What ever happened to Parker Penman ink?

[leftnose]

Anyway, they also told me at the time that the problem was caused by the stuff that made it so nicely black, namely soot. Black ink generally contains ground soot to make it that colour, and since these are particles, they may block the ink channel if they get deposited in there. The combination of other stuff in the ink, and the rapid drying out of the pen (sometimes a matter of days), caused this phenomenon in my pen anyway.

 

Not to be nit-picky or anything :embarrassed_smile: but it's not soot that makes black inks black. It's carbon black which is very similar to soot: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon_black

[Eric072691]

Lucky, lucky, lucky. I never though they would discontinue Penman, I suffered for my naive thoughts.. although I'm thinking of getting the 3 bottles of Penman Black or Ebony (whichever it is) off of ebay. Should I get it? I mean are there any problems with Penman Ebony?

So long as your pen cap seals around the section and nib properly, and so long as you use the pen regularly (at least once a day), you should have no problems with the original Parker Penman Ebony.

 

However, the new Parker Penman Black from melpens on eBay has the same dyes as Ebony, but seems to be a thinner ink. Perhaps they have modified the formula to minimise problems.

 

I wrote about the new Penman Black in this post.

 

Thanks for the info. I think I'll make a purchase

[Chris]

I have four unopened and old stock bottles of Ebony but I might offload them as I rarely use black so I stick with Pelikan for black, but I'm down to my last nine bottles of Sapphire and no matter what else I try, I always come back to this colour - nothing, nothing, nothing comes close (in my humble opinion). As I use several bottles of ink a year, I am often using lovely blue inks by Visconti and Diamine, but wishing they were Sapphire.

 

Chris

[Spats McGee]

. . . . I'm down to my last nine bottles of Sapphire . . . .

 

Man, that's rough! Only nine bottles of the Sapphire left?

[Pinmin]

Please let me apologize in advance if the following questions have been asked and answered over and over. I ran a search through the fora and didn't see any answers. A few years back, probably the late 1990s, my wife and I ran across Parker Penman ink and loved it. The ink was gorgeous, as were the bottles. But then it just seemed to vanish from the market. We haven't seen it available in years (except for the few lucky individuals down in The Marketplace). What happened to it? Does anyone know why Parker quit making it?

copied from an email response from Parker/Waterman Repair Dept.

 

 

The production of Penman ink was discontinued several years ago. If there are still bottles of ink around I would hesitate to use it especially if it has been opened. Since it is a water based ink it will evaporate and when that happens the ink becomes thicker and can clog your nib and feed section. You can pass this information along if you want.

 

 

 

 

 

[KCat]

copied from an email response from Parker/Waterman Repair Dept.

 

The production of Penman ink was discontinued several years ago. If there are still bottles of ink around I would hesitate to use it especially if it has been opened. Since it is a water based ink it will evaporate and when that happens the ink becomes thicker and can clog your nib and feed section. You can pass this information along if you want.

 

Simple answer - add water. Even in bottles that haven't been opened, some of them are old enough to have evaporated a bit. I add water to my emerald. Just a little, not enough to alter color but enough to make up for what appears to be evaporation. Any ink crystals (often seen around the bottle opening) immediately go back into suspension. Water evaporates from inks in cartridges, too. Same answer. People bring cartridges back to life this way all the time with no ill effects.

[PAKMAN]

I let a Sheaffer Snorkel Desk pen dry out with a load of Parker Penman Sapphire in it. I sucked up a load of water and wrote till it ran out, drew in another load of water and wrote another week. It reconstituted great and no clogging problems.

 

PS: Spats, I'm down to 10 bottles in my horde of Sapphire! :embarrassed_smile: I got lucky a year or so ago and found an unopened six pack in Hong Kong and another in Greece.

Edited April 11, 2008 by pakmanpony

[Chris]

Hi Spats,

 

I know, but I started with fourteen - the two that my local shop had at the back of the display and a whole box of a dozen bottles that I managed by great good fortune to buy from Websters.

