Best Dry Inks?

[birchtine]

I'm a fan of 'dry' (less lubricated) inks and over the last two years used exclusively the Diamine Registrar's/ESSRI, Salix and Pelikan 4001 blue black. Are there other similarly dry inks available? I would like to try something new, new colours and I'm not particularly concerned about permanency or its lack anymore.

Edited April 28, 2017 by birchtine

[Tas]

I've just bought a bottle of Diamine Prussian Blue. Lovely colour dry as a bone

R&K's Scabiosa was the same. Lovely colour dry as a bone too

[ENewton]

Oh, do try Scabiosa! It's an intriguing ink that looks quite different on different papers, exhibits dramatic shading even when the nib is fine, and changes over time from dark, dusty purple to coppery lilac.

[dcwaites]

Sheaffer Skrip (Blue, Black)

Pilot (Blue, Blue-Black, Red)

Pelikan 4001 (Royal Blue, Brilliant Black)

Pelikan Edelstein (any of them, but I use Topaz and Sapphire)

[Runnin_Ute]

There was an Inky TOD for Dry inks a while back (wet as well) That if I recall correctly even included writing samples.

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/265786-inky-t-o-d-what-are-dry-inks/

[Noihvo]

[TSherbs]

Sheaffer Skrip (Blue, Black)

Pilot (Blue, Blue-Black, Red)

Pelikan 4001 (Royal Blue, Brilliant Black)

Pelikan Edelstein (any of them, but I use Topaz and Sapphire)

Yes

[Pentode]

Sheaffer Skrip (Blue, Black)

Pilot (Blue, Blue-Black, Red)

Pelikan 4001 (Royal Blue, Brilliant Black)

Pelikan Edelstein (any of them, but I use Topaz and Sapphire)

 

+2.

I have also found MB black to be on the drier side.

My go-to dry ink is Pelikan 4001 Brilliant Black.

[KKay]

Franklin-Christoph Terra Firma

[smose]

I'm a fan of 'dry' (less lubricated) inks and over the last two years used exclusively the Diamine Registrar's/ESSRI, Salix and Pelikan 4001 blue black. Are there other similarly dry inks available? I would like to try something new, new colours and I'm not particularly concerned about permanency or its lack anymore.

 

Birchtine - I am wondering which pens and what size nibs are you proposing to use the dry inks on?

I have montblanc 146/149 M nib and montegrappa M nib that I think would benefit from dry inks.

[ManofKent]

I'm not a fan of dry inks, and bought Edelstein Aquamarine without realizing how dry it would be. I use that with a Namisu fitted with a Bock Titanium nib (about as wet a writing nib as I possess).

[Guest Gracie]

I've just bought a bottle of Diamine Prussian Blue. Lovely colour dry as a bone

 

R&K's Scabiosa was the same. Lovely colour dry as a bone too

 

I've never seen the Scabiosa and it sounds intriguing. Do you have scan of it? I'm looking for something for a very wet broad nib that needs to be tamed a little. I tried Black Swan in Australian Roses and it was beautiful at first, but then seemed to settle into a near black. I rather hate to start shaking the pen to get the colour back . Any suggestions on that one too?

Edited May 5, 2017 by Gracie

[tinta]

Big fan of Pelikan 4001 Blue/Black, particularly in carts.

Not very exciting but easy on the eyes, very dry & water resistant. A Kaweco Lilliput with Pel b/b is always with me.

Another fun dry ink is Akkerman's #10 Ijzer-galnoten Blauw/zwart

Edited May 5, 2017 by tinta

[inkstainedruth]

Diamine Damson is pretty dry, IMO. I found that to be the case for Diamine Presidential Blue as well.

Noodler's Walnut was so dry that I gave up on it -- until I put it in my Pelikan M400 with its extremely juicy wet F nib.

A lot of iron gall inks in general run dry, although the KWZI aren't as dry as those of a lot of other brands.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[virtuoso]

Try Callifolio inks. I really like them.

Steve

[birchtine]

I'm sorry for this terrible delay in replying! Thank you all for the suggestions!

 

I have spent the last week browsing through discussions, ink reviews and testing my old inks. I decided to take things slowly and ordered only one ink for now: Pelikan Topaz, but Scabiosa is definitely next to try.

 

In the meantime, I compiled a short list of dry inks as suggested and as appearing in the old FPN discussions. I'm really glad we have around Sandy1 and his/her comprehensive ink reviews.

 

 

The driest:

 

Diamine Registrar's Ink/ESSRI - I'm pretty convinced that the recent ESSRI is exactly the same ink as DRI, either made by the Diamine or using the same formulation. I did a comparison some time ago involving many samples and wasn't able to find any differences in colour or behaviour. It is possible that the Ecclesiastical Stationery changed their supplier quite recently, about two years ago, and the ink made before was made by someone else.

