Hello -

Looking for some ink suggestions for a dry fine nib...

I have a beautiful Pilot Prera that I take to work with me everyday, but I find myself switch out of it mid-day everyday -- it writes smoothly, but a little on the dry side (no line skipping or anything). I guess I just like really wet nibs.

In the short few months I've owned this pen, I've bought a few bottles of ink. Each of them flows wonderfully in my other (broader and western) pens, but not in the Prera.

I have been successful with a couple of inks:
PR Midnight Blues
PR Plum

but not as successful in these:
Mont Blanc Violet, Racing Green, Bordeaux
Pelikan 4001 Violet
Waterman Blue-black, Blue
PR Naples Blue
Levenger Cobalt, Pinky, Always Greener, Blue Bahamas, Fireball

I'd like this pen to be my everyday business writer, both for note-taking and mark-ups.
I would appreciate any suggestions of a vibrant blue and a not-so-bright red for these purposes.
If you have an ink in mind, I'd love to know!

Thanks!
katia

I use Aurora black in my driest pens today.

I have heard that Private Reserve Tanzanite has a strong flow.

However, I will be interested to hear what others say as well.

I agree with your observation, my Prera is relatively dry, too and PR inks work well. Some ink come out really pale compared to my other pens. It's not blue or red, but I am currently using PR Avacado in my Ivory Prera. It looks like a very springy green

For red, have you tried PR Fiesta Red? I haven't tried it in my Prera, but it's a nice dark red.

To me Tanzanite is more purple than blue, but it does flow well. But coming out of EF nib, it can pass as blue. I've used it in my Pilot 78G and Prera at work for a while.

I did use Levenger Pinkly in one of my Prera with F nib. It actually flowed pretty good, and I didn't realize Prera writes dry until I filled it with another ink.

Levenger Amethyst flows very well, better than Tanzanite. But it's very purple.

My Prera and 78g's are all fairly dry writers too.

My Preras are also rather dry writers, but one advantage is that it makes them a little more usable on fussy paper

I use my fine nib one mostly for editing and margin notes, so I have bright colours in it. PR Blue Suede, Herbin Violette Pensee, and Herbin Cyclamen Rose all flowed well. I've also used PR Chocolat in it with good results.

i have tried and so far experienced no problems with my prera fine on Sailor inks..
not sure if color is an issue but i have tried with black, blue black, blue, brown..

Thank you for your suggestions everyone! The Sailor ink suggestion got me thinking...

Since Japanese nibs tend to be finer, and Pilot pens tend to be drier...
Do Japanese ink (Pilot, Sailor) work better on fine dry pens?

I use Pelikan black on an EF Esterbrook #9550, and it works just "fine".

I have only limited experience with this, but have noticed that Herbin inks tend to make my wet writers even wetter, so much so that I avoid them. Perhaps one of the Herbin colors might help your dry pen.

Todd

Pilot's (and Namiki's) own fountain pen inks, at least the Black, Blue and Blue-Black) flow well in my Pilot Knight Medium (medium flow) and Pilot Vanishing Point Fine (medium wet flow). Pilot Red flowed too well in my Sheaffer Prelude Fine (medium wet with new Sheaffer Skrip Blue and Red, wet with Pilot Red). I don't restrict myself to the same brand of ink and pen, but I do match pen and ink brands sometimes. I've never tried any Sailor inks.

Katia - My Prera medium has worked very well with Herbin Poussiere de Lune even when the pen sat for weeks without use. The only drawback is that the ink comes out a tad dark for the first few words but then settles into a nice shade of grayed purple. The Prera has also worked well with Diamine Sepia as well as Dark Brown though they are both on the pale side for business use.

Great recommendations!

I've ordered Sailor Blue for my new Sailor Morita. I will definitely put that one in the Prera to test.

I'm very excited to try out PR Fiesta Red and Pilot inks...
I'm sure Tanzanite will work very well (like Plum and the other dark PR's that i've tried), but I just don't like the color..

Thanks to Margana's previous recommendation, my Poussiere de Lune is on its way over to me! (I'm very excited about this color) Althought it is not exactly the color for business use... ummm...

