Ink For Everyday Writing

[CoolBreeze]

I am also looking for an everyday go-to ink. My current go-to is Pilot Blue and in all honesty it performs very well in terms of performance. I use it in journals and taking work notes. I hate inks that smear as I go back to old notes and mark them up and have had inks come off all over my hand even though they have been on the page for weeks. It dries quick and is relatively waterproof. That being said the color is a little pale for my liking and I don't like it's intense shading.

 

I just got ink samples of Monteverde Document Blue and Rohrer & Klingner Document Hellblau/Light Blue. The Monteverde is a pale blue/grey/purple which is actually kind of nice and a nice change from traditional blue. But prelim tests have the top layer smearing even after it being dry for hours. After that layer comes off it stays put. The R+K is a slightly lighter color than pilot blue and at the moment seems more saturated with a little less shading which I like. It doesn't seem to smear like the Monteverde and it passes my waterproof tests.

Edited July 4, 2018 by CoolBreeze

[1nkulus]

 

I often use Noodlers BBH along with R+K Blue Mare for blues and Noodlers HoD along with 54th Massachusetts for blacks.

Edited July 4, 2018 by 1nkulus

[Paganini]

Quick update:

 

Still waiting on my Goulet order (it will take it a while to get from east coast to west coast), but my bottle of Pilot blue-black came today. I have to say, I really like it. It's more blue than black, but it writes really well in my Pilot MR-F with almost no feathering on all but the cheapest of papers (there's still some on my yellow AMPAD, but not an offensive amount). Even the show / bleed through is not too bad. I'm looking forward to trying more inks when my sample order gets here, but if none of them pan out I would definitely be happy writing with this ink every day!

- N

[minddance]

Dear OP, for that purpose, I use Rohrer and Klingner Document Brown. No smearing at all, I can touch, fondle, kiss it, it is waterproof and I am not sure what-more-proof. I can read my grocery list in the rain. It works great and flows absolutely well, as long as it doesn't age too long in pens. There is no noticeable feathering and bleedthrough on my thicker papers (80gsm). And my pens are mostly wet and very wet. I very much dislike dry pens.

 

I am not sure if it is afraid of UV and gamma rays and alcohol and toxic substances, I have not given my papers a thorough sun tan and the ink has not faded a bit after 2 years.

 

If I find the line too solid, I would use a dry/shadey pen to 'split' the ink to showcase the paler shades - not many available (it is not a Lie de The) but present.

 

This is a dry, unadjusted Pilot Plumix Medium to display the paler shades present in this ink.

 

Pls pardon my hideous handwriting

Edited July 6, 2018 by minddance

[RoyalBlueNotebooks]

This is a dry, unadjusted Pilot Plumix Medium to display the paler shades present in this ink.

 

Why the nib of your Plumix writes like a round-tipped nib? I thought all the Plumix nibs were stubs.

[minddance]

Why the nib of your Plumix writes like a round-tipped nib? I thought all the Plumix nibs were stubs.

I have 2 medium 'Plumix'. 1 is a normal round nib, the other is an italic. Can anyone explain?

[JulieParadise]

I have 2 medium 'Plumix'. 1 is a normal round nib, the other is an italic. Can anyone explain?

 

Did you get both new? If not, it is possible that someone just exchanged the nib of a Prera, for example, with the Calligraphy nib of your second Plumix.

[minddance]

 

Did you get both new? If not, it is possible that someone just exchanged the nib of a Prera, for example, with the Calligraphy nib of your second Plumix.

Yes I got them new. I wouldn't mind a Prera nib in a cheaper pen like 'Plumix'

[Paganini]

Several people have mentioned different R&K inks as being good candidates for everyday writing on cheap paper. I'm curious; do all the R&K inks behave similarly? I have a sample of Salix on the way from Goulet. Will that sample give me a good idea how other R&K inks (such as Verdigris and Document brown) will behave?

 

- N

[DrDebG]

WARNING: You are about to enter the "Twilight Zone" of inks.

 

There are hundreds of inks out there - some really good and some are not so good. While you want some everyday inks, you may also want to consider a few for "fun".

 

My everyday inks , at the present time, are:

 

J. Herbin Eclat d' Saphir,

Watermen Inspired Blue,

Stipula Calamo Deep Blue (an excellent ink deserving more notice),

Pilot Iroshizuku Shin-ryoku (deep green - check out Amazon prices - usually less than $20 making it more affordable)

Stipula Calamo Dark Red (again, excellent ink)

DeAtramentis Pearl Violet (I love DeAtramentis inks - I have never had a bad one!)

Diamine Grape (very dark, almost black)

 

My "fun" inks, at present are:

 

Pilot Iroshizuku Chiku-Rin (yellowish green)

Pilot Iroshizuku Yu-Yake (orange)

Diamine Bilberry (very saturated bluish purple)

L'Artisan Callifolio Bleu Atlantique (turquoise)

L'Artisan Callifolio Andrinople (red)

Robert Oster Deep Sea (dark bluish green)

Rohrer & Klingner Verdura (in your face green)

 

Check out Vanness Pens for L'Artisan Callifolio inks. If you buy the pouches, they are very inexpensive. I put them in nalgene bottles that I purchase inexpensively online.

 

I am part of the small group who do not care for the Noodler's inks I have tried. I really can not tolerate the smell of the ink.

 

Buy samples and cartridges. Experiment. Read the ink reviews posted here. You will soon find the ones you like and those you don't. What may work for one person, may not work for you, and vice versa.

 

Most of all have fun!