 

Sandy1's excellent write-up: https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/205705-ecclesiastical-stationery-supplies-registrars-ink/

 

 

Other very dry inks, in behaviour similar to DRI:

 

Pelikan 4001 Blue-Black (Sandy1's review: https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/192761-pelikan-4001-blue-black/)

Rohrer & Klinger Salix (again Sandy1's comprehensive review: https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/160998-rohrer-klingner-salix/)

Rohrer & Klinger Scabiosa (I never tried it but from the reviews it behaves similarly to Salix), Sandy1's: https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/161028-rohrer-klingner-scabiosa/

 

 

Dry, moderately dry and of average flow on dry side inks:

 

Pelikan 4001 inks: Brilliant Black, königsblau/'Royal Blue' and Brown (https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/196260-pelikan-4001-brown/), but possibly all

Pelikan Edelstein inks, generally, but I'm not sure if all. Certainly Topaz (Sandy1's review: https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/174538-pelikan-edelstein-topaz/), Sapphire, Aquamarine and Mandarin

Aurora Blue (https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/215957-aurora-blue/)

Akkerman's #10 Ijzer-galnoten Blauw/zwart - thank you Tinta

Diamine Prussian Blue

Caran d'Ache Blue Night

Caran d'Ache Saffron - a very pleasant surprise found in my own drawer

J. Herbin Café Des Îles

J. Herbin Lie de Thé (https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/218604-herbin-lie-de-the/)

Lamy Blue (https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/222159-lamy-blue/)

Lamy IG Blue-Black

 

Possibly dry inks to be confirmed. At the moment, I think there is not much information and opinions found on the forums are contradictory

 

?Franklin-Christoph Terra Firma

?Sheaffer Skrip (Blue, Black) - possibly

?Caran d'Ache Grand Canyon

?J. Herbin Cacao du Bresil

?J. Herbin Coffee Brown

?Lamy Blue-Black

?Monteverde Blue

?Noodler's Whaleman's Sepia

?Kaweco Midnight Blue

?Pilot (Blue, Blue-Black, Red) - however, I have my doubts that the Pilot makes any dry inks, and Platinum blue black would be my bet when looking for a Japanese contender.

 

?Callifolio inks (thank you virtuoso!) seem lovely and being rather on the dry side but it's risky to include all of them I guess. Also, there is not enough information on English language forums and blogs.

 

Thank you all again!

Edited May 7, 2017 by birchtine

[birchtine]

 

Birchtine - I am wondering which pens and what size nibs are you proposing to use the dry inks on?

I have montblanc 146/149 M nib and montegrappa M nib that I think would benefit from dry inks.

I use mainly very wet, soft and usually broad writing Pelikan pens. Dry inks possibly because of higher surface tension 'slow' the ink flow and help to keep lines narrow, avoiding feathering and woolly lines on low quality paper. They are usually very good at keeping bleed- and show-through to minimum. They may cause skipping, provide less than satisfactory lubrication and unpleasant look of washed out inks in dry writing and of highly regulated ink flow pens. Yes, I do believe that your pens could benefit. Edited May 7, 2017 by birchtine

[chromantic]

What confuses me is why with "dry" inks, like Skrip or 4001, you can leave the pen uncapped for some time and the ink flows instantly when you resume writing, whereas "wet" inks, like Sailor, dry out very quickly?

[birchtine]

I noticed it as well but dismissed as wishful thinking at first. Anyway, I often leave my pens uncapped for 5-10 minutes and very rarely have problems with resuming writing. Two explanations spring to mind.

 

My knowledge of physics is rather rusty but the higher surface tension of a dry ink would result in a decreased surface exposed to evaporation.

 

I believe that in general dry inks tend to dry slower than wet ones. This may sound counterintuitive but the source of confusion comes from the word 'dry' used for describing the experience of a user rather than underlying phenomena.

 

The second reason could be related to the construction of the feed of a wet writing pen demanding somehow increased volume of the stored ink, hence, more time would be needed for total evaporation.

 

I may be wrong and likely there are more factors involved

Edited May 7, 2017 by birchtine

[ENewton]

I am not a scientist and am not entirely convinced that I understand what people mean by dry and wet, but it seems to me that how fast an ink dries has to do with the quantity of water relative to other ingredients in the ink, whereas the perception of wetness can have more to do with the quantity of surfactant than with the quantity of water.

 

If my assumption is true, then a saturated ink containing a lot of surfactant to keep the dye in solution might feel wet, while the relatively small quantity of water would make it quick to dry in the nib. A less saturated ink with less surfactant might feel dry, in the sense of being less lubricated, but the greater quantity of water would keep it from drying quickly in the nib.

 

I look forward to being corrected. In particular, I am always confused to hear J Herbin inks described as dry, when the ones I have tried produce broader lines than most of my other inks. (For example, Poussiere de Lune produces a broader line than Montblanc Lavender Purple, so I would consider it wetter.)