New To Fountain Pens. Will Fountain Pen Ink Fade Over Time? If Yes How Long Will It Last?

[Kaushan]

Hi, I recently started using fountain pens again and I discovered this forum after researching my ink. I learned that supposedly "fountain pen ink will fade over time". Is this true? How long will my ink take to fade?

 

For reference I'm using 10 years old Camel (now Camlin) Permanent Black ink with Pilot Metropolitan F nib.

[Parker51]

You will need to search to find out if the ink you are referring to has been tested. Some inks will fade to the point of being unreadable if exposed to strong light in a few years while others will not, and most will last indefinitely in a dark environment. Also it matters what kind of paper you use.

[prashant.tikekar]

It depends on many factors. If the paper has excessive content of bleaching materials, ordinary inks will fade. Also exposure to light will expedite fading. Best way is to use iron gall inks which are permanent and never fade. Noodlers also have bulletproof inks which are permanent.

[Corona688]

Ballpoints aren't necessarily fade-proof either, for that matter.

[Jerome Tarshis]

In my own experience, the major problem is the paper, not the ink. I have owned what were ordinary notebooks of the 1970s in which what I wrote seemed intact after decades.

 

More recent times have brought ordinary paper that promotes fading. Certainly of blue inks. Black holds out better. But to avoid fading, the first consideration might well be to use good paper of a kind that is now expensive. After that, another consideration would be to keep the pages out of direct sunlight.

 

It's true that we have handwritten materials that are still readable after hundreds of years. That experience doesn't generalize to today's experience of ordinary stationery. Today's inks are often quite different from inks of quite recent times, as is much of today's paper. We need to learn more about these changes and their effects on fading.

[Inkling13]

It depends on many factors. If the paper has excessive content of bleaching materials, ordinary inks will fade. Also exposure to light will expedite fading. Best way is to use iron gall inks which are permanent and never fade. Noodlers also have bulletproof inks which are permanent.

Correction; iron gall inks, esp modern ones, have good staying power, but may or may not eat holes in paper in 100s of years. Pigment ink is not a choice for many, but does offer less worry of holes. Other inks have been tested, but time will really be the final judge interms of fading. However if being soaked in water and then bleached by the sun with torture tests doesnt fade inks, I doubt much will. You just need to hunt for the ink you want, and then check reviews.

[Flounder]

In my experience, Pelikan Royal BLue fades a great deal over the course of a couple of years. My go to ink is Diamine Royal Blue, notes going back to 2009 haven't faded.

[Chrissy]

Some inks will fade worse than others. I expect that whatever you write with now will have faded within 50 years even if it's supposed to be permanent.

[Charles Rice]

All colors fade over time - even Kodachrome.

[Inkling13]

All colors fade over time - even Kodachrome.

Except pigment inks...

[Corona688]

Except pigment inks...

Carbon black won't, but if your pigments are nanoparticles of red-colored plastic, those are as subject to fading as anything else. Many minerals can react also.

[Brandywine]

Correction; iron gall inks, esp modern ones, have good staying power, but may or may not eat holes in paper in 100s of years. Pigment ink is not a choice for many, but does offer less worry of holes. Other inks have been tested, but time will really be the final judge interms of fading. However if being soaked in water and then bleached by the sun with torture tests doesnt fade inks, I doubt much will. You just need to hunt for the ink you want, and then check reviews.

 

Iron Gall did eat holes in paper when it was highly concentrated in inks that were written with dip pens.

That happened after at least 100 years when the environment was humid.

 

Modern IG inks designed for fountain pens are far less concentrated (and a bit less permanent).

 

Pigment ink may clog your pen if it dries in it and many of them will clog a fountain pen

as they are meant to be used with dip pens only.

 

Choose, which risk you want to take ....

[Inkling13]

 

Iron Gall did eat holes in paper when it was highly concentrated in inks that were written with dip pens.

That happened after at least 100 years when the environment was humid.

 

Modern IG inks designed for fountain pens are far less concentrated (and a bit less permanent).

 

Pigment ink may clog your pen if it dries in it and many of them will clog a fountain pen

as they are meant to be used with dip pens only.

 

Choose, which risk you want to take ....

There are pigmented fountain pen inks. Its not the pigment in dip pen ink that clogs but rather the shellac and other binders in dip pen ink. Fountain pen pigmented ink like sailor Kiwa-guro is safe and non staining.

[Corona688]

There are pigmented fountain pen inks. Its not the pigment in dip pen ink that clogs but rather the shellac and other binders in dip pen ink. Fountain pen pigmented ink like sailor Kiwa-guro is safe and non staining.

 

Sorry, completely wrong.

 

Shellac and such are easily removed with solvents. Carbon black is not. Pigments can and do clog pens. They took some coercion to suspend in a liquid in the first place, and once they leave it, won't easily go back.

Edited February 19, 2018 by Corona688

[Dip n Scratch]

I use Hero 234 Black. Well it is supposed to contain Carbon Black.

I only use it in one of the legion of Safari knock-off's. I clean it every refill, but who cares if the beggar clogs eventually. The ink is bulletproof after drying. Even if the paper is wet to just short of disintegration the ink will still be readable.

 

Diamine Registrar's Ink is a true blue/black. It looks blue-ish but turns black as it dries.

This has iron-gall content. Pure IG ink would go on the paper as cloud-grey & blacken as the iron oxidised.

 

Modern paper contains chemicals like bleaching agents or, sodium thiosulphate, which is why they turn yellow and flake, never mind what has happened to to the ink.

The answer is to use rag paper made entirely from cotton pulp.

[Runnin_Ute]

Posts 21-23 on this thread in Inky Thoughts:

 

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/335083-colors-of-ink-likely-to-fade-and-those-not/page-2

 

You will notice the dates on the flyleafs of these books are 1923 and 1935 respectively. All signatures were done during that time frame. It may have been an iron gall ink. That means that at least one, probably two are 95 years old. The red is red pencil. The publication date on the books was 1923. It really looks that good.