I'm returning to FPs after years of not using them. I was in the pen store today and asked about inks for my newly dusted-off pens. The clerk said Parker Quink contained some kind of oil and should never be used in non-Parker pens. She also said you should never use non-Parker ink in a Parker pen. Is this right?

I'm pretty sure this woman was not the chief pen expert at the store (which sells other items), so I wondered whether she really knew what she was talking about. THANKS.

-Bob

I don't know if it's true but it will be more than interesting to know... it will be the first time a manufacturer reduces its market to its own products, and right now I cannot imagine any way of doing this, actually. Oil? I don't think so.

Sounds bogus to me. Seems to me a number of people on this forum use Quink in all kinds of pens and use all kinds of ink in Parker pens.

This sales person knew as much about ink as she no doubt knows about particle physics. Quink used to advertize that it contained "Solv-Ex", a chemical additive that cleaned as you wrote, similar to MB's "C-21". I guess most companies have one. There is no oil in Quink, and colors other than black have few issues. Quink black has been known to have flow problems in some pens. Check with Richard Binder if you are unsure what to use, but Quink washable blue and blue-black can be used in any pen, modern or vintage, as far as my experience goes.

Companies that make pens and inks like to try to direct you to use their inks with claims of special formulations. It's not utter fabrication, as they do vary, but the variation is well to one side of Mr. Decimal, and for the most part the regular pen user won't notice a vast difference between Waterman's, Skrip, and Quink, and it certainly won't upset the pen too badly.

I have used Parker Quink ink (Black, Blue-Black and Permanent Blue, both with Solv-X and without) in Parker and non-Parker pens with no problems when the pens are being used.

I have used non Parker inks (Skrip and Private Reserve) in Parker and non-Parker pens with no problems when the pens are used.

The only problems I have had is when a pen has been allowed to dry out. In those cases, a good soak with water overnight has been able to clean the pens up.

I used Parker Blue-Black in a Chinese Parker 51 clone (Dragon Brand, not Hero) for six years during High School. I don't remember ever having to flush and clean it, even after the long summer holiday break.

Think like a manufacturer.

If you say "Only use our inks" you are clear. If you say "Any ink is fine" you will have pens returned clogged with india ink.

They are just covering themselves.

(Just my nickel's worth..)

I do tend to forget that a large section of the human population is kinda stoopid. That's a darn good point.

Quink works fine for me for years. No problems so far (except with black ink that dries some pens). Same with lots of other inks like Lamy or Pelikan and lately Diamine or Rohrer & Klingner.

Pen companies tend to advise to use their own ink exclusively but any ink made for fountainpens may work well. Simply find out which ink works best with your pen. Different pens work better with different inks.

I've used Parker Quink in Waterman, Esterbrook and Sheaffer pens with no problems. As with any other ink, I always flush my pens and let them air dry for 24 hours before refilling.

Thanks for the replies, folks. I was kind of thinking the same things.
-Bob

One more bit to remember; Parker's marketing for the "51" included the advice to use Parker Superchrome ink in the "51" but not in other pens as the "51" was made to handle the ink. It turned out that Superchrome ink wasn't good to use in any fountain pens.

This supports the suggestion above that any of the "only use our ink" talk is marketing driven; very similar to the "never use old ink" advice from some folks behind the pen counter. It serves two purposes - helps reduce any returns from using non water based ink and increases sales of the particular brand.

I'm SURE I posted in this thread...where did my post go???

I was told by the sales person in The Pen Shop in London that you can use any ink in a pen BUT if you use anything other than Parker ink in a Parker pen you will invalidate the warranty. Not sure if this is true or not

It seems that my post has gone AWOL, I shall have to retype it.

The basics of the matter are thus: You may use ANY fountain pen ink in ANY fountain pen without ANY (or almost any) fear of creating some sort of damage. The only thing that's really different is the makeup of the ink, the colour and the brand-name (and in some cases, the price). It's still fountain pen ink, no matter how it's presented. So use it as it's meant to.

Parker ink may be used in Waterman fountain pens, and Waterman in Sheaffer, Sheaffer Skrip in Montblanc and Montblanc in a Pelikan. There's no fear of anything happening.

The "Don't use anything but *X* brand ink in *X* brand pen" is purely for marketing purposes. The same thing happened to me when I bought my Montblanc and a bottle of Montblanc ink. The person who sold them to me said the exact same thing.

"You should only use Montblanc ink in Montblanc pens."

Ah-hah. Thankyou, sir.

When I ASKED HIM WHY...he couldn't even give me a straight answer.

So you can forget about this stuff, the only thing which could possibly go wrong is if it voids the warranty, and how the heck they're going to find THAT out, I don't know. I doubt every single pen which they repair undergoes an ink-composition test first.

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Edited: Sloppy writing...