Modern Iron Gall Shelf Life

[antichresis]

There has been a lot written on the "safety" of using modern IG inks in pens (don't let it try out, clean your pen more often, flush regularly) but would anyone have any experience on the shelf life of IG in the bottle once opened? My concern is that I have a lot of ink and that means I empty bottles at a much slower rate than if I only used just one ink. I have a bottle of Salix and I'm planning to get Akkerman #10 during a trip to Den Haag in May besides wanting to try out KWZI IG inks..

 

I don't have a problem with my spread-out usage of dye inks since, as long as I clean my pens before filling from a bottle I can expect the ink to be as good as there is liquid in the bottle since I keep them all in a drawer away from the sun. But..I've read quite a few times that IG has its legendary adhesion to paper because of how it oxidizes with the air and how that chemical reaction bonds it to the paper (something like that), but quite a few have also commented how air inside the bottle affects the ink?

 

We all know about vintage inks and the adage that "if it smells like ink" and "there's no sludge" it's good. Does the same hold for IG? There's also the matter of evaporation and color-retention. Vintage dye inks can be reconstituted. Of course, some bottles, while usable are too far gone and a blue blue-black is now a black-blue, but this usually takes decades. Does IG have a shorter lifespan before it is significantly changed?

 

 

[Randal6393]

It depends. R & K Salix, I have a bottle that is over a year old and still writes well. May take it a bit longer to darken than when it was new but still works well. On the other hand, my bottle of Chesterfield Archival Ink went to sludge in three months. And a bottle of Blot's came to me sludgy. So it all depends.

 

Best of luck,

[ENewton]

I have had a bottle of R & K Scabiosa for nearly two years, and I have not noticed any change in its appearance or behavior. I can't say it ever darkened very much. It starts as a dusty, dark purple, then cures to a coppery lilac over the course of months.

[linearM]

I just received a bottle of Pelican 4001 blue black today, which I believe is an iron gal ink. Has anyone had any experience with the shelf life of the Pelican ink?

[antichresis]

I have had a bottle of R & K Scabiosa for nearly two years, and I have not noticed any change in its appearance or behavior. I can't say it ever darkened very much. It starts as a dusty, dark purple, then cures to a coppery lilac over the course of months.

 

It depends. R & K Salix, I have a bottle that is over a year old and still writes well. May take it a bit longer to darken than when it was new but still works well. On the other hand, my bottle of Chesterfield Archival Ink went to sludge in three months. And a bottle of Blot's came to me sludgy. So it all depends.

 

Best of luck,

Thank you both for the input. It seems my bottle of Salix should be safe. Hopefully others will chime in with their experience with this and other inks. I got mine in a clearance sale in the 3Q of last year and it is as it should be..so far.

 

I had a bottle of Lamy Blue-Black (before the reformulation) that developed sludge in less than four years but that was when I had just started using pens (poor hygiene) so I can't really fault it.

 

I just received a bottle of Pelican 4001 blue black today, which I believe is an iron gal ink. Has anyone had any experience with the shelf life of the Pelican ink?

Hi, I received a used bottle of 4001 Blue-Black just early this year and it is still pretty blue to my eyes. It was probably bought by the seller just last year so I can't give you a firm estimate, sorry

[The Good Captain]

I just received a bottle of Pelican 4001 blue black today, which I believe is an iron gal ink. Has anyone had any experience with the shelf life of the Pelican ink?

One of my older bottles started to write a bit to 'grey' for my liking so I threw it away and started a newer bottle. I do prefer the blue look when first written with but I don't see why the ink shouldn't last for some considerable time. I do tend to keep almost all my inks in their original boxes where possible, and even then, stacked in labelled shoe boxes. At least, out of any direct light - natural or artificial - just in case.

[the_gasman]

I always use Diamine Registrars' Ink for work. I am getting to the bottom of their large bottle (100ml), which I use as a store that I use to top up sample bottles that I then take to work (so that I always have a supply). I don't do a huge amount of paperwork in my job (lucky guy!) so I can't say how long I have had my large bottle, but it must be about 3 years. No problems noticed. A smaller bottle (30ml) has sludge but I just ignore it and I can't say that it has caused any problems, though I do thoroughly clean the work pen once a month.

 

If sludge bothers anyone, can it merely be filtered off?

 

Cheers,

David.

[wallylynn]

I had 3 bottles of Chesterfield, that formed a lot of sludge. I'd like to think it had little to do with the ink and more with the plastic bottles it came in, letting air in and water to evaporate through the plastic walls. i decanted the last two bottles into glass. Tipping them doesn't show me anything though.

I didn't like the original Lamy bl-bk. Too light for me. I don't recall it forming any sludge. I put it into a new bottle, which then got dumped all over my computer keyboard...

But to the original question, I have my Noodler's creaper filled with that old Chesterfield for the past few months. And it would evaporate and form sediment inside the pen (some of which was from the fill bottle). And if anything I like it better. It's much darker. It does smudge though, especially on less absorbant paper.

[WhosYerBob]

I have a 2007 vintage bottle of Blot's that was partially used before being placed in a sunny window sill for 5 years as part of a science experiment (the experiment ended in 2012). This bottle has an odd liquid bubble when the lid is taken off now (which I pop with the pen nib), but the ink is still good and lays down beautifully. I have multiple bottles of Salix, ESSRI, Blot's, and J. Herbin that are all nine years old at this point and perform like fresh juice.