Thanks everyone!
Katia

I think Sailor Blue is a great choice, though I haven't tried in Prera. I only have cartridges, but I was surprised by how dark it is coming out of my Morita Mini. It would be really interesting to see how it would look coming out of Prera

I don't have a Prera to test with, but I have a Pilot 78G fine point and the Noodler's Nikita (in the red 78G) is about perfect. It is a nice red line, very fine, matches the pen, is exactly what we wanted. The only problem is that we have a bottle of Dragon's Napalm (an oranger red) that isn't getting used. I have worse problems, though!

Sorry I jumped on this wagon late...I get super results in EF dry nibs with Diamine inks. A particular favorite is their WES Imperial Blue, a very formal and classy blue IMO with purple overtones. Although not superfast drying, no worse than any other popular inks.

I have not tried this, but I have read that you can do two things to improve ink flow in dry-writing pens:

1. add one drop of liquid dishwashing detergent to a bottle of ink (e.g., "Dawn" or "Joy")

2. add one drop of "InkSafe" per bottle of ink. This is available from Giovanni at Tryphon http://www.tryphon.it/catalogo.htm

(I have no relationship with Tryphon except as a satisfied customer).

I would love to hear from those of you who have tried either strategy.

Putting together this thread with the thread about saturated inks inspired me to dust off an ink that I'd sidelined and give it a go in my medium Prera. Most of my writing is in good quality notebooks and journals that I often must shut without allowing the ink more than a few seconds to dry. The restricted flow of the Prera works perfectly to lay down just enough ink to produce good color without leaving too much wetness. The more upright I hold the pen, the better I can control the flow but I expect a fine would work even better. Guess what just went on my wish list...

I use Noodler's Gulf Stream Blue for my dry writers because it is very free flowing. It's also a vibrant blue, and bulletproof (and an exclusive of Swisher Pens). It flows so freely that I can't use it in my Pelikan M200 with Binder XXF because the ink creates a little post-nasal-drip blob at the tip of the nib (sorry for the image).

Your question about Japanese inks is interesting. I just got some Sailor Jentle Blue-Black and it is a free flowing ink (with a certain amount of water resistance) -- nice and dark the line -- but I don't have enough experience with it to say anything very specific about its flow characteristics.

Doug

You might give Noodler's Eel Blue or their Polar Blue a try - I don't have any experience with the other eel/polar colors. Noodler's Eel Blue is too wet in my Pelikan 600 - a bit wet in the Lamy Safaris I have. Noodler's Polar Blue is also very wet in the Pelikan but is perfect in my Pilot Vanishing Point which tends to be on the dry side with most inks.

interesting ideas here

N E 1 tried either Noodlers Black or Legal Lapis in this pen?

I ordered one with a F nib, and Im curious to know if anyone has had experience with these inks in this pen.

Thanks,

D

I've had good luck with Noodler's Iraqi Indigo in my Pilot Prera.

(Thanks again, Taki!)

I've tried Noodler's Polar black in my Preras <M> and <F>, and neither one worked all that great, ink flow was erratic, often changing mid-stroke to run faster, then slow down and get a little dry. I switched to Pilot ink carts, and they work great, flow is good, line is consistent.

I haven't tried Aurora in them yet, but I've had good luck with it in other temperamental writers. My VP <F> has similar erraticity (is that a word? errratic-ness? ) with the Noodler's Polar black, but it wasn't a bad thing, it was always wet enough, it would just get extra wet in the loops of my cursive. I'm on carts for those, too.

good luck finding a good ink! Let us know what works for you!

Still waiting for my prera!!!! I paid express shipping and it's still not here on time!

Anyway, I would recommend Waterman Havana Brown.. it's very very free flowing in my pens.

I have a dry writing Rotring Core, so polar black is very stubborn after a few days on one refill. For a wetter pen polar black is fine regardless of how long its been since the last refill. Parker's Quink has a consistent flow for dry writers, just I'm not crazy about the color.

I don't own a Prera but I would hazard a guess that Pelikan 4001 Brilliant Black would do the trick. It tends to make my dry writing pens write wetter.