Permanent Ink That Does Not Clog Pens

[matteob]

Hello everyone I love using a fountain pen but I must confess I use a Uniball Gel Impact pen for my journals as the ink is anti fade and waterproof. The reason for this is I don't use the pen every day and I have heard warnings about permanent inks ruining pens. Can anyone recommend a mild permanent blue ink that will not cause issues if the pen is left for a few days?

[bassmannate]

Pilot Blue is pretty mild and very water resistant.

[Sandy1]

Hi,

 

For the most part inks do not harm pens, rather that people who do not match pen to ink to their manner of working puts pens at risk.

 

Pilot Blue and Blue-Black are quite robust, and relatively low maintenance. Quite wow-less though, so may your fair hand come to their rescue

 

But using the measure of robustness to infer 'permanence' is a bit of a stretch: no time factor is in play, and the paper and storage conditions are ignored.

 

Personally I use large-bore iron-gall inks on cotton rag paper when going for permanence - that combo is in fact time tested. I also agree with Member dcwaites that one of the nano particle carbon inks, such as Sailor kiwa-guro, is a contender. However those inks are not Blue.

 

I've been using the iron-gall ESS Registrars ink in a well-sealed Pilot Plumix for years without a problem, so that may serve as a point of departure.

 

Bye,

S1

Edited November 28, 2016 by Sandy1

[Pickwick]

I'm rather puzzled about this desire for permanent waterproof inks. Waterproof inks are designed to prevent anyone tampering with the alteration of documents of importance. Apart from that whenever does paper ever come in contact with soluble solutions other than by accidents or carelessness? Usually the paper ink is written on is ruined as well! All inks will last on paper for more than one generation. The only risk of fading is extensive exposure to daylight.I have seen letters and legal documents such as deeds of mortgages written in non waterproof ink from the early part of the last century still in good condition.

[PAKMAN]

Most any made for fountain pen inks can be left a few days with out problems. Permanence/water proof/fade proof is harder to come by.

[displacermoose]

I certainly don't know about anybody else, but my brain runs on coffee. And occasionally tea. I am also a klutz. While I have yet to spill an entire mug on my work, a few drops here and there does happen, so I usually have at least one pen inked with something fairly permanent for when I'm doing anything that represents a substantial amount of work, especially early drafts. While those will be put into the computer eventually, I want to ensure that they live that long.

 

My favorite blue permanent ink is Sailor Sei-boko. It is a blue black with a hint of green rather than a true blue, but it is wonderfully well behaved assuming you clean your pens every once in a while. I also love R&K Scabiosa (which is purple), and have heard great things about that company's Salix, which is blue. Pilot blue is indeed quite water fast and very well behaved, but I find it quite boring as well.

[phillieskjk]

Noodler's Bulletproof inks have great reputations for permanence, and I've never heard of issues with leaving them with the exception of Bay State Blue. Noodler's Luxary Blue might be a good choice to look at. Other Bulletproof options from Noodlers include Bad Blue Heron (Also Laser resistant), Polar Blue (doesn't freeze in the cold), Bluerase (can also be used as whiteboard ink), Henry Hudson Blue, Periwinkle, and 54th Massachusetts. I hope you find what you're looking for!

[matteob]

I agree with displacermoose I write up in nice books my diary and I have mostly a coffee or tea or a glass of water to hand and I have shot stuff over the paper sometimes and caused nasty smears. I also remember using my Cross fountain pen to address Christmas Cards with their ink to people and some cards being delayed as the ink had run in the rain and become hard to read. Therefore I think waterproof ink does have its place. I will try some of the above and I look forward to some more suggestions if people have any.

 

postscript: gone for Noodlers Britannia Blue from Pure Pens UK seems a very good price. I hope it does not clog...

Edited November 28, 2016 by matteob

[Jerome Tarshis]

The only risk of fading is extensive exposure to daylight.I have seen letters and legal documents such as deeds of mortgages written in non waterproof ink from the early part of the last century still in good condition.

 

True about those old documents, but not necessarily relevant, because many new documents won't be written on the same kind of paper as the old documents were.

 

Exposure to daylight is definitely not the only risk of fading. Paper of our time can have a terrible effect on blue ink. What I wrote in ordinary college notebooks in the 1970s may be not far from archival, for all I know. What I've written more recently, in notebooks never opened since I wrote the words, tends to be appallingly faded because of unfortunate chemical interactions between ink and paper. With luck your writing will disappear in less than a year.

[matteob]

I have bought Noodlers Britannia Blue from purepens here in the UK. It was great value. I hope it does not prove an issue with the pen and cleaning. The blurb says the permanence is down to a chemical reaction with the cellulose in the paper rather than iron gall or pigment: fingers crossed.

