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Best Ink For Flex Nibs?

frr149

By frr149
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frr149 Near Mint

frr149

Posted
Posted

Hi,

 

What's a good ink (low or no feathering) for flex nibs? My 2 flex pens (a tweaked Ahab and a Frankenpen with a vintage Mallat nib) are firehoses and tend to feather, no matter what ink I use.

 

I'm aware of Noodler's X_Feathering, but I don't like black, and Noodler's inks are very difficult and expensive to find in Europe.

 

Lord, grant me the serenity to avoid the pens I don't need,

the dough for those I need and the wisdom to know the difference.

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playtime Extremely Rare

playtime

Posted
Posted

try pelikan royal blue or waterman south sea blue, or a number of diamine inks.....

"Writing is 1/3 nib width & flex, 1/3 paper and 1/3 ink. In that order."Bo Bo Olson

"No one needs to rotate a pen while using an oblique, in fact, that's against the whole concept of an oblique, which is to give you shading without any special effort."Professor Propas, 24 December 2010

 

"IMHO, the only advantage of the 149 is increased girth if needed, increased gold if wanted and increased prestige if perceived. I have three, but hardly ever use them. After all, they hold the same amount of ink as a 146."FredRydr, 12 March 2015

 

"Surely half the pleasure of life is sardonic comment on the passing show."Sir Peter Strawson

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Uncle Red Donor Pen

Uncle Red

Posted
Posted

What paper do you use? What inks did you try?

 

I like Noodler's Red Black and Apache Sunset, Diamine Washable Blue and De Atramentis Zeppelin/Atlantic Blue and Gandhi. That's just a start.

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amberleadavis Pen Dust

amberleadavis

Posted
Posted

You might want to look at the ink dilution recipes. Others have reported improvement of specific characteristics when diluting the ink.

Fountain pens are my preferred COLOR DELIVERY SYSTEM (in part because crayons melt in Las Vegas).

Create a Ghostly Avatar and I'll send you a letter. Check out some Ink comparisons: The Great PPS Comparison 

Don't know where to start?  Look at the Inky Topics O'day.  Then, see inks sorted by color: Blue Purple Brown Red Green Dark Green Orange Black Pinks Yellows Blue-Blacks Grey/Gray UVInks Turquoise/Teal MURKY

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Threadbear NOS (New Old Stock)

Threadbear

Posted
Posted

My favourite inks for flex pens are iron-galls. I most often use Ecclesiatical Stationery Supplies Registrars' Ink or FPN member Pharmacist's Urkundentinte, and I've never seen them feather on any paper. Both come from Europe so should be easier to get hold of than Noodlers. But since you are not fond of black they might not be ideal. Both are initially blue but I find the urkundentinte oxidises to a more-or-less solid black, while the ESSRI stays more grey. This varies to a degree according to the paper used. ESSRI also gives absolutely gorgeous shading in a flex nib. They are permanent inks, which you could see as an advantage or a risk. Finally, there are the standard warnings about iron-gall inks. I only use them in gold-nibbed pens, but I've read that modern formulae should be safe with steel nibs. You also need to be a bit more proactive about cleaning out your pens.

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inkstainedruth Ancient Artifact

inkstainedruth

Posted
Posted

My favourite inks for flex pens are iron-galls. I most often use Ecclesiatical Stationery Supplies Registrars' Ink or FPN member Pharmacist's Urkundentinte, and I've never seen them feather on any paper. Both come from Europe so should be easier to get hold of than Noodlers. But since you are not fond of black they might not be ideal. Both are initially blue but I find the urkundentinte oxidises to a more-or-less solid black, while the ESSRI stays more grey. This varies to a degree according to the paper used. ESSRI also gives absolutely gorgeous shading in a flex nib. They are permanent inks, which you could see as an advantage or a risk. Finally, there are the standard warnings about iron-gall inks. I only use them in gold-nibbed pens, but I've read that modern formulae should be safe with steel nibs. You also need to be a bit more proactive about cleaning out your pens.

You might also want to take a look at some of Pharmacist's more exotic colors (although I *definitely* want to get a bottle of Urkundentinte, when his life gets more stable and he can start brewing again). In particular, Turkish Night does not appear to oxidize to black, but rather to dark green with a tinge of blue in it. Another idea is to either dilute them (although I have not personally tried that with any of the IG inks); yet another is to do what someone on FPN did a while back -- he added a bit of vinegar, IIRC (possibly vinegar solution), to the inks so as to retard the oxidation. I'm tempted to try that with some Turkish Night, in order to keep the lovely cyan color.

