Lamy Petrol - Written Review

[DrDebG]

I actually wrote up this quick review a month or so ago, but failed to post it.

 

I have been used the ink a few times since then, and really do not care for it. II do not favor the intensity of the color, and I do not really care for the formulation - it seems dry to me. And I have not seen the sheen that everyone talks about. I know many people that love this ink, so please take my comments with that in mind. Honestly, there are many others in this shade that I prefer. If it had not been a Christmas present from my daughter, I would probably give it away.

 

 

[Sailor Kenshin]

Thanks for the review!

 

I'm with you here; based on earlier reviews, I thought Lamy Petrol would be Theee World's Best Dark Green Ink...but I don't like it. It's dry, uninspiring, and No Sheen Whatsoever.

[lapis]

I find the colour itself at least okay, even up to interesting. It is very saturated (although that requires a lot of cleaning)... but... the very best feature is that it (at least my lot) is very wet. Even better is its behaviour inasmuch as I can leave it in a pen unused (lying down out of direct sunlight) for a whole month, after which it'll start writing immediately as if I had filled it 5 minutes ago. Can't say that about a heck of a lot of other "good" inks.

[DrDebG]

Thanks for the review!

 

I'm with you here; based on earlier reviews, I thought Lamy Petrol would be Theee World's Best Dark Green Ink...but I don't like it. It's dry, uninspiring, and No Sheen Whatsoever.

 

I would have to agree. I even tried cutting it with some Lamy Blue. Big mistake! It was even darker and drier. I called the mix Lamy Abyss, and that is where it went.

[DrDebG]

I find the colour itself at least okay, even up to interesting. It is very saturated (although that requires a lot of cleaning)... but... the very best feature is that it (at least my lot) is very wet. Even better is its behaviour inasmuch as I can leave it in a pen unused (lying down out of direct sunlight) for a whole month, after which it'll start writing immediately as if I had filled it 5 minutes ago. Can't say that about a heck of a lot of other "good" inks.

 

That is really interesting. I found something different. Most recently, I filled a Jinhao x450 with a very wet stub nib. This is one of most carefree pens. But when I filled it with Lamy Petrol, the ink dried in the nib after just a few minutes - when the pen was capped! I also tried it in my husband's Platinum 3776 with the self sealing cap. It still dried in the nib for hard starts.

 

Perhaps one of the reasons could be that I live in the high desert with generally low humidity. I have found a few inks that just do not behave well in an arid environment. So, I then end up using that ink when I travel to more humid climates, or giving it to my daughter who lives in a humid climate.

[Intensity]

You need to use less absorbent fountain-pen-friendly paper and then sheen will be visible first as a color shift toward a kind of burgundy. If you write on Tomoe River or something equally non-absorbent, you will see metallic rose-gold sheen. It's not as sheen-heavy as something like Sailor Yama-Dori, but the sheen is definitely there, just not always in highly noticeable metallic appearance. I've been using it with Lamy Al-Star, and maybe it's because I'm combining the ink with a Lamy pen, but it's not been dry at all. It looks its best in a wide nib, in my opinion where shading comes through well: I love it with Lamy 1.5mm steel nib.

 

 

Edited April 15, 2018 by Intensity

[DrDebG]

You need to use less absorbent fountain-pen-friendly paper and then sheen will be visible first as a color shift toward a kind of burgundy. If you write on Tomoe River or something equally non-absorbent, you will see metallic rose-gold sheen. It's not as sheen-heavy as something like Sailor Yama-Dori, but the sheen is definitely there, just not always in highly noticeable metallic appearance. I've been using it with Lamy Al-Star, and maybe it's because I'm combining the ink with a Lamy pen, but it's not been dry at all. It looks its best in a wide nib, in my opinion where shading comes through well: I love it with Lamy 1.5mm steel nib.

 

 

 

Very nice. Thank you for sharing your results.

[chromantic]

​An astonishingly beautiful ink! Gorgeous, mysterious color and an excellent performer all round - good flow, little to no bleed/show on the 20 copy at work. The color in your scan is pretty spot-on, though a bit lighter than what I get in my wet Pelikans. Definitely in my top five desert island inks.

 

I *did* have a problem with it drying out in the JIF but that's par for the course with any ink and I've had no problems since moving it to Pelikans, except it was too wet in the M300 and I had to dial it back to a M150. I feel bad for the people who've had performance issues; I've been fortunate in that regard (especially as I, too, live in an arid desert environment). Diamine Dark Forest is a pretty similar color and might work better for those who've had problems with Petrol.

[DrDebG]

​An astonishingly beautiful ink! Gorgeous, mysterious color and an excellent performer all round - good flow, little to no bleed/show on the 20 copy at work. The color in your scan is pretty spot-on, though a bit lighter than what I get in my wet Pelikans. Definitely in my top five desert island inks.

 

I *did* have a problem with it drying out in the JIF but that's par for the course with any ink and I've had no problems since moving it to Pelikans, except it was too wet in the M300 and I had to dial it back to a M150. I feel bad for the people who've had performance issues; I've been fortunate in that regard (especially as I, too, live in an arid desert environment). Diamine Dark Forest is a pretty similar color and might work better for those who've had problems with Petrol.

 

Thank you for your thoughts. It is an interesting ink, although not one of my favorites. I actually prefer Sailor Yama Dori to this.

