Hey all!

I have 3 different types of Vintage ink at my disposal and wanted to know which was the best for lever-fill fountain pens (Esties mostly).

I have:

Parker's Quink Permanent Blue-Black

Pelikan 4001 Brilliant Black

Sheaffer's Skrip Permanent Blue-black

Many thanks for your opinions

-penariffic

I believe Quink, even vintage, was designed to be gentle and non-corrosive, and have good lubrication properties. Skrip B-B would be a close second. Pelikan Black has been noted as having a low pH (or is it high pH, can't remember). Either way, I'd say:

1) Quink
2) Skrip
3) Pelikan

(this topic may be moved to "inky thoughts," as it is not a review)

Those inks are usually ok even after decades. Check for mold, though!

Best,
Summer

Interesting. So I will give Quink a try

Oh, sorry about that. I guess since I was looking for a brief 'review' of inks that is likely why I chose this forum

No mold Although, a few bits of rust from the cap have fallen into the ink. The odor of the ink is also quite strong.

Larry Van Horn who rebuilds pens likes Sheaffer's Skrip in the oldies.

Hi
No expert here.
I only use vintage inks. I suggest you run it through a piece of cheescloth or the like.
It should catch any chunks.

Most of the inks I have, have a strong fragrance to them. I like that better than odor :-)

Steve

LOL! Yes....Fragrance is a much better word Funny thing is...its not all that bad a smell.

I don't know the history of the blue-black inks made by Sheaffer and Parker. "Real" blue-black ink (called iron gall ink) is a completely different thing from ordinary inks, and deteriorates badly over time, as well as being naturally corrosive, so watch out if you get that. (Montblanc still makes this kind of blue-black ink. All their other inks are what we might call "normal" inks.)

It's entirely possible that these old Parker and Sheaffer products are not "real" blue-black, but simply ordinary ink made to mimic that colour. (Modern Parker and Sheaffer blue-blacks are exactly this - ordinary ink in a sort of blackish-bluish colour.) If that's the case, then go ahead and use them - they ought to be excellent. If they have a chemical smell, that's the mold prevention compound. It was very effective, but they're not allowed to use it anymore because it causes cancer in high doses or something like that.

If the ink has a moldy smell, or looks wrong, then don't use it.

Pelikan 4001 black was always a safe ink, and again as long as it looks good and doesn't smell moldy, go ahead.

The Sheaffer Blue Black is sort of a faded greenish color...like watered down black ink. IT has a chemical smell but its very faint. Its what I have been using with my vintage pens.

The Quink...I have only ever dipped a dip pen in to test it. Its "fragrance" is strong but there is no mold. The Color is more blue than black and its very vibrant.

The Pelikan is perfect. My only complaint is that it isn't waterproof. One drop of water and it will smear and smudge

I'm a fan of Quink.

I think modern Visconti black would be perfect for your needs, but I'm not sure if you want to use vintage inks exclusively.

I use Pelikan Black with my Estie dip-less pen and 407 well; it has been in continuous use for months and has not given me any trouble at all. I really like Pelikan Black with the Esterbrook 9550 nib.

As for Skrip and Quink, they're also fine, first-rate inks. I only use new bottles of ink, though.

Where can you get new bottles? Pelikan is so darn expensive. A tiny little 4 oz bottle (which might fill a pen once or twice) is nearly 7 bucks! 0___0

Are we talking ounces or millilitres, here? A 4 oz bottle is about 120 mls. Most pens, depending on the design, will take from 1 ml up to maybe 5 mls to fill.
And I couldn't find any 4 oz bottles of Pelikan ink. I can find 1 and 2 oz bottles (30 and 60 mls). As well, Pendemonium have 250 ml and 1 litre bottles available.

It is always much cheaper to buy quality ink in bottles. Generally, quality ink in cartridges (i.e. Parker, Sheaffer etc) costs about the same per ml as Chanel No 5 eau de cologne.

I admit I might be wrong about the actual fluid oz, I can tell you the bottle is about 1 inch in complete diameter. I have a bottle of 60-70's 4001 Brilliant black but I can't find a bottle vintage or not without having to pay 30 bucks.

I guess for now I wouldn't mind having the cheapest most viable ink for the money. If you wouldn't mind providing a link.