How Much Ink Do You Use?

[Ryan007]

I am relatively new to fountain pens, I purchased my first fountain pen very recently. I am currently in high school and have (of course) been using my fountain pen as my primary writing utensil. That being said, in my school I am writing ALOT. I have noticed recently that I go through about at least 3/4 of a standard converter every day. It's not even a very wet pen, it has a medium nib. fill my pen up every night in preparation for the next day. I would carry an extra cartridge with me in case I run out but I'd have to flush the pen out if I was switching inks, and that really isn't practical during class. How much is your typical ink consumption and what has been your highest? Any suggestions on carrying emergency ink would also be appreciated.

 

-Thanks guys

Edited September 27, 2012 by Ryan007

[The Scribbler]

Private Reserve offers cartridges of their bottled ink in most colors. You could use a PR ink, and carry some extra carts in the same ink color for emergency back up.

[dali3464]

My typical ink consumption during peak writing periods (exam period!) can be up to 2.5 international converters a day. This is also a Western-standard fine nib jotting down cramped annotations in margins, so it's quite a lot of writing! During ordinary times, I typically use up to 1 converter's worth of ink.

 

For emergency ink I carry a packet of Waterman long cartridges. They hold somewhere around twice the amount of ink as the Waterman converter, so they're huge, but they're unfortunately a bit picky about which pen they can be fitted. The ink in the cartridges and converters are both the same: Waterman Black. A wee bit uninspiring, but it's a true workhorse. They both being the same also means I don't have to flush the pens out between changing converter to cartridge.

 

I've read of folks toting around small samples of ink (enough for a converter or two) in plastic vials like the ones that Mr. and Mrs. Goulet use for the InkDrop exchange. I believe they only do this for inks that either (1) don't come in cartridges; or (2) the pens they use are a piston filler or another non c-c filler.

 

I ordinarily hate using cartridges, so I spent most of my high school/first years of university carrying two Lamy Safaris (black & white!) around, which I found more eminently more practical if either pen runs out of ink at an inopportune moment.

[ChemErik]

You might consider a pen with a different fill mechanism and higher ink capacity. Using a typical piston filler should easily get you through even a busy day. Some eye droppers would go through even a very busy week.

[elenita]

I did a lot of writing a year ago, and that particular project was my catalyst to moving toward fountain pens. I typically emptied my converter every other day, writing with a fine nib.

 

Taking this topic in a slightly different direction, have you ever thought of converting your pen to an eyedropper? (Assuming your particular pen qualifies, of course.) That way, you can use the entire pen body as an ink reservoir.

 

A video from Brian Goulet (no affiliation) on how to do this conversion:

http://www.inknouveau.com/2011/07/how-to-convert-kaweco-to-eyedropper.html

 

He uses a Kaweco above, but you can do it with any non-metal pen that doesn't have any holes in the body (e.g., Lamy Safaris wouldn't work because of the ink window).

 

Just a thought!

[CuttleSlug]

I suggest keeping an extra pen with you always. Doesn't even have to be a FP (for now!) Much more convenient than having to fiddle with converters or whatnot in the middle of class. Myself, I always have several backups for a) emergencies, and life, spice, etc....though ( tends to prevent (a) most of the time.

[amberleadavis]

I carry multiple pens and did during college. I have found that I cannot get through a full fill of the TWSBI pen within a week - but I don't write as much as I used to... Also, consider switching to Shaeffer if you really want to use cartridges, they are good sized and easy to refill. Remember you don't have to flush it every time you change inks if you can stand the mixing of the colors. I didn't mind because it could be interesting.

[JLT]

I'll pile on with another recommendation for carrying a spare pen. Always a good idea.

 

Oh, and Welcome to the Madness!!

[P.A.R.]

I would second the motion for sample vials from the Goulets. They're sturdy and carry just the right amount of ink.

 

And for the spare pen you might consider a Platinum Preppy converted to eyedropper mode.

[PatientType]

Define "use". I have a number of bottles of ink that weigh down a wooden storage box. That provides a little exercise when I have to move my supply. Then I have some more ink bottles that decorate a shelf in my office. Still more ink bottles serve as colorful paper weights on my desk. How much actual ink flows through my pens and is used to stain paper? Well, that would be quite a few converters full but that doesn't add up to much liquid ink.

 

I wrote nightly in a journal using just one bottle of brown ink for a year. That bottle is now about 2/3 full. I'd guess that over the last year I may have emptied most of one bottle for all kinds of business and pleasure writing. Of course, that one bottle quantity of ink was drawn from about twenty different bottles that supplied ink in a lot of different colors and shades. So, if you're worried about the cost of ink, that's one fear you can put to rest.

 

As for a strategy for bringing ink to school ... I'd recommend that you leave each day with one or two pens holding full converters of ink. Then, always carry an ink cartridge with you as insurance. You'll likely never use it but you never need fear running out of ink midway through a test. You can buy a box of six cartridges on Ebay for about $3-$5.

 

I'd not worry about rinsing the pen between converter & cartridge. Use the same or a similar color of ink so that your writing won't show noticeable changes. I only rinse out a pen when I change colors or, maybe, every month after repeatedly filling the converter. Ink won't dry in the pen if you're constantly using it.