[Intensity]

 

Thank you for your thoughts. It is an interesting ink, although not one of my favorites. I actually prefer Sailor Yama Dori to this.

It's weird with Yama-Dori, I fully expected to love it (I certainly liked its scent a lot, and I like a number of other Sailor inks a lot), but something about how matte and slightly faded it looks on the page put me off (can even see that faded matte quality on my photograph comparison above). Ended up passing my full bottle on to someone else. Just goes to show - everyone likes their inks differently I'm really happy that there's such a vast selection of not only colors but textures of ink too (from matte to glossy to sheeny, etc.) to please anyone.

[lapis]

 

That is really interesting. I found something different. Most recently, I filled a Jinhao x450 with a very wet stub nib. This is one of most carefree pens. But when I filled it with Lamy Petrol, the ink dried in the nib after just a few minutes - when the pen was capped! I also tried it in my husband's Platinum 3776 with the self sealing cap. It still dried in the nib for hard starts.

 

Perhaps one of the reasons could be that I live in the high desert with generally low humidity. I have found a few inks that just do not behave well in an arid environment. So, I then end up using that ink when I travel to more humid climates, or giving it to my daughter who lives in a humid climate.

FWIW -- likely not very much, but I'm trying to nail down these differences -- the Petrol I have was/is in cartridges due to the unfortunate and incomprehensible lacking of Lamy to offer their own inks in bottles in their own country. I doubt that cartridged Petrol is wetter than bottled Petrol, but you never know and I don't trust Lamy anyway. Also, here at home it's not as hot as it is in Death Valley. Getting back to pens, I've only used this ink in wet to "normal" and/or "average" pens/nibs. The last two fillings were in two Safaris (i.e. 1 Safari and 1 AL-star) and I was in fact surprised that after such long non-use, there was absolutely no drying out. Not even a slow-start after 4 weeks of rest.

[amberleadavis]

Wonderful comparison.

[DrDebG]

FWIW -- likely not very much, but I'm trying to nail down these differences -- the Petrol I have was/is in cartridges due to the unfortunate and incomprehensible lacking of Lamy to offer their own inks in bottles in their own country. I doubt that cartridged Petrol is wetter than bottled Petrol, but you never know and I don't trust Lamy anyway. Also, here at home it's not as hot as it is in Death Valley. Getting back to pens, I've only used this ink in wet to "normal" and/or "average" pens/nibs. The last two fillings were in two Safaris (i.e. 1 Safari and 1 AL-star) and I was in fact surprised that after such long non-use, there was absolutely no drying out. Not even a slow-start after 4 weeks of rest.

 

Thanks so much for your comments. I live in Reno, which is in the northern part of Nevada - near Lake Tahoe. Most of the year, it is very dry here, but not terribly hot like where amberleadavis lives.

 

The bottle that I have was purchased in China, where my daughter lives. She had heard about the ink selling out in the US so when she saw a bottle in a little shop near where she lives, she bought it for me. Perhaps it was somehow adulterated before she bought it. It is possible. But truthfully, I am not a big fan of Lamy inks. I find most of them to be dry.

[DrDebG]

Wonderful comparison.

 

Thanks so much!

[Morphling27]

Interesting - I found the Petrol a pretty wet ink. I've inked it up a number of times in my Lamy 2k with a fine (though a very.... broad fine). I've never thought it to be dry - quiet lubricated I'd say. I'd put it like a 6.5/10 on that.

 

Also, your scans show it a lot more green than I thought. It has some green in it to me obviously, but I found it having a very blue teal undertone. I was quite happy to get a bottle from a lady in P.R. who bought 2 and didn't like it - so with shipping figured in, I paid hardly a premium due to Lamy's botched release of... many things.

[DrDebG]

Interesting - I found the Petrol a pretty wet ink. I've inked it up a number of times in my Lamy 2k with a fine (though a very.... broad fine). I've never thought it to be dry - quiet lubricated I'd say. I'd put it like a 6.5/10 on that.

 

Also, your scans show it a lot more green than I thought. It has some green in it to me obviously, but I found it having a very blue teal undertone. I was quite happy to get a bottle from a lady in P.R. who bought 2 and didn't like it - so with shipping figured in, I paid hardly a premium due to Lamy's botched release of... many things.

 

Thank you for your great comments! I am so thankful that there people who really appreciate this ink. I really wish I was one of them.

[Intensity]

 

Thank you for your great comments! I am so thankful that there people who really appreciate this ink. I really wish I was one of them.

 

For what it's worth, I was quite disappointed with it too for a while, especially considering how close it looks to Noodler's Aircorp Blue Black, which is freely available in larger size. Only when I gave it a fair trial in a couple of other pens, other paper, and with different nibs, did I start to appreciate it.

[webgeckos]

Great review and I agree with you. I ordered a lot of it thinking I would love it and I was so very MEH. I kept one bottle and gave all the rest away to homes that wanted it.

[DrDebG]

Great review and I agree with you. I ordered a lot of it thinking I would love it and I was so very MEH. I kept one bottle and gave all the rest away to homes that wanted it.

 

Thank you for your comment. I am so thankful that there is so much variety in ink. Otherwise, if there were only a few, I might not be so interested in FPs.

[Sailor Kenshin]

I tried SO hard to like this ink, and I keep wondering whether it just needs a different pen.