Sailor "sei-Boku": Pigmented Nano Ink Mini Review

[AndyYNWA]

How is the drying time of this ink?

Not too bad

[KellyMcJ]

How is the drying time of this ink?

 

I've never actually timed it (and of course it would vary with pen and paper and environment) but I've never had a problem with the drying time.

[Intensity]

Dry time on good paper is shown in my original photos (under 20 seconds). It dries quickly on more absorbent paper. Unless you like to write with a very wet line on poorly absorbent paper, it should not be an issue.

[rickygene]

How is the drying time of this ink?

A quick field test :

With a Lamy Safari Fine tuned to be very wet - 25 seconds on Tomoe River, 20 seconds on good copy paper, 10 seconds on absorbent paper, 5 seconds on Post-It notes.

 

Is my work ink at the moment. Utterly reliable and well behaved. Nice color and shading too.

[DrDebG]

I am seriously considering this ink. Does anyone know how easy/hard it is to clean from your pen?

[Intensity]

Flushes out normally in my experience.

[AndyYNWA]

I am seriously considering this ink. Does anyone know how easy/hard it is to clean from your pen?

It's slightly worse than a "normal" ink, but not too bad. It just take a little longer.

[displacermoose]

It's slightly worse than a "normal" ink, but not too bad. It just take a little longer.

This is my experience as well. It can stain converters, though, so maybe not the best for a demonstrator. I love this ink. It is my favorite daily use blue.

[aurore]

This is my experience as well. It can stain converters, though, so maybe not the best for a demonstrator. I love this ink. It is my favorite daily use blue.

...in my experience unless it dries out in the pen, then it is a nightmare (however I believe an ultrasonic cleaner would help a lot). A lovely ink anyway.

[AndyYNWA]

...in my experience unless it dries out in the pen, then it is a nightmare (however I believe an ultrasonic cleaner would help a lot). A lovely ink anyway.

You have to use the pen regularly, otherwise you will experience drying. But if you use it every day; no problem.

[Intensity]

You have to use the pen regularly, otherwise you will experience drying. But if you use it every day; no problem.

 

I keep Sei Boku in a Kaweco Perkeo pen which I carry with me periodically. I don't use it daily, and it takes quite a long time for the ink to dry out in the pen. I think it has more to do with how good the sealing of your pen is (in this case it seems to be pretty good). I have some pens that dry out inks much faster.

 

edited to add: actually this reminded me to check my Perkeo. The ink did dry out in it because I haven't used it in literally 2-3 weeks. Washing out really well right now. I'm using a transparent but matte plastic Jinhao converter with the pen, and there's no staining on the walls of the converter. This has been my dedicated Sei Boku pen for months.

 

Out of 4 pens with dried ink I'm soaking right now, the two that cleaned out almost right away are Kaweco Perkeo with Sei Boku and Lamy Al-Star with Papier Plume Pecan. 2 that are going to take overnight (or longer) are a vintage sac lever-fill Sheaffer with a mixture of Lamy Turquoise + Sailor Storia Balloon (that Turquoise is quite concentrated) and Lamy Al-Star with Birmingham Pen Co. Truss Blue (also a super concentrated ink). Unfortunately, because I like using different ink colors but don't write enough to use up all the fills, some pens end up drying out, and I'm used to soaking (and, if needed, with added ammonia).

Edited April 25, 2018 by Intensity

[aurore]

You have to use the pen regularly, otherwise you will experience drying. But if you use it every day; no problem.

Well, actually it was in a very cheap pen I bought with a couple of others (and some inks), I would never let a pigment ink dry out. And, as the fellow user Intensity mentioned above, it has a lot to do with the seal of the pen, my Pelikans never dry out whatever, some Parker dried out in a week completely (but again I would never forget a nano pigment ink in such a pen). Sei-boku is a lovely ink, but some users tend to forget it is not naturally as carefree as Iro or Sailor Jentle.

[Intensity]

If you do let it dry out, soaking in a mixture of water and 10% janitorial amonia loosens it up well. To update the soaking pen list from my earlier post, it took literally 3.5 days to soak and regularly flush a vintage (lever-filled sac) Sheaffer pen that was filled with dried out Lamy Pacific Turquoise (and a tiny amount of Sailor Storia Balloon mixed in, like under 5% of the total). The Turquoise is not a pigment ink but is quite saturated, and the dye just keept on coming out. So pigment or no pigment, if your ink is saturated and you let it dry out in a vintage pen, prepare for long soaking with some ammonia. It’s still cleanable, just takes more effort than usual.

[AndyYNWA]

True, how good the pen seals makes big difference.

 

My Jinhaos constantly dry out, no matter what ink I put in them.