Nib Creep(?)

[nujnay]

I mixed Pelikan BB and Pelikan Brilliant red to get a dark red color ink. But the nib is stained with a somewhat shiny green. It looks nice when seen from far but here is a close up picture. Any thoughts on this?

The ink is very wet to write with (compared to the bb) but does not bleed through the cheap paper I'm using. cheers

[ernestcow]

From what I know, some inks just can't be mixed because of their chemical properties. I'm not at all certain about this particular case though...

[peterjupton]

Looking at the picture of the nib i would hazard a guess that some sort of chemical reaction has taken place. its hard to say from the picture weather it is an aditive or subtractive reaction on the part of the nib. i would suspect from the picture that it is additive and that for some chemical reasion copper has been laid down on the nib by the combination of inks. if you still have the mix of ink it might be worth leaving it for a wile to settle and see if the copper solid is being created in the ink mix or if it is a reation with the nib material. im not familiure with what material Lamy uses for there nibs but if the ink mix isant creating a presipitant it might be worth trying some difirent materials in it and seeing if another nib material might work. from what i understand this type of displacement reaction will always be a risk as may inks contain metalic eliments that can react. hope this helps

[Davros]

How difficult is it to get the stain off?

 

(Also: Stats! Yay!)

[nujnay]

Looking at the picture of the nib i would hazard a guess that some sort of chemical reaction has taken place. its hard to say from the picture weather it is an aditive or subtractive reaction on the part of the nib. i would suspect from the picture that it is additive and that for some chemical reasion copper has been laid down on the nib by the combination of inks. if you still have the mix of ink it might be worth leaving it for a wile to settle and see if the copper solid is being created in the ink mix or if it is a reation with the nib material. im not familiure with what material Lamy uses for there nibs but if the ink mix isant creating a presipitant it might be worth trying some difirent materials in it and seeing if another nib material might work. from what i understand this type of displacement reaction will always be a risk as may inks contain metalic eliments that can react. hope this helps

 

Thank you for the very detailed explanation i left some of the inks overnight and there was no precipitation/coagulation in it so i felt that it might be safe for use. The green shade does not only appear on the nib, but also on the feed which is plastic.

 

How difficult is it to get the stain off?

 

(Also: Stats! Yay!)

 

The green stuffs got off quite easily. On the plastic feed (as mentioned above) it became red. and the red took me ages to was. It seems like no matter how much i wash, there is always some red left in the feed. and..what do you mean by stats? kinda new here. haha

[grainweevil]

I just looked back at my ink mixing records, and while I seem to have skipped trying a Pelikan red/BB mix, I did do a red/black one, and there's a noticeable green sheen to the swabbed sample. I think it's something in that red ink - it's a strange, strange ink, to my mind. What ratio of red to BB did you use? It's a nice colour and I'm not adverse to mixing up a vial and seeing what results I get.

 

Cheers, Al

[nujnay]

I just looked back at my ink mixing records, and while I seem to have skipped trying a Pelikan red/BB mix, I did do a red/black one, and there's a noticeable green sheen to the swabbed sample. I think it's something in that red ink - it's a strange, strange ink, to my mind. What ratio of red to BB did you use? It's a nice colour and I'm not adverse to mixing up a vial and seeing what results I get.

 

 

 

Cheers, Al

I wish I could record it, i started with 1ml of red ink and 4-5 drip of black but it spilled (my fault T.T) so i continued mixing until I get the colour I like

[Davros]

and..what do you mean by stats? kinda new here. haha

Statistics.

[nujnay]

Statistics.

now i get it! yeapp preparing for my exam

[grainweevil]

I wish I could record it, i started with 1ml of red ink and 4-5 drip of black but it spilled (my fault T.T) so i continued mixing until I get the colour I like

 

Ah well, I can't pretend not to have done that myself. I'll maybe have a play around anyway, see if I can get close and mix up something approximate. Got to use that crazy ink somehow!

 

Cheers, Al

[soum]

I haven't mixed red and BB, but I think the greenish hue that you see is from the red ink itself. I've seen a similar greenish tinge on the rim of the bottle cap with the cap unscrewed. Anyway, as long as it wipes off easily, it shouldn't be a problem at all.

