Quality Of Pelikan Vs Lamy Bottled Ink

[Bo Bo Olson]

I just looked at the last box I bought of Brilliant Green bought last year (or just after the dark green came out) and there was no price on it.

But I could be memory of a couple of years ago....but it is 'cheap' ink here.

I do buy more LE inks or Edelstein lately.

Both MB and Edelstein have gone up an euro over the last years.....not counting the new expensive MB inks that I may not buy. So regular Pelikan 4001 could have gone up an euro too. If I remember correctly Lamy is pushing E5 now.

 

I do not use a 10X loupe in all inks might well feather or have a woolly line.

 

I use a 2.7cm or 1 inch+ thick, 3 by 4 inch magnifying glass as my optic for woolly line and feathering. A Honking Big magnifying glass.

With Diamine, Akkerman, Edelstein Aventurine I don't need a glass, just bring it close to my eyes so see feathering and woolly line.

Aventurine was such a disappointment, in I liked the color.

 

I guess it depends on how OCD one is.

I'm OCD enough to develop a system for measuring it.

Edited October 13, 2017 by Bo Bo Olson

[Chrissy]

I'm sure I have a boxed bottle of Pelikan Brilliant Green somewhere. I've never compared it with Lamy Green, but I must try to do that. They are both German after all......

 

How many large ink factories are there in Germany? Also, that is where GvFC comes from too.

[fabri00]

R&K, Seitz-Kreuznach, Kaweco, Online, Mont Blanc .....

[Chrissy]

R&K, Seitz-Kreuznach, Kaweco, Online, Mont Blanc .....

 

They are not large ink factories. They are brands that have ink made for them.

 

I know for certain that at least 3 of these brands do not have their own ink factories.

[torstar]

Pelikan every time.

 

But it's kinda boring....

[Bo Bo Olson]

torstar.....do you have 90g and or + laser paper? That is needed for shading, and Pelikan 4001 inks will shade even the Royal Blue which might need a bit better paper than 90g.

The brown is a tad on the red side for brown but shades well. Blue Black is a world classic. Violet and turquoise is good.....again on good to better paper. Nothing is really any good on poor 80g or less paper.

Pelikan 4001 has a nice clean line....is a dry ink...made for the wet Pelikan nibs.

Up to Noodlers blacks came along Pelikan Black was rated second best right under Aurora. It is not a ink for a skinny nib on PP paper. Will tend to gray then. I don't do black, so still have half a bottle from when I got back into fountain pens a decade ago. Black is what I think of as boring.

Pelikan red has a bad name....but one must remember...red in any piston pen is not a good thing....so I'd guess it's as less red as they can make with out staining the ink window.

You should have seen the old '90's Pelikan cartridge inks I have , from back when Pelikan made some 10-12 cartridge inks for 4001. The Orange was great...for the time. The two greys, good, the silver gray the better. Discontinued. I'm not into rose and lilac, I have someone in mind for those.

xxxx

 

Lamy does have it's own ink factory. I've seen it, in the far right corner of the factory. Big sacks of powder to mix for inks, but we weren't allowed that close during the tour I did....did get to see the cartridge machine at work....cartridges sideways!!! Shoot ink and seal in one move.

 

Chrissy....do not waste money buying Lamy Green.....even Sandy1 says that.

I luckily only have cartridges.

 

Shading...for inks that should, feathering/woolly line, color were what I was looking for. I like a nice clean line.....one of the reason's I like semi-vintage and vintage pens.

 

I did something like a 15+ paper test over a time, and I was shocked that on a certain paper... Lamy came in third....and two more times tied for 4th and or 5th out of some 8-9 or so green inks. Once last, often second to last. I used a Safari and a CPM in M.

 

On the whole it was second last. Akkermann was a tad better.(on Gmund 170g Akkermann like almost all inks did well. Very good shading on that paper; some shading on others.) The only ink consistently worse than Lamy Green was Diamine Green Meadow. (Yes, Chrissy I know you are a fan of Diamine.)

