First off, I'm not trying to re-open the never-ending Quink black flow debate. Please don't let that hi-jack this thread!

Since my return to fountain pens over the last few months I've been using up some old Super-Quink (permanent black) that I had from my school days (probably early 1980's) . It works great in my Pelikan M805 and I'm very happy with it. However, I seem to be getting through it quickly and my stock was running low (less than half a bottle) so, given the fuss over modern black Quink, I searched and bought an old bottle from EBay. This bottle also contains Solv-X, has almost identical packaging, but is just called Quink (no Super-) and doesn't mention "permanent" on the packaging at all.

Is Super-Quink different from Quink in any way other than the labeling on the box?

Is it possible this new (to me) bottle isn't permanent black, but washable? I recall that washable black wasn't available when I was at school, so was wondering if what I had was permanent or not (I haven't tried it yet).

Apologies if this question has been asked before - I couldn't find anything covering this specific point through the search.

I've just located and bought a full 20oz bottle of permanent black Super-Quink which should keep me going for the foreseeable future so I'm wondering what to do with the non-Super Quink - whether to use it or pass it on.

Thanks,
Mark.

I would not call my self authority - but the "super" means that it is super quickly drying ink.

When parker developed it, they saw that they came up with something revolutionary. So revolutionary that there was no fountain pen that could take the ink... So they developed 51's with special feed and hooded nib...

Ergo your super-quink should not be all that good for your pelikan as it may clog it. But perhaps modern pelikans have feeds that can take the ink - but perhaps others should commenet on this point who have tried the combination...

Regards Zed

There's about 15PPM of Kryptonite in it. The "Super-" is actually a warning against use by or near inhabitants of Kandor or the Fortress of Solitude.

The non super ink should go to clerks in Kent

Aren't you are talking about Parker "Superchrome" and "51" inks, which are corrosive?

Sorry, I actually don't know what the difference is.

For the sake of clarity, I'm definitely not talking about Parker "51" Ink or SuperChrome. As far as I can see from bottle images on the web these were very clearly marked as such. Neither of the bottles/boxes I have contain any mention of "51" or SuperChrome.

I'm just inquiring about the difference between normal Quink and Super-Quink. I strongly suspect it's just a branding thing but would like someone more knowledgeable than me to comment.

There's no evidence of any glowing green crystals in either bottle, so I'm pretty sure it's not due to differences in Kryptonite content......

The Parker Marketing Department?

Super-Quink (vintage) is with solv-x and "permanent" mine is a blue-black and I use it with my Pelikan M400 witout any problems. Parker Quink (modern) is washable and others said that it is a safe ink to use with any fountain pen.

Super-Quink Blue-Black (vintage) = lighter colour tone and more bluish than black.

Quink (modern) = I haven't tried the Blue-Black yet but I've tried the black ink years ago and for me it's a standard black a bit grayish and tedious to clean when left in a pen when dried out.

Both Quinks are on the drier side of inks.

For your reference view this site. This is the ink that I am using. http://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/in...mp;#entry654792

Hope this helps and doesn't complicate things.

I didn't suspect that you are talking about 51 Ink or Superchrome, I though that Zed was confused in his description. The properties that he lists are characteristic of the 51 and Superchrome inks, which are harmful to fountain pens. I don't know of any such problems with Super-Quink.

Both of my bottles contain Solv-X but one is labeled as Quink, and the other as Super-Quink. As a result I don't think that the Super- prefix comes with the addition of Solv-X.


Neither bottle is "modern", apart from the Super prefix and the mention of permanent on the Super-Quink the packaging is effectively identical.


The packaging on mine are similar, but I think slightly newer. I'll try to take/post some pictures tonight if I get a chance.

I understood that you understood and was only seeking to avoid confusion for any future readers.

Cheers,
Mark.

As far as I know Super-Quink is Quink - the "Super" was primarily a marketing tactic. Other than normal variation that might occur over the years with the modification of formulas, they are pretty much the same thing.

It would be interesting to see the actual time-frame and colors available for Super Quink.

Incidentally, "Vintage" Quink containes Solv-X, but "vintage" is relative. I have a bottle of black Quink I bought after I got out of college in 1991, and it contains solv-x, so it was used up until at least the last 20 years.

John

I, too, would be interested in knowing if there is any difference between "Super Quink" and standard "Quink". I am referring here to the inks that were available in the '80s and '90s, that included Solv-X.

I came across it because when HP's first inkjet printers (Deskjet/Deskwriter) came out, they had a 300 DPI black cartridge that could be refilled with Parker Super Quink Black (for a cost of about 50 cents). The Internet instructions at the time said that you had to use Super Quink, not normal Quink. I don't know why, but the implication was that there was some difference between the two.

Since I returned to the fountain pen fold, I have been looking for some of the old Super Quink, but haven't found it yet. I have several bottles of normal Quink with Solv-X from the 80s/90s, but no Super Quink.

Aha, my apologies.

At long last I got round to uploading my image of the various Quink bottles.

While the Quink is in very similar packaging to the Super-Quink, it's not as similar as I remembered. I think the Quink is newer than the SuperQuink, which would probably destroy the marketing argument. Both clearly have Solv-X, although the normal Quink packaging shows a registered trademark symbol for the Solv-X, which agains leads me to think that the Super-Quink is older.

Surely there's someone out here who knows what makes Quink Super?

Click to view attachment

I see what you did there

I am pretty sure it's all marketing. Super Quink did not exist before Superchrome. Before Superchrome came around, it was just Quink. As you know, Superchrome has warnings about which pens you can use it with (the P51 and P21). Super Quink does not have those warnings. In fact, the boxes state it is, "the ink that's best for all pens", meaning it was intended for use with any pen a consumer might own.

I don't think that the marketing department wanted to sell "ordinary" Quink after selling Superchrome, so they just added a "Super" onto Quink, giving us Super Quink! I'm also wondering if it was a way to tell consumers that the colors of Super Quink were essentially the same as Superchrome and very different from ordinary "old" Quink?

I recently came across a bottle of permanent blue-black Super Quink, same packaging as the bottle in the photo above. Tried it out in a few pens...the ink has evaporated a fair bit so it looks far more black than a blue-black though a really wet writer will show up some traces of blue. So far so good...though I must say that it does have a rather string chemical odour.

Just resurrecting this old thread, because I think I finally came across a definitive answer on the difference between Super Quink and Quink, both with Solv-X.

Apparently the difference is the word "Super" on the box --

From this thread on another BBS