I just acquired my first fountain pen, a Pilot Metro as the title obviously says. What are some inks that write well with/don't gum up this pen? I have a bottle of Waterman Serenity Blue that I'm using now, and I have the black cartridge that came with the pen, but if I eventually wanted to expand my collection of inks by a few bottles, which ones work well with this pen?
Good inks for Pilot Metro
- Thread starter eleuther0s
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I know a few people on different forums used Noodler's Heart of Darkness and really enjoyed it. If you can find a bottle, I would go for it!. 
I have also had good luck with the Diamine inks in my Metropolitan. I am not the most experienced person, but I believe that most any positively reviewed fountain pen ink should work well in these pens. You may want to order a few ink samples from a company like Goulet Pens to try different colors, it really is quite fun. I hope you enjoy your new pen, my Metropolitan has quickly become my preferred pen for daily use.
I have run Noodlers and some 70's era Skrip in my Metro with no issues whatsoever.
Pretty much any ink out there is good in a Pilot Metro. It's a matter of what colors you're looking for.
The usual exceptions apply. Anything super-saturated like some Noodler's or Private Reserve has the capacity to gum up the works or cause some big trouble, especially something like Noodler's Baystate Blue. I'd stay away from something like the nano- or carbon-based inks from Sailor if you're starting out for the same reasons. The same can be said of modern iron-gall inks since you're starting out but I wouldn't shy away from them once you get used to cleaning and filling your pen. No india ink since it's not good for fountain pens, of course.
There are some vintage inks that I would stay away from, but you're probably not going to find those in normal circulation anyway.
The usual exceptions apply. Anything super-saturated like some Noodler's or Private Reserve has the capacity to gum up the works or cause some big trouble, especially something like Noodler's Baystate Blue. I'd stay away from something like the nano- or carbon-based inks from Sailor if you're starting out for the same reasons. The same can be said of modern iron-gall inks since you're starting out but I wouldn't shy away from them once you get used to cleaning and filling your pen. No india ink since it's not good for fountain pens, of course.
There are some vintage inks that I would stay away from, but you're probably not going to find those in normal circulation anyway.
How do you know which of Noodler's inks has that potential? Since I couldn't get the one I mentioned above, I went with Bernanke Black. Does that one possess the same qualities that might gum up my pen?
The Bernanke Black will be fine; it's just a very quick-drying black ink.
Goulet Pens has a spreadsheet that describes the qualities of Noodler's Ink; usually the inks that are bulletproof, eternal and/or the special property inks are those that can be questionable. That's not always the case (Noodler's Black is perfectly fine, for instance) but read reviews before buying. Most of the time you need to just be worried about clogging a pen up - especially if you don't use the pen for some time - but there's something about Baystate Blue that just turns pen parts to slag.
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OK, thank you. I'll check out the reviews on their website and see if I find any issues with any that I'm interested in.
Just for safety's sake, are there any known issues with Noodler's Heart of Darkness?
I thought the Pilot brand blue/black wasn't that impressive. As soon as this cart runs out i'm putting some purple in it!!
I felt the same about that ink. I am currently using Noodler's Blue Black in my Metropolitan and like it quite a bit. I picked up the syringe Goulet sells and have been refilling an empty caryridge , which gives a little more capacity than the converter.
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- #11
That's a shame. I was looking today at just the basic Namiki black ink in the circular jar as a go to for writing notes and such because it is Pilot-made so it is obviously good for my Metro and it isn't as expensive as their Iroshizuku line (I'm dying to try Kon-Peki; I saw the YouTube video of the guy who owns Goulet pens demonstrating the features of the Pilot Metro before I bought it and he took it for a test drive with some Kon-Peki. What a wonderful color).
The Namiki black is the same as the Pilot black in the cartridges, if I recall correctly. The blue is definitely serviceable (I own a bottle) but it won't wow anyone color-wise.
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- #14
I read somewhere that Quink isn't good for the Metro in general. Maybe I was mistaken?
Modern Quink is as safe as it gets. It might run wet in the Metropolitan compared to The cartridge Pilot inks, based on some reviews.
Vintage Parker ink can be bad. In particular, Superchrome and "51" ink turned pens into slag - except for the Parker 51 (even then that's debatable today). Quink with Solv-X is fantastic if it was kept in good conditions.
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Well, I live Noodler's inks. Even the bulletproof inks will tend to run a bit weird after 3-4 fills without cleaning.