Edited July 6, 2018 by DrPenfection

[minddance]

Several people have mentioned different R&K inks as being good candidates for everyday writing on cheap paper. I'm curious; do all the R&K inks behave similarly? I have a sample of Salix on the way from Goulet. Will that sample give me a good idea how other R&K inks (such as Verdigris and Document brown) will behave?

 

- N

Kindly scroll up for my writing sample of RK Document Brown it is not the best example because the pen used was very dry.

[RoyalBlueNotebooks]

Several people have mentioned different R&K inks as being good candidates for everyday writing on cheap paper. I'm curious; do all the R&K inks behave similarly? I have a sample of Salix on the way from Goulet. Will that sample give me a good idea how other R&K inks (such as Verdigris and Document brown) will behave?

 

- N

Salix will not give you a good sample of RK inks in general.

Salix is an iron gall ink. One of its main ingredients is iron gall nut / oak gall. This makes the ink less lubricating for the nib and feed, giving a more "dry" writing feeling, and it's also more viscous than simple dye-based ink, you can use iron gall fountain pen inks with dip pens, but you won't be able to use mainstream dye-based fountain pen inks with the same ease, because they're too thin and "runny", they escape the nib very quickly, creating blobs on the paper.

I can't speak for the RK Dokumentus line, but dye-based RK inks are wetter than Salix and Scabiosa.

Edited July 6, 2018 by RoyalBlueNotebooks

[Paganini]

Kindly scroll up for my writing sample of RK Document Brown it is not the best example because the pen used was very dry.

 

Well, right; I like how your sample looks, but it's on good paper. If I try out Salix on bad paper, will that test give me a good idea how Document Brown will behave on the same paper, or or are they very different inks?

 

edit: ah, crossposted with RoyalBlueNotebooks. Thanks for the info, that's useful to know.

Edited July 6, 2018 by Paganini

[Paganini]

Oh, neato, DrPenfection. Vanness is a site I had not seen before now. Thanks!

[Bookman]

In my experience, Platinum Blue-Black has been my best all-around everyday ink. It's dark blue, rather than blue-black; it dries fairly quickly; it's moderately lubricious; the flow is a little above average; and it's highly water-resistant.

[kronion]

Several people have mentioned different R&K inks as being good candidates for everyday writing on cheap paper. I'm curious; do all the R&K inks behave similarly? I have a sample of Salix on the way from Goulet. Will that sample give me a good idea how other R&K inks (such as Verdigris and Document brown) will behave?

Salix is probably more on the dry side than others, so I wouldn't compare it directly to anything else but R&K Scabiosa (also an IG ink).

 

Relatively dry writing might actually be an advantage for an everyday ink, since many problems with inks only become visible (or start getting worse), when the pen lays down a wet line. Many problematic inks work ok with a dry EF nib.

 

In any case: Salix and especially Verdigris are fantastic inks, even from wet nibs From my experience, R&K makes consistently good inks. BTW: Sepia might be a option, if brown is acceptable for you as an everyday ink.

Edited July 6, 2018 by kronion

[Paganini]

Woo! My samples arrived today. Here are the results of this afternoon's testing session. (I can include photos if anyone is interested; just say the word.)

First lesson: Tomoe River paper makes anything look good.
Second lesson: AMPAD yellow legal paper makes almost anything look bad!

 

On the AMPAD yellow legal paper, R&K Salix was the clear winner - *NO* visible feathering or ghosting! The only thing is - as others predicted - it went down very dry. I tested it with my Safari F, which is for me a pretty large and wet nib. I'm not sure it would make a visible line with my Pilot Metropolitan. I will try after while and find out.

 

From Noodler's I tried Blue-black, Air Corps Blue-black, and Dark Matter. All 3 passed the smear test, but all 3 also feathered badly on AMPAD yellow legal paper, especially the Dark Matter. Dark Matter deposited a CRAZY SUPERHIGHWAY of ink compared to the other two. I really like the colors of both the blue-blacks, though.

 

LAMY black surprisingly (to me) came in second! There was some visible feathering, but not much, and the only bleeding happened where I made an asterisk so the middle of the asterisk got 3x as much ink as everywhere else.

 

Just for fun, I put J. Herbin Perle Noire and Aurora black in my LAMY Joy 1.1 italic nib. They exceeded my expectations; neither feathered as badly as the Noodler's inks did on AMPAD yellow legal paper. They both failed the smear test on my Tomoe River paper though.

This is a lot of fun. For my next round of samples, I want to try:
Pelikan 4001 BRILLIANT Black
Sailor Kiwa-guro

More iron-gall inks! (KWZ #5)

More R&K inks!

 

Yeah, I'm definitely in the inky twilight zone...

 

[kronion]

Yeah, I'm definitely in the inky twilight zone...

 

 

Welcome!

[sansenri]

kwz GI blue #5 (not to be mistaken with kwz azure #5 which is not GI) is a very nice blue with good behaviour an very limited feathering, I don't find it to be very dry either, but I do like good flow pens/nibs.

Colour is a rather neutral medium to dark blue with very faint hint of turquoise/teal.

[Dip n Scratch]

Rohrer & Klinger Salix was the first iron-gall ink I bought. To be frank I was slightly disappointed in it.

I don't think that the gall content is very high as Salix and Scabiosa are said to fade considerably

Salix is a blue black as is Hero 232. That Hero ink is also an iron-gall type, but the problem is getting the stuff. It isn't exactly all over ebay. I used Hero B/B cartridges meant for a Hero 359. The stuff dries jet-black.

I light resistance a factor in your decision making? If not any basic blue will do. I found Herbin ink expensive compared to the low buck Camel Royal Blue or Jinhao Blue cartridges that will serve you just as well.