 

My...Green Meadow didn't meadow, and was dull, not murky. BEF! Sit and see the feathering or woolly line.

I didn't test MB Seaweed nor Vert Empire in they are murky, so didn't get included in 'green' ink test. Some were a bit paler, some a bit darker and a few were in the middle green-green inks.

 

On Avery Zweckform 120g 'superior' laser paper, glossy, ..a paper that on the whole disappointed me (the 170g is not a favorite either and the 100g ended up in my printer.) I have in my notes the paper nice to write on but encouraged ugly shading.. .and I am a shading fan.

"Makes Lame green look real good, dark still, some (not major) woolly line. The 100g of that paper, nice&dark-feathery.

 

Some other paper xxx Opti Premium 100, a bit better, Lamy Green is dark...a bit less feathering. That paper also ended up hitting the printer. Good papers get put away...and to age into dust.

 

On Sourthworth 90g Parchment ivory, Lamy finished before Aventurine which feathers much more, then Akkerman H. green and Green Meadow.

Gmund, color system 100g...lots of ink have woolly lines....but on that paper Aventurine beat 4001. It was the only time.

I am sure I can find a darker green like Aventurine that has a cleaner line than it. My other Edelstein inks don't feather like that. I don't have them in mind as woolly line inks either...

After looking hard at a few papers with Jade, it has a slight NEF woolly line seen when held close to the eyes, and on some papers not all.

...Aventurine is not quite as bad as I pictured it....but was only middle of the pack at highest and sometimes lower top third. So I'll not be emptying the bottle to put Lamy Green in it.

 

 

MB Irish was bought after I tested some papers. Essentially ties with R&K Verdura.

 

Basically, Lamy Green is a washed out no pizzas ink. The fainter, DA Golf is 'washed out' but shades so well. I'd have to put Golf as a stand a lone in in my Greens, like R&K Alt goldgreen. I can see DA Golf being looked down at...when compared to other green inks in shade and tone, but the shading is so very good. Let it stand alone, and you will like it, if you like shading.

 

On my Gmund samples of E40 for 100 or E40 for 50 sheets, Gmund Original Tactic creme, all looked good. DA Mossy Green (spring moss) Second, R&K-tied 4001 (pre MB Irish) Lamy tied with DA Golf, Aventurine, Akkermann H-green, last still Green Meadow. (Lamy 4th)

Gmund cotton, feels good, but has the basic 50-100% cotton feathering. Same list as before.R&K best shading, H Akkermann good shading.

 

Sigh MB Winter Forest feathers....Same with the Christmas Brown......

 

My printer is antique and got old where it wouldn't take heavier papers.....now that the rubber has been rejuvenated perhaps I can get rid of heavy paper that didn't make it. But I'm not desperate for paper that much right now.

 

Lamy violet is very good ink, but unfortunately only in cartridges. Lamy Turquoise was when I first came on the com, the basis turquoise that all others were compared too.I have both blue and turquoise in the old bottle also.

Edited October 13, 2017 by Bo Bo Olson

[OMASsimo]

Bo Bo,

 

If you're so OCD (as you call it) about feathering, why do you use non-bonded, uncoated papers like those of Gmund then? No question that these are lovely papers but they call for feathering. If you test inks on such paper, you basically measure the ink flow. Paper for laser printers usually is also not very fountain pen friendly as well. Due to the way a laser printer works, the surface of such paper should be slightly rough causing a capillary effect.

 

Since you're living in Germany, I'd recommend to try Zanders Gohrsmühle letter blocks, which should be readily available. Price is a fraction of Gmund paper and it's absolutely fountain pen friendly according to my experience. The French Clairfontaine also produces excellent letter blocks. Many Italian papers are fantastic but hard to get because they come from small manufacturers.

 

Honestly, I do love handmade laid paper myself because it has such a unique feel and style. But I can live with the consequences that the ink may feather a little bit. Just recently I bought 1000 sheets of a vintage paper from a mill that was discontinued a good 50 years ago! It's a lovely paper but I have to choose my pen and ink wisely if I want to use it.

