Kung Te-Cheng Opinions?

[Dark Side]

Finally got around to filling two pens from the sample of KTC I got from Goulet Pens. What an amazing color! I put it in my Studio with 1.1 italic nib and my fine nib Vista. I have to say, I prefer it with the round nib but it's a beautiful color either way. I definitely see more purple in it than I thought I would which is perfect because I'm not a huge blue ink fan (though I do have some exceptions like Ottoman Azure, what a gorgeous color!). Will definitely be picking up a bottle of this, it may be the last purple-blue ink I ever need to order (at 4.5oz it better be)!

 

A question on cleaning KTC, is an ammonia and water mix flushed through the pen sufficient enough to clean it out or is it recommended to take the pen completely apart and scrub it? I'm curious because I would love to use this ink in my Lamy 2000 but don't want to have to take the pen apart every time I switch from KTC to another ink.

[Yoda4561]

Finally got around to filling two pens from the sample of KTC I got from Goulet Pens. What an amazing color! I put it in my Studio with 1.1 italic nib and my fine nib Vista. I have to say, I prefer it with the round nib but it's a beautiful color either way. I definitely see more purple in it than I thought I would which is perfect because I'm not a huge blue ink fan (though I do have some exceptions like Ottoman Azure, what a gorgeous color!). Will definitely be picking up a bottle of this, it may be the last purple-blue ink I ever need to order (at 4.5oz it better be)!

 

A question on cleaning KTC, is an ammonia and water mix flushed through the pen sufficient enough to clean it out or is it recommended to take the pen completely apart and scrub it? I'm curious because I would love to use this ink in my Lamy 2000 but don't want to have to take the pen apart every time I switch from KTC to another ink.

 

 

Ammonia and water will dissolve close to 100% of it with a brief soak (minute or two) then a couple fills, and maybe shaking up a half filled pen to speed the process up.

[Dark Side]

 

Ammonia and water will dissolve close to 100% of it with a brief soak (minute or two) then a couple fills, and maybe shaking up a half filled pen to speed the process up.

 

Perfect! Thanks so much for the quick reply.

[Aberwacky]

My first post here. . .

 

I'm using KTC in several pens for different uses, and am enjoying it. I'm using it for sketching and general writing.

 

For sketching and watercolor, at the moment, I have it in the supplied brush pen (I love the Kuretake small waterbrushes) , as well as a Hero M86 Calligraphy pen (with the bent nib). I really like this ink--especially diluted a bit (about 1:1) in the brush pen and in the M86. Nice for sketching, and I love how waterproof it is, even diluted. The M86 is a gusher of a pen, and the full-strength KTC helps to tame it a bit (and the quick-drying is a nice bonus). Even diluted, it still improves the function of this pen, plus, there's some shading when diluted. It makes a nice wash on watercolor paper, as well, diluted up to 80% (and still appears to be waterproof, even at that dilution). Full strength in a brush, it's a very intense violet blue in my sketchbook.

 

 

For general writing I have it a ED Preppy and a Hero 329 (old style). I'd like to try it in an italic stub (diluted) but haven't yet. In the preppy I have had a couple of dry starts after not using it for several days, but after rinsing the nib it was fine. I filled the 329 for my husband, who is new to fountain pens and likes blue ink. In that pen (not diluted) it has a nice fine line, good business dark blue, and has been reliable and a smooth writer.

 

It works great on cheap paper, with no feathering, but dries to a much lighter blue in my Moleskines (haven't tried it with Rhodia.) On 25% cotton cold-press watercolor paper (a Moleskine watercolor sketchbook), it lays down nicely, and has an intense color, and as I mentioned, dilutes nicely into a wash. I'm really enjoying this ink, and am glad I got the large bottle.

 

One note--diluted and used on cream/ivory paper, the purplish undertones come out a bit more. Undiluted, it's a solid dark blue to my eyes.

 

Leigh

[fjf]

Is it chalky like the other bulletproof blues?

[Mongo]

Is it chalky like the other bulletproof blues?

Not to my eye, although if I hold certain papers at an angle to the light I can see a touch of chalkiness. In general use, I find this a very rich ink.

 

(Note: My two bottles are from the original batch. I don't know if the currently available bottles are from the same batch or a different one. If it is a new batch, it's possible that the chalkiness of the ink might have changed.)

