Old Sheaffer Ink Still Usable?

[apvm]

While cleaning up some of the old boxes I packed many years ago, I found a brand new Sheaffer ink in one of the boxes. Picture below is similar to the one I have but instead of blue it is Blue/Black. I had a hard time unscrewing it but after running some hot water over the cap, I was able to unscrew it. The ink is still in liquid form and look and smell alright. My question is will it be ok to use it? thanks in advance.

 

Edited October 7, 2017 by apvm

[Ron Z]

I would. I think that the old Sheaffer inks made in Ft. Madison are better than the modern Slovenian inks and are less prone to SITB issues than the modern ink.

[Chrissy]

I would use it too. Those bottles with the internal glass inkwell in one side are great bottles.

 

I just bought an old bottle of Peacock Blue to use. It is the same bottle apart from the fact it has a gold cap with bayonet type threads.

[swanjun]

I have *lots* of these red-label Sheaffer bottles, and have never had any issues with them. I think you're good to go for it. If you were still concerned, you could always try it in a cheap pen first.

[ENewton]

I have used twenty-year-old Sheaffer ink, and the only problem I found was that Sheaffer Brown had turned green, so I set that ink aside. Other colors looked and behaved as if they were new.

[apvm]

Thank you so much, I think I'll try them on cheap pen 1st to make sure.

[gregamckinney]

By the standards of Skrip, this isn't even old ink, this is pretty recent ink. Definitely a go ahead, and safe for all pens.

 

 

greg

[lapis]

Yes, keep it in any case. It should be fine. Mine are just as old and still belong to my best inks. If you don't want it, then....

[A] Sell it an earn some money.

At least hang onto and use or sell the bottle alone. It's very valuable too!

[apvm]

Thanks, by the way I also found a brand new Parker Quink (France) Black/Blue. Now I remember I have some Pelikan ink somewhere too, I have to look for it in one of the boxes. Haven't touch fountain pen for nearly 30 years, I may even able to find my 1st pen a Parker too.

[vjones]

Sounds like an interesting archaeology project.

[bob_hayden]

I regularly use USA Sheaffer ink with no problems and some of it is much older in the yellow and blue boxes. The only change I have noticed is that the cartridges are now only 1/3 full though the bottles usually do not have that problem. Color does not seem to change much anyway, except for the blue-black cartridges, which are now a much richer and darker color;-)

[Runnin_Ute]

I have a bottle of Emerald Green #72 in the yellow and blue labelled bottle. No issues so far.

[ian1964]

I know this is probably a stupid question but why does the ink disappear from cartridges.I am really baffled by How the ink evaporates through the plastic. Also, how fast does this happen?

[bob_hayden]

Water vapor diffuses very slowly through the plastic. My Made in USA cartridges are 1/2 to 1/3 full now. They must be at least a decade old. ( I don't remember just when the USA inks were replaced by inks from Slovenia.) It's not much of an issue if you are buying recently manufactured cartridges and using them, but it can be a big deal if you buy old ink cartridges on eBay. It is not unusual to see some offered as "new" but if you look carefully at the photos they are essentially empty.

[ErrantSmudge]

I have a small batch of Sheaffer cartridges at least a decade old, and they are all about 1/2 full as well.

 

I also have Sheaffer bottled ink of the same age that is still in perfect shape for writing.

Edited October 8, 2017 by ErrantSmudge

[bob_hayden]

I snooped around and it looks like ink production in Iowa ended in the early 1990s. Then even the employees did not know where the ink was coming from. The switch to Slovenia was around the turn of the century. So I think two decades is a conservative guess for how old our cartridges are. The old ones had the brand and ink color printed right on the cartridge! What luxury! And you could drop them in the pen either side up. And you could see how much ink was in them.

 

The last bottles were in burgundy color boxes and I think there were two versions of those, early and late. Before that the boxes were blue and yellow going back at least into the 50s. I have lots of burgundy and some blue/yellow including a #22 Permanent Blue Black I just bought on eBay. .

[pajaro]

Reassured by these posts, I bought an NOS bottle of Sheaffer permanent blue black on ebay. I have always liked this ink better than any other. I have often used this ink in the blue and yellow box. I think I'll try to find a red box with this ink next.

[bob_hayden]

By the time of the red boxes Sheaffer was no longer marking any of its inks as "permanent" so if that matters to you you may want to proceed with caution. It does seem to me that the #22 ink marked "permanent" is also darker than the later USA not so marked.

[bugsydog55]

Have also come across the NOS cartridges and those that come with older pens on Ebay and sales from individuals cleaning out old drawers. Was intimidated at first with "new" cartridges that had a bad case of disappearing ink syndrome but got over that and have used them in assorted mixes. On opening the cartridge you can syringe out the contents, add a drop or two of water, place in a sample vial and you now have a concentrated color base to play with. Depending how much water you use, you can pretty much reconstitute the original color. These old cartridges are great for experimenting with and you are not necessarily wasting the ink. Its like taking that which is lifeless and instilling something new and exciting into it. You are only limited by your own imagination.

[apvm]

Sounds like an interesting archaeology project.

 

Well, just found a Sheaffer 1005 ballpen that my wife own, now she wants me to find the missing fountain pen as she remember her uncle gave her a set.