Diamine Grape In A Fine-Point Pen?

[ENewton]

About a month ago I bought a bottle of Diamine Grape, because I liked the color and had read that Diamine inks are generally well behaved in pens of all kinds. However, I have now tried the ink in a Pilot Prera (F) point and a Levenger True Writer (F), and in both cases the pens clogged within one day of being loaded with Grape. In neither case did I leave the pen uncapped, in each case I flushed the pen with distilled water before loading it with ink, and in each case I had written with the pen frequently throughout the day, only to have it eventually clog within one half hour of its previous use.

 

Because I really do love the color, I would be grateful to hear from anyone who has successfully used Diamine Grape in a pen with a fine nib.

[Chrissy]

I have bought some Grape and I will do a review of it to see if it behaves the same way in my pens.

 

In fact I have a Pilot Prera F point that I can try it in

Edited March 5, 2015 by Chrissy

[Davros]

I have used Grape successfully in a wide variety of fine nibs, though not the pens you have. Could you get the ink flow restarted?

[ENewton]

For each pen, I was able to restart the ink flow multiple times, but eventually I could no longer do so. On the Prera, I definitely noticed the green residue in the slit and wiped it off, but although I'd read somewhere that one shouldn't worry about the green, I did wonder whether if I could see residue outside the pen, it might also be building up inside the pen.

[Ghost Plane]

That's odd. I use it in my big nibs because I love the flow and never noticed anything like this. Perhaps it reacted unpleasantly to the residue from a previous ink?

[ENewton]

I imagine it would be beautiful if one were using a wide nib and producing big, fat ribbons of color, but I use a fine point, which I suspect is the problem. Given that I flushed each pen before filling it with Grape, I doubt that there would have been any residue from a previous ink.

[saskia_madding]

I've used it frequently in a F nibbed vintage snorkel with no problems. I was surprised to hear of your issues. Hm. Good luck clearing them up!

[VivienR]

I had no issues with it using in a Parker Sonnet with fine nib. Really surprise me. Well, Diamines certainly not the best inks around, but their inks are generally in the safe side. I'm a big consumer of Imperial Purple, without any issues, its such a fantastic ink.

[ENewton]

Thank you, everyone. I have one more pen in which to try it--a Platinum Balance with a Medium nib. (I am not risking it in my Waterman Gentleman for now.) Maybe I will have better luck there.

 

In the meantime, I've noticed that someone who reviewed Diamine Grape on the Goulet Pens site described an experience almost exactly like mine: "at first it flows wonderfully but after a day, the ink starts to dry in the crevices of the feed." That person was using a Noodler's Ahab, but the phenomenon--that the flow is fine for about a day before problems begin--is exactly what I observed with two of my pens.

[ac12]

When you clean the pen, do more than just flush the pen. Soak the section/nib overnight, nib down in a narrow glass. There are nooks and crannies that flushing does not get to, like the fins in the feed, and sometimes the ink channel.