[Bo Bo Olson]

There are Art Gmund papers, and fountain pen friendly Gmund, which I checked on first, in I accidentally got the Art Sampler from Schoellerahammer.....and Art paper really feathers!!!!

Of some 12 papers they rated as fountain pen friendly, I picked 9, mostly 100, 110, 120, 150 and 170g, in three different configurations of paper names. I don't think I took a ninety g, in I was interested in heavier papers.

 

I've always had Zanders....even have some 40 year old bond, because it was too good to put in my Jukie daisy wheel printer. It is a tad better than modern. Don't know why I don't use it as much as the others, other than it's storage location is different from where my other papers lie.

I have better.

Must be some sort of mental block to why I've at least not tested the heavier Zander papers.......and there are a hell of a lot of Zander papers.

 

I do have a couple of Zander sample packs I need to go through.

[View from the Loft]

 

English....so no overseas shipments

 

The Writing Desk most certainly does ship outside of the U.K.

[vojtahlad]

It like many to most Diamine inks feathers....

 

Diamine Meadow feathers? Really?

 

 

This is written on a cheap K-Classic Collegeblock paper. In my experience, Meadow does not have a stronger tendency to feather than any other from my collection of 50+ inks.

[Bo Bo Olson]

Dimaine does feather and or have a woolly line (5-6 tried...a couple or three bottles and some cartridges) in my mainland Europe 60-70 inks. I gave my bottle of Sapphire to someone I was trying to hook into fountain pens.....the baker closed and moved so I couldn't give it to her kid.

So unfortunately does Akkermann but a bit less than it's maker Diamine. A different recipe.

I have a lot of Akkermann samples. I liked the colors in Akkermann, but they were just a tad too woolly for me.

 

Of course if I don't bring the ink on paper to near my eye, who knows what I might not see.....and then comes the Honking Big Magnifying Glass, to make a difference between fair (NEF/W), good (Mag F&W)* and great inks NM** F/W lines.

 

*MagF&W, feathering or wooly line seen under medium magnification. I do say if it takes magnification to see feathering or a woolly line it is good ink....worth buying again.

** *No Feathering or woolly line under medium 1" or 2.7cm thick magnification.....a must have ink.

 

I do think using a 10 X loupe to be too much magnification. I think a 1 inch or 2.7cm thick magnifying glass to be enough to see real differences with.

 

Perhaps I got a bad bottle, for color is better on yours, mine is similar but duller, but close to that color. Yours shows more shading also............I am willing to be a bit forgiving with good shading ink, but most of them I have are not woolly when I hold them up to my eye.

Your paper get more of a woolly line than I get with Verdura....an ink I like.

 

View from the Loft..............

The poster didn't want to go outside the UK to buy, so I showed him where to buy in the UK.

Edited October 15, 2017 by Bo Bo Olson

[OMASsimo]

Hmmm, I can't see any feathering or wooly line in the picture of voitahlad, not even after magnifying it to the max.

[RoyalBlueNotebooks]

This is written on a cheap K-Classic Collegeblock paper. In my experience, Meadow does not have a stronger tendency to feather than any other from my collection of 50+ inks.

That color is gorgeous, it's in my list for my Diamine inks haul.

[torstar]

Great post BoBo, but I can't go there with my stuff. I have an "affection" for writing and "passion" for other topics.

 

My FP joke is that Lamy was the only ink that didn't work with my Lamy 2000...."

[Bo Bo Olson]

Have they reformulated Diamine, or is that what a 'good' bottle of Meadow looks like? That looks NE (Near Eye) good.

 

From previous posts, like from Sandy1, I'd not expected anything much from Lamy Green.........nor actually Meadow Green, because of the other Diamine inks I'd tried. Lamy Green** on the whole was a slight tad better.

I don't give away 'good' bottles of ink.......but have all my Diamine bottles.

I'd have fancy little Akkermann bottles, if it didn't feather or leave a woolly line. NE good would have been good enough.

 

** Other Lamy inks are good.

Edited October 17, 2017 by Bo Bo Olson