 

Also, yay for statistics!

[amberleadavis]

I think it is nib crud, something in the red/yellow dye lots seems to make certain inks prone to nib crud, but that amount is not super irritating.

[nujnay]

thanks for the replies learned a new word today: nib crud. I filled the pen 3 times after using this ink (lamy blue > syo-ro > and now fuyu-gaki) and i would say that the mixed ink performed similar (probably better) than those inks xD maybe im wrong but that's what i felt.

[amberleadavis]

Some pens prefer specific inks. It's just magic.

[grainweevil]

Well I had a go and have some unexpected, and unwelcome, results. They don't really have any bearing on the original query, but folks might wish to know.

 

In the end I plumped for a 5:1 ratio as being close-ish to the colour, and mixed up a small batch. Got plenty of green sheen left over on my dip nib and reservoir, as expected. Usually I'd leave a mix in the vial for a few days before inking up a pen with it, but I threw caution to the winds and filled up one of what I think of as my "crash test dummies" - an Oliver Exam (a piston-filler very similar in size and appearance to a Noodler's Nib Creaper) which has proved to be a world class nib crud creator.

 

Alas, I never got as far as growing crud. The ink started to go brown, and oddly gloopy* before the first 24hrs were up. I feared for the ebonite feed in the Exam and so emptied it out. Ah, it may have been going brown because a good deal of the red was adhering to the pen, the feed, and the nib. Oh. Some work with pen flush later, and the nib and feed are fine, but the barrel is going to need some further work. Green sheening was conspicuously absent, btw.

 

I turned to the vial - after all perhaps it was the pen's fault - and lo! I have my first experience of little bits of "stuff" floating in the mix. Really not good, because I had somehow formed the impression that you could pretty much blend the Pelikan 4001 inks together with impunity. Rats.

 

Now perhaps I have a dubious batch of ink here, but speaking for the particular mix I made, green nib crud would appear be the least of my worries. I see a brief, painless trip down the drain in its future! Ah well, it's educational, isn't it?

 

Cheers, Al

 

*In fairness the gloopiness seemed to increase at a similar rate to my doubts, so I may have been projecting that...

[nujnay]

Well I had a go and have some unexpected, and unwelcome, results. They don't really have any bearing on the original query, but folks might wish to know.

 

In the end I plumped for a 5:1 ratio as being close-ish to the colour, and mixed up a small batch. Got plenty of green sheen left over on my dip nib and reservoir, as expected. Usually I'd leave a mix in the vial for a few days before inking up a pen with it, but I threw caution to the winds and filled up one of what I think of as my "crash test dummies" - an Oliver Exam (a piston-filler very similar in size and appearance to a Noodler's Nib Creaper) which has proved to be a world class nib crud creator.

 

Alas, I never got as far as growing crud. The ink started to go brown, and oddly gloopy* before the first 24hrs were up. I feared for the ebonite feed in the Exam and so emptied it out. Ah, it may have been going brown because a good deal of the red was adhering to the pen, the feed, and the nib. Oh. Some work with pen flush later, and the nib and feed are fine, but the barrel is going to need some further work. Green sheening was conspicuously absent, btw.

 

I turned to the vial - after all perhaps it was the pen's fault - and lo! I have my first experience of little bits of "stuff" floating in the mix. Really not good, because I had somehow formed the impression that you could pretty much blend the Pelikan 4001 inks together with impunity. Rats.

 

Now perhaps I have a dubious batch of ink here, but speaking for the particular mix I made, green nib crud would appear be the least of my worries. I see a brief, painless trip down the drain in its future! Ah well, it's educational, isn't it?

 

Cheers, Al

 

*In fairness the gloopiness seemed to increase at a similar rate to my doubts, so I may have been projecting that...

 

Thank you for trying that out with detailed observation! I think I did notice a bit of brownish colour to the ink after sometime but i managed to finish the ink within 1-2 days. phew, could've spoiled my new safari on the red ink staining part, i still get red ink residues after my second refill (and wash) and it stained my converter too; never putting red ink into that pen again. on the bright side, now i have a reason to get another pen just for red inks