Parker Quink Blue-Black : Old vs. New

[Sandy1]

Preamble:

This Review is produced with the primary intent of comparing two inks:

• OLD: The latest iteration of Parker Quink Blue-Black enclosed in packaging which included the words 'Permanent' and 'SOLV-X', made in England;
• NEW: The current iteration enclosed in packaging which excludes 'Permanent' or 'SOLV-X', made in France.

<=:-:=>~<=:-:=>~<=:-:=>~<=:-:=>~<=:-:=>~<=:-:=>~<=:-:=>~<=:-:=>~<=:-:=>~<=:-:=>

 

Date: March 25, 2010

Brand: Parker

Name: Quink Blue-Black

Bottle: Yes, 57 ml.

Pen: Lamy 'Safari' B nib.

Paper: Clairefontaine 'Triomphe', A4

General Description: Off-blue inks.

Scans:

• Created using an Epson V600.
• Factory software & other defaults were accepted: 300 dpi & 24-bit colour.
• The image was not adjusted other than cropping and compression using iPhoto on a MacBook.
• According to built-in densitometer readings of the Grey Scale, the scans are accurate in colour and contrast.

First Page :

Colour control patches & Grey Scale.

Swab swatches. (WFB included to casually colour calibrate your eye. WBlBk included for rough comparison.)

Wet Tests:

• Swab: Soapy Soak.
• Written: Rain Drop & Soapy Soak.

Drawn swatches.

Swirlies: Made from ink on back of dip pen nib. Intended to show range of density/saturation possible.

 

http://i783.photobucket.com/albums/yy116/Sandy1-1/FPN038.jpg

http://i783.photobucket.com/albums/yy116/Sandy1-1/InkyThoughts2010/FPN036.jpg

 

Second Page :

Clairefontaine 'Triomphe'

Written sample: Lamy 'Safari' B nib (to show more ink). Old and New ink on alternate lines repeating same text.

Scale: At top left, 2" & 5 cm.; and in Selected Text box, 2" & 6 cm.

Once again, a passage from 'Treasure Island' was transcribed.

 

http://i783.photobucket.com/albums/yy116/Sandy1-1/InkyThoughts2010/FPN033.jpg

 

3rd & 4th Scans:

Hi-Res scans of drawn swatches & selected text.

http://i783.photobucket.com/albums/yy116/Sandy1-1/FPN031.jpg

 

http://i783.photobucket.com/albums/yy116/Sandy1-1/InkyThoughts2010/FPN034.jpg

 

 

My penmanship has still not improved.

 

Likely Uses:

• Business: Internal & external correspondence. Signatures. Staid, not animated.
• Personal correspondence: Quite usable, but there are much much more friendly convivial ink colours.
• For billet doux: Impossible. Indefinite exile to the sofa quite possible.
• Illustrations: Fits nicely between black and middle pure blues, such as the Visconti 'Blue'.

Bottle:

• Label style changed.
• New label excludes 'SOLV-X'.
• Old bottle has 'MADE IN ENGLAND' molded on the bottom.
• New bottle has 'PARKER' and 'FRANCE' molded on the bottom.

Box:

• Graphic design changed.
• New box does not have the words 'Permanent' or 'SOLV-X'.

Flow / Lubrication: Flows easily in all clean writing implements. Lubrication is fine.

Drying Time: Not sampled.

Feathering: None.

Bleedthrough: None.

Shading: Modest.

Waterproof:

• Old - Poor.
• New - Nope.

Nib Creep: None.

Staining: None.

(Note: The old ink was/is the only ink run through my daily writer for donkey's years with no staining or ill effects.)

Clogging: None.

Saturation: Nice.

Appearance: Business-like. Modest, without pretension or ostentation. The late Walter Cronkite may have liked this ink.

Odour: Ink. Unscented.

Clean-up: Easy to remove thoroughly.

Eco-Green: Bottle & box readily recyclable. 'Bakelite' cap likely benign.

Comparison: Only the Old & New Quinks were compared.

(Note: Speculation as to change of formulation to the Waterman Blue Black formula was made; swab of old-ish WBlBk included.)

 

Summary:

• The Old ink was claimed to be permanent. In practice, I have reviewed personal documents made donkey's years ago with this ink, and they appear just fine. Permanence of the New ink is speculative. I emailed the Parker people about this. They very politely replied to the effect that there is no such thing as guaranteed permanence, so 'Permanent' was removed. Fair enough. (But it was a factor when I chose it.)
• SOLV-X, or similar, may be included in the New ink, but is not stated.
• New colour is just another dark blue. It is no longer at all unique - may even be emulated by RBs & GPs. There goes my 'signature ink' of many years. what a shame. ah Pook! :-(

The densitometer on the scanner gave these readings:

• Old: Red 68, Green 93, Blue 159, Luminosity 101.
• New: Red 45, Green 102, Blue 182, Luminosity 106.

