Birmingham Pen Co. - Smithfield St. Bridge Truss Blue

[Intensity]

Welcome to a super-mini review of a blue ink!

 

Birmingham Pen Company is a store in Pennsylvania with its own line of inks:

https://www.birminghampens.com/pages/about-us

 

I noted these inks in reviews for their interesting, unusual shades and great water resistance (not for all, but for many of their inks). Water resistance is a property I value, especially if a droplet does not result in an immediate dye-loaded smear and instead cleans up neatly with a paper towel dab.

 

In my search for a well-behaved water-resistant blue that's similar to my beloved (but smeary under water) Diamine Asa Blue, I've tried various samples of inks, until I finally came upon this Birmingham Pen Co. Truss Blue ink. While this ink is not as turquoise as Asa Blue, which I would have preferred, it's still an intense medium blue. It's actually very close in writing to Sailor Jentle Souten, though ever so slightly less turquoise (really just a faint hint of turquoise in difference, otherwise extremely close in person). I don't get Souten to sheen easily without a dip pen or without writing on something like Tomoe River, so for practical purposes, Truss Blue is a great subsititute for Souten for less money and with better water resistance. There is some red sheen to Truss Blue but only along the edges of very saturated areas--Souten has more.

 

One thing I've noticed with the Birmingham Pen Co. inks I've tried so far is how runny some of them are. Similar to my experience with Iroshizuku Fuyu-Syogun: it's runny and can feather if used with a high flow pen. I tamed my sample of Fuyu-Syogun by using it with a Lamy Safari with a Fine nib. For this review, I combined Truss Blue with a Jinhao NJ243 pen, which resulted in super juicy lines and some feathering in particularly wet spots. I would use it with something like a Lamy or my Nakaya pen, which is on the dry side and helps with shading. Though this ink does shade, it's quite saturated, and shading is not very obvious. I've had notably more trouble with feathering with Birmingham's Moss Green than this blue, which is not bad in that regard.

 

Please forgive the terrible very quick doodle. Photos taken in daylight indoor shade.

 

Look at that water resistance! Only a small amount of blue dye comes off after large droplets of water land on the paper and sit for a bit. Dabbing with a paper towel results in clearly legible remaining lines without significant messy smearing. I don't know how they've managed such a vivid blue that doesn't smear with water--it seems to be uncommon with saturated medium blues, unless they are pigment-based.

 

 

And here is a Lamy steel nib line-up--no feathering!

 

Edited December 21, 2017 by Intensity

[Jan2016]

Nice! Thanks for the review. Nice blue!

[Intensity]

Edited to add Lamy nib writing samples.

[Pensei]

I like it

[inkstainedruth]

Very serendipitous. I just inked up a Parker 61 with some Truss Blue this evening (my admittedly limited experience with the Birmingham inks are that they are fairly wet and not super saturated, so I thought that the ink would do okay in a capillary filler.

Thanks for the review. Everyone at the SCNs meeting tonight was hoping that the B&M store will be able to find a new location relatively soon. And me? I just want a full bottle of Truss Blue and hope they get it back up on their website, at least....

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[Intensity]

It's in stock on their site now, I've just checked.

 

Regarding saturation, the inks I've tested so far do vary. This one is quite saturated, I was surprised. Not Diamine level of saturation, perhaps, but close. Fern Green that I also reviewed has medium-low saturation.

Edited December 21, 2017 by Intensity

[ManofKent]

Great review. Looks a nice shade.

[namrehsnoom]

An appealing blue, reminds me of Pelikan Topaz and kon-peki - similar but darker. And water resistance is quite impressive.

[Intensity]

I think Kon-Peki has it beat in the shading department, from what I've seen in other reviews, but probably not in water resistance (and in price).

[ENewton]

This looks nothing like the swatch on the Birmingham website!

[Intensity]

This looks nothing like the swatch on the Birmingham website!

 

Really? Looks relatively accurate to me, though a bit dark. Their sample is layered on. You begin to see the sheen along the edges if you layer it on like that, wetly, as is on their sample. It's probably a tad brighter than on their sample.

 

Edited December 22, 2017 by Intensity

[amberleadavis]

Great review and I like the comparisons.

[Gloucesterman]

Actually I quite like this. I might get it if I don't get a large bunch of pens and inks that I just offered to buy. Of course to take advantage of the free shipping I need to buy more stuff so it will wait patiently for my attention (purchase).

Thanks for the review.

[jmccarty3]

If you like Truss Blue, you may like their Panther Blue. It behaves marvelously in one of my Pilot Preras with a medium nib.