Your Pen/ink Combinations For The Perfect Writing Experience

[IndigoBOB]

Well I'll have to test out K

 

 

That's one of the reasons I started this thread. If someone shares the golden combination for sheer writing perfection with Kiwa-Guro, then I might be game to buy both the pen and ink.

 

The reasons I chose Platinum Carbon over Kiwa-Guro were that some have noticed the latter rubbing off onto the facing page when left on the shelf for a while and also that it can take on a more slate-like sheen and I wanted pure suck deep into the paper black.

 

Noodler's Black was my only ink for years until I discovered this horrible place hahaha. However, I've stopped using it because it will smear like crazy if you rub a finger over it even years after writing something on any paper other than the most absorbent. It's amazing on really grainy cheap copy paper, but if even the tiniest amount doesn't sink into the paper, it will smudge if you touch it. I unfortunately used it to write notes on gifts to people that have since smudged and messed up the pages they were written on.

 

Good to know about Noodler's Black.

 

I'll have to test out Kiwa-Guro's smearing.

 

I'll admit, I didn't like the sheen on Kiwa-Guro at first, but I quickly didn't mind and stopped noticing it.

 

Plus, in my experience, the sheen differs across paper types. Of course, Tomoe River Paper brings out the sheen the most, but on cheaper more absorbent I noticed there was significantly less.

 

But I know what you mean... If they made a Kiwa-Guro without the sheen, I'd buy that one instead. My favorite black ink is Heart of Darkness and I have it loaded up in a Lamy Safari-F right now, a solid reliable combo, but nothing to rave home about as special, and I think I prefer the Al Star due to the added weight it provides to let the nib write itself. Sometimes the Safari can feel too light.

 

I really wish Sailor made an actual Blue Black Nano-Pigmented ink that was deep and dark. I am always enticed to purchase Sei-Boku after acquiring the taste for Kiwa-Guro, but I don't like the color... not deep and dark enough. They need a Sailor Nano-Pigmented Midnight Blue.

[truthpil]

Many Sailor inks smear readily, Oku Yama, Yama Dori, Shigure etc. Some Diamines smear quite readily too, Sargasso Sea, Oxblood, Red Dragon, Bilberry, Iroshizuku yama budo, even Waterman Serenity Blue, when run from a wet pen, smears. As a matter of fact, all non-waterproof inks, are potentially smearing.

 

Rohrer and Klingner Document Brown doesn't smear and I believe inks in that range, and other waterproof inks won't smear.

 

Generally, inks that sheen very readily smear easily. So, as a guide, one might want to search for and take a look at all those reviews displaying 'sheen'.

 

The next time someone says "oh, look at that gorgeous sheen, marvellous sheen", it would mean "this ink smears readily".

 

Absolutely, because the sheen is caused by pools of ink that dry on top of the paper without sinking in and are thus prone to smearing if touched.

 

The De Atramentis Document inks also dry extremely fast and don't smear. Those kinds of document inks do, however, feather badly even on the best of papers. That's one thing that impresses me about some (not all) of the bulletproof Noodler's inks. Some of them can be totally smear- and waterproof yet don't bleed or feather at all.....which is a real scientific marvel. The only problem is that those same properties make them hard to get out of a pen sometimes haha.

 

I'm doing some work just now and wrote a few pages on a cheap legal pad with Platinum Carbon Black. It took a few seconds to dry, so I could still smear the ends of some strokes after writing about another half line (using a Platinum 03 Preppy). However, I just wetted my finger and ran it over the notes I wrote a few minutes ago and absolutely no budging of ink whatsoever. Also no bleedthrough or feathering. What a great ink!

[jmccarty3]

I really wish Sailor made an actual Blue Black Nano-Pigmented ink that was deep and dark. I am always enticed to purchase Sei-Boku after acquiring the taste for Kiwa-Guro, but I don't like the color... not deep and dark enough. They need a Sailor Nano-Pigmented Midnight Blue.

