What is the worst ink you've ever encountered? And why?

[*david*]

This ink does work well in some pens. Don't throw it out. (If you want to sell it, that's up to you.)

[Aman Syed]

Pelikan Konigsblau Royal Blue ink and Parker Quink!!

[Susan3141]

J. Herbin Rouille D'ancre. I adore this color. It reminds me of ballet shoes. But it has performed poorly in every pen in which I've used it. It seems dry and globby, even though it comes out on the page wet, the ink does not flow well. Even my best nibs perform poorly with it. Very disappointing.

[JimB]

Aside from That Ink Which Dare Not Be Named-- I have to give the worst vote to:

 

- Noodler's Apache Sunset. It was just not as expected - too yellow, too light, shading only to an orange, rather than the expected red. YMMV

 

Runners Up:

- Sheaffer Skrip Turquoise was another ink in the "too pale" category.

- Diamine Ancient Copper was orange-brown, and no shading on anything other than Rhodia pads.

 

Note that "worst" only means I did not like the color or attributes. I'm not crazy about inks that stain pens, but this alone won't make it a "worst" candidate.

[inkstainedruth]

The worst *behaved* ink for me was Noodler's La Reine Mauve: nib creep, section creep, "How-the-heck-did-it-wind-up-on-the-*heel*-of-my-hand...?" creep.... :bonk: I would have given it the benefit of the doubt had I liked the color better (I'm much more forgiving of Kung Te Cheng and J Herbin's Rouge Hematite, in spite of the fact that both are high maintenance, somewhat clogging inks, because of their colors). LRM was somewhat better when I switched it into a hooded nib pen, but in the Konrad it was horrible -- just messy.

The worst *performing* ink was Quink Washable Blue (cartridges) -- six months later it had faded away almost to the level of illegibility. In a closed hardbound journal. Followed (in no particular order) by Diamine Kelly Green and De Atramentis Jeanne d'Arc. Both were just too light for me to read easily; they may do better in broader, wetter pens, especially the KG -- I had seen some reviews showing the gorgeous shading, but I wasn't getting it in any of my pens, which are mostly all F or M nibs. Having a bit of the same problem with Noodler's Apache Sunset, but then I mostly bought a sample of it to play around with ink mixing, so no harm, no foul there (I do kinda like the color -- it's just that it's so danged *light* on the page....).

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

 

Oh, and add BSB to the list of inks I'll tolerate in spite of it's "misbehaving" ways -- I don't mind it staining my Guanleming 2001, because it actually looks *good* showing through the clear barrel, IMO!

Edited August 22, 2012 by inkstainedruth

[lapis]

Right off the cuff,

 

A. Cartier because the bottle's neck is so unfriendly that it won't accept any Pelikan except my M320. http://i654.photobucket.com/albums/uu264/peli46/Sick.png

B. Abraxas because the bottle says "Yes" but their site says "No". The company itself is so lazy and/or persecuting that they never want to tell me what's up. http://i654.photobucket.com/albums/uu264/peli46/barf.gif

 

http://i654.photobucket.com/albums/uu264/peli46/Yawn.png

[DwarvenChef]

Anything blue

 

I find some inks I thought I hated work very well in other pens so I have had to revamp my ideas and I have not gone through them all yet...

[Colors]

J.Herbin Cafe des Iles - skipped horribly. Took forever to wash the endless clumps out of my pen and ended up breaking my TWSBI 540 when taking it apart to flush/clean/scour the ink out.

[Scrawler]

Herbin Les Subtiles Rose. Lovely color, lovely perfume, but it bled and feathered so badly that I could not use it for its intended purpose (to write a love letter) and instead wrote a scathing review, which I then posted showing the back of the paper.

[OC Mike]

This will probably offend many people here on the board, but my least favorite ink is Waterman Blue Black -- because it turns to green, and then it fades. I so wanted to like this ink.

 

Other inks that bug me are the rich, heavily pigmented, beautiful blue inks by Private Reserve and Levenger. I adore the colors, but I hate the slow drying time and the smearing that inevitably occurs because I am a left-handed over-writer.

