What pen(s) are you using today?

[51ISH]

10 minutes ago, Mercian said:

I have the following Blue-blacks (in order of my first purchase of them):

 

Rohrer & Klingner Salix (the i-g blue-black that stays bluest after oxidation). It has really very lovely shading. An ink that Sandy1 declared to be capable of Majik - and I agree. Water-resistant, but it will fade if left exposed to light;

 

Pelikan Edelstein Tanzanite (dye-based, contains piston-lubricant for M-series Pelikans). A rather dark blue-black that shades and can be made to sheen. Decent water resistance;

 

Pilot Blue/black in cartridges (to use in a 78G - & also because Pilot refuse to let Brits buy it in the 70ml bottles or 350ml bottles that they sell to other countries). It’s a very dark blue rather than a ‘true’ blue-black. Has decent water resistance. I don’t know whether or not it is lightfast;

 

Parker Quink Blue/Black in cartridges (post-2017 version). Although it has the positive physical properties of other Quink inks, it turns to a light teal colour on papers that contain sulphates/sulphites. As such, I consider it to be a ‘Blue-Teal’ ink rather than a ‘Blue-black’. Zero water resistance;

 

ESSRI (the heavy i-g ink recommended for use by HM Passport Office and our Registrars). Also one of the inks deemed capable of Majik by Sandy1.
Oxidises to different degrees on different papers. Gives shading while writing but, from a wet-writing pen, oxidises to a very solid black. Very water-resistant.
I have pinned a couple of sentences written on Rhodia in ESSRI to a notice-board in my kitchen, 6 feet from a south-facing window. Ok, I live in England (as opposed to e.g. Nevada or Colombia or Nepal), but after a year on that board there has been no lightening of the writing due to light ‘bleaching’ the ink.

If you buy ESSRI, I urge you to decant it out of its gas-permeable plastic posting-bottle, and in to glass bottles from which to use it. Exact details of the process available on-request.

 

Pelikan 4001 Blue-Black (contains a little bit of iron-gall). Darker than R&K Salix. Not as dark as Edelstein Tanzanite. Esteemed FPN members have summed-up this ink by saying “When you are out of 4001 Blue-black, you are out of ink”, and “If Carlsberg made ink, theirs would probably be the second-best ink in the world”.

 

As for my experience with ESSRI in my Duofold Junior:

my Duofold is still relatively new-to-me, and still only on its very first fill of ESSRI.
It has been working very nicely so far - but I am reserving judgement until I have used up the whole fill at least.
I want to find out whether it will dry-out in the pen (the cap has a ventilation hole), and whether or not it’s easy to clean out.
I suspect that it will be hard to clean out completely, based on the pen having an aerometric filler, and on how much cleaning I had to do to get all the old ink out of the pen’s ebonite feed before I loaded it with my ESSRI.

But, as I intend to use only ESSRI in this pen, my cleaning regime will be limited to plain-water rinses every couple of fills, rather than my usual cleaning routine when switching between inks (which errs on the side of OCD when changing inks).

 

Slàinte,

M.

 

Blimey.... I've found a 'Kindred Sprit' 🥰

 

I was concerned about cleaning a Duofold after using ESSRI

 

My P51 is a nightmare to clean....(IMO) I think I'll go with something cheaper and simpler with a converter for the ESSRI...

 

If Sandy1 said R&K Salix is a keeper that's good enough for me. If I can get it in the UK.??  I'll take a look at Pelikan Tanzanite...

 

Pelikan Blue/Black will always be in my 'Ink Drawer'.....If a pen doesn't 'work' on Pelikan Blu/Blk or Aurora Black....then it's going to be 'heavy maintenance'  IMO

🤣🤣

[Mercian]

1 minute ago, 51ISH said:

If Sandy1 said R&K Salix is a keeper that's good enough for me. If I can get it in the UK.??

I have bought my bottles of it from TheWritingDesk.co.uk.

Cult Pens also sell it.

[51ISH]

2 minutes ago, Mercian said:

I have bought my bottles of it from TheWritingDesk.co.uk.

Cult Pens also sell it.

