Celluloid-Safe Inks

January 23, 2016

I know this is not an infrequently posted topic, but I am having trouble finding the answers I need. I recently purchased a celluloid pen (Visconti Wall St LE) and I am concerned about maintaining the celluloid as well as possible. Up until now I've been using PR DC Supershow Blue as my standard blue ink, but it is quite saturated and I have no plans to put that in the Visconti. I do need a replacement blue though, so I was curious to see how safe some of my options were.

I am aware that Pilot and Sailor inks tend to be quite basic and may be able to damage Celluloid. I am especially concerned given that the material is stacked and any degradation seems like it could cause leaks. Unfortunately, I quite like Iro Kon-Peki and Sailor Tokiwa-Matsu. Should I avoid using them in this pen?

I was planning on picking up either some Waterman Serenity/Florida blue or J.Herbin Eclat Saphir. I'm assuming these are both safe to use given their reputation. I was also looking at Omas Blue, but I can't find much on how safe it is (although it does seem to be quite acidic), does anyone have some advice here?

I apologize for the rambling post, and thanks for the help!

January 23, 2016

You might go to: http://www.richardspens.com. Do a search for ink and then read " Inks: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. I think you will find it informative.

January 23, 2016

You might go to: http://www.richardspens.com. Do a search for ink and then read " Inks: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. I think you will find it informative.

Binder's page is actually what encouraged me to be more concerned about my ink in the first place. Is his warning against Japanese inks something I should abide by?

January 23, 2016

Personally I've decided to only use the Pilot and Noodler's inks in inexpensive pens or pens with converters. I won't be using them in any of the pens I own with ink sacs or piston fillers.

January 23, 2016

I'm surprised to hear that against Pilot inks, I had always been under the assumption they were some of the best, but I suppose Pilot doesn't really have any reason to make especially safe inks. Thanks for your help!

January 23, 2016

One of the paragraphs in Binder's article on inks states that the Japanese inks are alkaline. He states specifically that," some of the Pilot Iroshizuku colors will destroy latex sacs." One of my favorite inks is tsuki yo, which I will be using only with my contemporary pens with converters. Most of my pens are from the 20's, 30's, and 40's. So given what I now know I will be limiting the inks I use in the majority of my pens that have ink sacs.

January 23, 2016

I'm very interested in the answer to this question too.

I read Binder's site too, and just to be safe I'd avoid putting Japanese inks in celluloid pens. I think I read somewhere here that Iroshizuku has a ph of 8.5-10.5? When someone asked Pilot. I'm not enough of a chemist to know whether that kind of ph would be damaging to celluloid (and some other vegetal resins), but I wouldn't like to find out with my pens. So just to be safe (or paranoid?), I try to stay with the Japanese inks in Japanese pens rule.

I don't really think Pilot inks are "unsafe" exactly, just that most Pilot pens are c/c pens and I don't think they use celluloids etc.

January 23, 2016

Waterman, Montblanc, and Skip are what I use. I have used Iroshizuku in Celluloid pens but never left it in for long enough to know if there would be damage.

Visconti inks will be fine in your Wall Street too.

January 23, 2016

I'm very interested in the answer to this question too.

I read Binder's site too, and just to be safe I'd avoid putting Japanese inks in celluloid pens. I think I read somewhere here that Iroshizuku has a ph of 8.5-10.5? When someone asked Pilot. I'm not enough of a chemist to know whether that kind of ph would be damaging to celluloid (and some other vegetal resins), but I wouldn't like to find out with my pens. So just to be safe (or paranoid?), I try to stay with the Japanese inks in Japanese pens rule.

I don't really think Pilot inks are "unsafe" exactly, just that most Pilot pens are c/c pens and I don't think they use celluloids etc.

