Hi,

I love my Cross pen and used it every day until I accidentally spilt a little water on my desk. The ink from the pen ran very badly on some documents that were only lightly splashed and I have since had to switch to a cheap Parker Vector for everyday use as the ink is permanent. I would like to know if anyone can recommend a good permanent ink that is safe to use with this pen?

Thanks,

Matt

Noodlers Eternal Black

If you're happy with the Quink in the Vector, you can certainly use it in Cross pens.

Cross Black (which is Pelikan Black) is a tiny bit water-resistant.

J Herbin Perle Noire, Dupont Black and Levenger Raven Black are a tiny bit more water-resistant than Pelikan/Cross Black

Namiki/Pilot Black (which requires good paper) is a lighter black that is a little more water-resistant than those.

Namiki/Pilot Blue performs excellently on almost any paper, and it is the most water-resistant of the non-Noodler's, non-iron-gall inks for fountain pens (but not resistant to stain removers, good news for clothes).

Most waterproof colors from Noodler's should work well in Cross pens.

This is an interesting ranking of waterproof qualities. Where would Pilot Blue Black fit into this list?

Pilot Blue-Black would fit between Pilot Blue and Pilot Blue-Black on that list. The brand's blue-black appears to be a mix of the brand's black and blue. I seemed to get the same color for a few lines of writing while some of the brand's blue (from a cartridge) was gradually chasing the brand's black out of the feed-and-comb. During my water soaking tests of these inks after they dried on paper, the blue resisted water fairly well, the blue-black (the real thing, from the brand's cartridge) put more black than blue into the water, and the black resisted water the least of the three. Even the black is good enough for addressing envelopes, though.

Thanks, Steve. This is very helpful. In other posts, several folk have mentioned that Sailor black, blue black, and blue inks are more waterproof than most European inks. Seems like Japanese inks, in general, are fairly waterproof.

I have used Noodler's Bullet-proof line exclusively in my Cross (& other) pens for about 6 months now. If you don't mind a bit of nib creep, my opinion is that these are the best inks you could ask for- Beautiful colors, neutral PH, & thus far- fraud proof.

That said, my new favorite color is Noodler's Baystate Blue. It is touted as waterproof, but it is not rated "Bullet-proof", so it MAY be removed with bleach, ammonia, or some other solvent. The color is gorgeous & striking, & I have not had any nib creep in either of the pens that I currently have loaded with it (Century II Med & Pilot Knight Med). I have heard of staining in some pens with this ink, but the converter in my Cen.II comes out clean.

Mattbod,

I have used almost every ink I have in my Cross pens at one time or another and all have worked well. If you spend hours here searching for information on water resistance, have no worries that the ink will not work in your pen. The ink reviews section is a good place to start, but certain inks (Noodlers bullet-proof especially) are very water resistant, others are less so and some wash away at the first hint of dampness.

The only thing to watch out for is that you use fountain pen ink (not calligraphy or drawing ink or indian ink and these can seriously clog a pen) and that if you use iron gall ink (some Montblank blue-black permanent and Registrars Ink are this type), you ought to flush your pen frequently (in between each fill or three).

Enjoy the never-ending search for the right ink for your pen, paper, mood etc.

Chris

I am using Noodler's Luxury Blue. No problems yet.