 

+1

[Lloyd]

 

I really wish Sailor made an actual Blue Black Nano-Pigmented ink that was deep and dark. I am always enticed to purchase Sei-Boku after acquiring the taste for Kiwa-Guro, but I don't like the color... not deep and dark enough. They need a Sailor Nano-Pigmented Midnight Blue.

Can't you mix SeiBoku with KiwaGuro?

[newkid12]

For me, it is a Parker 51 Special with medium nib and Pelikan Blue - Black ink.

[DrDebG]

Montblanc 144 with fine nib + DeAtramentis Pearl Violet: I am a huge fan of DeAtramentis inks. This is one of my top five favorite all-time inks. But until I tried this combination, I had seriously considered selling this finicky pen - it doesn't even like Montblanc inks! Then, epiphany! I decided to try this ink in this pen, and quickly realized that these two were meant for each other. The writing experience is pure freedom from effort. They glide together and respond to each other with the grace of an Olympic ice-dancing pair. This ink will likely have a permanent place in this pen.

 

Pelikan 400 with medium nib + Pilot Iroshizuku Tsuyu-Kusa: This was another finicky pen which I almost decided to part with until I tried this combination. I had tried P.I. Asa Gao and Kon-peki in this pen, but the writing experience was less than stellar. But for some strange reason, this pen loves Tsuyu-Kusa. So this pairing also likely to be permanent.

 

Lamy Studio with 18K medium nib + J. Herbin Eclat d'Saphir (EdS): This pen loves almost every ink I throw at it. But this is the only pen I have used EdS in that does not cause smearing. The pen, although fairly wet, delivers just the right amount of ink so that after the ink dries, it does not smear. I normally write on Midori MD or Tomoe River papers. When I use EdS with my stub nibbed pens, it always smears, even after 2 hours. This seems to be a problem that I have with many J.Herbin inks.

 

Lamy 2000 with medium nib + Waterman Inspired Blue: Finally, the dream team. This is the one combination that I can count on regardless of paper used. This is an exceptionally smooth pairing reminiscent of glacial waters pouring down the mountain stream.

[truthpil]

 

I really wish Sailor made an actual Blue Black Nano-Pigmented ink that was deep and dark. I am always enticed to purchase Sei-Boku after acquiring the taste for Kiwa-Guro, but I don't like the color... not deep and dark enough. They need a Sailor Nano-Pigmented Midnight Blue.

 

+1

Although I'm a big fan of Sailor inks and teal inks and Sei-Boku is probably my all-time favorite permanent workhorse ink, it would be nice to have a genuine dark blue-black with the same great properties. So far Platinum Blue-Black has filled that role for me.

 

For me, it is a Parker 51 Special with medium nib and Pelikan Blue - Black ink.

 

I've often heard that the octanium nibs on the specials are smoother than the gold nibs, but I only have gold nibs. Would you say that's a fair assumption?

If so, I may need to acquire yet another P51 haha.

 

I had a similar bliss combination last week, using a Parker 51 with 14k F/M nib and vintage Sheaffer #22 Permanent Blue-Black. The old Sheaffer ink writes a little wetter and with more blue than Pelikan BB (which I also enjoy a great deal).

 

Can't you mix SeiBoku with KiwaGuro?

 

Would this be possible? I thought KiwaGuro was a carbon ink as opposed to the pigment nano particles in SeiBoku.

[dcwaites]

 

That's one of the reasons I started this thread. If someone shares the golden combination for sheer writing perfection with Kiwa-Guro, then I might be game to buy both the pen and ink.

 

The reasons I chose Platinum Carbon over Kiwa-Guro were that some have noticed the latter rubbing off onto the facing page when left on the shelf for a while and also that it can take on a more slate-like sheen and I wanted pure suck deep into the paper black.

