Best Ink's For Pelikan Pens ?

[Legal Eagle]

Recently bought a Black M605 with an EF nib from Tay at Pensinasia, and was wondering what the best inks, or brands of ink are for Pelikan fountain pens. When it arrives in the mail this will be my first Pelikan pen.

From what I've read Pelikans tend to be fairly wet writers, which sometimes causes the feed combs to fill with ink while using wetter inks(probably not that big of a deal).

I've been meaning to place another ink order so I thought I'd ask you guys which inks behave best in Pelikan pens.

 

Edit. I guess it would be great if you could also recommend your personal favourite for use in your Pelikans.

Edited February 17, 2015 by Legal Eagle

[inotrym]

Just posting to bump and follow the topic. I am about to buy the M215 and have the same concern about the wetness.

[sargetalon]

Pelikan's are wet writers and the 4001 inks from Pelikan do serve to tame that to a degree. I love the royal blue and the blue-black but if you're in the US, you have to order blue-black from overseas. That said, I have found my flock to get along well with all of the Waterman Inks and Aurora (as well as many others). I've never really had problems with flow control. Wet yes, messy no. I don't mind the wet writing nature and, of course, the nib size and paper you will use will also affect that to a degree. You made a nice purchase for your first Pelikan. You really can't go wrong with the ink you choose. Enjoy it!

[savingbirds]

I haven't restricted my ink usage to a particular brand for Pelikans, as I find they work well with almost any ink. I find Pelikan gold nibs to be slightly wetter than their steel counterparts, so drier inks may be more preferable. I haven't seen the "feed combing" issue unless there is a dramatic temperature change from outdoors/indoors. Even then, I saw no different in flow nor any ink burping issues.

 

If it helps you at all here are some of the inks I have currently inked up across my Pelikan family:

• Monteverde Brown (very wet and lubricated brown with hints of red)
• Pilot Iroshizuku Tsuki-Yo (always in my blue M600; flows very well and has beautiful sheen)
• J. Herbin Perle Noir (deep and rich black that has decent flow in even drier pens)
• Pelikan 4001 Brilliant-Green (fairly well-behaved green ink that has dry flow when I need to annotate notes on cheap paper (read: printed PowerPoint lecture notes))
• Parker Quink Permanent Blue-Black (the flow is decent, the colour is okay, and while there isn't anything spectacular about it, I seem to always have a Pelikan inked up with it - right now my M400)

[fountainpenlady]

I had not thought specifically about what brand of ink to use when filling my M600 or M800. I did post to a thread or started one regarding the Iroshizuku line seeming to produce nib crawl, nib drool. I have begun to consider what I am using to clean the nib. For now, paper towels seem to eliminate some of the unsightliness which is just my personal madness. Having had my pens since the 90s, I have never thought to use a specific ink. Now, I am using sample inks, Iroshizuku inks of several colors and I still enjoy writing with both my birds.

[inkstainedruth]

I have tried a variety of inks in my M400. Noodler's Walnut was surprisingly good. It's a pretty dry ink and I had been underwhelmed by the sample I had of it. But in a wet writer it behaves much better -- a lot less scratchy. At the moment I have Caran d'Ache Grand Canyon in that pen, which also is good. Previous to that, I had filled the pen with Iroshihzuku Yama-guri, which was almost *too* wet. (For some reason,

So far, the vintage 400 with the OB nib has had 4001 Brilliant Black, and has performed well. The 100 with the 1 mm nib just had J Herbin Stormy Grey in it and performed well; I thought that a really cool ink like that would look good coming out of a very wide nib, to show off the sheen to its advantage, and I was right....

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[fountainpenlady]

Pelikan's are wet writers and the 4001 inks from Pelikan do serve to tame that to a degree. I love the royal blue and the blue-black but if you're in the US, you have to order blue-black from overseas. That said, I have found my flock to get along well with all of the Waterman Inks and Aurora (as well as many others). I've never really had problems with flow control. Wet yes, messy no. I don't mind the wet writing nature and, of course, the nib size and paper you will use will also affect that to a degree. You made a nice purchase for your first Pelikan. You really can't go wrong with the ink you choose. Enjoy it!

Is there a great bit of difference in the feel of an M600, M400 and an M205? I have only gone as far as owning an M600 and own an M800. Looking at an M205, and just curious as to the feel of it versus say the M600.

[sargetalon]

Is there a great bit of difference in the feel of an M600, M400 and an M205? I have only gone as far as owning an M600 and own an M800. Looking at an M205, and just curious as to the feel of it versus say the M600.

I don't have a problem going back and forth. The M205 and M400 are the same size. There isn't that much of a difference between them in terms of weight. A bit thinner in diameter which is noticeable. I think the M205 feels best when posted whereas an M600 can get away without posting. Always best to try before you buy if you're able.

Edited February 17, 2015 by sargetalon

[Runnin_Ute]

I always keep on of my Pels on a diet of 4001 Blue Black. For a long time it was the 120 Merz & Krell with EF nib. Right now it is a M205 with a fine.

 

My Pelikan's at present:

M205 - F - 4001 Blue Black

M205 - M - Thistle #2 (this is a vintage powdered ink - blue black in color)

M150- M - Diamine Steel Blue

120 Merz & Krell - EF- BlackStone Red Cashmere (also a powdered ink - mixed to a 8% concentration (4 grams powder, 50 ml distilled water)

 

I have run almost every ink I have in them. Just depends on my mood. Apache Sunset in the 120 I don't like so much because of the narrowness of the nib.

[Bo Bo Olson]

If you want a thinner line, Pelikan. Pelikan has a wetter thicker nib ...designed for that ink.