[antichresis]

I have a 2007 vintage bottle of Blot's that was partially used before being placed in a sunny window sill for 5 years as part of a science experiment (the experiment ended in 2012). This bottle has an odd liquid bubble when the lid is taken off now (which I pop with the pen nib), but the ink is still good and lays down beautifully. I have multiple bottles of Salix, ESSRI, Blot's, and J. Herbin that are all nine years old at this point and perform like fresh juice.

Thank you, this sounds promising!

 

I wonder what is causing all the darkening in the bottle then.. (that I keep reading about)

[Bo Bo Olson]

ESSR said something about using their ink with in a year or two due to lack of chemicals.

It still works...but not quite so blue to black...as more dark starting than when the bottle was new. Had it some 3 or so years by now. Had/have two.

[Margana]

My bottles of Scabiosa and Salix purchased more than six years ago are still fine. They have been stored in the original bottles with metal caps in the back of a cabinet that gets no sunlight.

[JakobS]

My Scabiosa look fine, my 30ml and 100ml bottles of Diamine Registrars have developed some deposits in the bottle, though they both had issues of leaking or loose caps for a period of time. My Organics Aristole is hard to tell, but looks ok. My KWZ IG Green #2, Red# 3, Turquoise, Mandarin, and Aztec Gold are all very new so none in those as well. My Diamine bottles are about tens years old, my Scabosia is ~8-9 years, Aristole ~ 3 years, and KWZ ~4 months to 1 year.

 

My assumption is that those inks with lower amounts of the IG component in them will have a longer shelf life though it will also depend on how the inks are stored and their surrounding environment.

Edited March 11, 2017 by JakobS

[amberleadavis]

I just received a bottle of Pelican 4001 blue black today, which I believe is an iron gal ink. Has anyone had any experience with the shelf life of the Pelican ink?

 

 

It is one of the few inks that I have had disintegrate over time. If you see chunks (a hard precipitate) then don't use it in a fountain pen.

[Arkanabar]

It depends. R & K Salix, I have a bottle that is over a year old and still writes well. May take it a bit longer to darken than when it was new but still works well. On the other hand, my bottle of Chesterfield Archival Ink went to sludge in three months. And a bottle of Blot's came to me sludgy. So it all depends.

 

Best of luck,

 

I had 3 bottles of Chesterfield, that formed a lot of sludge. I'd like to think it had little to do with the ink and more with the plastic bottles it came in, letting air in and water to evaporate through the plastic walls. i decanted the last two bottles into glass. Tipping them doesn't show me anything though.

 

<snip>I have my Noodler's creaper filled with that old Chesterfield for the past few months. And it would evaporate and form sediment inside the pen (some of which was from the fill bottle). And if anything I like it better. It's much darker. It does smudge though, especially on less absorbant paper.

 

 

Thus far, my only IG exemplar has been a small bottle of (now discontinued) Chesterfield Archival Vault. I first used it in a Baoer 388, and it stained the converter where the bead prevented the piston seal from moving. Next came a Noodler's Nikita eyedropper, and I had to use a cotton swab to get the stains out of that. I also decanted it into a good Waterman bottle, where it got chunky and sludgy.

 

As people have had much better luck with other IG inks, I may reconsider my current "never again" stance upon them. Perhaps a 30ml bottle of Diamine Registrar's is in my future... (ETA) *if* I ever find myself in need of IG's feathering resistance.

Edited March 12, 2017 by Arkanabar

[wallylynn]

I dug out my prized possession ink from it's hiding hole: a bottle of vintage 2010 MontBlanc Midnight Blue ferro-gallic. Tipping the bottle around in front of a light, I didn't see any sludge.

[SNAK]

My oldest IG ink is Montblanc Blue-Black from 1990 or 1991 and it's still going fine, although the colour of the ink in the bottle is not as blue as it used to be. It's kind of blue-grey, but it is performing fine, no visible sludge. I have 3 more backup bottles so I hope they will be okay.

 

I also have these IG inks from 4 or 5 years old.

 

Akkerman #10 - some sludge around the glass side but I don't worry about it and use it.

ESSRI - I have decanted into an empty glass bottle from the plastic bottle it came in. Quite a bit of sludge. Writes fine.

Diamine Registrars Ink - Darkened a lot, no longer blue when initially on paper. Some sludge as Ackerman #10.

Salix and Scabbiosa - Fine, no colour change, no sludge visible.

Hero 232 - No colour change, no sludge visible.

Pelikan Blue Black - No change. Colour has always been kind of pale for an IG ink, a bit like Salix.

Platinum Blue Black - No change, very blue colour, not grey when dry on paper.

My homemade IG inks following pGarry's recipe - Some sludge, colours are no different (Yellow, Green, Red)

 

I just got Platinum's new 6 colours of IG inks in the mail so I hope they will be good for many more years to come too.

 

When it comes to IG inks, I generally don't worry about sludge as it's just chemical reaction happening inside the bottle. If I start to see hard gritty bits I may not use it any more, but fluffy kind of soft sludge doesn't bother me much, even in my ESSRI which has the most amount of "stuff" happening.

 

Having said that, I only use my IG inks in vintage sac pens (lever fill or plunger fill) because I feel they are most compatible with IG inks with simple feed structure without too many fins, unlike modern plastic feeds. I also won't consider using IG inks, especially strong ones, in a modern piston fill demonstrator pens. You can get the stain and deposit off completely with the use of Vitamine C powder but it can be a little hassle. I think I just enjoy using vintage pens and vintage (modern made by the idea is vintage) inks. I may branch out and start using the weaker IG inks in my Pelikans as they are very easy to clean really well.