Birmingham – Honus Wagner Infield Brown

[crahptacular]

The Birmingham Pen Co.’s line of inks (30 colors when I bought the sample pack, but I think they’re at 40+ and counting) feature various colors based on or inspired by notable locations or people associated with its home city of Pittsburgh, PA. I bought their sampler pack, and plan on slowly going through the whole line of inks, though I expect it will take me quite a while. For those interested, I posted some color swatches in a different topic (https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/328952-birmingham-pen-co-ink-swatches/) where you can get a quick idea of what the whole line looks like together.

 

Infield Brown is a brown of medium saturation with a pinkish undertone. It isn’t a very reddish brown like FC Terra Firma (3^rd comparison), but is definitely on the red/pink side of things when compared to yellower browns like Lie de The (1^st comparison). In writing the pink is not too apparent, but when diluted with water, the pink dye tends to spread to the edges to become very noticeable. The ink wrote a little bit dry. It paired poorly with my PenBBS fine nib (which is ordinarily a dry writer already), resulting in a pale, anemic line. In the broad nib, it did better, but I had some problems with skipping—maybe one out of ten downstrokes wouldn’t take. When it wrote, the ink shaded nicely with a lot of contrast between the lighter and darker shades. Unfortunately, neither of the pens I used seemed to like the ink, so I didn’t much enjoy the experience.

 

Flow/Lubrication: Low

Shading: Moderate High

Sheen: None

Water Resistance: Moderate High

 

 

The following sample was done with a PenBBS 309 (F) and a Namisu Ixion (Broad) on Tomoe River (68gsm, white, loose-leaf). Doodle was done with a size 0 liner. Flex writing was done with a Zebra G nib.

 

Inaccurate Image(s) Disclaimer: The scan has a bit too much purple (mainly in the very diluted parts of the doodle), but is accurate as far as the writing and smear go. The comparisons are not quite right (scan is lacking some red in all of them).

 

Scan:

 

 

Comparison inks from left to right (big smear is the featured ink):

J Herbin Lie de The, Birmingham Walnut St Brown, Franklin Christoph Terra Firma, GvFC Hazelnut Brown, Diamine Oxblood

 

Writing Samples (scans; some color correction), from Haruki Murakami’s “Kino”

 

Maruman Mnemosyne:

 

Midori MD:

 

Franklin-Christoph:

[goodpens]

Thank you for this. Your drawing is beautiful.

 

I am a big fan of brown inks. I have a Pittsburgh connection, but have not yet tried Birmingham Inks. I should track this one down to make it the first in the line that I try.

[inkstainedruth]

I'll admit that I have not tried this one yet, even though I picked up a bottle of Honus Wagner early on. I'm not a huge fan of red leaning inks, though, so it remains to be seen if I like this one.

I have a bottle of the original formula of Walnut Street Brown, which I like very much (the reformulated version, for which Nick got the components from someplace else) is way too red for my tastes.

But thanks for the review.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[Bo Bo Olson]

Right handed Honus Wagner life time .329 batting average, was the only other batter to use a split grip, than the left handed Ty Cobb .367 batting average. Ty Cobb commented on their high averages and that no one else tried their style.

Cobb himself called Wagner "maybe the greatest star ever to take the diamond."

[NighthawkSix]

I had the same experience as you did with this ink. I didn't like it in my PenBBS because it was pale and dry, but when I put it in my Shaeffer italic Fine, I loved it. It had a nice dark color that looked great.

Thanks for the review.

[cleosmama]

I have it and like it. I find it to be on the reddish side of brown. I'm using it in a Pilot Kakuno with an EF nib.

[benjitzu]

Another great review - thank you! Stunning handwriting and sketch as always.

 

I love most solid and darker brown inks regardless if they lean to the reddish side or not. Juicy nibs are my favorite and I'm guessing this ink will shine when used in a Visconti Homo Sapiens. I'll be ordering a sample once they're available and in stock (probably get their entire sample range).