Does Diamine Ink Clog?

[KingRoach]

I've recently bought four bottles of Diamine inks for mixing colours, intending them to be from the same manufacturer/series in order to avoid any reactions.

 

However, after about a week or so, I'm starting to see, on the threads of the bottles, some dried up ink flakes. I had never seen anything like that with Parker Quink, or Hero, or Pelikan 4001, which I had used before.

 

Does Diamine ink clog or dry up into flakes or anything of the sort, in bottles, or inside pens, and does it do more of that if mixed together?

[evyxmsj]

I haven't had any trouble so far, but used to have to wack my Quink bottle to get it open because of ink on the threads. As long as your pen is capped properly I shouldn't be too concerned. But I'd avoid leaving ink in an unused pen for more then a few weeks anyway. Always orth testing a mix in a cheap pen or leaving in a bottle for a while thogh, just to be safe/

[ac12]

Diamine (like Noodler's) has such a broad range of inks that one cannot make a blanket statement about the inks.

However, 2 of my Diamine inks do give me problems.

- Sherwood Green. It will clog my pens with a fine ink channel. And the one with a wide ink channel, it will clog the nib slit and require either a dip in water or a flossing of the nib slit. IOW a nice but problematic ink that needs to be matched with a wet pen, and used regularly.

- Red Dragon. Nice ink, but like SG, it will clog a pen if the pen is not used regularly. Unfortunately I don't use red inks a lot, so the nib dries out from lack of use, which does not help the problem.

 

On the flip side

- Ultra Green has give me ZERO problems in my Skyline. Writes as soon as the nib touches the paper. I think the pen has a good cap seal, which minimizes the nib drying out.

[ac12]

 

I haven't had any trouble so far, but used to have to wack my Quink bottle to get it open because of ink on the threads. As long as your pen is capped properly I shouldn't be too concerned. But I'd avoid leaving ink in an unused pen for more then a few weeks anyway. Always orth testing a mix in a cheap pen or leaving in a bottle for a while thogh, just to be safe/

 

Trick that my mother taught me.

 

Put a sheet of thin plastic (like from a sandwich bag) or a sheet of waxed paper over the bottle, then screw on the cap.

The plastic or wax paper keeps the contents (ink or jam) from sticking the cap to the bottle.

[ENewton]

I have tried one Diamine ink, and it just won't flow in most of my pens.

 

I assume that Diamine makes many other inks that are better behaved. Certainly, the brand has some ardent fans.

[ParkerDuofold]

Hello King Roach,

 

I've never had any problems with Diamine inks; I've only had two pens clog up on me; one with Private Reserve ink, the other was a new, unused pen with BSB.

 

- Anthony

[KingRoach]

Thanks, DuoFold for the reassurance. Have you seen any flaking on the threads of your bottles?

 

And, ENewton, I have found Diamine inks to be even more fluid than the Parker Quink. They run and around in a bottle and drip on the sides of the glass/plastic much more than Quink. The latter classes as "sticky" compared to them.

[ParkerDuofold]

Thanks, DuoFold for the reassurance. Have you seen any flaking on the threads of your bottles?

 

Not that I've noticed, but I haven't really looked for it, either. It may just be dehydrated ink.

 

One thing you could do is take the flakes and put them in water; if they dissolve and disperse, then you have no problems; they'll do the same in your feed when you soak it and flush it out.

 

But if they are not water miscable, then you got something to worry about.

 

- Anthony

Edited February 3, 2017 by ParkerDuofold

[DrDebG]

I have used a few samples of Diamine inks. I love the colors, but I found the formula to not be conducive to dry climates. I am not fond of hard starts and nib creep. And this was typical of all of the Diamine samples I have tried. I have found similar issues with other inks as well. So now the only time I use Diamine or the others is when I am traveling to a more humid climate.

[chromantic]

I haven't had any clogging problems on the Diamine inks I've used but Oxblood did exhibit nib crud from evaporation. The problem I have had is bad show/bleed with some colors. *cough* Twilight *cough*

[JakobS]

I have ~35 bottles of Diamine inks, and have never experienced clogging issues. I have seen others having issues with some inks, most I do not have yet, but the few I do, I have yet to replicate their experience, so do be aware that it maybe the pen, and environment in addition to any aspects of the ink. Samples are best to sort this out.