[HDoug]

I love Kung Te-Cheng ink. I've had 20 fills in my Pelikan M200 anthracite demonstrator since Jan '09. I've rinsed it 5 times during that period. No probs with the pen at all, although it feels like a "thick" ink that would punish pen maintenance neglect.

 

Doug

[John Cullen]

I have to echo Yoda4561's comment about quick cleanup.

 

I had this in a pen for over two weeks. It started right up each time. I put a tablespoon of ammonia in a cup of water and rinsed the pen a few times and it was totally clean. I even took the pen apart expecting to find residue inside, and it was clean.

 

Nice to see it cleans up so quickly. Still stinks, though.

[Aberwacky]

It does stink--I was holding a pen filled with it while doing something else and noticed the smell, then looked down to see my hand covered with ink--I had absentmindedly loosened the cartridge section of an ED-converted preppy, and it had leaked on me. Completely user error, but that was one time I was glad for the smell of that ink. Because of it, I caught the leak before it got too messy (as in, I hadn't yet stratched my face, or touched the chair or. . .)

 

Leigh

[maria322]

I'm going to try it in an italic NoNonsense and see if it works any better.

 

I got samples from the Goulets of both KTC & Whaleman's Sepia.

 

The Sepia: in a Waterman Kultur, it was awful. After only a few hours it clogged; after 24 hours I couldn't use the pen to write for MINUTES - roughly 12 minutes plus. Switched the ink to a Sheaffer "School Pen" - a yellow-colored, more recent version - with a good, tight snap and seal to the cap. Never clogged as long as I used it every day. Stunk to high heaven, could smell it on the paper as I wrote.

 

KTC: In the same Sheaffer school pen, writes and shades beautifully. Nib creep was plenty with both inks. One thing I noticed as I was filling the cart with the KTC, is that there were tiny spots of the ink that got into the container I use while filling carts, and on the outside of the syringe (PR syringes, sold in pairs, different merchants including Goulets [i'm a happy customer]). Water did not take the spots off, I had to rub what got inside the plastic container and what got outside the syringe didn't budge.

 

I saw mention of a smell from KTC - my sample didn't stink NEARLY as much as the Sepia.

 

It'll be interesting to see if I need to use an ammonia-water mix to get the cart and pen clean once I'm done with the KTC. I really like it, so far.

[Dark Side]

I used ammonia and water mixed to clean the converter of my Studio and my Vista after using Kung Te-Cheng and it worked great. The only problem I had was with the feed on the Vista, had to soak it a while in the ammonia + water solution to get it out of the feed without taking the pen apart.

[bluemagister]

I use it in the supplied Preppy and I dilute it about 20-30% and put it in several pens from time to time and get no problems, at all. I think it's just concentrated too much and the dilution gives a nicer shading and cuts some of the chalkiness of the ink a bit.

 

Where this ink shines is when I take Pilot Vball 0.5mm pens and flush out the crappy ink in them and refill with 33% distilled water and 66% Kung Te Chung. After a bit of a write out, I get a nice purple that is suitable for checks, notes or anything else and it flows really well. I will have 2 or 3 of these VBalls on hand at any one time at my desk.

[Namo]

Just got a (big) bottle from greenman; I don't know about cloging and so on, but I am not sure the color is worth so much fuss. Nice, for sure, and the ink seems to behave very well, but I have other blues that I like a lot better.

[skipwilliams]

I've had some issues in some pens with clogging, so I haven't put it in any normal pens recently. I have my Platinum Preppy ink-marker/felt-tip pen filled with KTC and really love it as a general purpose marker. The ink is really permanent and sticks to most surfaces.

 

It smells a bit funny though. Always has.

 

Skip

[PJohnP]

Interesting observation on the "permanence" of Kung Te-Cheng (K-T-C) from when I was running a dilution experiment this afternoon in line with Bluemagister's suggestion of 20-30% water addition (which experiment will run for a couple of days with the smallish amount that I've concocted, and I'll report back on it after that).

 

I was cleaning up a couple of small "spits" from the mixing work on the plastic deskpad using some Windex - a very effective way of cleaning up small spills or drops of K-T-C, as several people have noted - and I thought to swipe a K-T-C inked note that I'd written a couple of days back on some inkjet paper with the Windex soaked paper towel.

