(Edited, thanks to information from 'saintsimon,' 9:17 p.m. UTC, Feb. 13, 2006.)
(Further edit: 3:38 a.m. UTC, Feb. 21, 2006: Belated thanks, M. Stuart, for the recommendation to use a wet-writing pen with this ink. I modified the "topic description" for this topic thread.)

This is an "iron gall" ink (an old or ancient formula for permanence, more so on parchment and animal skin than on paper, but still very water-resistant on paper).

I put a cartridge of it in my Lamy Safari with a medium nib, which has consistenly been medium in flow (on the wet side in my experience, but by consensus far from the wettest pen), and was surprised. I threw out the cartridge, flushed out the section, got the section as dry as possible and put another cartridge of the same color in. The result was the same.

Lamy Blue-Black goes onto any quality of paper in a gray color with only the tiniest hint of blue.
It doesn't lubricate the writing action.
It performs as well as Skrip Blue and Skrip Purple (Slovenian) on loose-fiber paper.
It dries quickly.
It shows some shade variation.
The dry color is a rather faint shade on all qualities of paper including Crane's 100% cotton "Kid Finish" (35 pound) and the FPN's own excellent notepad paper.
Running tap water over a many-hours-dry sample on cheap notepad paper proved the color water resistant; it became fainter but didn't run or spread into the wet paper.

Here are the previous comments I've found about Lamy Blue-Black:




I guess some people might like Lamy Blue-Black; they can enjoy it for me. At least the package of five cartridges was cheap. If you want my three remaining carts, PM me.

In my short trial
http://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/in...indpost&p=69236
I had the impression, that bottle and cartridges of the Lamy Blue-Black are the same, meaning they are both iron gall inks.

The difference you may have heard is about MB B-B, where the carts are not waterproof. They just look grey, maybe they should look like the bottle iron gall stuff on paper.

Thanks, saintsimon! I've updated the starting message.

Hi Steve

I have just purchased my first FP, a Lamy Studio and it came with some of the same cartridges. Not having any ink this is what I have used and I don't find it a very inspiring colour. What ink (non Cartridge) with more depth would work well in this pen?

Thanks

Michael

The Studio has the same basic nib design as the Safari and Al-Star. I don't know whether the Studio has the same feed and collector system, but I'm going to go out on a limb and suppose that it does. If that's true, and if you have the converter, then you have a pen that should play well with any fountain pen ink.

A Lamy section (which contains the feed and collector) holds a lot of ink, so flush it thoroughly when changing brands or colors of ink. By "thoroughly," I mean, "repeating until tissue paper pressed against the slit of the nib doesn't pick up any color." This doesn't take too many repetitions if you use a water squeeze bulb, or if you hold the section nib-down, fill the cartridge/converter seat with water and then use the power of exhaling.

If you want some Lamy cartridges to carry for so-called "emergency" backup, I'd recommend Lamy's
Black (one of the lighter blacks on the market, but I've never heard anyone call it illegible),
Violet (Lamy's best ink, available in cartridges only)
or Blue (only OK for me; the color and shade beat Parker Quink Washable Blue but lose to both Pelikan Royal Blue and Sheaffer Skrip Blue from Slovenia).

Enjoy!

I like Lamy blue/black quite a lot. It is a rather stingy ink, but the color is very good. I don't think it looks grey, but I also don't want my blue/black to just be dark blue (the way that Waterman and Quink "blue/blacks" are). I only use the Lamy in pretty wet writing pens, but as it turns out my latest, greatest (or at least, most expensive) pen -- a PFM V with a rather generous medium nib -- is such a gusher that Lamy blue/black is perfect in it. I've only used the bottled sort...and what cool bottles they are! They're shaped to make it easy for you to use up your ink, and there's coated blotting paper wrapped around the bottle for you to clean the end of your pen with. Don't need the blotting paper for a snorkel filler, though!

Thanks for that report! I'm glad you've found a way to enjoy this ink.

I agree that Lamy B-B from a truly wet-writing pen would look good. A drop of this ink spilled on paper or absorbed in tissue paper looks like the advertised color. The Safari at its factory specification just isn't wet enough, I guess, and I don't want to try to tweak it for only this one ink.