 

The inks I have are:

 

Woodland Green

Monaco Red

Steel Blue

Umber

Grey

Delamere Green

Grape

Orange

Golden Brown

Oxblood

Tyrian Purple

Majestic Blue

Autumn Oak

Apple Glory

Ancient Copper

China Blue

Chocolate Brown

Safari

Terracota

Violet

Wild Strawberry

Complete Music Set (10 inks)

Diamine Registrars

Shimmer Blue Lightning

Shimmer Magic Forest

Shimmer Golden Sands

 

Those inks that are bold have been known to have the potential to clog, though I personally have yet to experience this in the pens I have used, a Pilot Metro with medium nib, and a manuscript calligraphy pen with a 1.5mm nib.

 

As far as drying on the threads it most likely is the ink drying out, and could be simply an issue of ink getting on the cap in a way your other inks don't, but agree that attempting to dissolve the flakes in water will tell you if this is the case or not.

Edited February 3, 2017 by JakobS

[Vespagirl]

I have a couple Diamond inks and I love them all, but I did find that I have to be careful with Acient Copper. It does not clog any of my pens (I think I have put it in 3 or 4 now) but it will give me a hard start if I even pause too long in my writing with some pens. I have found it just works better with some nib/feeds than others. The other Diamond inks I have used have not been as finicky, but I so love that ink.

[Witsius]

Reds tend to develop a crust on the nib if the pen is allowed to sit unused for a prolonged period. My wife has a bottle of Red Dragon, and over the past two years she's only had one instance where the pen clogged, and that's because she didn't use the pen for about a month. It cleaned up easily enough with a little soaking in cool water and some pen flush.

 

She also has a bottle of Midnight, and there's never been a clogging issue at all with that ink. Having said that, I've seen reviews where some Diamine colors can cause clogging problems, but generally it's not an issue.

 

I suspect that crusty bits of dried ink on the bottle neck threads are due to the cap not sealing around the threads tightly allowing the ink residue there to dry. As long as the cap seal actaully seals off the ink proper, I don't expect you should have any worries.

[KingRoach]

Thanks for your responses.

[Chrissy]

I haven't had any clogging issues with any particular Diamine inks, and I use them a lot. I'm quite picky about having the threads on my bottles clean too. I have noticed ink on the threads of both of my Private Reserve DC blue bottles, which are really saturated, and I notice hard starts with those inks in particular pens. I think it's those pens that dry out more when capped. It's all about getting inks to suit the pens and papers you're using them with.

[visvamitra]

Well, Diamine has wide variety of inks. Some are well engineered, some denently, some badly. From my experience Diamine inks prone to cause problems are (remember that waht I say is true for some pens, it's not general rule but my experience):

 

Ancient Copper - nib creep/nib crud

Kelly Green - nib creep / nib crud

Jade - nib creep / nib crud

Onyx - clogging. It turned into some muddy substance

Sherwood Green - may cause hard starts / clogging when the pen isn't use on daily basis

Syrah - while I like the color, it seems it may react with sacs in vintage pens and literally eat them (sacs, not pens)

Red Dragon - may cause hard starts / clogging when the pen isn't use on daily basis

[View from the Loft]

I have used several Diamine inks, and there are two that are always present in my pens, Onyx and Midnight. The pens that have these inks haven't been flushed in well, probably a coule of years, and no clogging issues.

 

Others I have tried

 

Sherood Green

Steel Blue

Blue black

Oxblood

Crimson

Majestic? Or Imperial? purple

Green Black

Deep Magenta

Grey

 

None of these have caused clogging, but the purple had dried flow than the others.

 

I have experienced sticky cap threads on Diamine, Quink, Waterman and Edelstein inks.

[fraanya]

I am using Diamine Oxblood in my Metropolitan with a fine nib, and I am finding that this ink does indeed clog if I let the pen sit for a few days (even less than a week). I have had to remove the nib and feed and clean them, or dip the nib in water, and turn the converter to force in through the system in order to get things flowing again. I hope to find a better solution because I enjoy the color of this ink...

[npweston]

This is a very helpful thread - I've never had any problems with Diamine inks except for Ancient Copper in my OHTO Tasche, which clogged up a bit. Wasn't a huge problem, but I put it down to the Tasche being Not Very Good (which it isn't, frankly) - perhaps the Copper takes some of the blame there.

[Chrissy]

I've recently bought four bottles of Diamine inks for mixing colours, intending them to be from the same manufacturer/series in order to avoid any reactions.

 

However, after about a week or so, I'm starting to see, on the threads of the bottles, some dried up ink flakes. I had never seen anything like that with Parker Quink, or Hero, or Pelikan 4001, which I had used before.

 

Does Diamine ink clog or dry up into flakes or anything of the sort, in bottles, or inside pens, and does it do more of that if mixed together?

 

Some inks that contain yellow or orange dyes can tend to produce more mess around the bottle screw threads than others.