Parker Superchrome Blue-Black

[Catsmelt]

As noted in the review, don't try this ink with any old pen. FYI, I used a Pilot Varsity on this.

 

 

[kadymae]

As noted in the review, don't try this ink with any old pen. FYI, I used a Pilot Varsity on this.

 

Is this an iron-gall type ink?

[Catsmelt]

As noted in the review, don't try this ink with any old pen. FYI, I used a Pilot Varsity on this.

 

Is this an iron-gall type ink?

 

No, it's just a very corrosive ink. I soaked a writing sample and the ink came off the paper pretty easily, so it's safe to say that it isn't remotely an iron gall ink.

 

My Varsity is a test-bed pen and I'm waiting to see how long it will last loaded with this ink...

 

 

[psfred]

Superchrome ink contains large amounts of isopropyl alcohol and has a pH of around 12. I would suspect that some of the alcohol has evaporated by now!

 

The alcohol will do nasty things to celluloid pens if it contacts the celluloid.

 

Peter

[Larynxa]

It also seems to eat through glass. Many of the partially-filled Superchrome bottles you see on Ebay have necks that'll crumble to bits if you try to remove the cap.

[ZeissIkon]

It also seems to eat through glass.

 

That'd be the pH 12 -- to get that high, it pretty well has to have a significant inclusion of either potassium hydroxide or sodium hydroxide, either of which will convert ordinary soda-lime glass (the kind used for everything that doesn't need some specific properties) or borosilicate glass (generic for Pyrex) into soluble sodium silicate after some exposure time (i.e. will slowly dissolve glass). This used to manifest itself in chem labs with ground glass stoppers that would "weld" into the neck of reagent bottles; experienced lab workers would never put a high-pH solution into glass, but minimum wage aides often did, with annoying and expensive results. These days, however, lab storage bottles are all plastic, so this property of strong hydroxides tends to be forgotten...