-30-

Edited March 25, 2010 by Sandy1

[Brian]

Thanks for this review. One other thing I may have missed reading was that the smell of the older quink has a distinct antiseptic(?) quality that is missing in the new quink. Too bad too that the grayer and blacker older quink has been replaced with a new color that has lost some of its charm. Lets hope that all of the old qualities of great stability and flow will be present as the bottle gets empty.

[Ondina]

Great and comprehenvise review Sandy, of a classic ink in its both old and current versions. A densitometry!. We're getting serious here! Many thanks, great job.

[Pauldavid]

Ohh...awesome comparison. I've got 2 bottles of the old version. While I've never seen a new bottle anywhere here in Kuala Lumpur, there are quite a few old ones (usually half full and dusty as heck) in small little bookshops all over the place.

[Ed Ronax]

Great review, thanks.

[esterbex]

Now that's an analysis!

[johnboz]

Wow, very thorough review. I love the vintage color. The new color doesn't really have much of the black in it.

[Sandy1]

Great and comprehenvise review Sandy, of a classic ink in its both old and current versions. A densitometry!. We're getting serious here! Many thanks, great job.

Hi,

 

Thanks for the compliments.

 

As for the densitometry:

• I'm using what's available on the scanner software. One does a Preview scan, then selects the target area and voila - RGB+L readings! I cannot vouch for their absolute accuracy, but if the readings are consistently off, then they can be used for comparison.
• The scanner came bundled with Adobe 'Photo Shop Elements', so perhaps there is a more sophisticated tool hiding in there.
• But, as we know, the numbers add up to nothing without considering the intangibles of an ink's presence on the page. e.g. I don't think it'd be beyond the grasp of a competent ink mixer to generate the 'densitometer colour' of the Noodler's Baystate Blue. BUT, to get the human perception phenomenon generated by that ink would be more than difficult if not impossible with a CMY+K mixing kit.
• It would be awkward if I just posted the densitometer data with no scans. Hoi!

Best Regards,

S1

[Sandy1]

Wow, very thorough review. I love the vintage color. The new color doesn't really have much of the black in it.

Hi,

 

The colour and the 'look' of the older ink is gone for sure. :-( I'm not sure of my approach to that. Find a new bottled equivalent of the PQBlBk or try to mix it, as I believe some practitioners are doing.

 

Formulae / Recipes would be welcome you mixers!!!

 

IMHO, the new ink does not deserve to be called 'Blue-Black', because it isn't - it's just another dark blue.

 

So maybe a Poll to determine the most accurate name for this new Quink colour can be conducted, then the Parker people petitioned to change the name. (?)

 

Off-Topic: If Montblanc had done this with their Blue-Black I'd be livid. As it is, all MB's done is mis-labeled the BlBk as 'Midnight Blue', which it isn't.

 

Tsk Tsk Tsk (Do we have an emoticon for that? I could sure use one.)

 

Bye,

S1

[dmuchow]

This was my first Blue-Black ink (infact it was my first full bottle of ink!) and I couldn't understand why it was called blue-black when infact it was just a dark blue.

 

Has anyone made their own Blue-Black mix with this as a base? I'd be interested in trying some as I find this too light.

[Sandy1]

... Has anyone made their own Blue-Black mix with this as a base? I'd be interested in trying some as I find this too light.

Hi,

Well, I'll try to come-up with something to emulate the 'classic' colour. That said, while I still admire the physical attributes of Quink inks, I haven't used the most recent iterations of those inks to evaluate their physical attributes.

At this early stage, I'm very tempted to use the Montblanc BlBk as the base; then add a hazy royal purple - navy blue, such as Herbin's 'Bleu Nuit' or Caran d'Ache 'Blue Night'.

I'll likely post something should I manage a facsimile colour.

Bye,

S1

[Sandy1]

Thanks for this review. One other thing I may have missed reading was that the smell of the older quink has a distinct antiseptic(?) quality that is missing in the new quink. Too bad too that the grayer and blacker older quink has been replaced with a new color that has lost some of its charm. Lets hope that all of the old qualities of great stability and flow will be present as the bottle gets empty.

Hello Brian,

I must be honest that I thought your comment about smell was odd - we're about ink appearance & behaviour/manners, not scents. BUT, I agree that all senses should be brought to bear (bare?).

So I took a sniff of each. There is a difference indeed. :-D The older 'classic' ink has a 'new rubber' nose that one may smell from new vehicle tires. The new ink has a somewhat 'citrus/floral' nose.

To be clear: these inks smell of ink, but do have different 'noses'.

Bye

S1

[dcpritch]

[link to other thread that got me thinking about this great ink]

 

Nice shading, I love the color!

 

 

The bottle top (a little dusty - sorry) reminds me of a checkers piece. "King me!"

