Pelikan 4001 Brown

[777]

Third review of the week folks - we're on a roll here.

 

*****************************

 

Pelikan 4001 Brown is an odd ink that falls somewhere in between the colors of light brown, and orange.

 

Another sample sent to me for review by a good friend, I did enjoy trying this ink. However, this is one ink that won't be making it to my personal collection list. It's simply not a color I enjoy.

 

I'll try to keep my personal opinions out of the review, as I realize more and more that ink reviews are very subjective to the user.

 

 

 

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-aoaHTVAMNKI/TxeQRuqAfKI/AAAAAAAAAfQ/YG5DzYhzjao/s400/Review+Meter.png

 

For me, Pelikan 4001 Brown gets about 65/100 in my book.

 

 

 

Overall, I simply find not much to really like about this ink. That's not to say that it's a bad ink. By no means it is a bad ink. What I do mean though, is that it really doesn't do much for me. I just don't find any aprticular attribute to it that would make me desire to use and buy more of it. It's mostly the color, but I also don't find the characteristics of it that great either. I'll jump into the details below:

 

 

Ink review: Pelikan 4001 Brown

 

Pen and nib: Pilot VP - F nib

 

Color: Light brown, with a noticeable orange hue.

 

Dry time: 5 seconds - nice!

 

Smear when dry: NO

 

Shading: Good - I like it. I'm sure it'd be more in a larger nib.

 

Lubrication: Not much - this is typical of fast drying inks like Pelikan and Waterman.

 

Bleedthrough: Just a bit actually.

 

Feathering: A very slight amount.

 

 

Now for the scan:

 

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PxpArl-QwiY/TxLSxJWvjuI/AAAAAAAAAfY/BvAksmv4AXI/s640/SCAN0008.JPG

 

You can really see that orange hue in the swab above. I'm not sure I like that in my browns.

This ink, like most others with really fast dry times, has a tendency to bleed-through the page and feather slightly. Not much, but then I am using a F nib. It's certainly a trade off, and whether it's worth it to you is personal choice. With a F nibbed pen like I am using, I personally would prefer a 10 second dry time with no feathering or bleed-through.

Overall this is another one of of those inks which I simply don't like. It's not a bad ink, and some people who like the color would love this ink. For me, it's a lot like

Waterman Florida Blue, which I reviewed a few months ago. A nice ink overall, but not something I'd use for personal enjoyment.

I just ordered a sample of Waterman Havana Brown, so I'm really interested in seeing how these two inks compare. From the reviews I read, I have a feeling I'll like Havana Brown more, but I won't know till I try.6

There you have it. That's my review of Pelikan 4001 Brown.

Like I said - subjective to the user! If you love this ink, please, leave me a comment and let me know why. I'd be interested to get some different opinions about this one.

 

That wraps up my reviews this week. I'm surprised - I actually got all three posted! Weekend Reads coming this Saturday, and then I need to decided what to do next week. Suggestions are welcome.

Have a good one everybody.

 

 

Regards,

Tyler Dahl

 

************************

If you enjoyed this review, consider doing me a huge favor and

visiting my blog every once in a while. I'd love to have you over!

[jandrese]

Thanks for this, I kind of like the orange hue, and will probably get a bottle.

[Toolattack]

I like this colour, but it's more of an 'Autumnal Orange' than a brown to me.

[JimB]

I was also disappointed in this ink. I have mixed it with PR Sepia and Noodler's Heart of Darkness in 8:8:2 (HoD is the 2) recipe and found it more appealing. But then it needed some lubrication, as the PR Sepia was very dry and tended to clog on me, so I also added a drop of Dawn and a bit of water (that I didn't bother to measure, I'm afraid). Now it gave me a color I started called Black Swan in Sepia, but decided it looked more like a cup of mocha. So I call it Mocha.

 

Scanned - sorry for the poor quality and worse handwriting.

 

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7020/6725970889_7f4c4f3ac5_z.jpg

 

(Edited to correct my recipe)

Edited January 19, 2012 by januaryman

[777]

Thanks for this, I kind of like the orange hue, and will probably get a bottle.

 

If you like the color, then definitely go for a bottle. It is a pretty decent ink overall.

 

I like this colour, but it's more of an 'Autumnal Orange' than a brown to me.

 

Yes, I would agree with your description - that pretty much describes it perfectly.

 

I was also disappointed in this ink. I have mixed it with Noodler's Heart of Darkness and PR Sepia on 1:1:1 basis and found it more appealing. But then it needed some lubrication, as the PR Sepia was very dry and tended to clog on me, so I also added a drop of Dawn and a bit of water (that I didn't bother to measure, I'm afraid). Now it gave me a color I started called Black Swan in Sepia, but decided it looked more like a cup of mocha. So I call it Mocha.

 

Scanned - sorry for the poor quality and worse handwriting.

 

 

That's a pretty nice color you got going there! A bit too complex of a mix for me, but the results are good. I'm thinking of this:

 

A 2:1 of this (P4001Brown) to Waterman Florida Blue. I think I may get a pretty good brown out of it. We'll see.

 

 

[JimB]

Brown mixed with blue will probably get you a greyish tone, I think.

 

Why I mixed my "Mocha" -- I used HoD to get that dark shading, and the Pelikan "brown" for some reddish/orangish into a Sepia that was brownish/yellowish and a bit too light colored for me.

