[jsonewald]

Higgins Eternal black ink is stated as "safe for all fountain pens" in various suppliers catalogs. Is it really, and how does it compare with other "permanent" blacks?

[Viseguy]

This post from the late Frank Dubiel may help.

[jbb]

Aren't Higgin's inks ONLY for dip pens? I think they'd clog a fountain pen.

[Neecerie]

They make one that says on the box

For Fountain Pens


I have seen them myself and wondered, but not bought.

I think it is this particular Higgins ink that the original poster was wondering if anyone had experience with, not all the other 'we know they are unsafe' Higgins Ink's.

[ximhot]

I ate the apple and brought home a bottle of Higgins Fountain Pen India and Sepia Calligraphy. They are both non-waterproof, so I guess the risk of clogging is low. I put them in 2 of my cheapest pens with open nib. I am concerned that hooded nib can be too difficult to clean if there is a problem. It has only been a few hours and a few pages but I absolutely love the color and flow of the ink. I keep my fingers crossed.

They make one that says on the box

For Fountain Pens


I have seen them myself and wondered, but not bought.

I think it is this particular Higgins ink that the original poster was wondering if anyone had experience with, not all the other 'we know they are unsafe' Higgins Ink's.

[cowdad]

I put some Higgins Drawing Ink--blue--in a cheap fountain pen about a month ago and it's doing fine. It even sat up for a couple weeks and I just now checked it and it fired right up. The pen is one of those Sheaffer Nonsense pens I got off eBay for a couple dollars.

I'd rather use disposable fountain pens and nice look ink than fine jewelry fountain pens and Waterman's Florida Purple and Skrip Blue, but for anybody out there who's think about putting Higgins Drawing Ink in their fine pens, I can't recommend that, but I will tell you it didn't creep the nib if that's what you're worried about.

[WillAdams]

One can get good results with Higgins Eternal in certain pens, e.g.

http://www.pentrace.net/penbase/Data_Retur...icle.asp?id=339

but YMMV.

William

[scribbler77]

Higgins Eternal black ink is stated as "safe for all fountain pens" in various suppliers catalogs. Is it really, and how does it compare with other "permanent" blacks?

Higgins makes inks that are not safe for fountain pens (and are so marked) as well as a few that are. Also, if I am not mistaken, Pelikan has (or had?) a "fount India." I would imagine that these are safe for fountain pens, especially modern ones, if they are cleaned periodically. The same goes for Platinum's Carbon Black. So far as I know, none of these has the lacquer that can ruin a fountain pen. However, the carbon particles can clog if the ink is left in the pen for a long period without use. Therefore, either use the pen every day, or else flush it out and clean it every few weeks.

[donwinn]

This post from the late Frank Dubiel may help.

The link is not available when I click on it.

Donnie

[artaddict]

I'm interested in this thread because I have a bottle of Higgins Sepia Calligraphy that I've been afraid to use in my FPs...

[markc]

I'm interested in this thread because I have a bottle of Higgins Sepia Calligraphy that I've been afraid to use in my FPs...

I purchased a bottle from Atellier Gargoyle here in San Francisco. They both use it in their fountain pens and say its fine. Since they are calligraphers, I have to believe them.

I haven't used it yet, so obviously I will put it in a cheap pen first.

--Mark

[andru]

I would like to share my experience with Higgins Sepia Calligraphy. It is supposed to be FP safe, but my experience in two pens has been that it writes well for a few days and then begins to clog. Also I have not been successful in flushing these pens with water afterwards to restore the flow. The pens were a Cross Century and a Waterman Hemisphere. You will also notice there is a lot of sediment/precipitate in the Higgins bottles. Lovely colour, but I'll never risk it in anything but the cheapest FP again!

Edited to add: Sorry I've no experience with Higgins Eternal to share. I didn't mean to contribute to a hijack of the thread.