 

Noodler's Black was my only ink for years until I discovered this horrible place hahaha. However, I've stopped using it because it will smear like crazy if you rub a finger over it even years after writing something on any paper other than the most absorbent. It's amazing on really grainy cheap copy paper, but if even the tiniest amount doesn't sink into the paper, it will smudge if you touch it. I unfortunately used it to write notes on gifts to people that have since smudged and messed up the pages they were written on.

 

For me, the golden combination is my XXF Parker 51 Special, with Kiwaguro. However, any dryish, very fine nib with that ink will work. The ink is a bit wettish, so works nicely with a very fine, dryish ink to work on the worst of papers, like the Kyokuto F64 notebook, which is so bad it tries to make pencil feather and bleed...

 

 

Well I'll have to test out K

 

 

Good to know about Noodler's Black.

 

I'll have to test out Kiwa-Guro's smearing.

 

I'll admit, I didn't like the sheen on Kiwa-Guro at first, but I quickly didn't mind and stopped noticing it.

 

Plus, in my experience, the sheen differs across paper types. Of course, Tomoe River Paper brings out the sheen the most, but on cheaper more absorbent I noticed there was significantly less.

 

But I know what you mean... If they made a Kiwa-Guro without the sheen, I'd buy that one instead. My favorite black ink is Heart of Darkness and I have it loaded up in a Lamy Safari-F right now, a solid reliable combo, but nothing to rave home about as special, and I think I prefer the Al Star due to the added weight it provides to let the nib write itself. Sometimes the Safari can feel too light.

 

I really wish Sailor made an actual Blue Black Nano-Pigmented ink that was deep and dark. I am always enticed to purchase Sei-Boku after acquiring the taste for Kiwa-Guro, but I don't like the color... not deep and dark enough. They need a Sailor Nano-Pigmented Midnight Blue.

 

Inks smear when they don't absorb into the paper, and too much ink is put down, so 'spare' ink builds up above the paper surface, and can later be rubbed off.

I had the problem with Noodler's Blue on some hard, smooth paper by NU: Elite that didn't absorb very well. Diluting the ink works, as does using a finer or drier nib, so less ink is put down.

 

Blackstone make a very nice, modern formulation ferro-tannate ink called Barrister Blue, which might fill the bill for your "Nano-Pigmented Midnight Blue".

Edited March 8, 2018 by dcwaites

[truthpil]

Montblanc 144 with fine nib + DeAtramentis Pearl Violet: I am a huge fan of DeAtramentis inks. This is one of my top five favorite all-time inks. But until I tried this combination, I had seriously considered selling this finicky pen - it doesn't even like Montblanc inks! Then, epiphany! I decided to try this ink in this pen, and quickly realized that these two were meant for each other. The writing experience is pure freedom from effort. They glide together and respond to each other with the grace of an Olympic ice-dancing pair. This ink will likely have a permanent place in this pen.

 

Pelikan 400 with medium nib + Pilot Iroshizuku Tsuyu-Kusa: This was another finicky pen which I almost decided to part with until I tried this combination. I had tried P.I. Asa Gao and Kon-peki in this pen, but the writing experience was less than stellar. But for some strange reason, this pen loves Tsuyu-Kusa. So this pairing also likely to be permanent.

 

Lamy Studio with 18K medium nib + J. Herbin Eclat d'Saphir (EdS): This pen loves almost every ink I throw at it. But this is the only pen I have used EdS in that does not cause smearing. The pen, although fairly wet, delivers just the right amount of ink so that after the ink dries, it does not smear. I normally write on Midori MD or Tomoe River papers. When I use EdS with my stub nibbed pens, it always smears, even after 2 hours. This seems to be a problem that I have with many J.Herbin inks.

 

Lamy 2000 with medium nib + Waterman Inspired Blue: Finally, the dream team. This is the one combination that I can count on regardless of paper used. This is an exceptionally smooth pairing reminiscent of glacial waters pouring down the mountain stream.

 

Thanks so much for your contributions to this thread!

