Sailor Sei-Boku - Highly Unscientific Robustness Test

[Sui-Generis]

Afternoon everyone.

 

Lockdown and terrible sleep patterns have me at a minor stage of madness, so at 5 this morning while I was considering grabbing the air rifle & silencing some of the birds that had apparently gotten hold of megaphones to sing their dawn chorus outside my window...

 

I decided instead to do a very unscientific test (see also: dirty) on my all time (so far) favourite ink for practicality, Sailor Sei-Boku - Pigment Blue/Black.

 

The test was carried out as per the description on the index card, what I didn't have room to fit however, is that the index cards are cheap (more like thick paper than index cards, probably 140-160GSM and fairly porous), the degreaser in use was 151's "Elbow Grease" and the nib used to write all text on the index card was a Bock fine.

 

 

I think I am most surprised by how little effect pen flush (Monteverde brand) had on it! The only thing that really did anything was the degreaser. As expected, water did absolutely nothing.

 

 

Rear side confirms it, the degreaser had the most effect while actual pen flush only managed a 'flesh wound'.

 

Until Sailor Sei-Boku starts dissolving my pens (unlikely, since it isn't an iron gall ink) I don't think I need to quest for a tougher, more well behaved ink.

 

So far, on my journey to find a "bulletproof" ink I have tried offerings from Noodlers (massively ill-behaved, over saturated, too wet 90% of the time regardless of colour, but some are definitely worse than others! Looking at you Sun Never Sets!), KWZ (extremely well behaved & beautiful colours, but not really truly "bulletproof", 'just' iron gall) and De Atramentis (the black behaves very well, everything else I've tried in the "Document" line has had properties very similar to Noodlers). Sailor Sei-Boku (haven't tried the other two offerings yet) is by far the best (IMO). Not only is it nigh on indestructible on paper once dried, but it also has properties, yes, properties! It shades extremely nicely and even, on the right paper, has a hint of red sheen to it. Beautiful and practical, just like me! Okay, well...maybe not.

 

On top of all that? It tames the most cheap, nasty, course paper I have (Poundland/dollar store notebooks, grey recycled toilet paper...you know the sort!), with no bleed or feather!

 

Disclaimers - Apologies for less-than-stellar picture quality, taken with my ageing smartphone, any perceived feathering is due to that, to the naked eye I can see none.

Edited April 6, 2020 by Sui-Generis

[BDarchitect]

Good review, even for 5:00 am. Boo, birdies! I have the same opinion of Sei Boku and use it both in bottle and cartridge options.

[gpsgrandpa]

I second your opinion of Sei-boku. I have only done a test with water. It is the ink I use to address envelopes with assuming rain, snow, sleet or hail the address would be legible. It is the only ink I've used in a Sailor Pro Gear with a fine point for over nine months. I uncap the pen and it always writes unless I've run it out of ink. Most papers have no major issues except some greeting cards seem to be coated or impregnated with possibly an oil or wax that does crazy things with all my fountain pen inks. Noodler and De Artramentis I found the same issues you mentioned.

[LizEF]

I love Sei Boku! It's also my go-to permanent ink. I had a page with it and some others taped in a south-facing window for 2+ years, and it didn't change at all.

 

And please send your birdies my way - we don't have enough here. I love waking to the sound of the few we do have.

[PAKMAN]

Wow may have to try this ink!

[yazeh]

I'm glad you focused on the ink, rather than the birds.

Sailor Sei-Boku is truly a beautiful ink.

However, in defence of Noodler's, while it is true that some of the inks could be extremely wet, I have found that they are picky about the fountain pen. I have Polar Brown, in a Jinhao 992 for months and it writes beautiful each time, dries fast. While it's nowhere as elegant as Sei-Boku, it will survive anything..... but it doesn't write well in all pens.... On the plus side it's one of the easiest inks to flush....

 

Conversely, Rohrer and Klingner Sketch inks are another alternative you might want to explore......

Edited April 6, 2020 by yazeh

[jmccarty3]

Hope you will do the same with Souboku. I have a Moonman eyedropper filled with it, which I use as a desk pen. So far, so good.

[battuta]

Afternoon everyone.

 

Lockdown and terrible sleep patterns have me at a minor stage of madness, so at 5 this morning while I was considering grabbing the air rifle & silencing some of the birds that had apparently gotten hold of megaphones to sing their dawn chorus outside my window...

 

I decided instead to do a very unscientific test (see also: dirty) on my all time (so far) favourite ink for practicality, Sailor Sei-Boku - Pigment Blue/Black.

 

The test was carried out as per the description on the index card, what I didn't have room to fit however, is that the index cards are cheap (more like thick paper than index cards, probably 140-160GSM and fairly porous), the degreaser in use was 151's "Elbow Grease" and the nib used to write all text on the index card was a Bock fine.

 

 

I think I am most surprised by how little effect pen flush (Monteverde brand) had on it! The only thing that really did anything was the degreaser. As expected, water did absolutely nothing.

 

 

Rear side confirms it, the degreaser had the most effect while actual pen flush only managed a 'flesh wound'.

 

Until Sailor Sei-Boku starts dissolving my pens (unlikely, since it isn't an iron gall ink) I don't think I need to quest for a tougher, more well behaved ink.

 

So far, on my journey to find a "bulletproof" ink I have tried offerings from Noodlers (massively ill-behaved, over saturated, too wet 90% of the time regardless of colour, but some are definitely worse than others! Looking at you Sun Never Sets!), KWZ (extremely well behaved & beautiful colours, but not really truly "bulletproof", 'just' iron gall) and De Atramentis (the black behaves very well, everything else I've tried in the "Document" line has had properties very similar to Noodlers). Sailor Sei-Boku (haven't tried the other two offerings yet) is by far the best (IMO). Not only is it nigh on indestructible on paper once dried, but it also has properties, yes, properties! It shades extremely nicely and even, on the right paper, has a hint of red sheen to it. Beautiful and practical, just like me! Okay, well...maybe not.

 

On top of all that? It tames the most cheap, nasty, course paper I have (Poundland/dollar store notebooks, grey recycled toilet paper...you know the sort!), with no bleed or feather!

 

Disclaimers - Apologies for less-than-stellar picture quality, taken with my ageing smartphone, any perceived feathering is due to that, to the naked eye I can see none.

Thanks for review. I have all three Sailor pigment inks and my favorite is SOUBOKU. It is a bit more well-behave ink in general then seiboku. I think you may better try souboku too.

[holtzmann]

You highlighted all the reasons why this is my favorite ink! It shades really beautifully, too, and I’ve even seen a red sheen on my Hobonichi planner.

[Tas]

* Ooops thought you were talking about its cousin, SOU Boku.

(I'll get my coat )

Edited June 17, 2020 by Tas

[LizEF]

Just filled my Penmanship with this last night. EF ink review coming in a few weeks. Spoiler alert: shading is still obvious and fabulous, even in such a fine nib