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Pharmacist's Urkundentinte Document Ink Review


fiberdrunk

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I'm a fan of iron gall inks (I even make my own). So I was really pleased when Pharmacist began to make and sell his Urkundentinte Document Ink. It has a rich blue-black color that I prefer over the commercial iron gall inks. Of the iron gall inks I own, it seems to most closely resemble R&K Salix in color.

 

I keep all my commercial iron gall inks in Parker Vectors because the Vector is well-suited for them. They flow well and don't have that dry writing experience in the Vector that they tend to do in other pens. So naturally, I put Urkundentinte in a Vector as well. I did have some initial clogging for the first day or two, but it self-corrected. I've been using it for a week before writing this review, just to make sure it was going to work with the Vector. It's done fine, without any start-up issues. (I also scanned in this review right after I finished writing it, just so you can see the blue. If I remember to, I'll scan it in again in a week or so for comparison, after it has darkened.)

 

I was surprised that the drying test revealed this to be a slow-drying ink. I'm a hook-over lefty so I tend to have to be careful with smudging. Yet I have not noticed any smearing issues at all with this ink, despite what the drying test shows. Go figure!

 

There has been no feathering of this ink on any paper I have tested it on. No bleeding or show-through, either. It's very well-behaved. (Other papers I've tested it on: Sugarmade, Staples Sustainable Earth, Caliber Tree-Free Multipurpose.)

 

The ink is highly waterproof. I wrote a sample and only waited a few minutes to test it. There was no smudging after holding it under running water, nor even after I rubbed my finger over it. It darkened to black right away after this test, however.

 

Nib creep was only slight with the medium Vector nib. I'm not bothered by nib creep, personally.

 

This is a good, strong blue-black that darkens over time. The speed of this effect depends on the paper.

 

Conclusion: I'd say that this is my favorite blue-black iron gall ink. I know Pharmacist has made it as archival as possible, which is exactly what I want in an ink. The color is perfect. I'm currently doing permanence tests on it. Will let you know in the months ahead how it's doing. Thanks a million, Pharmacist, for a fantastic ink! :thumbup:

Edited by fiberdrunk

Find my homemade ink recipes on my Flickr page here.

 

"I don't wait for inspiration; inspiration waits for me." --Akiane Kramarik

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My wallet is *not* thanking you for this review.... :headsmack:

Really like the color a lot -- it will be interesting to see how much it darkens. I currently have Pharmacist's Turkish Night in my Parker Urban (medium nib) and while it goes from cyan to dark teal green almost instantaneously, it doesn't seem to have gone past that to black -- at least not on the papers I've tried it on so far.

I'm really starting to become a great fan of IG inks.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

"It's very nice, but frankly, when I signed that list for a P-51, what I had in mind was a fountain pen."

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Thanks so much for your review--this ink is high on my to-get list.

Do you have a sense of what might've caused the initial clogging that you noticed?

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I am glad you got this ink to work for you because I found in a wet, medium nib the ink was so wet I had significant bleed through on copier Xerox 90gsm paper. I suspected at the time that in a dry medium or fine nib it would be good which you have reported here. Give it a good week before you rescan it to show the full colour change.

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Thanks so much for your review--this ink is high on my to-get list.

Do you have a sense of what might've caused the initial clogging that you noticed?

 

I'm not really sure. I had had my own aleppo iron gall ink in this particular pen beforehand. I flushed it several times with a nasal syringe and put it through an ultrasonic cleaner twice, with detergent (20 minutes each time) before putting Urkundentinte in it. But maybe after all that, there was still some particle leftover that didn't react well with the new iron gall ink and clogged it. I'm not really sure, because I thought I did a good job cleaning the pen (knowing these chemical inks don't tend to mix well!) But it's working fine now.

Edited by fiberdrunk

Find my homemade ink recipes on my Flickr page here.

 

"I don't wait for inspiration; inspiration waits for me." --Akiane Kramarik

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My wallet is *not* thanking you for this review.... :headsmack:

Really like the color a lot -- it will be interesting to see how much it darkens. I currently have Pharmacist's Turkish Night in my Parker Urban (medium nib) and while it goes from cyan to dark teal green almost instantaneously, it doesn't seem to have gone past that to black -- at least not on the papers I've tried it on so far.

I'm really starting to become a great fan of IG inks.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

Sorry for the detour, but does Turkish Night have any shading potential? I've got a bottle reserved, along with Urkundentinte, and I'm very curious what to expect. I've only seen the initial pictures Pharmacist posted, so it'd be great to see what others are getting.