 

Thanks !!!   ?? 🤔

 

I've just bought a Parker 45 with a Stub on ebay...and sent an offer to the same seller on another pen! Now I have to buy more inks and inevitably more paper 🤣

[Mercian]

11 minutes ago, 51ISH said:

Now I have to buy more inks and inevitably more paper 🤣

😁

Well, I do keep warning people that FPN is full of Enablers… 😉

[51ISH]

7 minutes ago, Mercian said:

😁

Well, I do keep warning people that FPN is full of Enablers… 😉

 

I've only been 'back' a couple of weeks and there's a couple of hundred quid gone already 🤣  Now I remember why I stopped coming here..🤣

 

Never knew Pelikan Blu/Blk has some iron gall qualities.

[Toolattack]

Parker 51 with MB Blue Black ink

[Mark from Yorkshire]

Original Airomatic / vaucumatic or modern c/c variant 

[Doug C]

Visconti Voyager and Maiora Oroblu.

[Mercian]

20 minutes ago, Toolattack said:

Parker 51 with MB Blue Black ink

Is your ink the original iron-gall Montblanc Blue-black?

Or their modern, dye-based, version of ‘Midnight Blue’?

 

If it’s the former, you’re a braver man than I am! 😁

[ParramattaPaul]

Highland Scholar from Onoto --- again.

[Doug C]

4 minutes ago, ParramattaPaul said:

Highland Scholar from Onoto --- again.

Please show a photo.  I want this pen!

[ParramattaPaul]

1 hour ago, Doug C said:

Please show a photo.  I want this pen!

For your viewing pleasure:

 

[51ISH]

2 hours ago, Mark from Yorkshire said:

Original Airomatic / vaucumatic or modern c/c variant 

 

Mine.  First pen I bought.  Aerometric, aledgedly 1959.  It's a fine and it writes too dry for my taste if I'm honest even filled with Aurora Black. If I can get to a pen show I may get someone to take a look...

Edited March 22, 2023 by 51ISH
add information

[51ISH]

5 minutes ago, ParramattaPaul said:

For your viewing pleasure:

 

 

Stunning.  I 'cheated'... I'd already been on their site earlier when The Spitfire Pen was mentioned on another thread.

[Doug C]

13 minutes ago, 51ISH said:

 

Stunning.  I 'cheated'... I'd already been on their site earlier when The Spitfire Pen was mentioned on another thread.

Thank you!  This is the exact one I want with the silver trim. 

[taimdala]

I'm using my Platinum Procyon (Fine) today. I love this pen's nib. I don't know why it performs better than the Plaisir but it does.

 

Added bonus: it reverse writes beautifully on (bleep) Moleskine paper.

 

[ParramattaPaul]

20 minutes ago, 51ISH said:

 

Stunning.  I 'cheated'... I'd already been on their site earlier when The Spitfire Pen was mentioned on another thread.

Yeah, the Spitfire pen is definitely a nice pen, and definitely out of my price bracket -- as are many of Onoto's premium offers.

[51ISH]

23 minutes ago, ParramattaPaul said:

Yeah, the Spitfire pen is definitely a nice pen, and definitely out of my price bracket -- as are many of Onoto's premium offers.

 

Excuse my ignorance.... I'm kind of assuming the current company purchased the name Onoto?? The 'best value' (cheapest) pen I could find was £250.

 

I do 'get' the Limited Edition recycled Spitfire 'thing'...but I'm still not sure how that 'sits' with me.   I think maybe a scale model of the Spitfire sat on my desk I could handle much better....🤔

[essayfaire]

Grandfather's Parker Duofold, now that I've had the sac replaced since apparently it's not so fond of Ina-ho.  But as @amberleadavishas pointed out, if I love the pairing that much it is worth replacing the sac periodically.  I consider the pairing spot on, other than the fact the ink apparently eats the sac.

 

I figured it was the sac but wasn't sure why that would make the button-filler mechanism all jingly!

[AmandaW]

Lorelei 667 EF filled with Diamine Vivaldi. The pic I showed yesterday in the "Got this pen today' was taken in the car with it sitting on the yellow post pack it came in and that distorted the colour - this hopefully will be more accurate. It's very pretty, with delicate pinky-purple swirls with pearlescent white. And it writes really well - for me in that sweet spot between too dry and two wet... a Goldilocks pen. LOL. With gold trim.