My three remaining cartridges are on their way to a good home.

I am not really sure this is entirely correct. What evidence is this based on? I have used this ink for a couple of years in my Pelikans and truly think this is a regular old blue-black ink, free-flowing and not iron gall. Can anyone offer more information? Thanks.

--Doug

"A regular old blue-black ink" is the iron gall kind. Newer ones that are not iron gall are the impostors.

Lamy blue-black is confirmed by many sources to be an iron gall ink. It behaves very differently from their other inks.

[/quote]"A regular old blue-black ink" is the iron gall kind. Newer ones that are not iron gall are the impostors.

Lamy blue-black is confirmed by many sources to be an iron gall ink. It behaves very differently from their other inks.
[/quote]
Can you show me these 'sources"?

OK, after a little research I found this:

From www.lamy.com

"In the Middle Ages the ferro-gallic ink was the mostly used ink with quills. The disadvantage of the ferruginous ink was that it aged and dried up in the bottle very quickly and was therefore not suitable for fountain pens. After new dyes appeared on the market which were water soluble and after further developments with synthetically water soluble dyes, ferro-gallic ink became less and less popular.

The common inks of today for fountain pens are pure colour inks made of water and dyes."

I kinda doubt Lamy is selling low pH corrosive iron gall ink made from tannic acid. The ink seems to be no different than the vintage Sheaffer Skrip, Parker Quink, Watermans, Carter's and others I use. It washes out easily and seems pretty harmless in my tests. I was only wondering where this info came from as I find it quite contrary what I have experienced. Time to buy some litmus papers, I guess!

--Doug

I have made a mistake back then , but soon found out about my error.

The "real" facts :
The Lamy Blue-Black in the bottle IS iron-gall ink, it behaves like that, changes colour while drying and afterwards, is waterproof after drying etc.
The Lamy blue-Black in the catrtridges is NOT iron-gall, it is just a regular ink with a disappointing colour. Iron-gall ink would soon oxidize inside plastic cartridges (which are not 100% airtight - carts dry out, after all) , and would become useless. That's why these inks are different.

Lamy, MB, Diamine (Registrar's ink), De Atramentis, Rohrer & Klingner and Standardgraph still sell iron-gall ink, be it corrosive or not.

Our chemistry experts here have explained extensively the chemistry of iron gall inks in some other threads.

I've warmed up to this grayish-blue and find it nearly impossible to wash off of paper - it doesn't even lose its top layer of ink to a wash. This is from the Lamy bottle, which apparently contains the iron gall version of this ink, and cartridges don't? Regardless, I've had good luck with its permanence, though it its vibrance isn't something to write home about.

Lamy blue-black iron gall ink in a medium nibbed Lamy Safari - it's an excellent combination! I'm just trying it out now. Lots of feed ink provides a thick, dark line with enough shading to let you know it's a fountain pen. The medium nib is too thick and generous for my denser inks like PR, but is about perfect with this blue-black, even right off the nib! And of course it darkens over time to develop its full character. From my quick pre-fill inspection, the only metal observed in contact with the ink is the nib itself, so given the ready availability of Lamy nibs, this pen should make a happy, inexpensive and reliable vessel for the iron gall ink. Interestingly, I can see the ink darken in the first couple minutes after touching paper, seeming bluer at first before darkening to its final color.

Same results here. I use mine in a Lamy Vista medium. When I first purchased this ink, I hated it. But I went back to it and love the shading and fountain pen-iness of the lines. And it's nice to have some non-Noodley permanence.

FWIW, my favorite ink is Mont Blanc racing green, which appears to have some water resistance...

I see you're a fellow Minneapolis penizen - what shops do you haunt?

Mainly Art Materials on Lyndale Ave S. and Wet Paint in St. Paul on Grand Ave. I've never been to Ink but hear it's a pretty fun visit.

Ink is a lot of fun! Barry Rubin is exceedingly accommodating, helpful, and the collection of pens is just incredible. He also carries Noodler's inks (and others, too)...I've been there a couple of times and it's a lot of fun. Great view of the lakes, too...