 

MB is a medium ink IMO.

 

R&K and Herbin are very good inks.

 

Waterman use to be considered a wet ink, so would give you a wetter, thicker line....Waterman makes two nib sizes...one narrower for the wetter ink and one the size of Pelikan....older '90's chart....so out of date.

 

How ever many users of Noodles inks think Waterman a dry or medium ink....so Noodlers will be a very wet ink.

 

You pen can use all those inks.....just make sure you have 90g or + paper.

Some of the Pelikan inks shade, ie have two tones one lighter and one darker in the same letter. Brown, Blue Black, Green.

 

Green is a very good shading ink....best buy for price.

If I'm not out of date...and these are German Prices.

In green-green inks, R&K (@€8) beat MB Irish (€13) by a head, Pelikan 4001 (€4) by a neck.

 

That Pelikan 4001 green ink sent me on a year and 11 green ink splurge.....there is a hell of a lot to Green....Purple , Brown. .

 

Writing is 1/3 nib flex & width, 1/3 paper and 1/3 ink, and in that order.

 

Good to better paper than 80g copy paper costs a couple cans of Coke or cups of Starbucks coffee more and is worth it.

 

Suggest buying a ream or even just a 100 sheet pack of good paper every three inks you buy.

Edited February 18, 2015 by Bo Bo Olson

[tacitus]

Pilot iroshizuku Tsuki-yo (”moon light night ”)

Its subtle atmosphere is hard to tell but may be exemplified by this movie (Sorabji's Sequentia Cyclica http://www.nicozon.net/watch/sm21009304).

The color matches bindes of vintage Pels.

It is a very wet ink but it does not matter because all my Pels have EF nibs.

Edited February 18, 2015 by tacitus

[Nyanzilla]

I'm not the ink expert, but my Pelikans work well with all inks I have in my small collection.

Mostly I use the Pelikan 4001 ink because it is very common and almost everywhere available here. One of my favourite is the Edelstein Topaz and the Waterman South sea blue (they changed the name some time ago, but I still have 3 bottles of the old one in my drawer.)

[brewsky]

I use pelikan 4001 black, iroshizuku line and Mont blanc inks in my pelikans. All mentioned are well behaved

[DrCodfish]

My rule of thumb (Just for me, others will have different opinions) is that I avoid Noodlers and Private Reserve inks. I have inks from a number of other brands and have had no problems. As a brand, I prefer Diamine inks; they seem generally reliable, problem free and they have a fairly extensive pallete. I have seen one problem which attends to inks with orange in them. They tend to create crystals on the feeds if left in the pen for a long time. Easily cleaned but I suspect there could be a problem if you left that orange colored ink in your pen for a long period of time.

[torstar]

Probably used 12 brands and 30 flavours in my M800 over the last decade, I don't recall anything bad happening.

 

You'll like your Pelikan !

[canibanoglu]

My rule of thumb (Just for me, others will have different opinions) is that I avoid Noodlers and Private Reserve inks. I have inks from a number of other brands and have had no problems. As a brand, I prefer Diamine inks; they seem generally reliable, problem free and they have a fairly extensive pallete. I have seen one problem which attends to inks with orange in them. They tend to create crystals on the feeds if left in the pen for a long time. Easily cleaned but I suspect there could be a problem if you left that orange colored ink in your pen for a long period of time.

Exactly my approach to inking my Pelikans and other similarly valuable pens. Private Reserve and Noodlers inks are extremely lubricated to deal with the high concentration of dye in them and while that might work just fine while writing they are harder to clean compared to, say, a Pelikan/MB ink and they are prone to nib creep due to the lubrication. Another problem is that they are extremely prone to bleeding in wet nibs (Pelikans!). I used to be really curious about both PR and Noodlers because they're not readily available in my country but after I tried a couple I have decided that I wouldn't ink any of my more valuable pens with them. In effect they are to be used only with Safari and similarly priced pens in my collection.

 

I learned the lesson the hard way, PR Electric DC Blue got between the inner wall and the outer wall of the secondary ink reservoir of my HS Crystal because it is very lubricated. Kinda ruins the whole demonstrator-ish look to it and I can't clean it even though I tried for hours...

[gregamckinney]

Despite warnings and admonitions from some dealers, I don't restrict what ink I put in my Pelikans, all of which are either M800 or M1000- family pens. In 20 years of collecting and using Pelikans, I have never had a single issue.

 

For example, today I am carrying the following:

- Original style M800: Private Reserve DC Super Show Blue (first year, can't remember the date, 2005?)

- Blue Ocean: Diamine Mediterranean Blue

- M910 yellow Toledo: Diamine/ Cult Pens Deep Dark Orange

- M1000 (custom binde): Diamine Eclipse

- M800 Green Demo: Noodler's Red-Black

 

Best Regards, greg

[Calabria]

The new Pelikans are very wet writers. I did order a bottle of Pelikan blue-black and it seems to be a bit drier.

 

You can have the nib adjusted - which is worth the money on a Pelikan since the body and mechanism will last for decades if properly cleaned (and lubed every five years or so)

[jgrasty]

I have dozens of Pelikans, modern and vintage, and with the sole exception of Noodler's Baystate series inks, I use any fountain pen ink I want. I've not found any that stain or otherwise do damage to my pens. The only thing I've noticed is that Noodler's bulletproof inks tend to make the piston stiff after a few months of using the inks. A little silicone grease and that problem is fixed.

[Ste_S]

No problem with using 'wetter' inks from Waterman, Visconti and Diamine in my M200 with a Broad nib