Question on everyday fountain pen ink

So to start.. really annoying not being able to search a forum for 'ink' since it is only 3 letters long

With that said.. I recently got a Lamy safari pen with a fine nib and converter. Working on the cartridge that came with it but want to get a bottle of good everyday ink. I mainly use this pen for taking notes at my desk and in lab so want something fairly quick drying. Prefer black ink but blue works well. Does anyone have any good suggestions for an everyday note taking, jotting junk down ink?

There are many good choices but Noodlers ink is popular among the fountain pen crowd. I like the Bulletproof black, and red black. I want to try Heart of Darkness sometime. Tons of Noodlers colors to choose from.

I also use Waterman blue/black and Florida blue. Good results with both.

So many good choices I finally just jumped in a tried something.

I'm one of the Noodler's ink guys, too. My daily ink is Noodler's Legal Lapis, which is bulletproof permanent and dries fast enough for me to take notebooks full of notes without getting them all speared up. The Legal Lapis is an exclusive color sold only through www.pendemonium.com but I think it's worth it.

There's a shop online called www.gouletpens.com that has an extensive list of color swatches and they offer samples of different inks, too.

You may find that ink selection can be a personal thing that could be as complicated as you wish it to be.

Good luck!

Pens are like guns, different individuals do better with different inks/loads. I would just get as small of bottle of a number of inks and try them out. I like watermans and levenger's but have some pens that like Schaefer Quink etc. If the pen accepts cartidges you can get a small pack and not be stuck with larger bottles for the try out. Most enthusiats prefer not to use cartridges. Personally, I have fewer leaks etc with them and it is easy to carry back up ink-but this is frowned on by many.

For a complete understand of ink you should visit Glenn's Pens - Ink Here is the link Glenn's Pens - Ink

Noodler's in just about any flavour.

I've got a pen loaded with Heart of Darkness on my desk, usually the one I grab for notes while on the phone or hand to other ppl when they're looking on my desk for a pen. If you buy the 4.5oz it comes with a freebie pen that is quite decent. I actually went and ordered 5 more of the pens for spares.

Noodler's Bernanke blue or black will dry pretty much as fast as you can lay it down, as long as you aren't writing on Clairefontaine paper.

Personally I use Iroshizuku for my daily writing, but that's just me.

I too like noodler's heart of darkness. Writes well on cheap paper (I mostly end up writing on copy paper). For things that need to be in blue ink (Yes, some documents require blue ink), I use Polar Blue.It does not flow as well as Heart of Darkness, but I like to color and it is really permenant. The type of pen, the type of nib, and the paper all combine to give the enough variables so that what is great for me might not work for you.

Fountain Pen Network has good reviews with scanned samples

Miles said:

There's a shop online called www.gouletpens.com that has an extensive list of color swatches and they offer samples of different inks, too.

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Thanks Miles! I just ordered a bunch of samples. Now I need to look for another pen!

I am using Noodler's Aircorp blue-black as my daily ink for now. I used to use a Vintage Waterman Blue-Black but I ran out.

Epicurean said:

I am using Noodler's Aircorp blue-black as my daily ink for now. I used to use a Vintage Waterman Blue-Black but I ran out.

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The Aircorp blue black was my first noodler's ink. I love it. I have it in 2 of my small 4 pen collection.

You can improve the drying time and flow of Noodler's inks by diluting them -- without affecting the color much if at all. About 1/3 water and 2/3 ink works well for me -- YMMV. Needless to say, diluting also makes a bottle of ink last that much longer.

Dilution also works well with other heavily-saturated inks, such as Private Reserve.

ccrowder said:

So to start.. really annoying not being able to search a forum for 'ink' since it is only 3 letters long

With that said.. I recently got a Lamy safari pen with a fine nib and converter. Working on the cartridge that came with it but want to get a bottle of good everyday ink. I mainly use this pen for taking notes at my desk and in lab so want something fairly quick drying. Prefer black ink but blue works well. Does anyone have any good suggestions for an everyday note taking, jotting junk down ink?

