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McCaffery's Penman Black Ink: Dip Ink Review

syngent

syngent


McCafferys Penmen's Dip Ink
Black

$2014-01-05 19.41.59.jpg
I was reading through Michael Sulls order page, While at the same time ordering some new dip nibs at PaperInkArts, I noticed that Michael offered this ink and since PaperInkArts had it I added a couple of bottles to my order. And man was I glad I did.

$2014-01-05 19.38.51.jpg

The Ink is a black with a bit of gray shading when it isnt just freshly dipped (At which point is a dark black), It has character and class. but the flow is the real star here, there has been no rogue drops on the page to ruin a whole page worth of work, the ink on a good nib does exactly what I want it to and nothing more. The EEEF lines I write are crisp and clear, but held to the fine line, and when flexed the flow keeps up to make for some beautiful letters. For now I dont think ill even look to another ink for dipping, maybe another colour from them, but Im done in my search for great ink for the time being as this stuff is just that fantastic.​
 
syngent

syngent

btw this is on Apica Premium CD paper, I need the ink to dry before I test out any water resistance, but given how thick it dries, and its a true india ink, I would imagine water wouldnt hurt it much unless it was very long term exposure,... but we will see as I will test it out
 
oc_in_fw

oc_in_fw

Fridays are Fishtastic!
I showed my wife your writing sample. She said "that is the guy that sent you that Christmas card, isn't it?" :001_smile
 
nemo

nemo

Lunatic Fringe
Staff member
James, how quickly does it dry?

I noticed in that video from the pump pen thread that lefty went right into his work and it didn't smear. Didn't think anything could dry that fast!
 
syngent

syngent

When thin... almost immediately, once flexed it take a bit of time... ill put it to a watch timer tonight to get some real digits into it, usually I set it aside after I do something to let it dry down and come back to it later
 
syngent

syngent

Water Test

$20140107_220156.jpg$20140107_220141.jpg

Kind of knew this already, but yeah, once your dry, you are pretty safe. Even after it sat in the water for 2 minutes, half that time under the faucet I could run my finger over the lettering and even though some did come up the letters where very much still intact, what actually would rub off was the "Bubble" to the letter as this ink goes on thick enough when flexed out to rise above the page
 
syngent

syngent

dry times

$2014-01-07 22.13.08.jpg$2014-01-07 22.13.12.jpg

You'll notice on the second picture the mark remained except the centre part of the thickest area of flex, this is because those parts of the letter actually pool enough to make a blob there,.. same thing (Hard to see in picture) is at the 2 minute mark of the medium flex. the thin parts and outer edges dry but that really thick area take a long time, hence why i set my work aside

I tried this too on the tomoe river paper that went for a bath had the same kind of results at 2 and 5 minutes
 
Krodor

Krodor

Lemme throw a few more comments in for posterity.

cool document about how to use it longer-term --> http://cdn.johnnealbooks.com/downloads/mccafferysink.pdf

it's mentioned here on page 2 as one of "the best" inks for this kind of thing --> http://www.iampeth.com/lessons/engrossers_script/Vitolo Lessons in Script Introduction.pdf . Given it's on IAMPETH website and made by IAMPETH members, I tend to think I can trust their opinion of what is good for this art.

I got a 1 oz bottle the other day due to someone's review of it (ha ha)....I wrote some with McCafferys, Noodlers black, and Aladine Noir and let it dry a couple days. (a "g" nib on Clairfontaine)

  • Going to paper, the McCaffery's was much lighter in all cases but the just-dipped state (the grey doesn't take long to show itself).
  • The McCaffery's took a long time to dry vs. the other two.
  • once dry, though, a high-pressure thumb-smear across McCaffery's yielded squat. Nada. felt like a line of sandpaper. The other two's thumb-smear did just that: it felt like the "bubble" of ink that didn't make it into the paper still had a bit of gooey-ness to it and in fact smeared. It was fun to see that this ink will stay put for many years to come.
  • one of the fun parts I liked was that once dried, McCaffery's has a bit of "sparkle" to it that the other two didn't. Not shiny like glossy, but some sparkle in the light. Maybe that's common with all iron-gall (this was my first experience), but neat, nonetheless.
  • the other two were black black black through and through. McCaffery's shaded for sure. in some ways I was hoping for more black, but as mentioned in the first link I put up there: "Due to the chemical nature of iron-gall ink,McCaffery's black ink will actually appear as a grey-black or grey-blue when used from
    a new bottle. It will darken a bit as it dries. After a few weeks or so the ink will considerably darken..." I won't worry.
  • as mentioned before by syngent, the flow is amazing...you can flex and the "web" between the tines takes a long time to break. it would just go and go. very cool.

That being said, in many many places, I see Higgins Black as being the go-to ink for dip-pens. What gives? if I have McCaffery's, does Higgins get me anything I don't already have?

Regardless, the paperinkarts.com people are wonderful. I like their service, like their packaging, they put everything I ordered in a nice little pencil/zipper bag thing...definitely a good company based on my first order.
 
Last edited:
u56rh

u56rh

Nice post Krodor, and timely too. My mini bottle arrived yesterday. SWMBO is out tomorrow so I can spend some quality time with the ink.
 
syngent

syngent

Of the G nibs i have (Nikko Tach, and Zebra) I much prefer the Tach, I was just about to do a write up on them, but i have a Manga G nib coming on a pen, so ill wait till i get that to add it into the mix,

Nice write up Krodor, I use the (Or at least A) Higgins ink and it is not nearly as nice to hairline fine lines on my nibs as the McCafferys for me, it is probably going to sit in the corner for bad behaviour for some time, But i may have to try it out with a different nib or on some different paper in the future

Glad you enjoy the ink and Nib
 
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