Mixing Pelikan Found India And 4001 Ink

[sams]

Should anyone try mixing the Pelikan 4001 black ink, and the Pelikan Fount India ink, what you get is the wet characteristics of the 4001 but a bit darker when it eventually dries (until it gets wet again, and then you get a bigger mess).

 

The combination gives you the weaker features of both inks, not the best. Although it's a nice black, it's probably best avoided.

 

This experiment was prompted by the fact that the boxes of the inks are almost identical and I may not have been paying requisite attention when refilling (and couldn't find any discussions of this mixture when googling it).

[sams]

typo in subject line. of course. ‍♂️

[joss]

Accidents happen but India ink and fountain pens are not really compatible. I would avoid the Fount India ink in fountain pens as it may clog your pen badly.

[mhguda]

The Fount India ink (from Pelikan) is specifically indicated as intended for fountain pens. I have used it (pure, not mixed) in my fountain pens, with no ill effects. It is a bit of a causer of hard starts, but then, so are many other inks... and it was never so bad that a simple dip in water would not get the ink flowing again.

[inkstainedruth]

So let me make sure I'm understanding what happened here. Did you grab the wrong bottle when you went to refill your pen? Although admittedly I'm not sure how -- my bottle of Fount India doesn't look anything like the bottle of 4001 Brilliant Black (being, IIRC, a small squeeze bottle) and I"m not sure that the boxes are even the same shape. And did you flush any remaining ink of the one into the bottle of the other before/while filling?

But yeah, as a future reference, mixing (regular) India ink and regular fountain pen ink sounds like a bad plan -- just like you wouldn't want to mix an iron gall ink and and regular ink (or Noodler's Bay State Blue with ANYTHING -- even other Noodler's inks -- that isn't another Bay State Series ink: someone a few years ago had the less than brilliant idea of making the "perfect" blue black with BSB mixed with Noodler's Black. I saw the photos -- they weren't pretty...).

Not even quite sure how to recommend you flush the mix out, other than possibly to invest in a bottle of RapidoEze.... I've never actually used my bottle of Fount India (I bought in an art store a couple of years ago on a whim....). And I'm not sure whether the rest of your bottle is contaminated now....

Although in the spirit of honest disclosure, I once refilled a pen (which had had Noodler's Manhattan Blue in it) from the bottle of Noodler's Old Manhattan. I now have slightly better labeling on the boxes....

We all make newbie mistakes.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[sams]

some more details.

 

I usually write with Pelikan Fount India ink, and have a glass ink well on my desk which is easier to refill my Pelikan M800 from than the Pelikan glass bottles (which relevant Pelikan 30ml inks now all come in), and refilling is even easier when the ink well is near full. Since it needed topping up, I picked up a bottle of Pelikan 4001 black and poured it into the ink well which was half full of Pelikan Fount India black.

 

The pen itself wrote just fine both before and now after, but paper handling became too problematic to keep using the mixture for the things I use it for, so the ink well got an unscheduled wash (the pen has carried on quite happily and has now been refilled enough times that there'll be no 4001 black left in it - I didn't clean the pen).

 

I've never had a problem with the Pelikan Fount India ink in any of my Pelikan pens - they write beautifully.

[sargetalon]

You shouldnt have a problem. Fount India is a document proof ink specially formulated for piston filling fountain pens. With routine maintenance, it shouldnt give you any issues. Im not so sure about mixing it though.

[Matlock]

So let me make sure I'm understanding what happened here. Did you grab the wrong bottle when you went to refill your pen? Although admittedly I'm not sure how -- my bottle of Fount India doesn't look anything like the bottle of 4001 Brilliant Black (being, IIRC, a small squeeze bottle) and I"m not sure that the boxes are even the same shape. And did you flush any remaining ink of the one into the bottle of the other before/while filling?

 

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

 

My bottle of Fount India (rather old) is the standard shape 30ml Pelikan bottle with standard box, albeit in a rather dull orange and black. As the label says "Drawing ink for fountain pens", Pelikan feel that it is OK, but probably not to mix.

[Brandywine]

 

My bottle of Fount India (rather old) is the standard shape 30ml Pelikan bottle with standard box, albeit in a rather dull orange and black. As the label says "Drawing ink for fountain pens", Pelikan feel that it is OK, but probably not to mix.

 

Then you must have got a rather old bottle. The recent Fount India bottles are quite different from any other Pelikan ink bottles.

Edit: My mistake! the Fount india does come in a standard Pelikan Bottle,

the different bottle I had in mind was for "Tusche", the pigmented ink that may only be used with dip pens!

 

Pelikan designed Fount India for fountain pens but warns to clean the pen regularly and never ever to let the ink dry out in the pen!

And I totally agree with them here.

 

And Pelikan strongly discourages any mixing of their inks. Not even the 4001 inks should be mixed with another, let alone others.

 

Well: I did mix them among themselves and with other inks and it didn't explode;

but you do it at your own risk!

Edited March 12, 2018 by Brandywine