"wet Vs Dry" Inks Questions - Pelikan 4001 & Pilot Metropolitan Fine

[Ernst Bitterman]

I have a correspondent in Slovenia who has trouble finding anything other than Pelikan.

 

"But they make Sheaffer there," I wrote.

 

"They don't sell it anywhere," came the response.

 

Baffling.

[AmbassadorZod]

I have a correspondent in Slovenia who has trouble finding anything other than Pelikan.

 

"But they make Sheaffer there," I wrote.

 

"They don't sell it anywhere," came the response.

 

Baffling.

 

At first the news got me excited only to be disappointed. I'm running into the exact same problem yeah. Pelikan is the only retail-available FP ink it seems and bottled FP ink here is quite rare while cartridges are in practically every supermarket since all the kids write with FPs. No shortage of pigment inks though of course, which doesn't help me

 

I found some Metzger & Mendle blue and turquois in a müeller store (which uses a central warehouse so their stock is the same all over Europe). They had a bottle of lamy but only black. I'll give M&M a try over the weekend see if it's wet enough.

 

I checked a few ink reviews out, there is an impressive amount of information up there, very nice! I appreciate all that very much.

 

It gave rise to new questions. I saw some reviews compare different colours of the same manufacturer then mention extra that the blue is "washable" and similar things. Since royal blue is the "school kids" colour, designed to work with the ink erasers, I'm assuming that's what it's referring to. However, that makes me wonder:

 

Is it the case that the Royal Blue / "königsblau" is less permanent (or water resistant) than other colours? (because of that "washability")

I mean if we take the non-iron-gall and non-bulletproof colours, will royal blue stand out as the least permanent? (I'm trying to evaluate its suitability as a daily/workhorse ink, if I accidentally spill some water over my notebook, is the likelihood of being able to read the mindmap I just made the absolute lowest with a royal blue ink?

 

Aesthetically I do prefer blue-black/blue over plain black, thus my dilemma and wonderings. Thank you all for the contributions.

Edited February 5, 2016 by AmbassadorZod

[Sasha Royale]

Well, I guess we shouldn't depend on other people to tell us what is "good". I won't attempt to list the variables, but I write with a light touch. I enjoy several Noodler's inks, as well as Private Reserve inks. Four inks that function very reliably in all my pens, especially vintage pens, are Parker Quink Blue/Black, Pelikan 4001 in Blue/Black & Royal Blue, Montblanc Blue/Black.

 

I don't pretend that this works for everyone. Clean your pens thoroughly and try for yourself.

[Arkanabar]

Amberlea Davis kept a bunch of writing samples in her windows one summer. These windows are south-facing, and she lives in the Nevada desert. The results she tabulated are here.