Pigment Ink In 407-B?

[JordanN]

I'm in the military. I was recently promoted and bought myself a NOS Esterbrook 407-B Dip-Less desk pen with 2668 nib (my favorite!) to celebrate. Man, it's beautiful!

 

I put a little sample vial's worth of Noodler's Bad Black Moccasin in it to test it out. Though I had to tilt it slightly by placing a mechanical pencil lead dispenser under its far side, it has great flow and performs very well on a variety of paper.

 

I'm being reassigned to a more prestigious job. I'll be taking daily notes as I do help desk-type duties with the slight potential to write letters to VIPs.

 

As a going-away gift, a coworker -- whom I've helped troubleshoot minor fountain pen issues -- surprised me with a small, 3D-printed pen holder which will hold five fountain pens horizontally and features my name and AF emblem on it.

 

Another coworker unexpectedly gave me a bottle of Dr Ph Martin's Ocean Edge Blue fountain pen ink (as well as a bottle of black India ink --- less useful). I've just read a couple of FPN reviews for the ink. While I'm nervous about using a pigment ink, I was impressed with its properties and the fact that it recommends enthusiast-known fountain pens on the bottle.

 

I'm considering using this pigmented ink as a dedicated ink for the desk set. Would this be silly? The pen should have good flow and desk sets are known to be resilient.

 

I also considered just using Pilot Blue-Black since I have a giant bottle of it on hand, and it should be very safe.

Edited July 3, 2018 by JordanN

[JordanN]

Disregard. Ive decided to repurpose my Vac 700R instead, previously filled with Noodlers Liberties Elysium Blue. It seems to work pretty well.

 

I decided to soak a page from my Rhodia pad; I was amazed at how the pigmented ink stayed perfectly crisp as long as I didn't touch it.

 

The desk set will use Pilot Blue Black.

Edited July 4, 2018 by JordanN

[AAAndrew]

Very cool you use a Dipless desk set. I would not hesitate to recommend pigmented ink in a dipless. The only ink I wouldn’t recommend is India ink as the shellac or other binder could gum up the feed.

 

I have a 407 from the war when the AF was just called Air Force,US Army. Here’s a pre-cleaning photo.

 

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/321510-wwii-military-fountain-and-dip-pens/?hl=%2Bair+%2Bforce+%2Barmy+%2Besterbrook

 

Congrats on the promotion! Hope you continue to use the 407!

[PaFitch]

Another congratulations on the promotion and approval of using an Esterbrook dipless set. The 407 holds gallons of ink (maybe a little hyperbolic), therefore I assume you write frequently and regularly. I've only used the 444 and have a USN imprinted unit. Esterbrook military-imprinted dipless sets were manufactured and perhaps someone else knows whether or not they have an AF version. Seems to me that might be cool to have sitting on an AF desk.

[AAAndrew]

perhaps someone else knows whether or not they have an AF version. Seems to me that might be cool to have sitting on an AF desk.

 

As I mentioned above, I have one from the transition days between "Army Air Force" to just "Air Force. When they were the "Air Force, US Army" before they became a separate service. I also have the matching pen that is marked the same. By the time the 444's came along, it was a separate service. I've not seen one of the 444's marked as just Air Force. I've seen Navy, and a Navy Aviation one just marked "San Diego", but none of the other branches in the 444's.

 

Morriset also made a bunch of ink wells for the armed services, as well as other parts of the government. I have one Morriset ink well from the US House of Representatives. It's a dark green I've not seen on any other of their ink wells.

 

It's fun to find these ink wells with specific logos on them. I have a double Morrisett ink well set from Hughes Aircraft that has the logo they used during the days when they built the Spruce Goose. It sat on someone's desk during that historic period.

 

Andrew

[JordanN]

Very cool you use a Dipless desk set. I would not hesitate to recommend pigmented ink in a dipless. The only ink I wouldnt recommend is India ink as the shellac or other binder could gum up the feed.

 

I have a 407 from the war when the AF was just called Air Force,US Army. Heres a pre-cleaning photo.

 

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/321510-wwii-military-fountain-and-dip-pens/?hl=%2Bair+%2Bforce+%2Barmy+%2Besterbrook

 

Congrats on the promotion! Hope you continue to use the 407!

It would be cool to have an AF-marked desk set to continue its function into the modern era. I was pretty happy to find an unused, albeit unmarked set.

 

Im hoping to have a desk open up at work with enough room for pens and paper, I dont even have my own desk yet. For now, the desk set will have to adorn a box in the home office.