Robert.

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My wallet is *not* thanking you for this review.... :headsmack:

Really like the color a lot -- it will be interesting to see how much it darkens. I currently have Pharmacist's Turkish Night in my Parker Urban (medium nib) and while it goes from cyan to dark teal green almost instantaneously, it doesn't seem to have gone past that to black -- at least not on the papers I've tried it on so far.

I'm really starting to become a great fan of IG inks.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

Sorry for the detour, but does Turkish Night have any shading potential? I've got a bottle reserved, along with Urkundentinte, and I'm very curious what to expect. I've only seen the initial pictures Pharmacist posted, so it'd be great to see what others are getting.

 

IIRC, it has some. I haven't had a chance to upload my photos yet. Mind you, I don't have any really broad nibs. I may try it in the Konrad, once that gets cleaned out, just to see how it behaves in something with some flex.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

"It's very nice, but frankly, when I signed that list for a P-51, what I had in mind was a fountain pen."

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Okay - not the biggest fan of blue inks, but THAT is awesome. Where do I buy??

:)

 

FPN member Pharmacist is the ink maker. You'll have to PM him. Read more about his ink experiments here at this thread.

Find my homemade ink recipes on my Flickr page here.

 

"I don't wait for inspiration; inspiration waits for me." --Akiane Kramarik

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Thanks for the good reivew of this fantastic ink. I LOVE this ink and have never had clogging issues. One pen had startup/ignition issues, but several others have not. I am lefty hooker too and generally find this to dry fast enough, which is a plus for sure. The color, and color change is attrative and interesting. Very good stuff.

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HI Fiberdrunk,

 

Many thanks for the review. Like Jandrese I too have some startup problems with a particular pen (actually my most expensive one :embarrassed_smile: ) with my Urkundentinte, but this pen does not even like its own branded ink, so I think it is the pen itself :angry: .

 

For those interested: The current batch of fancy coloured are all sold out/reserved, but there are still a few bottles of my Urkundentinte available. As usual: first in, first out and very limited stock :rolleyes: .

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I am glad you got this ink to work for you because I found in a wet, medium nib the ink was so wet I had significant bleed through on copier Xerox 90gsm paper. I suspected at the time that in a dry medium or fine nib it would be good which you have reported here. Give it a good week before you rescan it to show the full colour change.

 

Hi DanielCoffey,

 

The reason for your significant bleed through was because the batch you are using was from my previous formula which was only fit for fountain pens. My latest 3 batches have been significantly improved and should show no more bleed through on cheap Xerox 90gsm copier paper. Also the initial dye colour is now a deeper and more saturated blue and now works great with dip/calligraphy oblique pens, which is not possible with the batch you were using (fountain pen only).

 

I have been working and experimenting alot with very small batches to obtain this unique property of my latest batch of Urkundentinte. I must say my latest 3 batches of Urkundentinte (starting from the batch, which have been reviewed by gmrza and LostinBrittany) are the final and best batches I have made.

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[..]

Sorry for the detour, but does Turkish Night have any shading potential? I've got a bottle reserved, along with Urkundentinte, and I'm very curious what to expect. I've only seen the initial pictures Pharmacist posted, so it'd be great to see what others are getting.

 

 

I don't know about Turkish Night, but Darkening Absynthe in my Ahab shades beautifully.

 

 

 

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My wallet is *not* thanking you for this review.... :headsmack:

Really like the color a lot -- it will be interesting to see how much it darkens. I currently have Pharmacist's Turkish Night in my Parker Urban (medium nib) and while it goes from cyan to dark teal green almost instantaneously, it doesn't seem to have gone past that to black -- at least not on the papers I've tried it on so far.

I'm really starting to become a great fan of IG inks.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

Sorry for the detour, but does Turkish Night have any shading potential? I've got a bottle reserved, along with Urkundentinte, and I'm very curious what to expect. I've only seen the initial pictures Pharmacist posted, so it'd be great to see what others are getting.

 

I have Turkish Nights in a Lamy Safari with a 1.5 nib, and the shading is absolutely incredible, the best of any ink I have as far as shading, and that includes Noodler's Apache Sunset! The Terra Incinerata is in an Estie with a stub nib, and it has the same awesome shading. Darkening Absinthe and Oriens Occiden I've only tried in fine nibs, but they show shading pretty well there, so I imagine they will Look even better in wider nibs. I am absolutely delighted with Pharmacist's iron gall inks.