 

Finally, I dislike most of the Noodlers waterproof, fadeproof blue inks -- because they all (yep, all) contain elements of green that ruin the color for me. I so wanted these inks to be a color I could use.

 

+1 on Waterman Blue Black

[chris.hale]

Just be careful with "iron gal" ink. It must be used only with gold nibs. It corrodes any metal part it touches, unless it's gold.

 

Not true, there are several iron gall inks that are perfectly safe to use in fountain pens with steel nibs, ESSRI, Diamine Registrar's, Pharmacist's Urkundentinte, and R&K Salix to name but a few.

 

The worst ink I've tried is Diamine Jet Black in cartridges. It doesn't flow well, and is about as far from jet black as you can get. Diamine Washed-out Grey would be a better name.

[Sailor Kenshin]

Thought this might be fun.

 

The worst inks in my limited experience:

 

Pelikan royal blue. At first great but then starts fading quickly. After a couple of years, one's previously written notes look faded and dull.

 

Noodler's (I know many will disagree): great colors but extremely slow-drying. Some inks stink. Also, I think they might clog up sensitive feeds. While I love the Noodler's colors, I would never put them in my expensive pens. Also, some colors form a nasty sludge at the bottom of the bottle.

 

Even last year, I'd have said Noodler's Navaho Turquoise. Even gave away a bottle. Because although I liked the color, it. Never..dried. Ever.

 

But that was before I understood you can dilute it. Problem solved, ink re-bought.

 

Some inks that were 'worst' just needed right handling.

[mhosea]

Note that this is a 5 year-old thread.

[inkstainedruth]

Yup.

But not all of us were members of FPN five years ago, and peoples' impressions and observations about ink behavior is always useful and relevant, be it positive or negative.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[Scrawler]

Note that this is a 5 year-old thread.

Yet, strangely, this fact does not invalidate the information and opinions expressed.

[liapuyat]

J.Herbin Cafe des Iles - skipped horribly. Took forever to wash the endless clumps out of my pen and ended up breaking my TWSBI 540 when taking it apart to flush/clean/scour the ink out.

 

Herbin Cafe des Iles simply refused to flow. In several of my pens. I gave up on it and gave it away.

Edited August 23, 2012 by liapuyat

[mhosea]

Note that this is a 5 year-old thread.

Yet, strangely, this fact does not invalidate the information and opinions expressed.

 

Ahem. The reason I noted that was that there is some etiquette surrounding the treatment of old posts because the poster may not be around to respond. I figured that it would be helpful to raise awareness of it.

[lapis]

Yup.

But not all of us were members of FPN five years ago, and peoples' impressions and observations about ink behavior is always useful and relevant, be it positive or negative.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

AMEN !

[Scrawler]

Note that this is a 5 year-old thread.

Yet, strangely, this fact does not invalidate the information and opinions expressed.

 

Ahem. The reason I noted that was that there is some etiquette surrounding the treatment of old posts because the poster may not be around to respond. I figured that it would be helpful to raise awareness of it.

There is a discussion on necroposting somewhere in this forum, I will go look for it later. The general consensus seems to be that (especially related to ink and ink reviews) that the original poster matters less than the general information and opinions about inks. This actually provides a way for many of us to read things that we other wise would not have.

 

Edit: Here is a discussion on this subject. https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/index.php?/topic/224615-should-big-brother-ixnay-the-necroposters/page__view__findpost__p__2388623

You will probably enjoy sharing your point of view with other in that thread.

Edited August 23, 2012 by Scrawler

[mhosea]

There is a discussion on necroposting somewhere in this forum, I will go look for it later. The general consensus seems to be that (especially related to ink and ink reviews) that the original poster matters less than the general information and opinions about inks. This actually provides a way for many of us to read things that we other wise would not have.

 

I had and have no intention of discouraging necroposting. That was a motive that you and others seem to have assigned to me in error. I only felt that it was helpful to be aware of the time difference when formulating a response, particularly a contradictory one. That's rather the opposite of being against necroposting.