 

You may have just saved me from selling my most expensive pen and giving away my most neglected ink haha. DA Pearl Violette was one of the first inks I bought, but I've rarely used it because it seemed bland and lacked any water resistance. At the same time, my MB145 with fine nib has only been used twice because the nib is just dry and toothy with MB inks. I'll have to try this combination and if it works with my pen, I may end up getting a lot more DA inks.

 

It's also very helpful to know Iroshizuku inks can go well with Pelikan 400s. Mine are extremely wet and need some dry ink to calm them down or I get insane bleed through on most papers.

 

Sounds like I need to get a Lamy 2000....

[truthpil]

For me, the golden combination is my XXF Parker 51 Special, with Kiwaguro. However, any dryish, very fine nib with that ink will work. The ink is a bit wettish, so works nicely with a very fine, dryish ink to work on the worst of papers, like the Kyokuto F64 notebook, which is so bad it tries to make pencil feather and bleed...

 

Did you have the nib reground to an XXF? What's the line width in mm? I've been afraid to put any carbon inks in my P51s because it takes forever to wash some inks totally out of the collector and I can't open it up to see if it's totally cleaned out.

 

Blackstone make a very nice, modern formulation ferro-tannate ink called Barrister Blue, which might fill the bill for your "Nano-Pigmented Midnight Blue".

 

I wonder how Barrister Blue compares in both properties and behavior to some of the dark blue KWZ IG inks. KWZ IG Blue #1 is super dark and pretty much black with a wet nib, their IG Blue-Black even more so.

[IndigoBOB]

 

Blackstone make a very nice, modern formulation ferro-tannate ink called Barrister Blue, which might fill the bill for your "Nano-Pigmented Midnight Blue".

 

 

I tried Blackstone Barrier Black Nano Pigment, and it didn't compare to Kiwa-Guro IMO. I still have a bit of a sample of it, but I remember expecting similar performance that didn't prove so.

------------------------------------------------------------

I just got to test out Kiwa-Guro in the Lamy 2000-F and I'm finding it works dreamily right now. I will spend some time with it to see how it continues to go.

 

I inked up the Barrel alone with out pulling the ink through the section to see if the wetness of the pen was enough for the ink to travel down a dry feed and provide sufficiently full lines: No problem. I find it is a wetter pen. I don't have the dryness problems I had with Kiwa-Guro being loaded up in my Safari and Vista.

 

With the sufficient wetness of the pen you get that Velvety Dreaminess that you do with other Sailor inks I have; Bungubox Silent Night, Shigure, and Murai, But what I find differs with Kiwa-Guro is that despite the sheen, you get a deeper darker color that is more vibrant and more easily legible than the before mentioned inks, you get ballpoint level performance (best ink on cheaper paper IMO), and you get permanence.

 

Of course, I will see how it performs over time and if there are any problems, but the way this is working, I am not worried.

 

If I were buying someone 1 fountain pen and 1 ink to use for day to day as a gift it would be Kiwa-Guro and a pen I knew that it worked well with. It's my recommendation for any ink that you plan on using outside something like Tomoe, Clairefontaine, or Rhodia. It's great that it performs so well, but what separates it from other EDC inks I've tried is the surprise of the velvety dreaminess that goes along with it, and since it's more of a moderate flow, it's not overboard on the velvety-ness.

 

I do have my Pilot CH92 being worked on my a nibmeister, Mark Bacas, and I think that pen will work well with the nanopigmented inks from sailor, but we'll see.

 

I just emptied and cleaned out a few pens I was experimenting with for EDC and I'll be having this Lamy 2K-F with me at all times now accompnanied by a Parker Jotter-Easyflow and Pentel Energel Blue Needlepoint.

 

I still keep my KTC inked in my Noodler's Charlie-FPR Fine combo and my BSIEnglishR inked in my Jinhao x750-Franklin Christop-M combo ; )

[dcwaites]

 

Did you have the nib reground to an XXF? What's the line width in mm? I've been afraid to put any carbon inks in my P51s because it takes forever to wash some inks totally out of the collector and I can't open it up to see if it's totally cleaned out.

 

 

...

 

No, that's what it came with. I did get it smoothed by a pen repairer, but that's all.

[MHBru]

Its funny to me that I treat my inks like my wife... found one that I love and stopped looking.

Pelikans with Iroshizuku

[Lloyd]

Its funny to me that I treat my inks like my wife... found one that I love and stopped looking.

Pelikans with Iroshizuku

• It sounds like you selected a set of inks...I hope your choice in spouse is singular.
• I hope you don't get a replacement every year or so.
• I hope your spouse doesn't stay in in a box in a drawer most of the time.

[jmccarty3]

Blackstone make a very nice, modern formulation ferro-tannate ink called Barrister Blue, which might fill the bill for your "Nano-Pigmented Midnight Blue".

 

+1

[MHBru]

Lloyd Lloyd Lloyd.... too funny.... my mind reels with options to continue the analogy but most of them aren't appropriate for here. How about I just say that she is my daily writer.

 

BTW... you have the best profile pic of the bunch... gives me a little giggle every time I see it

[IndigoBOB]

Its funny to me that I treat my inks like my wife... found one that I love and stopped looking.

Pelikans with Iroshizuku

 

 

That means you found a great combo.

 

I have yet to enter the Pelikan Tier. Wet, great working pens... makes life easier.

[Torrilin]

I like art too much to be able to live with just one ink. Color! I choose black a lot of the time, but it’s not always right.

 

Blue black is a color where I regularly want a refill. Pilot’s keeps being fun, so I’ll see how I feel about it when I run the cartridges out. But it might be the right one. The agreeable to many pens part of my requirements makes it a bit tricky.

 

I’m pretty sure I’m also looking for a color like sanguine conte crayon. Diamine Terracotta was an ink I used a lot last summer, and it was fun for drawing people. It was pretty close, but I’m positive there’s other choices in that weird color range. So I’ll probably try several to see if any are better or worse. Surely I can find something with more shading, good dry time and behavior as nice as Platinum Carbon Black?

 

I’m definitely looking for the right murky yellow green. Something with lots of shading, and the lightest parts the kind of acid yellow you get in early spring or when light hits leaves hard. It’s a lot more fun to draw trees with an ink like that. Vert Olive is good for the light parts, but it’s not a great writing ink in terms of rereading. Alt Goldgrun isn’t quite as shady as I want, but writes well.

[richila]

My write on anything anywhere combo - even copy paper - is my Delike Alpha EF nib with Koh-i-nor permanent black. I was going to give up on EF nibs until I tried that ink. Last year, before Koh-i-nor, my husband borrowed my pen and gave it back in less than 5 minutes because it was too scratchy. This year ,(we Journible together during Lent) I had to order him a Delike Alpha in chrome and an extra bottle of ink because he has been writing it dry each day. Luckily, his pen came in before the end of February so I could get all my post cards out for LetterMo.

[IndigoBOB]

I tell you, and I hate this because it peeves me off with how much I've spent elsewhere to try and get a pen to come close to this, but the best EF combination I've ever used is my Wing Sung 3008 with a Lamy EF nib, loaded with Noodler's Black.

 

I have two other Lamy EF nibs that don't feel as good as this one, so it was like some kind of fluke or something being lucky or unlucky, IDK, but since the 3008 is wetter than the Safari the scratch of this nib that was previously present on the safari with Noodler's HoD and black, and Kiwa-Guro, is now writing as pleasant as my Franklin-Christoph Medium nib on my Jinhao x750-BSIER, which is basically perfection.

 

In fact, this writes so good that I returned my recently received "dreamily writing" Lamy 2K-F, which was meant to fill the purpose this 3008 does now.

 

But the 3008 has it's drawback with a stiff twisting cap, and I honestly prefer a faceted grip for the decreased effort it takes to hold it so I ordered a Wing Sung B698-Blue that I think uses the same internals so I can just swap in this nib, and even feed of this pen if need be.