I recommend you watch SBRE browns "disassembly line" video for the metro. Or any other pen you get. He will show how to safely disassemble any pen in that series of videos on YouTube. The metro is very straight forward but still, better safe than sorry. His "inkcyclopedia" videos are also great and he does a really good job of reviewing the inks with all different nibs!!! Heck, just look at his whole channel... I bought R&K goldgrün just because of his review!!!
He also does reviews and "shootouts" with pretty unbiased opinions.
I run all inks through my metros. All you really have to do is clean them semi regularly. Definitely between color changes but also every 2-3 fills depending on how long it takes to go through a fill.
I personally take mine apart every cleaning, because flushing doesn't get everything out and leaves the insides all wet, which can cause unwanted mixing of colors from inks left, or inadvertantly washing out the color from the water left inside.
Its actually faster, to me, to fully disassemble and give a light scrub with a toothbrush under water or a little soak in some water and dawn before the scrub if the ink has dries a bit.
You want to make sure the pen is fully clean when jumping brands of ink or properties... I.E. bulletproof to normal and vice versa. Some combos, even in the small amount of what left in the feed, can gum up the pens.
But don't worry, even itlf this happens... The inks are water based (besides carbon, nano) and can always be cleaned out.
I just never want to risk any bad behavior of the pen or ink, especially in your case trying new inks. Improper care between colors could lead to a false bad experience with an ink.
In closing lol bulletproof inks are a bit more to take care of, but will by no means ruin your pen (bay state can stain it). So remember to just have fun with it.
P.s. I still use the aerometric converter. Brian Goulet has a video on what each holds and the aerometric will surprise you...
Have fun!!!
And try a bunch of samples from Goulet!!! That way you can try the kon peki and many others for less than bottle price maybe ink drop too for new ones monthly.
Let us know how it all works out!!!
EDIT: you will have to search for "inkcyclopedia" on YouTube, he doesn't have it as a playlist. And now the new ones are "inkcyclopedia lite" because of time constraints. So great though. Best you can get without just getting the inks yourself. You'll see.
I recommend you watch SBRE browns "disassembly line" video for the metro. Or any other pen you get. He will show how to safely disassemble any pen in that series of videos on YouTube. The metro is very straight forward but still, better safe than sorry. His "inkcyclopedia" videos are also great and he does a really good job of reviewing the inks with all different nibs!!! Heck, just look at his whole channel... I bought R&K goldgrün just because of his review!!!
He also does reviews and "shootouts" with pretty unbiased opinions.
I run all inks through my metros. All you really have to do is clean them semi regularly. Definitely between color changes but also every 2-3 fills depending on how long it takes to go through a fill.
I personally take mine apart every cleaning, because flushing doesn't get everything out and leaves the insides all wet, which can cause unwanted mixing of colors from inks left, or inadvertantly washing out the color from the water left inside.
Its actually faster, to me, to fully disassemble and give a light scrub with a toothbrush under water or a little soak in some water and dawn before the scrub if the ink has dries a bit.
You want to make sure the pen is fully clean when jumping brands of ink or properties... I.E. bulletproof to normal and vice versa. Some combos, even in the small amount of what left in the feed, can gum up the pens.
But don't worry, even itlf this happens... The inks are water based (besides carbon, nano) and can always be cleaned out.
I just never want to risk any bad behavior of the pen or ink, especially in your case trying new inks. Improper care between colors could lead to a false bad experience with an ink.
In closing lol bulletproof inks are a bit more to take care of, but will by no means ruin your pen (bay state can stain it). So remember to just have fun with it.
P.s. I still use the aerometric converter. Brian Goulet has a video on what each holds and the aerometric will surprise you...
Have fun!!!
And try a bunch of samples from Goulet!!! That way you can try the kon peki and many others for less than bottle price
maybe ink drop too for new ones monthly.Let us know how it all works out!!!
EDIT: you will have to search for "inkcyclopedia" on YouTube, he doesn't have it as a playlist. And now the new ones are "inkcyclopedia lite" because of time constraints. So great though. Best you can get without just getting the inks yourself. You'll see.
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It runs wetter but it's fine. Normally run it in my Sheaffer No-nonsense & Parker 75. My comment more had to do with the conerter choice. Noodler's just works better in the 50. Go figure.
Noodlers 54th Massachusetts is exceptional in the metro
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- #20
Just tried Kon-peki and then washed it out and tried Shin-ryoku. Both write beautifully, although for some reason the Shin-ryoku seems wetter coming out than the Kon-peki. Maybe because it is darker or something. But they're both wonderful.
