I love the color of PR Sherwood Green, but man oh man, does it smear. I was at work today taking notes in my Day Timer, closed the book at lunch, and was shocked to what I came back to. Everything was smeared. This hasn't happened when I used Waterman, or Pelikan ink. Does all Private Reserve inks smear? Or just certain brands. I also have PR DC Supershow Blue, haven't used it much, but am I going to experience the same thing with that?

I would like a non-smear dark green ink. Any suggestions?

Thanks,

Bob

some people call Sherwood Green "Smearwood Green". DC blue can smear if it's been concentrated in the pen a while or if it is in a wet writer on slick paper.

my favorite dark green is no longer manufactured.

Consider a Swisher's green or Noodler's. Squeteague is a blueish-green but quite dark and i've not had any trouble with it smearing as yet.

Bob, also consider Diamine Umber. Review HERE I've been using it for a good few weeks now, and no smearing problems at all.

P.S. I find DC Blue tends to smear in anything other than the dryest of writers.

and look at the Diamine greens in general - thus far all the Diamine inks I've tried have been fairly fast-drying and don't leave any sort of residue on top of the paper. I'm really growing fond of these inks.

I don't remember who it was, but one of us had luck remedying this problem with PR Plum by diluting it halfway with water. If I remember correctly, the color was not affected, but the smear factor was eliminated. Am I imagining this thread? I can't find it..

Nope, you're not imagining things...

http://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/in...?showtopic=8055

Though I can't find the post in which Elaine showed the color of neat vs. diluted Plum but it was pretty convincing for me to consider diluting some of my more problematic inks.

Doesn't an ink only smear if it isn't dry?

Nope - unfortunately it isn't that simple.

Some inks that are very saturated with dye and don't have the penetrating qualities of other inks will dry and leave dye particles on top of the paper. These particles smear regardless of how long the ink has been dried.

I have used Sherwood and several other inks that others don't like because of smearing problems. And have had very few problems - usually on things like envelopes or coated papers. I think you can defeat some of these problems by making sure the pen is used daily so as not to let the ink condense a great deal in the feed and or by using these inks on more absorbant papers. I've come away from Clairefontaine for example because while it is FP friendly and wonderfully smooth and doesn't have much if any show-through... it also takes longer for my inks to dry and tends to let some very saturated inks smear.

But i think it's perfectly valid to dilute an ink if it's giving you trouble - just do so in small quantities so you don't ruin a significant amount of otherwise good ink.

Candidates in my collection - Squeteague - it's one of my favorites but as time wears on it's getting darker. So i need to use it up or try diluting it slightly.

I have had no trouble with Sherwood green smearing. I use it mainly for writing letters on Crane's 100% cotton papers or the G. Lalo stationery. I do give the ink a few moments to set before I fold the letter. Also, I address envelopes first, then write the letter, and then "treat" the address with candle wax or microglaze to keep it water resistant thru the mail system. I have not had a smearing problem when I have waited 15-20 minutes before I apply the waterproofing. It hasn't smeared in the cheap lesson plan book I use either. I wonder why I am not having smearing issues when so many others are? Just what are all the variables that can cause smearing....? Just wondering...

Do you just use tap water or do you use distilled water? In some places there's a lot more than water in the water. I should think that in some cases at least the chlorine in the water could have an effect on the ink.

I've wondered if I could make some good enough distilled water just using a glass pot with a lid, get the water boiling and then periodically decant the condensate on the lid into some clean container. Might take a long time to get much distilled water out of that process though. I know that there exists glassware normally seen in chem labs that will doe this pretty effeciently, but I don't know that I'm ready to go that far in order to dilute my inks just yet. But I do think about it.

Jugs of distilled water are readily and inexpensively available in grocery stores and pharmacies...at least here in North America. Not sure where you are from.

i think there's a few that I touched on in my post -

1) what sort of paper is being used
2) is the pen sitting for several days between use such that dye grows more concentrated in the nib and therefore is deposited on the top of the paper
3) batch differences
4) wet writing pens or dry? A dry writer would reduce the risk of smearing, a wet writer will, of course, deposit more ink thus more dye particles.

like you, i've not had much trouble with it. Crane 100% is very absorbant paper and so are many cheaper papers. Envelopes like the inexpensive business envelopes from the local office supply tend to be coated and don't absorb inks well.

This is one reason I've grown fond of the Black-and-red papers - they aren't as smooth as the pricier stuff, but your ink doesn't feather or bleed but it doesn't smear either. I'm seeing Clairfontaine as lovely for some things - but not practical for my daily use if I'm using more saturated inks.

Another one that people often grouse about is Levenger Cobalt. I *never* had any problem with that ink but that was in direct conflict with an acquaintence who claimed he never used it that it didn't smear.

my feeling, if you like it and it works for you, then don't worry about it and if others try it and don't like it, then you might get a bottle cheap on the MarketPlace.

I had dayrunner pages that I wrote on with Sherwood and 3 years later it would still smear!

K

[QUOTEq]
WOW! That is some serious smearing!! I have the Sherwood green in a cheap F-nib Sheaffer caligraphy pen. Maybe the low-classness of my pen has something to do with it NOT smearing. Maybe its the higher-class pens than lay down the ink in smearable fashion.

Sorry that the quote didn't quote. Obviously I have no idea what I am doing!