How Do You Test New Inks?

[Bitzel]

Hi friends,

 

I received my first Ink Drop shipment yesterday, and I had a great time emptying pens, cleaning them, filling converter cartridges with new ink samples, trying the inks, then cleaning out the cartridges of the inks I didn't want to keep. Like I said, it was a lot of fun, but it was, I must admit, rather time consuming. At the end of the affair, I have five pens filled with five different inks, and one pen that's sitting empty, ready for the next time.

 

My question: How do you all go about trying new inks when you get them in? Do you keep a certain number of empties lying around? Do you bother to fill a pen, or do you just dip the nib and feed? Any advice for this newbie?

 

Thanks!

Aaron

[Bitzel]

Ok, as these things go, I found a video within minutes of posting this that at least offered me some advice on the cleaning part of things--http://youtu.be/ipwFvY0PUqs. Seems like I was being overly fastidious in my cleaning!

[ac12]

Take a look at this thread

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/index.php/topic/285389-do-you-keepstoreorganize-ink-swabsreviews/

[musicman123]

I honestly just do a 1/2 fill on a super easy to clean pen, like a Nemosine or a Jinhao. I write a page or 2, then do a review sheet of the ink, followed by a swab card. Not the fastest, but it is effective.

[Bitzel]

Thanks, folks!

[Blue_Moon]

Get yourself a dip pen. The only cleaning you do is hold it under running water or in a cup of water for a few seconds and wipe. You can test five different inks within a minute or two. There are different dip pens. I prefer Ernst glass pens http://www.glasspens.com/pens.html but these are a little expensive (The transparent ones are the least expensive). The benefit of these is that you can write from a third of a page to a full page, depending on the pen, from a single dip. It's a great way to test out new inks, plus they offer a lifetime warranty.

 

You can get some glass pens for less, but imo they don't have the same quality. Also, you can pick up some dip pens with metal nibs dirt cheap. Again, imo you don't have the same quality, but just for sampling inks, they would do.

 

Edited to add that I have no affiliation with Ernst Pens. Just a happy customer.

Edited April 14, 2015 by Blue_Moon

[Bitzel]

Very interesting idea. Thanks!

[Chrissy]

If I'm testing an ink I might not like, I use a pen that completely disassembles for cleaning, like a Parker 45, a Jinhao or a Pilot. They are quicker to clean out.

 

When I'm reviewing inks, I only dip the nibs of the pens I use for the comparison inks. However, I still find I seem to be forever cleaning out pens

[StrawberryJam]

Get yourself a dip pen. The only cleaning you do is hold it under running water or in a cup of water for a few seconds and wipe. You can test five different inks within a minute or two. There are different dip pens. I prefer Ernst glass pens http://www.glasspens.com/pens.html but these are a little expensive (The transparent ones are the least expensive). The benefit of these is that you can write from a third of a page to a full page, depending on the pen, from a single dip. It's a great way to test out new inks, plus they offer a lifetime warranty.

 

You can get some glass pens for less, but imo they don't have the same quality. Also, you can pick up some dip pens with metal nibs dirt cheap. Again, imo you don't have the same quality, but just for sampling inks, they would do.

 

Edited to add that I have no affiliation with Ernst Pens. Just a happy customer.

 

Out of curiosity, how good of a feel does a dip pen give you about how "wet" an ink will be, and whether it will be problematic in "firehose" pens? Like, do you just dip the dip pen into the ink and go "Hmm, rather drippy, must be a wet ink"?

[musicman123]

Out of curiosity, how good of a feel does a dip pen give you about how "wet" an ink will be, and whether it will be problematic in "firehose" pens? Like, do you just dip the dip pen into the ink and go "Hmm, rather drippy, must be a wet ink"?

Well dip pens tend to write a lot wetter on their own, even using a dry ink. For me, dip pen writing just show what it would look like on any gushing pen, and let's me assess stuff like feathering or bleed. To see if it's actually super wet, I dip a fountain pen, remove the pen, then suck the converter up. It gives me a very small fill, but enough to see how the ink performs in a more realistic setting.

[Blue_Moon]

 

Out of curiosity, how good of a feel does a dip pen give you about how "wet" an ink will be, and whether it will be problematic in "firehose" pens? Like, do you just dip the dip pen into the ink and go "Hmm, rather drippy, must be a wet ink"?

