Hi. I expect this question has been asked before,but for the owners of this pen which ink best suits this pen? I thought Noodlers Walnut but which is your current favourite and why?

I finally bought one after much thought and I cannot wait for it's arrival from a fellow member. It has a fine nib so should be perfect.

Many thanks to all,

Ronin

Well, I have only tried two in mine, it is a recent acquisition. J. Herbin Poussiere de Lune was very nice but not so practical. Waterman's Blue-Black is also well behaved and I'm starting to like the color a lot. I have a medium nib and (unsurprisingly ) it occasionally skips on down strokes, this has been true for both inks. I also think both of these inks look better with the medium nib than they do with my finer nibbed pens, particularly the Blue-Black.

I'm thinking this pen would be neat with a sort of lime or chartreuse ink, but I haven't looked into any such colors.

That pen goes really well with Omas brown, if you like monochrome.

I don't know how I'd feel writing in lime green from a brown pen...

For my White 400: Sailor Brown, Stipula Verde Muschiato, Rohrer & Klingner Alt-Goldgrün, J. Herbin Vert Olive or Diamine Emerald.

For my Brown 400: Noodler's Apache Sunset.



Edit: Clarified models.

Of the colours I have tried in my own pen I find Pelikans own Brilliant Brown suits it well, I too have a fine nib and this ink flows well and smoothly, it looks good too despite my poor handwriting. Just for fun I tried Pelikans Brilliant Green, its an interesting colour and again flows beautifully but not sure it really suits the pen. I have now gone back to the Brilliant Brown, it really is a pleasant ink to use with this pen.

Q

I've tried multiple. The most striking one was Saquaro (sp) Wine though. FPN Galileo Manuscript brown in a Pelikan 400 Brown Tortoiseshell.

I'm using Aurora Blue in mine. SWEET!

Regarding the skip on down strokes, mine did too. Upon checking the nib with a loupe, I observed that the tines were misaligned vertically. After aligning them and smoothing the nib by doodling on brown grocery bag paper, it writes as well as it looks.

Regarding the quality of the penmanship, I'm still practicing an everyday italic hand.

FPN's Galileo Brown and PR Copperburst

I didn't even think to wonder if we were talking about the white or brown one. The barrel in the white M400 is very green, so there you go.

I get awfully confused by traditional brown 400s:

From nibs.com, described as M400, brown, less trim
From richardspens.com, also described as M400, brown?
From thepenguinpen.com, a vintage 400, black or brown?
same source as above, an M400, brown

Aaaahh? Which is what and what is which?

I agree.....the Galileo Brown looks great flowing out of it.....sort of an extension of the pen! Copperburst is great too.....and, when I run out of one, I replace with the other, and this produces a nice variation of both.

I have my White Tortoise filled with Waterman Havana at the moment.

nice thread - I am waiting for my white tortoise and my sailor brown ink to arrive...
*crosses fingers

hopefully tmw.. then i can try out!

I use Noodler's Beaver in my White Tortoise.

Just to help out on this post. I believe the one from Richard as well as the last one are the same pen. I have it and I think the 2nd one is just shinier in the pictures.

As well, I'd be careful about hot linking from someone else's site. Some owners of the sites (in general I mean, not any specific one you hot linked from that I know of) do not like people doing that.

Kiolden wrote:

" ... I have a medium nib and (unsurprisingly ) it occasionally skips on down strokes, this has been true for both inks. ... "

A Pelikan is far too good a writing instrument to have a persistent problem like that. I would consider sending it to a nib meister for tuning. Your Pel should be one of your most reliable, if not the most reliable, and fun writers!

I have a tortoise Pel M-400, but mine is decades old. It is the first FP I bought with my own money when I was a young NCO stationed in Germany many moons ago. Back in those days, I made out with plain ol' blue and black. Later I discovered Pelikan's Brilliant Brown and I have used that for years. I alternate with Herbin Vert Olive, which is my favorite green.

J Herbin "Cafe des iles" (Coffee Brown) at the moment. Brown is one of my favorite ink colors and I'm enjoying this version now.

I have my White Tortoise filled with a mix of Herbin Vert Olive and Gris Nuage.

Don't have a white tortoise, but my 400 NN tortoise writes with Pelikan brown.
The coppery touch of the ink goes well with the coppery tones of the Stresemann

The vintage 400 tortoise has my favourite blue, Visconti blue.
Ant the M 400 tortoise writes with Sailor blue.