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I have Turkish Nights in a Lamy Safari with a 1.5 nib, and the shading is absolutely incredible, the best of any ink I have as far as shading, and that includes Noodler's Apache Sunset! The Terra Incinerata is in an Estie with a stub nib, and it has the same awesome shading. Darkening Absinthe and Oriens Occiden I've only tried in fine nibs, but they show shading pretty well there, so I imagine they will Look even better in wider nibs. I am absolutely delighted with Pharmacist's iron gall inks.

Thanks. I unfortunately only really use very fine points, but I still enjoy getting shading with my inks where possible. I have had some good luck with Scabiosa, which is among my top 5 inks now, and I'm hoping Urkundentinte and Turkish Night will similarly satisfy. I have just started playing with ESSRI and haven't decided how I feel about the blue, but it is a pretty fun ink and I'll need to try it in more pens before I make any conclusions about it. I'm surprised I find iron galls so addictive, since I normally like the most modern, lubricious stuff.

 

I'll try to get some photos up when the inks arrive.

Robert.

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Hi,

 

Many thanks for the review! :)

 

It would be grand to see the change of the ink's appearance over time.

 

I did want to mention that Member pharmacist has indicated that a dilute solution of vinegar be used prior to use of cleaning solutions that include ammonia: Post № 271 and subsequent.

 

Also, if one fears there may be precipitate or solids or goop in the pen, to consider back-flushing the nib+feed+section. I use soft [surgical] tubing to slip over the nib, forming a seal on the section, then trickle water from the nib end. Obviously not useful for most pens with integral ink reservoirs that cannot be separated from the section and/or nib+feed. e.g. Snorkies, Vacumatics.

 

Bye,

S1

The only time you have too much fuel is when you're on fire.

 

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I will note that the Turkish Night still appears to be dark teal green after about a week -- it hasn't turned black at all. I will also note that I cleaned out the pen three times (after distilled water followed by vinegar, as Pharamcist suggested) with an ammonia/distilled water mix with a little Dawn dish detergent, and flushing well with distilled water between and afterwards -- and even with soaking the nib I'm still getting a bit of color bleeding through onto a paper towel. Don't know how crucial that is -- I was thinking about trying a different ink in that pen and don't know whether there will be bad interactions or weird color distortions.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

"It's very nice, but frankly, when I signed that list for a P-51, what I had in mind was a fountain pen."

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Hi Ruth,

 

As long as you use my IG inks there is no problem if there is a tail of the previous ink. So it is absolutely not crucial/critical to remove 100 % of the dye, albeit the colour of the first lines can be a little be off.

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Hi,

 

Many thanks for the review! :)

 

It would be grand to see the change of the ink's appearance over time.

 

I did want to mention that Member pharmacist has indicated that a dilute solution of vinegar be used prior to use of cleaning solutions that include ammonia: Post № 271 and subsequent.

 

Also, if one fears there may be precipitate or solids or goop in the pen, to consider back-flushing the nib+feed+section. I use soft [surgical] tubing to slip over the nib, forming a seal on the section, then trickle water from the nib end. Obviously not useful for most pens with integral ink reservoirs that cannot be separated from the section and/or nib+feed. e.g. Snorkies, Vacumatics.

 

Bye,

S1

 

 

Thanks for the tip! I'm keeping Urkundentinte in this blue Parker Vector that I did the review in from now on. A designated pen just for it. It's working quite well now.

Find my homemade ink recipes on my Flickr page here.

 

"I don't wait for inspiration; inspiration waits for me." --Akiane Kramarik

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Hi Ruth,

 

As long as you use my IG inks there is no problem if there is a tail of the previous ink. So it is absolutely not crucial/critical to remove 100 % of the dye, albeit the colour of the first lines can be a little be off.

 

Thanks -- good to know. I know that IGs can be a little finicky and don't play well with other inks, but I'm rapidly becoming a huge fan of them. :thumbup:

I want to have my husband help me take pictures of Turkish Night -- the color change is so fast I can't get the camera up to my face fast enough! I'll admit I was actually a bit surprised how much I like the color it becomes, because I'm not much for green inks. But I also still have a bunch of other samples to try (and it's not like I have to hoard it because it's a little sample vial -- well, at least not *too* much.... :roflmho: ).

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

"It's very nice, but frankly, when I signed that list for a P-51, what I had in mind was a fountain pen."

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