 

Almost all of the text in the K-T-C inked note lifted off of the paper on the moment, and there was a relatively small "chromatography experiment" left on the page with very lightly shadowed letters only.

 

I don't have any strong ammonia solution around the office, but I'd imagine it would have an even larger, faster effect upon K-T-C notes on paper. I'll see if I have some at home and run an experiment in the next couple of days (Windex has other components that might well be the culprits in making the ink run). I might even try a true "chromatography experiment" with some coffee filter material (although most porous papers can be used to better or lesser effect for such experiments, even inkjet paper).

 

I quite like this ink's colour, somewhat dislike the odour, greatly enjoy the fast drying nature of the ink, but I'm not going to personally consider this a "permanent" ink given my experience today.

 

It is darned water resistant. In all fairness, I haven't tested the ink to see if I can lift everything off of a page (or cheque paper), so the issue of it being "bulletproof" (i.e., the ink can't be removed without leaving a strong trace on cheque paper) isn't in question with me. However, the ink runs quite quickly with Windex application.

 

 

 

John P.

[Yoda4561]

In my testing I've noticed a very faint periwinkle that remains legible after soaking it with various chemicals (ammonia, bleach, not at the same time mind you.) This seems to be enough to give it bulletproof credentials, but its primary component isn't cellulose reactive.

[PJohnP]

In my testing I've noticed a very faint periwinkle that remains legible after soaking it with various chemicals (ammonia, bleach, not at the same time mind you.) This seems to be enough to give it bulletproof credentials, but its primary component isn't cellulose reactive.

 

Ammonia and bleach are a bad mixture. Let's leave it at that... :hmm1:

 

Your finding with a periwinkle trace is consistent with what I saw today. I need to pick up some ammonia to run some tests, as I don't have any at home, but I'll take your word for the result.

 

 

 

John P.

[PJohnP]

A very quick note on the "dilution experiment" with Kung Te-Cheng (K-T-C) per Bluemagister's suggestion earlier in this thread...

 

A 25% dilution of K-T-C (d-K-T-C) with distilled water has had a demonstrable effect on easier starting with an M405 Pelikan pen using a Mottishaw cursive italic nib. Feathering seems about the same (slight but visible with a discerning eye), drying time is very close to "pure" K-T-C, but there is a perceptible difference in the saturation of the ink on the paper, yielding a minor amount of shading with this pen/nib combination. The colour is close, but the intense saturation of "pure" K-T-C is slightly but visibly decreased. Lubrication effects are proving modestly improved over "pure" K-T-C, but it wouldn't be considered anything similar to a more highly lubricated ink such as Sailor Kiwaguro Nano Carbon Black.

 

A test of the waterproofness of the d-K-T-C shows no change - the ink is pretty much waterproof for wash or soak effects, and that level of protection occurs within a minute or two of the ink being laid onto paper. This behaviour is consistent with both cold and very hot running water. d-K-T-C shows about the same degree of "run" with application of Windex, but as noted in another post earlier in the thread, leaves a periwinkle coloured residual line. I still haven't had time to go purchase household ammonia and run tests, but I would suspect similar effects.

 

That's about all the time I have to test this at the moment, and no opportunities right now for uploading scans, alas.

 

Sincere thanks to Bluemagister for their excellent suggestion on dilution of K-T-C ! The diluted ink shows a substantial improvement in most characteristics - excepting the incredibly deep saturated line on the page with "pure" K-T-C - when diluted a nominal 25% with distilled water. YMMV, of course...

 

 

 

John P.

[GOB Bluth]

Answering my own question as I have had KTC for two or so weeks now. I had it in the preppy it came with. It wrote much more thicker a line with the roller ball than my Noodler's Stylo with Baystate Blue. KTC is a great ink and it washed completely out of the preppy. No staining that I can see.

[Namo]

Just got a (big) bottle from greenman; I don't know about cloging and so on, but I am not sure the color is worth so much fuss. Nice, for sure, and the ink seems to behave very well, but I have other blues that I like a lot better.

 

Just want to add: after several days, I am learning to love this ink. I put it in my Waterman Philéas, medium nib, and the result is somehow hypnotizing, very subtle and pleasing. And I must say that the ink behave so well that I now regret I can not use it as a daily user in one of my writers.

Not for later: shut up and use your inks before writing.