Pelikan 4001 Blue Black... Eats Gold Plating?

[WJM]

Today after cleaning my Wing Sung 698, which past few days was filled with Pelikan 4001 Blue-Black, I've noticed on the nib that the gold (golden? gold-ish?) plating around the slit is half gone. I know that this can happen with time with plated steel nibs but this was just the second or third time I had this pen filled so it makes me wonder...

Not more than a few hours later I filled my newly aquired old style Pelikan M200 with Pelikan 4001 Blue Black, from another, newly opened bottle. The nib didn't write very well, the tines were missaligned so I started to try and get it right. No more than an hour later I noticed the plating around the slit started to wear off.

Now, this pen is like 25 years old so some plating loss could be expected, however... I could swear it was completely in tact before I filled it... and also:

Before:

After:

So, what the hell? Am I going crazy here or does this ink really damage the plating?

Anyone else experienced something like this?

Edited November 23, 2017 by WJM

[Parker51]

Yes, this is a known problem with this ink and the gold plated m200.

[Needhelp]

OH MY GOD!!! Contact pelikan right away because you used pelikan ink in a pelikan pen and so it is their fault. So contact them right now.

[Runnin_Ute]

Never had that problem with any of my M200's and 4001 Blue Black. How hard are you rubbing?

Edited November 24, 2017 by Runnin_Ute

[WJM]

As for M200 I considered that it might be due to my meddling with the nib. "Rubbing" is a big word, I was pushing the tines a bit, as you do to align them. But I guess it could happen as a result of that.

Then again, there's also the Wing Sung 698. With this nib I never did anything but writing. My first thought was - well, as good as it is, this is still a cheap, Chinese pen, the plating likely isn't very thick, if it's gold at all, and it wouldn't suprise me if it wore off relatively easly. Maybe not that easly and not that soon but perhaps even so.

I didn't really think much about it, untill the same thing happened to the Pelikan.

So now I wonder, is this just a coincidence and I'm overreacting with my concerns, or there actually IS a possibility it's the ink.

Edited November 24, 2017 by WJM

[Parker51]

This problem has been noted before. The thought was that the gold is not actually being dissolved, but rather it can loose its adhesion to the steel and fall off due to the action of the ink on the steel at the point of adhesion.

So, technically, the ink does not dissolve gold, or steel, it simply stops them from sticking to each other.

I would also contact Pelikan. They should be aware of the problem and likely are as an organization.

[WJM]

Thank you for your answers.

 

Do you know what could be the cause of this problem? I remember using 4001 Brilliant Black in M200 very regularly a few years back and nothing happened to the plating. Is it just the Blue-Black? Is it generally a problem with iron gall inks and gold plated nibs or just the Pelikan?

[The Good Captain]

I've used it in all kinds of gold-plated, gold, gold & rhodium two-tone and rhodium plated with no ill effects whatsoever.

[lapis]

I've used it in all kinds of gold-plated, gold, gold & rhodium two-tone and rhodium plated with no ill effects whatsoever.

I'll go along with that (I do it all the time with pleasure, Cap'n). I love that ink and use it a lot (not only because it's cheap and always available everywhere here). I suspect it has to do with the pen itself which is likely a fake. Or at least the nib. The nibs on 200s -- looking more like pure gold -- have always looked phoney to me since they look golder/deeper/darker than the gold parts of real nibs on my M1000, M900, M800 etc etc. Again, it's probably just a very very thin plating of the 200s' nibs and by no means anything solid like on those more expensive pens' nibs.