Some Ink pH Levels Available in Japan but only a Selected 222 Few

[Algester]

because I can only Imagine that they will get expensive if they actually got all the inks available in the Japanese Market

 

https://imgur.com/a/iz4WIzo

Edited September 11, 2018 by Algester

[aurore]

A terrific post, many thanks (from a Sailor inks lover) for that!

[inkstainedruth]

Any way the charts could be translated into English? That would be really helpful for a lot of us. Thanks in advance.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[Algester]

Any way the charts could be translated into English? That would be really helpful for a lot of us. Thanks in advance.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

in some way yes since the only translation I need to do would be the ink names

 

give me a few days

Edited September 12, 2018 by Algester

[ENewton]

Interesting that they are not focused on inks manufactured in Japan.

[Algester]

Interesting that they are not focused on inks manufactured in Japan.

you would just imagine the list with all of the Sailor inks alone... its not going to be "cheap"

[Driften]

I wonder if it's worth buying a PH meter and testing the inks we have.

It's funny some of the inks in the chart are the same PH as bleach and others up to Acid rain. A PH of 5 is pure water.

[inkstainedruth]

I wonder if it's worth buying a PH meter and testing the inks we have.

It's funny some of the inks in the chart are the same PH as bleach and others up to Acid rain. A PH of 5 is pure water.

 

Are you sure? I seem to remember from high school chemistry that water has a pH of 7.... (7 of course being neutral).

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[Driften]

 

Are you sure? I seem to remember from high school chemistry that water has a pH of 7.... (7 of course being neutral).

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

 

 

No you are totally right pure water is 7. I think the chart shown by one of the companies doing ph testers was wrong.

[Algester]

I wonder if it's worth buying a PH meter and testing the inks we have.

It's funny some of the inks in the chart are the same PH as bleach and others up to Acid rain. A PH of 5 is pure water.

well arent the Platinum Classic inks supposedly to be close to the Iron-Gall as possible?

here are some samples I edited

 

there this should be everything

https://imgur.com/a/vppbdtw

Edited September 13, 2018 by Algester

[A Smug Dill]

Any way the charts could be translated into English?

Here's my contribution, as someone who isn't Japanese and doesn't actually understand Japanese, and struggle to identify individual katakana characters (which are loosely the equivalent of uppercase letters of the alphabet, but for Japanese and not English, of course):

 

In the two tables at the bottom of page 052:

ラミー is Lamy (heading for bottom table in the left column)

パーカー is Parker (heading for bottom table in the right column)

 

and these text strings appear in both tables:

ブルー is blue

ブラック is black

(so ブルーブラック is blue-black)

 

while these are the other colours in the table Lamy, which you may also see in some of the other tables:

グリーン is green

レード is red

ターコイズ is turquoise

 

(Edit)

ペリカン is Pelikan (heading for the top table in the left column)

カランダシュ is Caran d'Ache (heading for the top table in the right column)

ファーバーカステル is Faber-Castell (heading for the middle table in the right column)

 

You know what they say about teach a man to fish… but unfortunately I only know how to tie a hook to the end of the fishing line.

Edited September 13, 2018 by A Smug Dill

[Algester]

nevermind I had to cross check everything good thing the magazine first made a flip page for their catalog

Edited September 13, 2018 by Algester

[JakobS]

Thanks for this. It great to have a confirmation that many of the Sailor/Pilot/Platinum inks are basic, and many western inks are on the acidic side. It's especially interesting to see how consistent J. Herbin is with the pH of all their inks. The pH consistency across the various IG lines, helps in part to show that modern FP friendly IG inks are well balanced which stops them from causing damage to the paper they are placed on.

Edited September 13, 2018 by JakobS

[inkstainedruth]

Thanks for the translations. This is an amazingly useful set of charts (and some of the results are quite surprising -- for instance everyone says Waterman inks are supposed to be so safe, but the pH results are all over the place).

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[JakobS]

I feel that pH considered exclusively as a determinant of "safe" inks has gotten a little out of hand. Ink is a mixture, and can react differently dependent on the environment it is exposed to, pH is just one component that can contribute to its behavior.

Edited September 13, 2018 by JakobS

[BaronWulfraed]

Channeling myself from 1976 science classes... I have an urge to take, say, Parker Blue and mix it with Sailor Blue and see what precipitates... I also have to wonder that if modern Parker ink is that acidic, what was the infamous 50s Quink like?

 

Also notice that European inks are predominantly acidic, while Japanese inks are basic...

[Algester]

ops I noticed I mispelled Classic Sepia Black to Mixable Sepia Black

[Olya]

Thank you for putting up this chart and the translations Algester & A Smug Dill!! It's very appreciated!

 

Indeed nice to have this info and confirmation. Also interesting to see the pH measured, as (if memory serves me right) Diamine & J Herbin have said to be pH neutral.

 

I agree that the pH scare/ insanity is out of hand, and these test results prove that.

 

I always assumed that the reputed "Japanese inks are alkaline and Western are basic" was wrong, because I have mixed e.g. Quink Blue with Pilot Blue and I'm pretty sure I mixed both with Sailor Jentle Blue, and I have never ever had any bad reaction whatsoever.

One fantastic thread is Tas's ink dump and I have actually twice dumped all inks I had (by now there's more, so my personal test is outdated by now!) in a pot to see whether there'd be a bad reaction, so I'd know to be careful about cleaning a pen after using XY ink, but again: no reaction whatsoever. I don't know which inks Tas dumped together, not even Tas knows (I think...), but I'm very sure that Tas has more inks than I have and has dumped all the brands together, and the result is actually a well behvaing beautiful ink.

(The thread https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/338947-ink-mix-rambling-not-for-the-feint-of-heart/ )

 

That has me also question Noodler's Baystate line. How alkaline is that ink to provoke such severe reactions when mixing, and based on what I've written before, is it really the pH that is the cause of the reaction with Baystates or is it something else? A specific ingredient?

[amberleadavis]

Adding this to the TODs.

[rudyhou]

comparison data is always helpful. thanks for sharing.