Mixing Higgins Fountain Pen India

Hello all. I am not here to argue the safety of fountain pen India ink or Noodler's ink. I just wanted to share my experience.
For my line of work, I am required to use black ink, and I have found that there is a very high probability of paperwork getting water on it at some point. I started with Quink but found that it was not waterproof at all. I then switched to Noodlers X-Feather, but I found that it skips when used on "good" smooth paper.
My solution: I mixed equal parts Noodles X-feather with Higgins Fountain Pen India. I tried this for a while in a Pilot Varsity and realized it completely meets my needs. I would not have tried this first in a good pen, but at $2.50 the Pilot was a good test dummy. I am now using this (gasp) in my Parker 51 Aerometric from the 50's, and this really seems to me like the perfect black ink.

If it were me I wouldn't without more testing of the long term effects of mixing the inks. But then again wasn't Parker Chromiun(?) ink developed for those pens and it's apparently powerful stuff? Not recommended for other pens.

Plain old Noodler's Black is about the best black ink you can get ... totally totally waterproof, and a great performer.

Phil1-6 said:

If it were me I wouldn't without more testing of the long term effects of mixing the inks. But then again wasn't Parker Chromiun(?) ink developed for those pens and it's apparently powerful stuff? Not recommended for other pens.

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+1 on the long-term testing.

India Ink would be different from Chromexel (I think that was the one) ink, which had harmful and corrosive chemicals, because India Ink contains shellac that coats and permanently clogs the feed over time.

Doc4 said:

Plain old Noodler's Black is about the best black ink you can get ... totally totally waterproof, and a great performer.



+1 on the long-term testing.

India Ink would be different from Chromexel (I think that was the one) ink, which had harmful and corrosive chemicals, because India Ink contains shellac that coats and permanently clogs the feed over time.

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I don't think the fountain pen India has any shellac, which is why it doesn't have the waterproof properties of real India ink.

How is the dry time of the regular Noodlers black? I am left handed so everything I do gets smeared with some ink/paper combos. The Fountain India dries extremely quickly. I wanted to try the Noodlers Bernanke black, but it is not waterproof.

burgsprinta said:

I don't think the fountain pen India has any shellac, which is why it doesn't have the waterproof properties of real India ink.

How is the dry time of the regular Noodlers black? I am left handed so everything I do gets smeared with some ink/paper combos. The Fountain India dries extremely quickly. I wanted to try the Noodlers Bernanke black, but it is not waterproof.

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The dry time is ... "okay". IF that is an issue for you, I'd suggest the "Heart of Darkness" or "Polar Black" ... HoD has a noticeably shorter dry time and is waterproof; I haven't tried the Polar (except mixed with blue) but the other Polar colours dry fast and are waterproof.

Phil1-6 said:

If it were me I wouldn't without more testing of the long term effects of mixing the inks. But then again wasn't Parker Chromiun(?) ink developed for those pens and it's apparently powerful stuff? Not recommended for other pens.

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You're thinking of Parker Superchrome ink. I guess it worked, at least for a while, with the Parker 51/21 pens, but I wouldn't take the chance with a nice vintage 51 or any other pen I cared about. I picked up a bottle of Superchrome at a flea market a few months back, but after reading some of the info about the properties of the ink, I dumped it and just kept the cleaned-out bottle as a curiosity.

Incidentally, my parker 51 says on the filler that it is to be used with the superchrome ink. Of course, that doesn't exist anymore. I actually like the modern Quink, but its not waterproof. I work in a somewhat wet environment. I love the parker 51, but on the off chance it does get clogged I'll flush it. Of that doesn't work, I'll get another. It isn't a super expensive pen

Heart of Darkness is a great Black ink. It dries quickly and you can not get rid of it. I work in a chemistry lab and have tried to destroy the ink with water and all sorts of other solvents, including organics. The black does not bleed when it gets water splashed on it - unlike other bullet-proof/water proof. I normally use the Bad Belted Kingfisher because the blue sets apart my writing (helps in finding things faster in files). But the blue does run under water

If it works, then why argue? Worst case, your pens may need an overhaul a few years down the road.

It seems that people report different results with the same inks. I test all my inks for water resistance, and found Parker Black Quink to hold up quite well. Noodler's Black, on the other hand, was less good; a lot of it washed out. Maybe a difference between different batches.

Platinum Carbon Black (pigmented) is highly water resistant. I did just clean the residue from my first use of it out of a Platinum 3776, and found that it had stained the converter slightly. It is supposed to be for fountain pens, though.

Interesting. I got my bottle of Quink at staples and maybe it's the "Washable Black"? It seems to fade to blue immediately upon getting wet. Noodlers and private reserve have such great colors. I certainly wish I wasn't stuck with black. I do have a bottle of General of the Armies which performs beautifully. But I can't use it at work.

Slivovitz said:

If it works, then why argue? Worst case, your pens may need an overhaul a few years down the road.

It seems that people report different results with the same inks. I test all my inks for water resistance, and found Parker Black Quink to hold up quite well. Noodler's Black, on the other hand, was less good; a lot of it washed out. Maybe a difference between different batches.

Platinum Carbon Black (pigmented) is highly water resistant. I did just clean the residue from my first use of it out of a Platinum 3776, and found that it had stained the converter slightly. It is supposed to be for fountain pens, though.

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I'm pretty sure the carbon black has got to be similar to the Fountain India. They are both carbon pigment based black inks. I don't think the fountain pen India has shellac.
I did just completely disassemble my Parker 51 to give it a complete thorough cleaning. I found it to be in perfect working order, with the original 1951 gold nib. Only issue is the stained ink sac. No residue (yet).