[ErrantSmudge]

Noodler's Bulletproof inks have great reputations for permanence, and I've never heard of issues with leaving them with the exception of Bay State Blue.

 

BayState Blue isn't a bulletproof ink. The chart on Noodler's website (http://noodlersink.com/noodlers-ink-properties/) says that BayState Blue is waterproof and impervious to alcohols and solvents, but it is not fade resistant, UV resistant or bleach resistant.

[inkstainedruth]

All inks will last on paper for more than one generation. The only risk of fading is extensive exposure to daylight.I have seen letters and legal documents such as deeds of mortgages written in non waterproof ink from the early part of the last century still in good condition.

 

Not strictly true. I'm betting that you don't use Quink Washable Blue much.... I've had it fade in a (mostly closed) journal in a matter of months.

And what Jerome Tarshis said about paper is true. If you're looking at really old paper, the odds are that it's mostly going to be made of rags. A lot of more modern paper, unless it's high-end or designed to be for doing artwork, is made from wood pulp (if the paper seems to have a lot of yellowing, that's pretty much a giveaway) because it's cheaper.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[Erik Dalton]

Pilot black, blue and especially blue black are cheap flow well, low maintenance, and waterproof. Also levenger Raven Black is advertised as having archival qualities.

[ethernautrix]

I'm using Platinum Blue-Black (said to have iron-gall) and Pilot/Namiki Blue, both of which I find very pretty blues.

[martinbir]

Montblanc Permanent Blue.

 

I have spent a long time looking for a waterproof, permanent ink of an acceptable colour and which is fairly low maintenance.

 

I have not tried Noodler's Black because I don't want black - it may be wonderful. But the other Noodler's I have tried are not waterproof - spill water on them and the colour goes, leaving a black line. This is not my idea of waterproof, similar to a "showerproof" raincoat.

 

The heavy duty IGs are fine but you seem to need to thoroughly wash the pen every 2 or 3 days - too much for me.

 

But Montblanc Permanent Blue is happy with a wash every couple of months and will not shift. I have put about 5% MB Perm Black in mine to darken it and it's still fine, but I have been surprised that the Black on its own is not so permanent - reacts with water and smudges when rubbed. But Perm Blue, Bl/Blk has been in use for 10 months now, sometimes in an M600, but mostly in a Studio.

 

Oh, and there is also R&K Salix. That seemed pretty low maintenance but by the end of the bottle decided it was too much of a pale grey.

[visvamitra]

I have good experience with Sailor Kiwa-guro.

[FlyFast]

Pilot blue works great for me.

[Arkanabar]

You need Amberlea Davis' fade resistance spreadsheet. You should also check out Sandy1's reviews, which regularly include spatter and soapy soak tests; mhphoto also assaults his reviewed inks with several solvents. Ink Review Index.

I would avoid the washable blues. Some of them have faded even without exposure to light (as Ruth pointed out in post 12). This includes most royal blues.

I'm told that Noodler's Bad Blue Heron is pretty tough stuff. Apparently, the Warden series (Bad Blue Heron, Bad Belted Kingfisher, Bad Green Gator, Bad Black Moccasin) are all meant to show evidence of tampering, but also remain legible when tampering is attempted.

[matteob]

Thanks for that heads up I will definitely give that information a look. The Noodlers Britannia Blue I am using seems ok but it took a while to get it flowing. I am not really bothered about light proofing. I just want an ink that will not run when it comes into contact with water either through accident or an envelope in bad weather!

[Wandering Man]

I'm rather puzzled about this desire for permanent waterproof inks. Waterproof inks are designed to prevent anyone tampering with the alteration of documents of importance. Apart from that whenever does paper ever come in contact with soluble solutions other than by accidents or carelessness? Usually the paper ink is written on is ruined as well! All inks will last on paper for more than one generation. The only risk of fading is extensive exposure to daylight.I have seen letters and legal documents such as deeds of mortgages written in non waterproof ink from the early part of the last century still in good condition.

 

My wife used her fountain pen to write a check and put it in the mail. It just so happened that there were pretty heavy rains in the city of destination that week.

 

Two weeks later the check was returned, with the recipient wondering why she sent him a blank check.

 

The envelope had got wet, and the water so nearly erased all of the ink that the check had no writing on it. Not just illegible, but blank, save some red water marks and crinkling of the paper.

 

She was able to re-write the check, sadly using a ball-point this time. The paper was not ruined, she had not been careless, unless you consider trusting in USPS an act of carelessness, but the ink had failed her.

 

As far as the rest of your statement, I agree. I sign documents with normal ink all the time. But these I know will be kept in a file and not trusted to the whims of weather or delivery services.