Water Resistance Of Some Iron-Gall Inks Compared

[A Smug Dill]

(All the writing was done using a dip pen, not the Aurora 888 Saturno that was merely acting as a paperweight while I took the photo above.)

The degree to which iron-gall inks are water resistant vary greatly from ink to ink, even when they are in the same product line of the same brand. Sadly, KWZ Ink IG Mandarin does not perform very well at all, and barely surpasses Aztec Gold IGL (which stands for Iron-Gall Light) in that respect.




Aside: I was a bit surprised to see Platinum Blue-Black sheen purple some prominently and evenly.

[carlos.q]

Thank you for this most useful comparison. Goes to show that not all IG inks were created equal.

How long did you let the ink dry before the test?

Edited December 23, 2019 by carlos.q

[lapis]

Excellent comparison. Most helpful. It's not just the actual (even if merely subjectively judged) permanence but also their colour differences which are interesting. Thanks too, to Carlos for his outstanding question.

[A Smug Dill]

How long did you let the ink dry before the test?

 

About two hours. (Actually, that's incorrect; I got mixed up with a different set of water resistance testing.)

 

The samples were written after dinner one night, and only on the following morning did I get around to standing them up in an old ice-cream container to soak.

Edited December 23, 2019 by A Smug Dill

[inkstainedruth]

Very interesting results, especially since I have a number of these inks.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[jmccarty3]

Platinum Blue-Black is a surprisingly useful and well-behaved ink. I use it frequently in my Nakayas, because a box of the cartridges comes with each pen. Has anyone compared the waterfastness of Platinum Blue-Black and Pilot Blue-Black?

[Intensity]

Adding mine here for more information in one place:

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/337105-seeking-user-experience-with-stipula-iron-gall-inks/?p=4073415

(that post and 2 down with water resistance results)

[amberleadavis]

Very cool! Thank you.

[fabri00]

Without making precise tests I also noticed the low water resistance of kwz ig inks.

Good to know that this is confirmed allegro hour test.

[TSherbs]

Very cool. Thanks for this, Dill.

[A Smug Dill]

Pelikan Edelstein Smoky Quartz isn't iron-gall, as far as I know. I'm just throwing this in because I happen to be testing its water resistance, and my two pens that are filled with KWZ iron-gall inks are on hand...

 

BEFORE:

 

AFTER:

Edited June 28, 2020 by A Smug Dill

[TSherbs]

Dill, if I understand this right, the KWZs IGs disappeared, but the Smoky Quartz persisted? If so, that's quite ironic.

[A Smug Dill]

@TSherbs Exactly. I allowed the KWZI iron-gall inks more than 30 minutes to 'cure' — and they had a few more minutes than the Pelikan Edelstein Smoky Quartz — before soaking, but that hasn't prevented them from just about completely disappearing; whereas PE SQ is ready as soon as it initially dried on the page to leave a very distinct, crisp and legible dark grey impression that doesn't wash away.

 

Originally I was testing PE SQ against a number of Herbin blue inks, which all seemed to have good water resistance in the sense of leaving a persisting impression, but to varying degrees the edges of the marks all got feathery and messy. That's when I thought I might compared that to brownish iron-gall inks I have on the ready.

Edited June 28, 2020 by A Smug Dill

[TSherbs]

That's really interesting. Thanks for sharing the results. That'll teach me to presume that "IG" has any reliable connection to water permanence. I really appreciate these kinds of comparison torture tests.

[The Good Captain]

Edelstein Tanzanite has some water-resistance too.

 

 

[peroride]

Thank you all for these enlightening results, especially @A Smug Dill for comprehensive testing.

 

I've been grooving on more water fast/permanent inks since a few tea spills switched me over to them.

 

Been enjoying KWZ Aztec Gold IG and thinking of restock, but in light of it's performance...

 

Kinda unbelievable

 

I need to try different paper or bin it to the regular low water-resistant inks like Watermans, Aurora, etc.

[Tasmith]

Thank you!

[dave321]

i am surprised by the results for the KWZ IG inks

 

i have tried and use KWZ blue-black, i find it to be rock solid after the colour change to black.

maybe the paper used has an effect ?

 

i find kwz  blue black the best ig ink out there ! far better than diamine registrars ink which is really poor and has bad stability giving rise to sediment in the bottle

 

[Schaumburg_Swan]

41 minutes ago, dave321 said:

...

i find kwz  blue black the best ig ink out there ! far better than diamine registrars ink which is really poor and has bad stability giving rise to sediment in the bottle

Hi Dave!

 

A strong ig ink will always develope sediment. Just because of it's concentration and oxygen.

That's not bad stability. ESSRI (one of the best keeping ig's), Diamine Registrar's and Akkermann #10 usually have a deposit when you buy it...

KWZ bb is imo a great ink if you like it wet, as are ESSRI/DRI/Akk.#10 on the dry site...

 

Best

Jens

[Dimy]

Thanks a bunch dill for the tests, helps a lot.

 

I am personally not surprised by KWZ inks action, these 2 are low IG inks on their website and from my small understanding IG inks fade badly with water if IG content is low. Platinum was a pleasent surprise though.

 

KWZ IG blue-black survived my torture test without issue, again expected result, sallix always perplexed me though, it fades badly over the year but survives water like nothing ever hit it.

 

Thanks again smug.