 

 

Janesville markings:

[AlejoPlay]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Parker-Quink-Fountain-Pen-Ink-Permanent-Blue-Black-Vintage-NIB-/321168020281?ViewItem=&item=321168020281&nma=true&si=gat5SZtgEAwbx5mPXJkjQLjFvJk%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

 

I just won this. This looks like it's made in the USA. Any idea what the date on it is? I've never gotten vintage ink before. Any suggestions on what to do before inking?

[lapis]

Good review.

By comparison, my new versions still look more like green-greys.

FWIW Parker seems to change things quite often. The new ink has appeared in the same bottles, same labels but with different boxes and lids. Presumably the new formulation has remained unchanged.

 

Mike

[Sandy1]

[link to other thread that got me thinking about this great ink]

 

Nice shading, I love the color!

 

<snip>

 

Hi,

 

Many thanks for very fine samples of ye olde ink!

 

There's nothing like seeing a page written with an ink to see what's going on! And the pen+paper you've chosen really does showcase such a 'basic' ink.

 

Unfortunately, I cannot add any historical information as to formulae, versions, packaging, etc. However, from what I've seen, PQBlBk was a classic Blue-Black up to the most recent change.

 

Bye,

S1

[Sandy1]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Parker-Quink-Fountain-Pen-Ink-Permanent-Blue-Black-Vintage-NIB-/321168020281?ViewItem=&item=321168020281&nma=true&si=gat5SZtgEAwbx5mPXJkjQLjFvJk%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

 

I just won this. This looks like it's made in the USA. Any idea what the date on it is? I've never gotten vintage ink before. Any suggestions on what to do before inking?

 

Hi,

 

Once again, my lack of historical knowledge is showing. I reckon the country of origin should be moulded on the bottom of the bottle. Please let us know what you find after it arrives.

 

As for preparation, check for SITB. Also there might've been some evaporation, so you may wish to reconstitute the ink to original volume, but if there's only say 20% loss, I'd give it a whirl, then add distilled water to whatever value suits your pen+paper combo. (I recall that some Members who found partially full cartridges of Parker Penman Sapphire chose not to reconstitute the ink to the original volume.)

 

After that, it should be smooth sailing.

 

Please let us know of your experience as things progress.

 

Bye,

S1

[Sandy1]

Good review.

By comparison, my new versions still look more like green-greys.

FWIW Parker seems to change things quite often. The new ink has appeared in the same bottles, same labels but with different boxes and lids. Presumably the new formulation has remained unchanged.

 

Mike

 

Hi,

 

Thanks for the compliment!

 

To my eye the new stuff lacks the Indigo aspect, so could certainly appear to lean more towards Green, but I reckon its still within the Blue arena, not having strayed so far away as Diamine Twilight.

 

http://i783.photobucket.com/albums/yy116/Sandy1-1/InkyThoughts2010/Ink%20Review%20-%20Diamine%20-%20Twight%20Blue/INK876.jpg

 

 

PQBlBk current version:

http://i783.photobucket.com/albums/yy116/Sandy1-1/FPN_2013/Ink%20Review%20-%20Parker%20Quink%20Blue-Black/PQBlBkSwabs_zpsf5e3d7a5.jpg

 

Bye,

S1

 

___ ___

Links:

◇ Diamine Twilight - my Review: https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/index.php?/topic/164337-diamine-twilight-blue/

◇ Parker Quink Blue-Black - my Review: https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/index.php?/topic/244621-parker-quink-blue-black/page__view__findpost__p__2663864

[welch]

No idea about the plastic bottle, but the color and the Solv-x narrows the date. I've never seen one.

 

Someone like Sam Fiorella (Pendemonium) might know, and Marion Brown (owner of Art Brown's) should know, since she an Warren have run Art Brown's ever since the original Art retired...and Art founded the store about 89 years ago.

 

My clumsy guess:

 

- Glass art deco bottle, metal cap: late '40s

- Same bottle, plastic cap, early '50s.

- Modern "wedge-shape" late '50s

- Glass bottle, mostly same shape as current bottle but with white label, ink color strip on top: '60s - '70s.

- Glass bottle Solv-x same current shape, more modern typography: '70s and '80s

 

Parker withdrew Solv-X around 2000 because occupational safety rules, in both the EU and US, made it illegal to expose ink factory workers to one of the chemicals that makes Solv-X. You can find inks that smell like Solv-X in India: Camlin and Chelpark, and the Parker rep company.

 

Sandy1 might have an idea of when Quink Blue-black turned a bit greenish.

 

Plastic bottle, classic formula? No idea.

[AlejoPlay]

I just got my bottle of old Quink Blue-Black. It looked 95% full, so I inked up with a Sailor Somiko and it is a very nice blue black. Very similar to Pilot Iroshizuku Shin-Kai and Herbin Bleu-Nuit (two inks I love). Looking forward to trying it in other pens!