 

Dip pens are as different as night and day. As different as fountain pens. However, since you're asking me, I'll respond based on my Ernst Glass dip pen. Of course there's a little more ink initially, when putting pen to paper. However, the excess ink quickly tapers off. The Ernst company advertise that they usually write anywhere from a third of a page to a page. Mine writes about two thirds of a page before requiring another dip. After the first couple or three of sentences, the ink is pretty as is, until you get near the end. You have plenty of time and writing to judge the properties of the pen for yourself.

 

I must say that you must use your Ernst pen for a while to get a feel for how it responds to various inks - sort of like establishing a base line for the pen. Therefore, you'll learn that this ink is fairly wet, and that ink is fairly dry, and this one's a gusher, etc.

 

However, some of my dip pens - metal attached to wood - write well, and others are pitiful. It just depends on the nib. My Ernst pen writes better than any other dip pen that I own.

[Bitzel]

I had thought about buying a dip pen when it occurred to me that a fountain pen can function as a dip pen, so that's what I've been doing. Whichever empty pens I have lying around, I dip into the inks I'm testing, and I get an ink test with the smallest amount of clean up.

 

Thanks, everyone,

A

[ac12]

Some pens don't work well dipped. I was trying to test a Lamy 2000 without having to ink it up, but that did not work. Dipping gave a very dry scratchy ink line. This was completely different than when I bit the bullet and loaded ink into the Lamy 2000, where the ink flowed through the feed. Inked up, the Lamy 2000 wrote very well, completely different than the dipping experience. It may be because the L-2000 has a hooded nib, the feed could not draw in enough ink from a dip.

 

As for dipping a fountain pen, that is very similar to a few old dip pens. The Esterbrook "dip less" pens and the Morriset constant flow, both are dip pens, but with a feed under the nib. In this way they hold enough ink to write a reasonable amount, before requiring another dip. In fact the Esterbrook 'dip less' pens use the same nib assembly that the fountain pens use.

 

One thing with dipping a fountain pen is you need to do a good job of clean up. You don't want to leave bits of ink to contaminate the next ink you put into the pen. Example, I just cleaned an old Sheaffer, to change inks. I used a bulb syringe to force water through the section and feed till it came out CLEAN, no trace of ink. I left the section soaking overnight (nib down), and in the morning, there was a cloud of ink in the cup. This was liquid ink from a pen in use, not dried up ink from an old used pen.

Edited May 14, 2015 by ac12

[delano]

+ 1 on the dip pen (the dedicated kind, not dipping a pen).

 

That's what I use, and I find it immensely effective.

[ac12]

With dip pens, you need to find the right one to match YOUR fountain pens. Many of my dip pens (nibs) write significantly wetter than my fountain pens, so the colors don't match up at all. Wetter ink = darker/wider ink line.

I even tried using a Goulet #6 nib in my dip pen holder. It wrote real wet for a couple words, then got real dry quickly. So as an ink testing nib, it was a flop.

However a dip pen is still of value as a constant test device, so ink to ink the writing instrument is the same.

[amberleadavis]

Tyler of Organics Studios gave me a lecture on why dip pens were NOT the appropriate choice for testing fountain pen inks. My eyes glazed over, but I took away the message, Amber will not use a dip pen when doing reviews. So, I now have a favorite pen with a special TINY converter. One fill does 2.5 pages and a doodle. That's what I use.

[amberleadavis]

Oh, and I review every ink I try even if I don't post the review.

[Bitzel]

Oh, and I review every ink I try even if I don't post the review.

That's what I started doing, too. I realized I felt directionless otherwise, and a simple review form gave me focus and content.

 

I appreciate the feedback about dipping fps; I use it as an initial test just to see how I feel about the color. The real proof is in the day-to-day use of an ink in a pen.

 

A

[Notgatherox]

I put the nib found in a Pilot Tank/78G into my dip nib holder and I dip the nib into the ink I want tested.

 

Nowadays I bring this holder to pen meets to try different inks and fill up my ink journal.

 

 

 

 

~Epic

[ink-syringe]

I try not to over think it.

 

I open the bottle. Stick the pen in. Fill it & then write with the pen.

 

on a piece of paper.