Permanent Ink Recommendation?

[ParkerDuofold]

 

So cool! I'm definitely picking up a bottle, and probably the black too. I am not a fan of *black* and prefer grey. I'll start with the blue though, I'm a sucker for anything dark blue/blue black.

Yeah, I don't think you'll regret it.

 

Enjoy.

 

- Anthony

[truthpil]

Platinum Blue-black is my top recommendation, although I don't know about price and availability in the EU. It's cheap, has perfect ink characteristics (flow, drying time, easy clean up, etc), and is 100% waterproof and smear proof. It's an iron gall ink but an extremely safe one. I suppose if you used it with a gold-plated nib for a long time the plating may come off, but I've had no issues with clogging or getting it out of a pen. It cleans up much easier than many Diamine inks!

 

With a wet nib it gives a nice dark blue, but with drier nibs you get a dusky blue-gray with decent shading to boot. It also performs marvelously on every kind of paper.

 

I have used most of the Noodler's bulletproof inks and I find that without the right combination of pen and paper some of the ink will sit on top of the paper and smear if you touch it, even years after writing. No such problem with IG inks.

[MarkTrain]

As mentioned R&K Salix, Platinum Blue Black, and KWZI IG Blue are good choices, especially if you want a bluish IG ink. Here is a comparison of the three:

 

Salix is well behaved (flow, feathering, shading are excellent), but the blue component is somewhat ethereal and will fade with time. Looks best using a wet pen.

Platinum Blue Black also is well behaved and somewhat bluer (blue component seems to be more permanent than that in Salix).

KWZI IG Blue #3 is much more saturated than the other two, and maybe not as well behaved as the other two in terms of flow.

Edited June 21, 2017 by MarkTrain

[cjr]

De Atramentis Document Dark Blue. Dries fast. Smudge and smear resistant once dry. Totally waterproof. Easy to clean from any pen. On the more expensive side. Noodler's Heart of Darkness is permanent, but so saturated that some ink never soaks in and bonds. It can smear long after you've written with it. Very black and flows well. Cleans easily and won't hurt any pen. Pilot Blue Black has a permanent component and dries moderately fast. Flows readily and very easy to clean. Available in 350ml bottles. Good all-around, well-behaved semi-permanent blue black.

 

I use all three as the mood takes me.

[truthpil]

De Atramentis Document Dark Blue. Dries fast. Smudge and smear resistant once dry. Totally waterproof. Easy to clean from any pen. On the more expensive side.

 

Do you have any feathering or bleed through problems with DeA Document Dark Blue? What pens does it work best in?

I've found the turquoise to be unusable for those reasons and the red just gets by when in a very dry pen.

[katerchen]

Most of the usual suspects were mentioned, but I'm going to add:

 

pinkbox7 (http://www.ebay.com/usr/pinkbox7?_trksid=p2047675.l2559) sells Koh-i-noor document inks in Blue and Black, for about $5 a 50ml bottle, free shipping. No affiliation just a happy repeat customer. (Also : pencils and chalks galore )

 

My experience with Diamine Registrar's was ... less then happy. Despite regular cleanings it somehow permanently fused the nib unit in Visconti HS to the section that it's now beyond my ability to remove. I ought to post about that in detail one day.

 

-k

[cjr]

DeADoc inks all tend to bleed because of the nature of the ink. They dry fast because they absorb quickly into the paper. I don't use DeA Doc inks on cheaper papers. I get best results using Black n' Red or 28# copy paper. Best pens for DA inks are those with EF or F nibs. Any broader than that, and you risk serious feathering and bleeding.

 

I use De A Doc inks for journaling and envelope addressing. Noodler's HOD does much better on cheaper papers.

[Tinjapan]

+1 for Pilot blue-black. Always have two pens inked with it.

[eharriett]

I'll add my opinion so on Platinum Carbon Black. I haven't tried any of their new IG inks yet, although some new samples of them are sitting on the table ready for trying, but I've been very, very happy with the permenance of Carbon Black for several years. It is one of the only inks I bought a backup bottle of and the first ink I might be using completely up before the end of the year. It is the ink I use for journaling and keep a dedicated pen for. However, it is also the only pen I'll flush out after each use if I'm keeping the same color in just to make sure the pigments don't clog it. Never had a single problem with it though. It is an excellent ink and very permenant.

[DavidCampen]

I have been testing Rohrer & Klingner Dokumentus Grun (green). I have had it in a Pilot Plumix for over a month now and I find the ink to be very well behaved. Even after sitting unused for a week the pen will start writing with very little effort. I have refilled the pen once in the past month but it has not had any other care and I do not notice any problems with the ink plugging the pen or diminishing the flow.

[KellyMcJ]

I have been testing Rohrer & Klingner Dokumentus Grun (green). I have had it in a Pilot Plumix for over a month now and I find the ink to be very well behaved. Even after sitting unused for a week the pen will start writing with very little effort. I have refilled the pen once in the past month but it has not had any other care and I do not notice any problems with the ink plugging the pen or diminishing the flow.

How does it behave on cheap paper?

[DavidCampen]

R&K Dokumentus Green seems to behave about the same as Pilot BB on the cheap photocopy paper that we have here at work. That is about the only cheap paper I have at hand though and the comparative performance of inks on cheap paper is not something that I pay much attention to. I mostly use Rhodia notebooks for writing with my fountain pens.

 

I have some R&K Dokumentus Light-Blue on order, I am looking forward to testing that.

[Sasha Royale]

I have no concern that my writings will or will not survive past my lifetime. I don't care what people read, think, or eat in 2117 ! Modern inks are pH balanced to prevent corrosion, though plastics and stainless steel resist corrosion quite well.

 

Pilot Black has excellent flow characteristics. It remains readable against, rain drops, brief exposures to sunlight, and at least several years of aging. If you use the pen regularly, there should be no issues. Flush with water, every two or three months. If you use the pen occasionally, switch to the converter, "topping-off" from the ink bottle weekly. The dipping into ink, and cycling of the mechanism will keep the pen "fresh". Flush every three months. Reasonably priced.