This post has been edited by andru: 18 July 2007 - 12:57 AM

[mikey]

hello jsonewald,

i did not particularly care for higgins black magic ink when i tried it out (i know, different ink completely).

if you want a carbon-based permanent black ink that is safe for fountain pens try PELIKAN FOUNT INDIA ink available at pendemonium and elsewhere.

i have it loaded in a pilot knight (great pen btw) and use it exclusively to address envelopes and write checks (i prefer blue and blue-black inks for everything else).

hope this helps.

thanks,
mike

[fenrisfox]

I've used Higgins Fountain Pen India in my Cross Century II... it does work, and gave me no clogging problems.

However - it is somewhat messy, and a bit harder to clean from the nib than either Cross cartridge ink, or Noodler's Black.

I am both an artist and a writer - however, I consider myself primarily a writer (when I sit down with a pen, it's well over 10:1 writing-to-drawing).

In short, I'd call the Higgins a "drawing ink," and the Noodler's a "writing ink" - although they could both be used for the other purpose, obviously.

Why do I say this? The Higgins gives a denser black, and a better, more uniform black fill when drawing.

The Noodler's is more runny, easier to clean, and an all-around better writing ink.

So... if I did more drawing, I might consider keeping an FP filled with Higgins, specifically for drawing; I would carry my main pen filled with Noodler's, though.

If you want to try the Higgins Fountain Pen India, I say go ahead. It's non-waterproof, and should flush out if you don't like it (oh, and because of that property, the Noodler's is way more permanent).

Be very, very careful which Higgins ink you get, though - some of them are waterproof, meant only for dip pens... if you put one of those in an FP, you can kiss it goodbye!

This post has been edited by fenrisfox: 18 July 2007 - 02:17 AM

[Viseguy]

This post from the late Frank Dubiel may help.

The link is not available when I click on it.

Donnie

Here's the post, verbatim:

Newsgroups: alt.collecting.pens-pencils
From: Fdub...@aol.com
Date: Mon, 19 Mar 2001 20:13:14 GMT
Local: Mon, Mar 19 2001 4:13 pm
Subject: Re: Higgins Ink
Reply to author | Forward | Print | View thread | Show original | Report this message | Find messages by this author

Cam Morton wrote:

> Okay... forgive me.
> 1. I have been using the Higgins Calligraphy Ink uneventfully in
> myLamy Safari for at least 18 months ... at, say, one filling a week,
> that's 70 or more refillings. Occasionally it would start to feel like
> it wanted a bath, so I gave it one. Warm water flushings, nothing
> more. Started on the first stroke, nib smooth as butter till the day
> it went missing.
> 2. That aside, could you add a bit of detail please.
> In what way is it not suitable for fountain pens?
> Understand ... I'm not disagreeing (after all its my little pelikano
> not working with it which prompted my original message) I just don't
> understand. Is it simply too thick for most fountain pens or is the
> chemical formulation such that it does actual damage?

Since I cannot see the actual ink you are using I cannot give you an
answer. Higgins has made ink for fountain pens and that should be
fine. But probably 95% of all Higgins ink made over the years is
waterproof ink and cannot, or at least should not be used in fountain
pens. That doesn't stop people from using it, and, yes, sometimes, it
may work fine in many pens. For a while, anyhow. So will paint work in
some pens. As well as strong Kool-Aid or blood. Watercolor.
Fingerpaint. Brown Gravy. Hey I tried em all at one time or another
when I was young and foolish. Ok so that was waaaaaaay baaaaaack when,
but yup, I tried em. Briefly Higgins ink is USUALLY (not always) a
lacquer or shelac based ink, rather than a water based ink. Other times
it is a PIGMENT based ink rather than dye based. No fountain pen ink
should be pigment based as that means the color is made of SOLID
PARTICLES that can never disolve. Yet, some FP ink has been pigment
based, although its kind of rare. I belive PR Bubble Gum is a pigment
base, for example, although I am not positive. FP ink should be DYE
based, pigment base is getting into the area of paint. White ink, for
example is obviously pigment based, and doesn't belong in a FP, yet it
may work fine in some. Or may wreck or stain the pen very seriously.
So SOME calligaphy ink is designed for POSTERS, cards, etc and as such
is really a sort of watered out POSTER PAINT, pigment based. Again I
cannot comment directly on the ink you have unless I had it in my
hand. Hope all this helps. Frank