Please Help: Question About "contaminated" Bottles Of Inks

[Brianm_14]

Hello,

As a microbiologist and a life-long user of fountain pens, the problem of contaminated or "infected" bottles of fountain pen inks has long been a place where my interest have intersected. I have never experienced this problem (lucky me!), so I am forced to look for reports from other users. I do, however, understand the angst that accompanies the loss of a bottle of well-loved, and expensive ink for any reason. Ouch!

 

A question occured to me the other day: has anyone had a contamination problem with a bottle of iron gall ink? I cannot recall seeing any reports of a bottle of iron gall ink contamination.

 

If so, please give as many details as possible. If not, and you are a ling-time user of iron gall inks, let us know that, too. In this instance, negative and positive results are both important. I welcome any and all comments and observations as well.

 

Thanks!

 

Brian

[JakobS]

I have been using iron gall inks for 11 years now, and never had an issue of contamination, but have had my bottle of Diamine Registrars precipitate out the oxidized iron particle Fe 3+ after a few years, that is the only one of my 8-9 iron galls that has. Though, the other bottles I have aren't as old as the Diamine. My bottle of OG Aristotle was poorly formulated and might have had iron precipitate as well, but haven't look at it much after testing it out last year and finding it degraded readily on paper, that is the only iron gall that has done this, and I give it up to inexperience of the ink maker at the time.

 

I have yet to have contamination in any of my standard inks as well. My one bottle of Abraxas Grass Green has something floating in it, but it is not biological, more so a poorly formulated mixture that didn't dissolve one component completely. Love the color though...

Edited October 5, 2018 by JakobS

[BaronWulfraed]

I think I've only had two inks really go bad on me.

 

A bottle of Osmiroid back in the late 70s or early 80s. This ink appeared to be very vegetal from the start, and always had a scent of rotten lettuce.

 

The other wasn't in the bottle, but in the well of a Dip-Less. Took me a while to clean that out (I even spread the rods into an ultrasonic cleaner to get the gum off). Think I also took turns with both ammonia and bleach rinsing well between sessions (though the ammonia by itself was strong enough to be deadly). Also cut a ring from a clamp-type mason jar to replace the rock-hard seal of the well. Not quite as tight as it should be, but the rubber original was cracking from just looking at it.

[Brianm_14]

Thanks for the replies so far. More, please!

 

Interesting about the Dip-Less. I use these myself. Gaskets for Dip-Less can be found in plumbing gaskets for toilets. It's a matter of just trying to get a fit. You are right, if you have a biological contamination, the gasket must be sterilized (hard, as fungal or bacterial spores may remain) and it must fit tight.

 

So, are iron gall inks just as susceptible to biological contamination as dye-based inks? Please report!

[Honeybadgers]

there's nothing about them that makes them less prone to contamination. yes, they're more acidic but a fountain pen formulation iron gall is BARELY acidic. probably somewhere in the 6.0 pH range, which microbes couldn't care less about.

[BaronWulfraed]

there's nothing about them that makes them less prone to contamination. yes, they're more acidic but a fountain pen formulation iron gall is BARELY acidic. probably somewhere in the 6.0 pH range, which microbes couldn't care less about.

 

Tell that to the Platinum Classic ink series -- down around pH 1.25

 

And if that chart that had been posted can be trusted, many of the European (Waterman, Pelikan, MontBlanc) inks run pH 2-5 -- whereas the Japanese inks are on the other side, pH 8-10. So don't mix East and West

[JakobS]

Tell that to the Platinum Classic ink series -- down around pH 1.25

 

And if that chart that had been posted can be trusted, many of the European (Waterman, Pelikan, MontBlanc) inks run pH 2-5 -- whereas the Japanese inks are on the other side, pH 8-10. So don't mix East and West

I agree. Most fountain pen IG inks are in the pH 2-4 range, with Platinum Classic being one of the lowest. Its not simply the pH level (microbes can be found at a pH of 1) when it comes to fountain pen friendly IG inks, but also what type of acid is being used, moving from sulfuric acid found in late 19th to early 20th century inks ( and those used for modern dip pens) to the hydrochloric acid used in modern FP IG inks. Contaminated standard inks directly from the manufacturer are generally pretty rare, a few well known cases have been found over the years, but biocides in inks are pretty effective. Though I see no reason for contamination to occur more or less in IG than standard inks, I have yet to find any mention of such in my 11 years here. This maybe a question better directed to the manufacturers though, many of which are pretty responsive, especially from Diamine and KWZ. Edited October 6, 2018 by JakobS

[ardene]

Iron gall inks, modern and old alike, would contain tannic and gallic acids. Both of these are known for their antibacterial properties (synthesised by plants for their own defence). A google search yields a number of papers in scientific journals reporting antifungal properties identified for gallic acid and a far fewer number report antifungal properties for various tannic acids.

[ardene]

 

Tell that to the Platinum Classic ink series -- down around pH 1.25

 

And if that chart that had been posted can be trusted, many of the European (Waterman, Pelikan, MontBlanc) inks run pH 2-5 -- whereas the Japanese inks are on the other side, pH 8-10. So don't mix East and West

 

Here's the relevant post on the pH of various inks.

 

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/339505-some-ink-ph-levels-available-in-japan-but-only-a-selected-222-few/?do=findComment&comment=4103752

Edited October 6, 2018 by ardene

[azbobcat]

Hello,

As a microbiologist and a life-long user of fountain pens, the problem of contaminated or "infected" bottles of fountain pen inks has long been a place where my interest have intersected. I have never experienced this problem (lucky me!), so I am forced to look for reports from other users. I do, however, understand the angst that accompanies the loss of a bottle of well-loved, and expensive ink for any reason. Ouch!

 

A question occured to me the other day: has anyone had a contamination problem with a bottle of iron gall ink? I cannot recall seeing any reports of a bottle of iron gall ink contamination.

 

If so, please give as many details as possible. If not, and you are a ling-time user of iron gall inks, let us know that, too. In this instance, negative and positive results are both important. I welcome any and all comments and observations as well.

 

Thanks!

 

Brian

 

I love it: I'm a retired Environmental Microbiologist myself, and use to use a Fountain Pen -- a trusty Parker 45 -- all the way through High School, but eventually switched to disposable ballpoints, until I developed Parkinson's and writing became much harder... so I started experimenting with using a Fountain Pen again. The "experiment" still goes on.

 

As to your question on iron gall ink... I have only encountered it once in my life many, many years ago ant it was in a bottle with a rubber stopper, and the chief contaminant was from degraded rubber falling into the ink. Ask I recall Iron Gall ink is one of those inks that probably should NOT be used in a modern fountain pen.