[Bo Bo Olson]

I'd only noticed it was sort of a reddish brown.

 

I ended up liking it.

I had it in a real old sac (60 year old..now dead)of a Grey Estie J with a 2968 broad nib. I needed a totally safe ink.

My first brown was MB Sepia followed after a while by MB Toffee. This was no were near Toffee's brown.

 

Originally, I was not expecting a red-brown. Now that I have other red browns like DA Copper Brown or MB Collodi brown which could have been called Collodi red just as easy. It no longer seems the strange brown of when I first got it.

 

I do not have the orange tone. I don't do swabs.

 

A problem is one needs to try the ink with a B, M and F nib, and also a couple of semi-flex up to a full flex nib, and on a say a set of three papers; perhaps five.

 

:embarrassed_smile: I didn't do that. I tried it on too few papers, none 'great', and did not save anything with the narrower nibs.

 

I do have that old Estie B, on a few papers.

Linen effect 120 g and Laid 90g, I have some small feathering. On buetten/hammered/Verge and marbled paper, I have no feathering. All four papers from Zebra manufacturing. (German)

 

It's been sold for quite a while so there is a market for it.

 

Inks can be strange.

I have some Herbin Lie de The`. I thought is a nice medium brown ink...too dark for tea. I used three or four pens...having made the mistake of buying 4 or 5 inks at the same time.

A while later, it could well have ended up in a different pen or two, and different papers....I suddenly saw a red brown...on other paper I saw finally this (light) Tea brown.

I could not understand how come I got two new colors out of that ink.

One of these day's I'll look at pen and paper and find out at least what to expect.

 

I'll have to do the same for Pelikan Brown...in my version is not quite so orange and perhaps a tad redder but I could deal now that I've been exposed ot more red-browns with that tone 777 got.

[JimB]

My Pelikan Brown is somewhat reddish, as well.

[Silent Speaker]

I was also disappointed in this ink. I have mixed it with PR Sepia and Noodler's Heart of Darkness in 8:8:2 (HoD is the 2) recipe and found it more appealing. But then it needed some lubrication, as the PR Sepia was very dry and tended to clog on me, so I also added a drop of Dawn and a bit of water (that I didn't bother to measure, I'm afraid). Now it gave me a color I started called Black Swan in Sepia, but decided it looked more like a cup of mocha. So I call it Mocha.

 

Scanned - sorry for the poor quality and worse handwriting.

 

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/januaryman/6725970889/" title="mocha by januaryman, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7020/6725970889_7f4c4f3ac5_z.jpg" width="640" height="419" alt="mocha"></a>

 

(Edited to correct my recipe)

 

That's very intriguing! I'm only just really noticing brown inks and I must say that something like this looks very nice indeed!

 

If it shades that way with that nib (whatever it is) then it must be crazy with a flexible nib!

 

You haven't happened to have tried it thus, have you?

[Bo Bo Olson]

Shading can be strange also.

I have some inks that shade very well with a regular flex F.

They shade less with more flexible nibs. Others shade great.

 

I'm more into semi-flex +. So finding out that regular flex F was a necessary nib was a shock. :blink:

 

One has to do the whole spectrum of nibs, regular flex, B, M, and F. And semi-flex too, on different papers.

Flexi nibs and easy Full Flex do not guarantee, shading that one expects.

 

It's one needs a basic set of 6-8 (12-15 would be better (I like vintage oblique)) nibs, and 4 or 5 good to better papers, before one can judge an ink.

 

The hunt is to find the nib, and the paper that makes that ink Dance with the Stars.

[Silent Speaker]

Shading can be strange also.

I have some inks that shade very well with a regular flex F.

They shade less with more flexible nibs. Others shade great.

 

I'm more into semi-flex +. So finding out that regular flex F was a necessary nib was a shock. :blink:

 

One has to do the whole spectrum of nibs, regular flex, B, M, and F. And semi-flex too, on different papers.

Flexi nibs and easy Full Flex do not guarantee, shading that one expects.

 

It's one needs a basic set of 6-8 (12-15 would be better (I like vintage oblique)) nibs, and 4 or 5 good to better papers, before one can judge an ink.

 

The hunt is to find the nib, and the paper that makes that ink Dance with the Stars.

Hmmm

 

You are right, of course; you never know what you're going to get until you ink a pen and put it to paper!

 

Wow... that just adds an entirely new dimension to shading inks that I didn't really think about before - though I have noticed it: one very flexy swan nib I have is so wet and flexy that I think that it sometimes floods too much back up the "ink stream" that I don't get much of that "darker bottom/lighter top" shading (if that makes any sense - I don't know if there's any specific nomenclature/forum-lingo concerning the shading effects of inks).

 

-=-=-=-=-

Bah!

 

I just remembered (though how could I forget?) about the final crucial ingredient? Paper! (duh!).

 

It's all far too complicated; too many variables, not enough to to devote to experimenting with all combinations!

Edited January 20, 2012 by Silent Speaker

[Readymade]

Prefer the older formulation of this ink, the "Brilliant Brown". A darker ink.

[Uncle Red]

Tyler, nice review. Take a look at Caran d'Ache Grand Canyon, it may be more of what you're looking for.