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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Bo Bo Olson Ancient Artifact

Bo Bo Olson

Posted
Posted

ESSR is a dryer iron gall ink. Inexpensive and comes in a 110 ml bottle.

There is a 26 page thread on it.

I tried it on a 17 nib & 47 paper test, including an Easy Full Flex nib, that it did very well with.

In reference to P. T. Barnum; to advise for free is foolish, ........busybodies are ill liked by both factions.

 

 

The cheapest lessons are from those who learned expensive lessons. Ignorance is best for learning expensive lessons.

 

 

 

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peter57 NOS (New Old Stock)

peter57

Posted
Posted

So far I've inked my trusty Noodler's Ahab with the following:

  • J Herbin Rouge Hematite
  • Noodler's Apache Sunset
  • Noodler's Gruene Cactus
  • Diamine Oxblood
  • MontBlanc Blue/black

The Ahab loves, loves, loves the Rouge Hematite. The two Noodler's inks also work very well, but there is some bleedthrough with them when using cheap (Staples legal pad) paper and even with the paper in my Boorum & Pease journal (albeit to a lesser extent). When used on Rhodia all is well. Oxblood, as always, is well behaved and looks great. The MB ink...well...it's blue/black. Looks very nice when the nib is unflexed, but when flexed the shading is just OK. There are much better options.

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Pen90rnAddict Dipped Only

Pen90rnAddict

Posted
Posted

By far because of the difficulty with shimmer inks in some pens, save all your shimmer inks for use in flex nib pens. Think about purchasing at least 7 flex pens from different companies like Fountain Pen Revolution and Noodlers. I like the Noodlers Konrad. Never had a problem with any shimmer ink in these pens which sadly I have had in the in other pens with italics or stubs.

 

Flex- Shimmer Ink

Italic/ Stubs- Shading inks

Fine - Dark ink

Medium- Any sheening ink

Broad-Lighter sheening ink

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Ted A Collectors Item

Ted A

Posted
Posted

I have been amazed at the performance of Herbin Gris Nuage in my Triveni Jr. Great shading

To hold a pen is to be at war. - Voltaire
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minddance Collectors Item

minddance

Posted
Posted

Smoothness of nib can play a big role in reducing feathering. If a nib tears out paper fibres or too much friction present, inks are likely to find their way through the little tears and they feather and bleedthrough.

 

Papers also matter as some members pointed out, Rhodia could be a good choice in this case.

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Symphing12 Dipped Only

Symphing12

Posted
Posted

I have had trouble with Oxblood in a flex pen with a lot of bleeding (ha), even on Clairefontaine paper. Anyone know why this may be?

-Symphing12

1606232502_Lamy_2000-small.jpg.821dfc33b077cc13f836297562b87ddf.jpg

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loganrah Extremely Rare

loganrah

Posted
Posted (edited)

Rohrer and Klingner Salix and Scabiosa are nice IG inks that don't go fully black (Blue-Black and Purple-Black respectively) and have helped tame some flex pens for me. Be aware though that they are quite dry, so can lead to railroading with a feed that is on the edge of supplying enough ink.

Edited by loganrah
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A Smug Dill Museum Piece

A Smug Dill

Posted
Posted

I have had trouble with Oxblood in a flex pen with a lot of bleeding (ha), even on Clairefontaine paper.

 

 

It takes a helluva lot of Oxblood ink to cause bleed-through on the paper (manufactured by Clairefontaine) in a Rhodia Dotpad No.16.

 

fpn_1593852399__diamine_oxblood_ink_drop

 

fpn_1593852359__diamine_oxblood_ink_drop

 

Anyone know why this may be?

  • Is your flex pen even wetter than that?
  • Perhaps the nib on your flex pen is scratching and damaging the coating/surface of the paper?

I endeavour to be frank and truthful in what I write, show or otherwise present, when I relate my first-hand experiences that are not independently verifiable; and link to third-party content where I can, when I make a claim or refute a statement of fact in a thread. If there is something you can verify for yourself, I entreat you to do so, and judge for yourself what is right, correct, and valid. I may be wrong, and my position or say-so is no more authoritative and carries no more weight than anyone else's here.

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