KWZ Iron Gall ink opened 4 years ago…

2024-12-24T00:38:25Z

Hello - I’ve got a question relating to the shelf life of iron gall inks once the bottle has been opened. I have a bottle of KWZ IG Blue Black #1 that I opened 4 years ago. I remember when I first opened it that it behaved very well and the performance on poor paper was excellent. Recently I revisited this bottle and found the pen skipping here and there after it had been inked up for a couple days. It’s a Pelikan 400 with a nibsmith cursive italic nib. I use it frequently daily. I don’t remember having this issue when the ink had just been opened 4 years ago. Has it oxidized in the bottle a bit? Is this normal/common phenomenon with IG inks? Best to use them up once the bottle is opened? Thank you for sharing your experiences with me. Happy Holidays.

2024-12-24T02:07:55Z

Does it appear to have any particles in the bottle that have precipitated out? I had that happen with a 60 ml bottle of Akkerman's Izjer-Galnoten a couple of years ago because I wasn't using it up fast enough. :wallbash: And now I'm worrying about other IG inks I have -- including the ones that someone who used to be on FPN, Pharmacist, originally just for fun to see if he could get IG inks in other colors besides blue-black (I have a bad feeling about those, especially since they were in plastic bottles, and I haven't used any of them in a long time).

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

2024-12-24T02:23:27Z

10 minutes ago, inkstainedruth said:

Does it appear to have any particles in the bottle that have precipitated out? I had that happen with a 60 ml bottle of Akkerman's Izjer-Galnoten a couple of years ago because I wasn't using it up fast enough. And now I'm worrying about other IG inks I have -- including the ones that someone who used to be on FPN, Pharmacist, originally just for fun to see if he could get IG inks in other colors besides blue-black (I have a bad feeling about those, especially since they were in plastic bottles, and I haven't used any of them in a long time).

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

Hi Ruth - it’s hard to say. If there are particles they are small. What I can say is the screw top to the open bottles, I have two, are extremely sticky and hard to unscrew. Even after being opened for a week or two I sometimes have to use a pair of pliers to grip the top to open the bottle for a refill.
I think I’d have to pour some of the ink into clear containers and backlight the samples to look for solids.
In general how long is an open bottle of IG ink good for?

2024-12-24T04:51:53Z

Honestly? I don't know. I suspect it depends partly on how high the iron content is, and how often the bottle is opened.

If we'd had interesting stuff like this in my high school chemistry class, I might have paid more attention.... :rolleyes: Unfortunately, due to a scheduling error dropping me from taking a math class (!) and I had to re-arrange my ENTIRE class schedule after the first couple of days of school, and ended up being one of only 3 girls in that particular chemistry class, which was RIGHT after most of the guys in class had just gotten out of some gym class -- and you could tell. :sick: )

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

edited for typos

2024-12-24T11:24:02Z

I found KWZ inks to be quite sticky even when new, whether IG or not. I work around it by diluting the ink, just by part-filling the pen with water prior to refilling with ink.

To avoid stuck bottle-tops, wipe clean the screw threads of the cap and lid after each fill.

Yes, it's a bother.

2024-12-24T13:44:38Z

2 hours ago, tim77 said:

I found KWZ inks to be quite sticky even when new, whether IG or not. I work around it by diluting the ink, just by part-filling the pen with water prior to refilling with ink.

To avoid stuck bottle-tops, wipe clean the screw threads of the cap and lid after each fill.

Yes, it's a bother.

Ahhh good to know. This stickiness was a concern to me that the bottle was going bad. I will give the threads a wipe and carry on.
It does feel like the ink is coagulating in the top of the feed after a few days of use.
If this is all normal behavior I’ll continue to use the ink out of this 4 year old bottle. Aside from some skipping when I first start writing the ink out performs anything I’ve ever tried by a wide margin.

2024-12-24T17:57:23Z

I would say, if it's a true IG ink (Like Essri/ Diamine Registrars, and I believe KWZ blue-black) the inks have a shelf life of 2 years, The more empty the bottle, i.e. the more in contact with air, the faster the precipitation. I had put Essri in two bottles, The one which was half empty had gone completely bad, the other one, which was full is still ok.

That's the problem/benefit with IG inks. If you buy a bottle, you have to use them, constantly.

However, if it's one of the mild IG inks (Like Pelikan Blue Black /R&K Scabiosa for ex) ink should be fine

2024-12-24T22:14:39Z

Most (if not all) IG inks have a short shelf-life -- as said above. A few show some slight precipitation, some have real fall-outs. It's the ferrous (Fe²⁺) iron content which eventually turns into the less soluble and darker ferric (Fe³⁺) portion due to the oxygen in the air. That's all well known, the whole idea behind IG inks, and we can't do anything about it. I have experienced that with all of my IG inks ever since I bought them years ago. Old MBs in 50-ml shoes or newer 60-ml shoes, old Lamys, 4001s, and especially Akkerman's No. 10 all conked out after 2-5 years. Keeping them closed tightly with or without keeping them out of any light won't help. As Yazeh said, just buy 'em and use 'em!

2024-12-25T00:14:33Z

And this is why I will never buy a bottle of ESSRI -- there's no way I'd be able to finish a 100 ml bottle before the ink went bad, even if it was the ONLY ink I used....

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth