I wasn't sure whether this was really a pen or ink question, so I'm sorry if it's in the wrong place!


I recently bought a lovely M800. At the time, I only had Waterman Black ink, so that is what I first loaded the pen with. It wrote well, but after reading the reviews of ink on the net and this forum, I thought I'd try some Pelikan Black.

I found some in a local stationers, though it was the last bottle and it may have been there a while. Even so, I didn't think that this would cause a problem, and the ink didn't seem to have anything odd about it when I opened the bottle.

Although the ink writes fairly well on perfectly smooth paper, and leaves a lovely colour, on paper with even the slightest texture the pen refuses to write as smoothly and consistently as one would expect. The waterman black seems to just flow much better, and not to be nearly so picky about the writing surface.

So my questions are:

1. Is this similar to what other people would expect?

2. If there is a problem, is it more likely to be a problem with a bad batch of ink, or should I think about sending my Pelikan off to a nib meister for adjustment?

Best, N.

Hi,

I had Pelikan Turquoise in my Pelikan P1, then I switched to Brilliant black. Yes, the Brilliant Black is a dry ink.

Dillon

Pelikan inks are generally "dry" writing IME.

Hello!

I had exactly the same experience. I bought a lovely Pelikan M300, but the shop didn't have any Pelikan ink in stock (or not in black, at any rate, and I only ever write in black... ). About four weeks later I went back to the shop and they had Pelikan black ink, so I bought some and absolutely hated it. I tried it for about half a side of writing. It made the pen skip and feel very dry to write with, so I went back to my Waterman ink, which is far nicer.

(Short version: yes, I agree completely! )

cheers
Claire

I've had fairly good experience with Pelikan inks (mine are labeled "4001" on the box, in case that matters). It's true, they don't flow as fast as Waterman inks, so I tend to use Pelikan inks in my wettest writers. They work out well together, because in those pens, thinner-running inks cause a flooded, feathering mess on the paper. (EDIT to note that the feathering mess occurred mostly on cheap notebook paper, while the flooding occurs with most inks). I don't get a "dry" feel with the Pelikan ink, either--the nibs seem well lubed to me. I did once have a skipping problem, but it turned out that it wasn't the ink's fault--my pen had some dried up ink in the ink channel, and it just needed a thorough cleaning.

I don't know if you're into mixing ink colors, but I love mixing with my Pelikan Brilliant Black. My favorite so far is a mix of Waterman South Sea Blue and Pelikan Brilliant Black, roughly half and half of each. EDIT to add: I guess I should describe the resulting color of this mix. It's a very, very dark forest green.

I suppose it just seems odd to me that a Pelikan ink would not work well in a pelikan pen, especially as I didn't think the M800 had a reputation as a dry writer! Oh, what a minefield.

I couldn't resist placing an order for some other types of ink to do some experimenting with, though...

Blueiris: what pens do you find work well/poorly with Pelikan ink?

Remember, you can always "wetten" a dry ink with a tiny drop of dish soap. Search on FPN for some threads about this, both pro and con. Andy

I have Pelikan Royal Blue and Brilliant Black 4001 inks, so I can only speak for those two colors.

They work well in my Pelikan 100N and 140 (both vintage pens, both F nibs with flex). These are very wet writers compared to the other pens I have. I've used the Royal Blue in my Pelikan M620 pen, and it worked well with it when it had the standard modern F nib that came with the pen. The ink colors come out as nice, vivid colors.

The Royal Blue did not work as well in the same Pelikan M620 pen when I put a replacement nib on it (a Binderized 0.7mm cursive italic, please don't stone me for saying so!). I don't know why, but this seems more fussy with ink than the regular F nib. So I think in this case it's the nib, not the ink. Not that there's necessarily anything wrong with the nib, but it is just more fussy with ink. For the record, the Binderized nib works fine with Montblanc Blue ink.

I didn't like the Pelikan inks in my Lamy Safari pens (F and M nibs) because they are by far my driest pens and make every ink look a little faded-out. The Brilliant Black looked okay on its own, but it wasn't very exciting color-wise. The flow was okay, too, until the pen was almost out of ink (flows much better on a full converter). So now I use Brilliant Black mixed with other colors of ink to use in the Lamy Safaris.

I purchased the Pelikan red (to use in my M800) and haven't been wowed. It was weak (like it was watered down) and (as best as I can describe it) dry. Noodlers and PR work better and there are so many more choices.