Click to expand...

If you are going through all of the trouble of using a fountain pen, why use a boring color like black? If you need black I would cheat and use a green black like Zhavago or go bright in either the blue or green range.

Well I am the luckiest guy in the world- I am using a sample of B&Bs custom ink from Noodler's!











More to follow!

I also use Noodles. I have Kiowa Pecan and Black

jim said:

well i am the luckiest guy in the world- i am using a sample of b&bs custom ink from noodler's!











More to follow!

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woot!

I've taken note's with noodler's black swan in Australian roses on five star notebook paper and copy paper during class and have never had drying issues. I use a noodler's piston fill pen.

LuckyR said:

If you are going through all of the trouble of using a fountain pen, why use a boring color like black? If you need black I would cheat and use a green black like Zhavago or go bright in either the blue or green range.

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"Boring" is in the eye of the beholder. Some people, like me, find a dense black satisfying, and bright colors hard on the eye for everyday writing.

Zhivago is a classy color; in general, though, I prefer blue-blacks to green-blacks. My current go-to ink is "Navindigo" -- a mix of roughly equal parts Noodler's Navy and Noodler's Violet Vote (formerly known as Iraqi Indigo), which I then dilute as per my post above. Great color (interesting but not too bright), good flow, quick-drying, and highly waterproof/bulletproof.

Jim said:

Well I am the luckiest guy in the world- I am using a sample of B&Bs custom ink from Noodler's!
...

More to follow!

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Can't wait to see what it looks like!

Fountain pen network is a good place to go. Here in the UK, Parker ink is readily available in bricks and mortar shops and i've used it for a long time. Waterman's ink is also quite widely available, FPN deem it a "safe" ink that will work well in nearly every pen without clogging. There are some reviews of all sorts of inks up there. Personally I like Diamine inks, they have a good range of colours and it's very smooth to write with. At the moment I'm using Diamine umber, a smooth, dark greyish green that stands out without being over the top and still looks professional. They send out free cartridge samplers of their ink when you buy a bottle too, although there's no knowing what's actually in each cartridge...

A few words from Glenn's Pens

Water and Dyes

Fountain pen ink is basically water with dyes and other chemicals required for proper function. Stay away from Indian or drafting inks unless you want to say good-bye to your favorite pen.

There are inks with pigments, but they are typically not fountain pen inks. Some inks also have chemicals such as ferro-gallic which give the ink the ability to be permanent. Those, however, are more corrosive. Most fountain pen inks use dyes to create their colours.

The chemicals creates the properties of of the ink. The appropriate surface tension -- viscosity, the colour saturation -- dyes. As well there are antibacterial additions are included so the ink does not grow new life in the bottle and muck up in inside of your pen!

A good part of the "ink experience" is often summarized as how it flows. It is a "wet ink" based on its degree of viscosity.

Technical articles indicate that water has a surface tension of about 73 dynes/cm and fountain pen inks have a surface tension that is lower. Typically between 38 and 45 dynes/cm. From what I have read, if the surface tension value is above 45, then the ink tends not to run through the capillary system of the feed and the pen skips. If the rating gets below 38 then the ink just runs and the flow of ink has less control.

A number of years ago, I had the opportunity to visit the Waterman pen factory in Nantes, France. Waterman was making their inks. Aa basic ink is used for the base and then dyes are added to create specific colours. Waterman decides on the "blend" of chemicals so that the ink has an appropriate amount of surface tension, flow and drying time assessed as best for their pens.

Each manufacturer has their formula. So they say. But some companies use common inks. They just change the bottle or in some cases, use the same bottles and just use a different label.

Any of the Noodler's will be fine. I like the basic bulletproof black for day to day stuff, as it doesn't feather much on cheap paper (though it is a little slow to dry on good paper like Rhodia). Heart of darkness is good too, though it feathers more.