Hey guys,

I was contemplating on which waterman ink I should buy. I'm already set on florida blue and black, but not sure whether I should buy blue-black or violet, or any other waterman ink. Or even perhaps, if you guys could recommend another brank of inks that would be nice as well. I'm looking for good flow, and quick drying inks. Thanks

Brian

Waterman's "Havana Brown" is one of the standard inks by which all other browns are judged, and it's easy on your pen.

I heard that Havana Brown though starts to clump up if left inside the pen for too long. And that it starts to separate into green and pink colors. This however is not what I want.

I second the recommendation of Waterman Havana. I also like Waterman Red.

Personally my favorite Waterman ink is their Blue Black. If you are thinking of a purple, I just tried Mont Blanc Violet today and I love it.

Eventually you will have each of them anyway, but my vote would be for either South Seas Blue (pretty turquoise) or Havana Brown.

Thanks guys I'll take everything into consideration when I purchase my inks.

Depends on your colour preferences. The only Waterman colour that's my favorite of its type is Havana, which I would take over all other browns I've tried if I had to pick just one; I love the purplish/pink/red undertones, it shades very nicely, dries pretty fast. I've not had clogging problems with it.

As for the rest, decades ago their blue-black set the standard (and as recently as the 90s it was still a good, deep colour), but now it's a rather watery teal (quite a nice colour in its way, I suppose, but certainly not blue-black). Florida Blue is a fairly nice deep blue with a dash of purple, but not really distinctive - it looks like lots of other big-label blue inks; unless it's used in a really wet nib I think it looks rather boring. It can, however, serve as a good base for mixing (add a little Havana and you get a nice, dark, rich blue-black, for instance). Their green used to be my favorite, in large part because of the high blue content, but I understand the more recent bottles look rather insipid (I'm still using a bottle I bought 10 years ago). Their red is one of the better big label true reds out there (though it's neither quite bright enough for when I want a really loud, bright red, nor deep/rich enough to do any "normal" writing with). Their purple is too bright for my taste (adding Havana or black might help). But these inks all perform well, don't stain badly and are easy to flush out of a pen, and they mix well: if you like the idea of mixing inks, a collection of Waterman inks can yield very nice results - it's even possible to rescue blue-black (I came up with a very nice colour by adding some red). (I don't like black ink, except for mixing, and don't like bright, pale turquoise, so I won't comment on theirs.)

Simon

Waterman makes 8 colors of ink:

Black - many members of FPN think it is not dark enough.

Florida Blue - the most universally loved Waterman ink. Buy this ink first.

Blue Black - some FPN members love this ink, but others (including me) hate it, because it fades and because it dries to a light green color.

South Seas Blue - if you like turquoise, get this ink. I don't like turquoise, so I gave my bottle away.

Havana Brown - one of Waterman's best inks, with great color and wonderful performance.

Red - as reds go, this is a good one, especially for editing.

Green - a truly awful green, more of a blue-green.

Purple - as purples go, this one is the best of the lot. I personally don't use purple ink, so I gave my bottle away.

I use Florida Blue as my default ink -- the first ink to go into any new pen -- and Havana Brown as my weekend ink, and as an ink for any brown colored pens. I use the Red in a cheap Lamy Safari that I use exclusively for editing documents. I keep Black on hand as a reliable, if unspectacular, black ink. I no longer bother with Blue Black, South Seas Blue, Purple, or Green.

Thanks everone, I do intend to mix my inks so hearing that they mix well is a big bonus for me. As for ink quality, how do the inks preform flow and drying wise?

Waterman inks flow well and dry quickly.

I completely agree.

This is really helpful.

I will now consider Waterman Havana brown. How does it compare to Visconti Sepia in terms of ink flow?
Visconti looks great but they are too expensive at 15 a pop.
Thanks.

I own both inks. In my opinion, they flow about the same. I prefer the color of Havana Brown.

you guys definitely convinced me to buy havana brown, but what do you guys say to this incident?

http://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/in...ic=54202&hl


And also, what ratio or parts should be ideal when mixing havana brown with florida blue or violet as it seems many people her are doing that?
Thanks.

That's exactly what is worrying me. I almost went ahead to make the purchase today! I had another posting requesting a nice business color that's not black or blue, and got the response that brown is the one to go. Now I might just have to stick w/ my blue and black. Perhaps blueblack!

Is the first time hear of a Problem with Havana brown, but is anybody else has had this experience, please let us know. I use it, and so far, have not noticed this issue, but have not tried to have it in an unused pen for two weeks. So, maybe a particular batch of the ink has this problem? Or all of it? May have been a chemical reaction with the previous inks in the FP? Or even with the converter?
Hum... interesting.

I have been using Havana Brown for three years, using bottles purchased from different retailers at different times. I have never had even a hint of the problem described above. I will keep buying Havana Brown.