Birmingham – Steel Building Smoked Iron

[crahptacular]

Birmingham – Steel Building Smoked Iron

 

The Birmingham Pen Co.’s line of inks (30 colors at the time of writing) feature various colors based on or inspired by notable locations or people associated with its home city of Pittsburgh, PA. I bought their sampler pack, and plan on slowly going through the whole line of inks, though I expect it will take me quite a while. For those interested, I posted some color swatches in a different topic (https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/328952-birmingham-pen-co-ink-swatches/) where you can get a quick idea of what the whole line looks like together.

 

Steel Building Smoked Iron is one of many near-blacks in the Birmingham ink line (when I first did my swatches all in one sitting, I was surprised to see that about a quarter of the collection appeared to be some variation of black or grey). Although I call Smoked Iron a (near-) black, it might be more accurate to say it is a dark grey-brown, which in some circumstances is dark enough to appear black. It’s comparable to Sailor Doyou in this respect, but its hue is not as brown. I think it is also comparable to Noodler’s Black, which is more of an actual black, but still brownish. On the less absorptive papers (TR, Mnemosyne), which also have a yellower/creamier tone, the ink’s more subtle shades were noticeable, whereas on the more absorptive FC paper, which also has a “cooler” pure white tone, the ink more or less appeared black. Behavior was very nice; the ink was satisfyingly smooth and never gave me any issues, and showed respectable water resistance to boot. When washed, you can see the brown tones come to life, but they settled back into mostly-grey upon drying. Only in a few spots in the doodle can you see the brown dye separate and retain its color (see the edges of the blotches along the left side). I would’ve loved for the brown to be more visible in the wash. As it stands, I think this is a very nice ink for sketching—close enough to black for utility, but with some character and warmth when you ask for it. I’m looking forward to the other near-blacks of the collection, which I hope will give similar feelings, each one slightly tugging in a different direction.

 

Flow/Lubrication: Moderate high

Shading: Low

Sheen: None.

Water Resistance: Moderate-high

Other Notes: I’ve opted to stop doing the splash because (other than looking cool) it doesn’t provide anything the big smear doesn’t do better (the left side of the smear is always allowed to pool heavily to check for sheen)... and because I always manage to make a big mess.

 

The following sample was done with a Pilot Kakuno (Medium) and a FC 31 (Broad) on Tomoe River (68gsm, white, loose-leaf). Doodle was done with a Kuretake Menso brush (Small). Flex writing was done with a Leonardt 30 dip nib.

 

Inaccurate Image(s) Disclaimer: Apologies for not having a photo this time. The scan, fortunately, is pretty much spot-on on my monitor. All of the comparisons are accurate as well. The only inaccuracy is that in the doodle, the scan is slightly higher-contrast than in reality, but the hues are all accurate.

 

Scan:

 

Photo: No photo this time. My phone isn’t cooperating with my computer and I’m having trouble transferring files.

 

 

Comparison inks from left to right (big smear is the featured ink):

Sailor Doyou, Sailor Nano Kiwa-Guro, Noodler’s Black, Platinum Carbon Black, Noodler’s Lexington Gray

 

Writing Samples (scans; some color correction; papers of increasing absorbency), from Kazuo Ishiguro’s The Remains of the Day

 

Maruman Mnemosyne:

 

Tsubame Fool’s University:

 

Franklin-Christoph:

[namrehsnoom]

Great review! And I like the colour too... a dark grey with character.

[visvamitra]

Stunning. I love presentation and the ink.

[Pensei]

Again, a great drawing and a fine review. Thanks.

[ENewton]

I look forward to comparing this one with Rohrer and Klingner Sepia.

[inkstainedruth]

I was a bit dubious about the name. And then I saw your fabulous drawing.... And realized, "Oh, this is a *sepia*.... WAAANT! Must HAAAAAVE!"

Darn you. Like I really need more ink, when I have a bunch of samples I haven't tried (some of which are from a couple of YEARS ago... ).

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

Edited December 19, 2017 by inkstainedruth

[crahptacular]

I was a bit dubious about the name. And then I saw your fabulous drawing.... And realized, "Oh, this is a *sepia*.... WAAANT! Must HAAAAAVE!"

Darn you. Like I really need more ink, when I have a bunch of samples I haven't tried (some of which are from a couple of YEARS ago... ).

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

Haha, I wasn't really sure what to make of the name either at first, but when I looked up pictures of the Steel Building (I hadn't realized at this point it was a specific building) it made perfect sense. Everyone will have their own opinion on the color, but I think it undeniably lives up to its name, now that I know what it's referencing. Apparently, the particular type of oxidation that gives the Steel Building its color was part of the design of the building, which used a new (at the time) type of steel. From wikipedia:

 

U.S. Steel deliberately placed the massive steel columns on the exterior of the building to showcase a new product called Cor-ten steel. Cor-ten resists the corrosive effects of rain, snow, ice, fog, and other meteorological conditions by forming a coating of dark brown oxidation over the metal, which inhibits deeper penetration and doesn't need painting and costly rust-prevention maintenance over the years.