Pilot Uses Ebonite in the form of Namiki Urushi Type 20 but I'm more inclined to the Type 50 as thats definitely an eye dropper

they used celluloid in the past though but it isnt as prevelent but Pilot's early days you could probably get celluloid

well most likely celluloid lever fillers as thats what they got Type 10 of mot type 30R from the WW2 may or may not have used celluloid but this was before Iroshizuku but if your going to use the Black, Blue-Black, Blue and Red they are relatively safe but I'm still not yet that sure with the blue-black as it's a water resistant almost permanent blue-black but isnt Iron-gall

Edited January 23, 2016 by Algester

January 23, 2016

Pilot Uses Ebonite in the form of Namiki Urushi Type 20 but I'm more inclined to the Type 50 as thats definitely an eye dropper
they used celluloid in the past though but it isnt as prevelent but Pilot's early days you could probably get celluloid
well most likely celluloid lever fillers as thats what they got Type 10 of mot type 30R from the WW2 may or may not have used celluloid but this was before Iroshizuku but if your going to use the Black, Blue-Black, Blue and Red they are relatively safe but I'm still not yet that sure with the blue-black as it's a water resistant almost permanent blue-black but isnt Iron-gall

I expected Pilot to have used celluloid in the past. I did mean that they don't really make them nowadays, I guess I should have qualified my statement.

But does ebonite have the same issues with alkaline substances that celluloid does? I don't recall Binder's site specifically singling out ebonite, but as I don't own any ebonite pens I wouldn't have been paying attention if he had.

January 23, 2016

With your concerns, I've attached a writing sample of inks and some recommendations below. - Buzz

http://i1297.photobucket.com/albums/ag22/augustfamily1/Ink%20Reviews/0E7E2FC6-9408-4ECE-920C-7B1E0051EF12_zpsh76auppl.jpg

January 23, 2016

I forgot to add Visconti Blue to the list! Added this writing sample below (you may find this to be a very good match). - Buzz

http://i1297.photobucket.com/albums/ag22/augustfamily1/Ink%20Reviews/28C87D64-4AA1-48FE-BCAA-01F015304AD8_zps5dhsoipo.jpg

January 23, 2016

I'm very interested in the answer to this question too.

I read Binder's site too, and just to be safe I'd avoid putting Japanese inks in celluloid pens. I think I read somewhere here that Iroshizuku has a ph of 8.5-10.5? When someone asked Pilot. I'm not enough of a chemist to know whether that kind of ph would be damaging to celluloid (and some other vegetal resins), but I wouldn't like to find out with my pens. So just to be safe (or paranoid?), I try to stay with the Japanese inks in Japanese pens rule.

I don't really think Pilot inks are "unsafe" exactly, just that most Pilot pens are c/c pens and I don't think they use celluloids etc.

Yeah, that's true, I don't imagine Pilot really has any reason to care about celluloid safety, but that doesn't really make them unsafe for other pens.

With your concerns, I've attached a writing sample of inks and some recommendations below. - Buzz
http://i1297.photobucket.com/albums/ag22/augustfamily1/Ink%20Reviews/0E7E2FC6-9408-4ECE-920C-7B1E0051EF12_zpsh76auppl.jpg

Thanks a lot for the ink samples! I like the look of the Visconti and Waterman blues, I'll pick one of those up for sure.

January 24, 2016

I expected Pilot to have used celluloid in the past. I did mean that they don't really make them nowadays, I guess I should have qualified my statement.

But does ebonite have the same issues with alkaline substances that celluloid does? I don't recall Binder's site specifically singling out ebonite, but as I don't own any ebonite pens I wouldn't have been paying attention if he had.

if you want a "Pilot" celluloid you would need to chuck out the money for a Hakase celluloid even then thats C/C pen so its not that they don't make celluloid its just made by a different person really

as for ebonite I'm not sure either I want to get an Eboya but I feel that I have to allocate my resources first in attempting to get a GvFC Classic Anello Ebony even though getting one in my country without it's presence is an arduous task

even then I do not know which type of Eboya form factor I want (I'm more leaning towards the "Onoto style" pen but without knowing how big or small the pen is across the sizes I do not know what pen to get)