Edited September 28, 2012 by PatientType

[Bigeddie]

I generally have about 9 pens filled up at a time, sometimes I struggle to reduce this to about 5 or so. Because of this it's hard to say exactly how much Ink I use. Two days a week I almost exclusively use a Pilot Custom 823 (m) and get through about 2/3 (1.5ml) of a fill (2.3ml).

 

 

I generally carry 3 pens with me; currently a Lamy 2000 (f), Cross Townsend (m) and a Waterman Carene (m). On top of this I have a FC Basic in a little rolled up packet in my bag, and 6 cartridges of J Herbin Perle Noire. I also have a little tin with 4 Sailor carts (another brand of choice for pens) and 4 more international carts, with the principal being I can always wash a nib unit out under a tap if i need to take out a converter and put in a cart.

 

I work from two different places a hundred miles apart, and don't want to get caught short if I leave my pens on one desk having moved to another.

 

Edited to add, the J Herbin carts come in little tins of 6 that are ideal for putting in a bag and forgetting about until you need them. The caps can be a bit loose, I stick mine down with washi (paper) tape.

Edited September 28, 2012 by Bigeddie

[emiliovillegas]

When I write a lot during class then I need to refill my Pelikan M200 every two days.

[Ryan007]

Thanks for all the recommendations, I'll try them out. I probably only will buy extra pens if I really need to.

[wallylynn]

Also, you can refill your cartridges. Common ways to seal the cart include: hot glue, blu-tak. Do a search for more info. Then you can have the same ink in the converter and cart.

[DanF]

Remember that if you drop your pen (perish the thought) and the nib is damaged, it will not write, so you should always carry a backup (fountain or otherwise) at school! Oh, and since you are still in school where such things matter, a lot is two words, not one.

 

Dan

Edited October 2, 2012 by DanF

[Renfield]

Thanks for all the recommendations, I'll try them out. I probably only will buy extra pens if I really need to.

 

There are some Chinese pens, which are both REALLY cheap and good enough for a backup if you run out. ( A couple of dollars or the same cost of some cartridges)

 

Just fill the converter up, and keep it in your bag for emergencies.

 

You could easily get it delivered for less for $5.

[blefevre]

I did an inventory check the other day and estimate that I used about 4 ounces of ink throughout 2012. Most of the time I am using a Snorkel and find about 3 fills a week average. I use a pen at work, to write snail mail, journaling, taking notes from different reading projects and just writing to collect my thoughts on a subject or pressing issue. Before reading this post I considered myself a "heavy user", but that does not appear to be the case at all.

[SeeksAdvice]

Can get some fairly inexpensive pens from Goulets or other places.

 

Don't just carry one pen, seriously. Excrement happens; be prepared.

 

An example: Was at the office and our new secretary decided to go rummaging around my desk for a file. Had a Waterman Hemisphere F nib uncapped on the desk, as I had been signing stuff before having to take a phone call. Our secretary wound up launching the Waterman which, of course, landed nib down on the large chair mat beneath/behind my desk. Give the heft of the Hemisphere, the impact severely damaged the nib, rendering it unusable. Fortunately there was no massive explosion of ink on impact. However, in order to function properly, the pen will need a new nib. Given my lack of writing pleasure with it, that might take a while.

 

Fortunately, I have a few others that can be used. Including some truly horrible roller balls.

 

At currently usage rates, I expect to burn through at least one bottle of ink during the year. Hard to measure though, as I draw from different bottles for different things. Polar Blue for an indestructible blue. Asa-Gao if I want a nice, strong, vibrant blue. Pelikan Sapphire, if I want to justify the cost of buying it (and our office staff likes it). MB Royal Blue if I just need to grab something (don't like it, but too cheap to just dump and keep bottle). Then there were the drained samples from Goulet's Pilot Tsuki-Yo, Sailor blue-black, Diamine Sargasso Sea. And, the mostly empty, R&K Salix, and a couple of others.

 

I second the recommendation for a pistol filler if you are worried about capacity. Noodlers makes some dirt-cheap pens. Never tried TWSBI, so cannot comment.

[orangejuiceguy]

well i haven't used mine much, but i usually go through the same as you, bout 3/4 of a converter in a day. i highly recommend refilling the brand of cartridge that the company makes, as their ink cartridges are usually bigger than the converters. also, as long as you use the same color and brand of ink, you don't have to flush out after every refill. it should be fine and you should clean it out after a couple but you don't have to every time, unless your using a different brand or a different color. so you can carry around a spare cartridge of the same brand ink, or, theres an inexpensive pen i can recommend off of Jetpens.com, its called the Pilot Varsity Disposable fountain pen. it has ALOT of ink in it, its cheap, and itll be a good spare pen to carry in case your main one runs out. it also comes in multiple colors, so check them out too.

[Pelikan_FP]

Given the way I've been using my Pilot Kon Peki ink of late, I average 3 fills of my piston filler per week which has a ~1.5 ml ink capacity = 234 ml/year = 7.8 oz/year. I'm not sure if that's a lot or not but now that I think of it, that'd be equivalent to ~4.5 bottles of the Pilot ink!

Edited January 28, 2013 by Pelikan_FP