[Tas]

Jackpot !!!

:wub:

[senzen]

Thank you for another amazing review. Fully saturated it's close to Yama Guri.

[inkstainedruth]

Haha, I wasn't really sure what to make of the name either at first, but when I looked up pictures of the Steel Building (I hadn't realized at this point it was a specific building) it made perfect sense. Everyone will have their own opinion on the color, but I think it undeniably lives up to its name, now that I know what it's referencing. Apparently, the particular type of oxidation that gives the Steel Building its color was part of the design of the building, which used a new (at the time) type of steel. From wikipedia:

 

U.S. Steel deliberately placed the massive steel columns on the exterior of the building to showcase a new product called Cor-ten steel. Cor-ten resists the corrosive effects of rain, snow, ice, fog, and other meteorological conditions by forming a coating of dark brown oxidation over the metal, which inhibits deeper penetration and doesn't need painting and costly rust-prevention maintenance over the years.

 

Funny, I always thought of the USX tower as being black....

I was actually in the building once, years ago. There used to be a restaurant on the top floor (the USX Tower used to be -- at 64 stories -- the tallest building between NYC and Chicago) called "Top of the Triangle" and my husband somehow wangled getting into a reception for new CMU CS grad students. So we were looking out the window at the old Civic Arena (called the Igloo because of its dome shape and because that's where the Pittsburgh Penguins hockey team had home games). All of a sudden we saw fireworks being set off from the Igloo (we never did find out the reason). And we were seeing them... from above them, looking DOWN....

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[crahptacular]

Well, as I've never been there, I'm only commenting based on pictures. For example, something like this:

 

http://images.skyscrapercenter.com/building/USSteelTower_overall1_MG.jpg

 

shows a decidedly brown cast to it in direct sunlight. Colors in photographs are regularly oversaturated, though, so your impression may well be the more accurate one.

 

I've never gotten to see fireworks from above in person, but it sounds incredible! It brings to mind those videos of fireworks shot by drones flying through the display. What a view!

[ManofKent]

Great illustration - I like the look of the ink too - Sepia/Black

[inkstainedruth]

Well, as I've never been there, I'm only commenting based on pictures. For example, something like this:

 

http://images.skyscrapercenter.com/building/USSteelTower_overall1_MG.jpg

 

shows a decidedly brown cast to it in direct sunlight. Colors in photographs are regularly oversaturated, though, so your impression may well be the more accurate one.

 

I've never gotten to see fireworks from above in person, but it sounds incredible! It brings to mind those videos of fireworks shot by drones flying through the display. What a view!

 

Yeah, the photo makes the building look a lot browner. I drive past it fairly often, but a lot of times it's in the early evening. Or, I'm dealing with the crazy pedestrians who think they're in Boston (Boston drivers are polite to pedestrians but evil to other drivers, so Boston pedestrians often don't bother to look -- they just start crossing the street on the assumption that the drivers will stop; Pittsburgh is the opposite -- if there's a merge lane the locals will nearly always take turns, but if you're walking, all bets are off unless actually *in* a crosswalk...).

The fireworks thing was a fluke. And to this day we don't know what was going on at the Igloo that night. But it's Pittsburgh and we LOVES us our fireworks....

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[rudyhou]

an interesting tone of brown to the grey ink.

[benjitzu]

Now THAT is an awesome dark brown! Yep, adding this to the purchase list.

 

Your reviews are some of the best I've seen and I enjoy them all. Thank you for taking the time to share your drawing and handwriting skills.

[jmccarty3]

Wonderful color! I love cool dark browns like this.

[goodpens]

Great review and great color ink.

 

I know the building and have seen it many times. It always strikes me as a cooler color, closer to blue than brown.

[aurore]

The ink looks great. But what a review, terrific!

[fireant]

Great review. I love the color of this ink and really love the name. I grew up in Pgh so I love the names of the manufacturer chooses!

 

 

 

[Intensity]

Great review and great color ink.

 

I know the building and have seen it many times. It always strikes me as a cooler color, closer to blue than brown.

 

Possibly because of blue sky reflected in the windows and some reflected on the oxidized surface of the building?

 

(Image source: https://www.ussteel.com/locations/corporate-headquarters)

 

Pretty clever to make a dark gray-brown ambiguous ink that goes so well with that building.

Edited February 6, 2019 by Intensity