Blackstone's Australian Bush Review

[effrafax]

Hello Good People,

 

As mentioned in my previous pen review, I had a couple of inks lined up for review that as far as I could tell had not made an appearance on this august site as yet. Blow me down if a day or so after promising that, Visvamitra reviewed this very ink, so I've waiting a week or so before posting.

 

I was given a sample of this ink by RedDingo at a recent meet-up of like-minded pen nuts in Brisbane, who was given a bottle to distribute samples for people to try.

 

This is an interesting ink, if only for its one extreme property, which I'll discuss after the review below:

 

 

The colour looks a little washed out on my screen, but in reality is quite saturated. It's a darkish green-khaki shade.

 

The downside to this ink, which does have a very pleasant fragrance, is that it has a tendency to migrate and dry out. This is what I mean:

 

 

The picture of the nib of the Waterman Kultur was after around four days of not using the pen. Visvamitra mentioned in his review that the nib tended to get a bit cruddy. That's a gross understatement from my experience. The little pot was used to store the sample given to me, and unfortunately got knocked onto it's side in my ink box. Despite supposedly being water-tight, that was the result. I also found ink had leeched from the cartridge converter into the barrel of the pen.

 

This ink just doesn't want to stay put.

 

[Having said that, there was no evidence of problems with the other pen I tried the ink in, a good old reliable Pilot 78G with an F nib.]

Edited September 13, 2017 by effrafax

[visvamitra]

Great review and in my experience it caused strong nib crud as well.

[lgsoltek]

 

 

 

 

 

 

Looks like moss! Which kinda matches the name Australian Bush!

[Jamerelbe]

I had a small problem with Australian Bush producing nib crud with my ASA Maya pen, but not with any of the other pens I've used it in thus far. Maybe your sample evolved in the sample jar and became sentient?😯 I find nib crud tends to be produced when certain oversaturated inks (orange seems to be a particular offender) are used in less airtight pens.

[lapis]

This ink just doesn't want to stay put.

 

[Having said that, there was no evidence of problems with the other pen I tried the ink in, a good old reliable Pilot 78G with an F nib.]

Not sure if I get the idea but if you had this mossy problem with the Kultur and not with the Pilot, then it might have been the pen and not the ink which was conked out (although the ink may be an easy victim here)....

[effrafax]

I had a small problem with Australian Bush producing nib crud with my ASA Maya pen, but not with any of the other pens I've used it in thus far. Maybe your sample evolved in the sample jar and became sentient? I find nib crud tends to be produced when certain oversaturated inks (orange seems to be a particular offender) are used in less airtight pens.

 

That could certainly explain why the 78G didn't have the problem, as its cap is nice and airtight.

 

Thanks for the positive comments.

[hsianloon]

Wow that's some pretty bad crud..Never seen an ink behaved like that before..Just ordered 10 bottles of Blackstone ( 6 colours of Australia and 4 scented inks ) might leave the scented inks to the cheaper pens for now then.

[NicolausPiscator]

Ah, nice green colour! Thank you for your review! ... but strange behaviour...

[Jamerelbe]

Wow that's some pretty bad crud..Never seen an ink behaved like that before..Just ordered 10 bottles of Blackstone ( 6 colours of Australia and 4 scented inks ) might leave the scented inks to the cheaper pens for now then.

 

This tendency towards nib crud is pretty common with orange inks, in my experience - I don't recall having it happen with any others. No need to keep these inks for cheaper pens, though: they are completely water soluble, and wash out fairly easily. The nib crud Australian Bush produces in less-than-airtight pens is likewise very easily dealt with - it wipes off, and/or dissolves back into water very easily.

[effrafax]

 

This tendency towards nib crud is pretty common with orange inks, in my experience - I don't recall having it happen with any others. No need to keep these inks for cheaper pens, though: they are completely water soluble, and wash out fairly easily. The nib crud Australian Bush produces in less-than-airtight pens is likewise very easily dealt with - it wipes off, and/or dissolves back into water very easily.

 

Yes, definitely. When I found the empty ink pot, I collected up all the dried fragments of ink from the pot and the pen nib, and added a couple of drops of distilled water to make enough ink to finish the review. Not something you'd want to have to do every day though.

 

So, just use a pen that seals airtight.

[RedDingo]

Ha! . . Hi Effrafax

Just noticed your review. I should feel embarrassed for giving you the free sample but after reading the other posts and knowing it didn't cause any permanent damage, it sounds quite funny.

 

I must be lucky however since I never left it in the pen for long and lucky enough not to suffer any similar fate. I still have some if you want more. ;-) I'm interested to know whether you experience further problems or just a reaction to some previous ink remnants.

 

I'm on FPN today as I was just on posting info on our next Brisbane meet and thought to look around. I should definitely be on here more often. I have already learnt much from just this last couple of hours. Yep! caught in the dreaded rabbit hole and struggling to get out.

 

I will bring some more Blackstone inks for the next meet and will keenly wait for your review which was very thorough - well done!. Only thing I now have to go find the Moody Blues song for your quote.

 

Looking forward to catching up.

 

Cheers . .

[effrafax]

Ha! . . Hi Effrafax

Just noticed your review. I should feel embarrassed for giving you the free sample but after reading the other posts and knowing it didn't cause any permanent damage, it sounds quite funny.

 

I must be lucky however since I never left it in the pen for long and lucky enough not to suffer any similar fate. I still have some if you want more. ;-) I'm interested to know whether you experience further problems or just a reaction to some previous ink remnants.

 

I'm on FPN today as I was just on posting info on our next Brisbane meet and thought to look around. I should definitely be on here more often. I have already learnt much from just this last couple of hours. Yep! caught in the dreaded rabbit hole and struggling to get out.

 

I will bring some more Blackstone inks for the next meet and will keenly wait for your review which was very thorough - well done!. Only thing I now have to go find the Moody Blues song for your quote.

 

Looking forward to catching up.

 

Cheers . .

 

No worries Danny. Hope you and yours had a great New Year.

 

The Moody Blues quote is from "Days of Future Passed", track titled Night, and is just about the last thing on the album, after "Nights in White Satin.

 

Hope all is well with you.