5oz bottle of Borealis Black, with Chesterfield Archival Vault (almost certainly manufactured by Diamine, probably just relabeled RI). The only problem was burping; I tried to use it right after coming into work in the winter. Keeping it in a shirt pocket likely would have prevented the issue, as well as keeping it filled. And I had to use a cotton swab to get rid of the residue inside the barrel. I had no other issues; it's fairly easy to pull the nib and feed and apply a toothbrush.

I also filled my Baoer 388. There's still a dab of residue in the converter, where the bead keeps the piston from quite reaching the throat.

Because I do not particularly love the color, I've given up on the stuff.

[Flaxmoore]

My recommendation at the moment is:

 

• Don't fill EG ink into pens with clear ink windows as they may become gray.
• Don't fill EG ink into pens which are very difficult to disassemble, e.g. a "51".
• Don't fill EG ink into pens which easily dry up. (Actually it is the best to not use them at all.)
• If you are unsure about EG inks, use a pen which you can easily disassemble fully, e.g. with ink sac and removable separate nib and feed. That way you can use a tooth brush or similar to mechanically clean everything.
• Use vinegar for cleaning. (An acid helps to get the iron into solution.)
• Perhaps fill und use it sometimes with a royal blue ink (which is acidic).

For the last item I am doing at the moment an exeriment. I filled a demonstrator pen with a high concentration EG ink to let it dry up. Once it has dried up, I will try to get it clean with a royal blue ink.

 

Cepasaccus

Pardon my asking. I'm trying to learn German. EG... Eisen-Gallus? German for iron gall? Wish my grandmother was still alive- first generation German-American, fluent in German.

[tinta]

I've been reading some concern expressed re: sedimentation of IG ink,...one of the recommendations being, not to shake the bottles.

 

One of my favourite ferrogallic inks is Akkerman # 10 blauw/zwart in the old large capacity bottle (with a new small bottle in reserve) that has to be inverted, so that the inking chamber will fill up. This is not shaking the bottle per se, but it's still disturbing the ink in the main chamber.

 

Has anyone had problems with the sedimentation of Akkerman # 10 iron-gall ink, that has been dispensed in their distinctive bottle?

Edited July 29, 2015 by tinta

[Cepasaccus]

Pardon my asking. I'm trying to learn German. EG... Eisen-Gallus? German for iron gall? Wish my grandmother was still alive- first generation German-American, fluent in German.

Yes, sorry, should have written IG.

[AAAndrew]

I have Diamine Registrars in a Parker Vector and it's been in there for almost three months. I write a line or so most days, but otherwise it sits there. So far, no problems. I'm thinking of using IG ink in my new TWSBI Eco since the only metal it contacts is the nib, and it's easy to pull the nib and feed out and there are no other real parts except the plastic piston.

 

I also use Diamine Registrar's ink for dip pen calligraphy because of the incredibly fine lines you can get with it. It works great. Now those vintage steel nibs I clean well afterwards, but then they're not stainless steel and I clean them well no matter what ink I use.

 

I just got a bottle of ESSRI because I've been hogging my Diamine for dip pen use. We'll see how that works in my Eco.

[Sandy1]

I filled a Noodler's eyedropper, which is an inexpensive Indian acrylic eyedropper provided with the 4.5oz bottle of Borealis Black, with Chesterfield Archival Vault (almost certainly manufactured by Diamine, probably just relabeled RI). The only problem was burping; I tried to use it right after coming into work in the winter. Keeping it in a shirt pocket likely would have prevented the issue, as well as keeping it filled. And I had to use a cotton swab to get rid of the residue inside the barrel. I had no other issues; it's fairly easy to pull the nib and feed and apply a toothbrush.

 

I also filled my Baoer 388. There's still a dab of residue in the converter, where the bead keeps the piston from quite reaching the throat.

 

Because I do not particularly love the color, I've given up on the stuff.

 

Hi,

 

To enliven the colour of Diamine Registrars Ink, hence keep it from lingering unused, kindly consider diluting it with distilled water, then blending the diluted DRI with other Western / pH neutral aniline dye inks.

 

Apparently Japanese inks tend to be quite alkaline (high pH), and as the Registrar inks are the quite acidic (pH 2-ish), the difference in pH makes them unlikely candidates for blending.

 

Such an approached was used with ESSRI to put the Blue back in Blue-Black @ ESSRI Mixes: https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/index.php?/topic/223337-essri-mixes/page__view__findpost__p__2219295

 

Bye,

S1

[ItwasLuck]

I really want to use Diamine Registrars or Rohrer and Klingner Salix on my Pilot 823 smoked demonstrator but considering the ink capacity, 2.2ml, and the fact that it is slightly transparent. I feel I should stick with Nano-pigmented inks over IG inks.

 

I want to use R&K Salix on the very (bleep) quality papers provided by the hospital, the paper is so thin and so bad that it absorbs my well-behaved Take-Sumi like a tissue! For this reason I am considering either Diamine Registrar's Ink / R&K Salix OR Sailor Kiwa-Guro Nano Pigmented Ink.

 

Someone help me out here. I'll also be trying out my Waterman Intense Black on the pen after I flush it tomorrow. Hopefully that solves the problem although I highly doubt it will fix the EXTREME amount of bleedthrough in that crappy paper. I am mainly looking at these types of high maintenance inks because of the almost non-existent bleedthrough properties (at least on IG inks).

 

BTW, in terms of maintenance I flush my pen every 2 weeks, since it's a vac filler I just flush enough so that the water that comes out is clear. Note, I use on average 1ml of ink on a daily basis so I don't think I have to worry about the nano pigments settling in the pen and clogging the feeds.

Environment: Very hot and humid, can't do much about this really...

 

If anyone has experience with both Diamine's Registrar's Ink and R&K's IG inks, could you tell me which is "safer" to use?

 

Thanks!

Edited October 14, 2016 by ItwasLuck

[Noihvo]

[Flaxmoore]

Salix has two problems for me. Despite loving the color, it is bone dry in my Pilots, to the point the Metro just stops. It also has issues in making my 700 nearly impossible to work- it flows, but the piston just jams even freshly greased. It just strips the grease off.

 

Second is what the color does. Even in my notebooks two years old, it doesn't go black, just a dusty gray-blue. I'm also told it fades like hell, but haven't tried it.

 

Diamine Registrar has the first problem, but my Al-Star loves it, no issues. Goes down blue, dries black.