Abraxas Chestnut

[savarez]

In Seattle, there is a Japanese specialty market called Uwajimaya. Every fall there is a vendor in the front of the store selling freshly roasted sweet, soft, aromatic, warm Chestnuts. Having grown up in the South, I had never tasted a roasted Chestnut, believing such a thing was simply a line from a Christmas Carol, "Chestnuts roasting on an open fire, Jack Frost nipping at your nose," and did not consider the possibility that it could possibly be an actual, tasty, edible delicacy. Now I now crave them every time the weather turns cold.

 

As the color Chestnut goes, Abraxas gets this one right.

 

http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t41/savarez/abraxas/abraxas_chestnut_small.jpg

 

Enlarge

[lovemy51]

very nice brown with enough shading for me. thanx for sharing!!

[loweevan]

I got this ink about a year and a half ago and hated it. It sat on the shelf, unused, until recently when I decided to give it another go. To my pleasant surprise, I have had a complete change of heart!

 

The color displayed in the scan (above) is a little more washed out than what I experience in person. It seems to be mostly brown with a drop or five of that lovely reddish-brown one often finds on terriers (eg. airedale, welsh, irish). I am very pleased with the amount of shading that it produces -- noticeable, but not dramatic. Overall, the color is very pleasing to the eyes. It's not loud, but offers a nice, and still classic, option to those who are tired of black or blue.

 

It's a light ink, but I wouldn't consider it watery. Since this ink has returned to my pen, I've been using it primarily while taking notes in class; I've noticed that when left uncapped and out of use for a few moments, the ink darkens for the first word or two once one returns to writing. An extension of this (if left laying on the table too long) is that it sometimes requires a jump start before ink begins to flow again (a bit of flex, scribbling, or a tap on the tongue). In the interest of full disclosure, I think this is also a quirk of the particular pen I've been using as well, so I'm not sure how much of the cause to attribute to the pen and how much to the ink.

 

The drying time seems to be more than fast enough on regular copy paper, although I haven't tried it on finer/smoother papers.

 

On the bottle: I'm not quite sure why the name is given in Italian. Granted, Italian is not an uncommon language in Switzerland, but the rest of the information is primarily in German and translated into English. Also, I don't particularly care for the rounded/domed top. Although it always rests in the proper upside-down position, there's a decent amount of "wobble-ability," which I don't like. Furthermore, it's just unnecessarily large for a 30 ml bottle.

[Peter from Sherwood Park]

A beautiful colour -- thank you for the review.

 

[visvamitra]

Great color but Abraxas isn't really interested in replying to emails from desperate inkofils

[lapis]

DITTO OUT LOUD !!!!!!!!!

 

I hate that company and have said so often here on the forum.

I bought several of their inks, read their website, and had one simple and easy question about an ink or two of theirs, mailed them, phoned them, faxed them, wrote them on paper in an envelope... but all to no avail.

IMO these bast**ds don't give a **** about what anybody wants to know.

 

I think I'll soon do a micro review on any of the inks, just to say so... in the hope that none of us will ever think of buying anything at all from this lousy company.

 

Sooo! I said it!!

Edited June 19, 2014 by lapis

[visvamitra]

Well, I've tried to call them few times as well but no one's ever answered. A pity, especially that the bottles and colors look really nice.

[Bo Bo Olson]

One could write them a letter? With a stamp?

[Keyless Works]

I have a few Abraxas inks and I don't care for them. There is some conflicting information (from Abraxas) on a couple of the inks as to whether or not they are suitable for fountain pens.

[lapis]

One could write them a letter? With a stamp?

Yes, one could, theoretically. I did, practically, but it brought me nothing. They apparently have ZERO interest in any user's requests.

That's why I now boycott -- yes, publicly, on this forum -- any purchaces of their inks.

To anybody else here... PLEASE FORGET ABOUT THIS **** COMPANY.

 

Thank you

 

Mike

[visvamitra]

OK Mike - you've convinced me

[lapis]

Okay, I'll now try and be objective for a minute or two, but I saw (and still do see) it like this:

I bought a bottle of Safrangelb (safran yellow) and on the back of the bottle, the tiny label says

 

FÜR FÜLLFEDERN GEEIGNET

SUITABLE FOR FOUNTAIN PENS

 

But, in this site, it says that that ink is NOT SUITABLE. Up to here, no big problem, I just wanted to know which piece of information is correct. Above all, since I am an iron-gall fetishist, I especially wanted to know if exactly that ambiguity would also pertain to the inks 1, 2, 3, 4, and 6 in that table. If those inks are in fact "N"-inks, then I wouldn't buy them... otherwise, yes, for sure....

I agree, I'm not a big retailer, and any sale of 5 such tiny bottles of el cheapo inks is certainly not going to make them rich over night. However, I have so often phoned and/or e-mailed Pelikan, MB, Lamy, and a lot of other companies and got immediately all answers to all questions. I can live without any handful of inks but I just keep asking myself why some companies are so rude.

That's all.

 

Mike

[visvamitra]

Well - I do agree with you Mike. I've send them like ten e-mails. I've tried to call them few times. All in vain. It remains a mystery for me why a company would disregard potential clients that much? Hmmm - maybe I'll make little experiment. I'll send them e-mail and pretend to be Big Retailer in Poland interested in making business with them - just to see whether they'll answer. What ya say?

[lapis]

Well - I do agree with you Mike. I've send them like ten e-mails. I've tried to call them few times. All in vain. It remains a mystery for me why a company would disregard potential clients that much? Hmmm - maybe I'll make little experiment. I'll send them e-mail and pretend to be Big Retailer in Poland interested in making business with them - just to see whether they'll answer. What ya say?

That is one fantastic idea! Won't cost you anything, and you don't even have to be serious!

BTW, after having yesterday filled out a 5 out of 5 for Cult Pens in Trustpilot, I checked out Abraxas. They aren't there yet but maybe we can claim them in and then do a -5 out of 5 number.............