Best Water Resistant Ink To Use In A Pilot Capless

[mrhr]

hello, I need to use waterproof ink at work, and the pilot capless is really practical for taking quick notes.

right now I have the diamine registrar's and the sailor sei boku. I used the registrar's for a week but cleaned it because what I've seen about the possible corrosion on metals, and with the nib unit on the capless being all metal I don't know if it's the right choice.

So after that I filled it with the sailor sei boku, which is not as water resistant but gets the job done. last week I went on vacation and today I went over all my FP and found that the capless's nib had dried up and even after removing as much as I could with a cloth it's skipping, so I guess I need to go soak it in water for a while. I checked the rest of the FP I have inked with the sei boku (a pilot C.H. 92 SFM nib, sheaffer imperial II deluxe and a jinhao x750 and they were working without problem)

 

well my question is, which water resistant ink is the safest to use on a capless without the risk of the nib getting dry if I don't use it for a couple of days, because I like to use all my pens during the week and I mainly use the capless during night shifts

Edited April 18, 2015 by mrhr

[cellmatrix]

have you tried pilot blue black? It is quite water resistant, and it is designed especially to work with your pen.

[mrhr]

no, but I have some namiki black cartridges, those are water resistant too?

[cellmatrix]

no, but I have some namiki black cartridges, those are water resistant too?

I've personally not tried the black, only the blue black, but according to this review from a few years ago namiki black showed water resistance.

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/index.php/topic/19807-namiki-ink-water-resistance-test/

[mrhr]

well yeah kind of

 

http://i821.photobucket.com/albums/zz137/hera3000/2015-04-18%2021.04.39_zps2uckhjxf.jpg

 

I put 3 drops of water and let them soak for like 30s, then smudget the last 2.

 

are there other recomendations?

[cellmatrix]

looks like the pilot/namiki black is definitely not that water resistant. I have also had problems with sailor sei boku drying on the nib.

Edited April 18, 2015 by cellmatrix

[cjr]

Definitely Pilot Blue. It will stand up to a long soak in the water. It also has some moderate lubrication, so the ink flows nicely. I never have problems with Pilot blue ink drying on my VPs. I've used Liberty's Elysium in my VP, and it looks great and has some water resistance, but it dries out after a couple days of non-use in my VP.

[carlos.q]

Another vote for Pilot Blue.

[graystranger]

By Capless I assume you are referring to the Pilot Vanishing Point. I used Noodler's Black in mine exclusively from Jan 2009 until last year with no problems, ever. It would sit unused for two weeks or more during our semi-annual plant shutdowns and vacations without the nib ever drying out.

 

I now have two VP pens and five nib assemblies: EF, F, M, M, and B. They have Noodler's Heart of Darkness, Black Swan in Australian Roses, and maybe Noodler's Bad Black Moccasin in the five nib assemblies (not in the same nib assembly). I make plastic caps that seal the inked assemblies air tight and they can sit for weeks without drying out - instant startup every time. I store the sealed inked assemblies in centrifuge tubes in a Nock Brasstown pen case. In just a minute I can switch out inked nib assemblies easily. I just checked the B nib assembly several days ago after it has sat unused for 3 weeks in the tube with my cap on it - wrote immediately as soon as he tip touched the paper.

 

I refill Pilot cartridges using an ink syringe or poly pipette (the cartridge opening is large enough to fill with the pipette). The Con-50 converter ink capacity is a lot less than the cartridges and it is very easy to check the ink level in the cartridge.

 

I used to use Namiki black cartridges until I found Noodler's Black and learned that it chemically bonds with the cellulose in paper for a totally permanent water proof, bleach proof, solvent proof ink. Its performance was as good as the Namiki ink ever was, and I could not tell the difference when I switched to Noodler's Black except that, once fully dried, there was no effect if the paper got wet at all.

 

I ran tests on Noodler's Black against ballpoint, gel, and other fountain pen inks: writing on a Post-It note and washing it under under tap water and rubbing the wet surface with my finger. Ballpoint, gel, and other fountain pen inks all washed away in varying degrees but the Noodler's Black was completely unaffected.

 

I have observed that when using Noodler's Bulletproof inks on ink resistant papers (Clairefontaine, Rhodia, etc.) some of the ink remains on the paper's surface and may smear when it gets wet and and is wiped. But the ink that penetrated into the paper never washed out.

 

If your VP dries out when retracted I would suspect that the seal may not be seating properly. Someone posted on FPN that they used an older Pilot converter in a new VP and it was the wrong length. The old converted did not let the nib assembly retract far enough to close the seal, so the pen dried out quickly. I use Pilot's metal cartridge cap over my cartridges - it is designed to provide the mechanism with the correct length of nib assembly for full operation and seal seating when extended and retracted. The current Con-20 and Con-50 converters do this also. I think the Con-20 squeeze converter holds the same amount of ink as a cartridge.

 

Some older VP pens apparently have lost their ability to seal with age. I would contact Pilot if my VP ever dried out in less than a week or two. Both of my VP's will start up immediately after several days. The first one, as I said, has gone two weeks unused. Since I retired they get used more often, but for shorter periods of writing.

 

I apologize for writing such a long epistle!! But having used one of these pens for some 16 years, I have had a lot of experience and they may be my favorite pens (along with several others of course).

Edited April 19, 2015 by graystranger

[Algester]

capless huh how about Sailor kiwaguro I personally dont use a capless due to fears on how long the mechanism would actually last when the temptation to press that button is strong...

[rickygene]

+1 for Noodler's Black. Been using it for years in my VP without an issue.

 

Algester, I've been clicking mine constantly (it's a bad habit but I can't help it) for 14 years and it is still going strong! Great engineering.

[mrhr]

Thanks for the replies

The sailor kiwaguro is like the sei boku so I imagine the problem is going to be the same

I'll try the noodler's ink, haven't so far because in Europe is more expensive (almost 20 I think it's going to cost me, maybe more) and also the drying time. I write above the line so I need a quickish drying ink.

Other thing is I'm using the con20 in a pilot capless décimo 2013,so I don't think there's a mismatch in size,I'll check it anyway, maybe I didn't press the converter till was fully set