I called them to ask if they had any Sapphire.

"No, sorry, it is all discontinued you know."

"Shame, I love that colour. My local shop found a bottle covered in dust in the back of their shelves that I bought."

"OK, I'll look in our storeroom out back in case we have one. Can I call you back."

 

"Hello, it's Websters here. I found a whole box of a dozen. How many bottles would you like?"

"I'll thank them all!" Gasp of surprise from helpful lady at Websters. Jump for joy from me....

 

But now the line of clean, empty Penman bottles grows longer...

 

Chris

[Jimmy James]

But now the line of clean, empty Penman bottles grows longer...

 

If that's a problem for you, I'll take a couple empties off your hands!

 

Seriously, I don't think you'd have trouble giving them away or even selling them for a small price.

[piembi]

The Penman ink range was discontinued (probably in the early 2000s) because at least the black (Ebony) dried out in pens and clogged them up.

......

People on the FPN who use Parker Penman Sapphire continuously for several years have not had problems. Either the problems only applied to the Ebony ink, or regular use doesn't allow the pen to dry out. As well, normal care and cleaning for any pen that is using a highly saturated ink (Parker Penman, Private Reserve, Noodlers) keeps the pens going. It is just that any pen with any highly saturated ink will dry out more quickly than a pen with ink in it like Parker, Waterman or Skrip.

 

I have used bottled penman for years with no issues. I did use mainly black, but I used my pen on a daily basis so cthe ink had no time to dry out and clogg my pen.

 

I happened to think of two Parker 45s I used during my school days. One had been filled with any blue ink (converter), the other with penman black (cartridge). The blue ink is flushed out completely. Penman black still dissolves in the water-dishwasher mixture the section is soaked for three days. Don't know, if it will ever write again .....

[Spats McGee]

Hi Spats,

 

I know, but I started with fourteen . . .

Well, I hope you understand that my remark is entirely rooted in jealousy, and meant as a good-natured jab. Good for you for snapping them up when you found them. If I ever run across a stash, you can bet that I'll grab a bunch!

Edited April 14, 2008 by Spats McGee

[Chris]

I understand, and I would be in exactly the same "Emerald" frame of mind if it was the other way round. I do expect that Diamine will eventually produce a copy becuae they seem very active in developing new colours and in keeping an eye on what is popular.

 

The Penman empties are really good though and I do use them for keeping many of my other inks in because you can get to the last drops thanks to the great little plastic wells.

 

I wonder if Websters have any more dustry corners in their storeroom?

 

Chris

[fibreglass_works]

I just don't understand WHY?????? They have Inks problems and they have pens problem. They are pen maker yet they have problems. Or i have a problems........

Honestly, I think Parker are having too many problems lately......

BTW anyone have the email address to Parker in Uk?Do let me know thru Pm. tks

[dcwaites]

I just don't understand WHY?????? They have Inks problems and they have pens problem. They are pen maker yet they have problems. Or i have a problems........

Honestly, I think Parker are having too many problems lately......

BTW anyone have the email address to Parker in Uk?Do let me know thru Pm. tks

The Parker Penman inks are more saturated than the older Quink inks. I don't think that they have any more problems than any other saturated inks. You need to clean your pen out more often with these inks.

 

It's not like my high school fountain pen (a Dragon brand Parker 51 clone) that was used for 6 years on Quink Blue-Black without being cleaned out once.

 

As well, many new pens dry out if they are not used regularly (at least every 2-3 days) because of breather gaps that are in the caps due to EU laws. My 10 year old Sonnet used to dry out with Parker Penman Ebony until I sealed the cap gap with Paraffin wax.

 

I had the same trouble with a couple of new Chinese pens filled with Private Reserve ink until I noticed they had the same cap breather gaps and sealed those off, too. No problems since.

 

 

[tfwall]

For those of you with blacklights, do Penman colors like emerald and sapphire fluoresce under blacklight?