How Long Would A Bottle Last You As A Daily Ink?

[Intensity]

Depends on the ink, but some ink dries slowly. If your fountain pen is not super stingy with ink, there might be some more wet spots that either bleed through to the other side (depends on paper quality) or can feather (depends on paper quality), or else can take a really long time to dry and be prone to smudging (depends on paper quality, paper coating, ink type)--sometimes even after a minute or two of writing, especially if the ink has been sitting in the pen for a few days, concentrating. There are just a lot more things to worry about with fountain pens--those are just some of them. I always have a pen with a Pilot G2 permanent gel ink insert around with very fine line--dries really quickly, no smudging after that, water resistant, no concerns about bleed-through, good for quick addressing of envelopes or signing checks of any paper quality.

[inkstainedruth]

I'm with ScarletWoodland. I'd huddled in a corner gibbering if I only had to use one ink these days.

Back when I was still in the "cartridge" day, I calculated that it would take about 4 days to go through a cartridge of Quink Permanent Blue in the F-nibbed Vector (over the Parker Reflexes I used before, both of which had M nibs). Back then I was ONLY using a fountain pen for my morning pages journal. Which was 3 pp. per day of mostly 6"x8" journals, but writing two lines for every printed line on the page, because I tend to write small. That pen taught me the value of an F nib....

I've only gone through a couple of bottles of ink since then, and they were smaller bottles: a couple of bottles of De Atramentis (35 ml) and most of a bottle of Waterman Mysterious Blue (50 ml); and the WMB was my go to ink for the Parker Vacumatic Red Shadow Wave Junior with an F nib for about 3 years of being in rotation without flushing or flossing or anything -- just refiling the pen as needed.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[DrDebG]

It really also depends on the size nib you are going to write with.

 

For example, I have a Delta Horsepower with an EF nib. Writing with it all day each day, I will go through about 1-2 converter fills a week. With one of my wet stub nibs, I will go through 3 converter fills a week.

 

So with that in mind, if I was only using, for example, a single 50 mL bottle of ink, it would take me about 4-5 months for a pen with an EF nib. Using a stub nib, it would be 2-3 months.

 

Thankfully for my hand, I use many different pens with different nibs and flows. Varying pens reduces the strain on my hand. I have osteoarthritis so this is important.

 

If you have to have only one ink, make sure that it is an ink that works well in your pen and that the ink is well behaved (doesn't feather or bleed through, is lubricated and reasonably wet, but with fairly quick dry time. Perhaps most of all, make sure that it is a color that you find pleasant and easy on the eyes. Black can get boring very quickly.

[uceroy]

I have lots of pens inked, so I don't really know my daily usage. I only use them at home (all computer at work), so my usage will probably be lower than most.

 

I think a single 50 ml bottle would probably last me ~1.5 years in a pen with fine nib.

If I'd start writing more for my stories, you can bet it's going down to less than a year 😂

[ca49reber]

It took me almost a year to use up a bottle of Edelstein Garnet & then I found out it was a limited edition.

[uceroy]

It took me almost a year to use up a bottle of Edelstein Garnet & then I found out it was a limited edition.

I've seen Garnet on the German amazon. I keep hearing it's been since added to the standard line-up, but never have seen it listed as such 🤔

[Ron Z]

It takes me about 18 months to go through a liter bottle of Pelikan royal blue. Really.

[sirgilbert357]

I've seen Garnet on the German amazon. I keep hearing it's been since added to the standard line-up, but never have seen it listed as such

 

 

https://www.gouletpens.com/products/pelikan-edelstein-garnet-50ml-bottled-ink

[Karmachanic]

It takes me about 18 months to go through a liter bottle of Pelikan royal blue. Really.

 

Leaky pen?

[uceroy]

It takes me about 18 months to go through a liter bottle of Pelikan royal blue. Really.

How much do you write 🙃 BB nibs? I need to know your secret 😂

 

And whoah, are all Pelikan inks so expensive in the USA? 😲 It's listed for 16 euros here. I've found vendors selling the normal lineup for 13,44 euros here (cheaper from 2 or more!)

 

https://www.amazon.de/Pelikan-339747-Edelstein-Garnet-Dunkelrot/dp/B00KXXJK6O/ref=mp_s_a_1_fkmrnull_1?keywords=pelikan+garnet&qid=1552562850&s=gateway&sr=8-1-fkmrnull

 

 

https://www.zc77.de/cgi-bin/scgi?sid=1&se=1&kd=0&sp=eng&nm=ebene3.html&rid=0&ebene=5&artikel=424590&bef=detail

[Intensity]

It takes me about 18 months to go through a liter bottle of Pelikan royal blue. Really.

Is that because you use the ink to test pens being repaired, or from a lot of writing otherwise? That’s a lot of ink use!

[Ron Z]

Is that because you use the ink to test pens being repaired, or from a lot of writing otherwise? That’s a lot of ink use!

 

I use the same ink for my own writing, and for all of the pens that I repair. Every pen is filled and written with before it goes out the door. Not a full page, but enough to be reasonably sure that the nib is smooth, and that it lays down a good line on paper. I use one color, one ink, and always the same paper to eliminate those variables when testing.

 

I have about 6 liters of the ink in reserve.

[Liis]

Used to be 1 bottle of Quinck every 6-8 months (highschool). Same in the university. At work perhaps a bottle every 2 years?

The courses I am attending now require a lot less note taking but am I glad to have the wide variety of inks I now have compared to the situation 25 years ago.

[Intensity]

 

I use the same ink for my own writing, and for all of the pens that I repair. Every pen is filled and written with before it goes out the door. Not a full page, but enough to be reasonably sure that the nib is smooth, and that it lays down a good line on paper. I use one color, one ink, and always the same paper to eliminate those variables when testing.

 

I have about 6 liters of the ink in reserve.

 

Very impressive! But definitely makes sense from the testing perspective to know the properties of one ink so well as to be able to separate pen performance quality from ink performance quality.

[KLscribbler]

If I had only one bottle of ink? Six months or thereabouts, assuming we are talking about a standard 50ml bottle.

 

My ink use is just high enough for me to be a little concerned about the cost of ink. (The cost issue comes in since one of my two most heavily-used inks is Sailor Sei Boku - not exactly a cheap ink).

 

My other heavy-use ink, Pelikan 4001 Blue-Black, is a lot more economical

 

I mostly write with wettish Western medium nibs, a mix of gold and steel nibs both vintage and modern. Therefore, my rate of ink use would be higher than someone who uses mainly fine or extra fine/Japanese fine nibs.

[thesmellofdustafterrain]

Today I got a good start on my draft. It was only just over an hour writing, but I want to build up towards long writing sessions because I don't know how my body will respond to hours sitting at a desk. Using a typewriter is more even on my body and writing with a pen tends to make my body list to one side so I'll need to do some training there to get better posture if I'm going to put in 10 hour days like I did for the last book.

 

But the point is, one hour with a medium nib went through most of one converter full of ink.

 

That seems a lot to me!

 

There were a lot of pages, closely spaced writing. It is a medium nib. But still...

 

I filled up the pen this morning from a sample vile. Did a quick bit in my new ink journal. Then left home to do some writing while waiting at the doctors office. The pen didn't leak. I suppose I may not have got it as full as normal because I was filling from a sample vile... but ... I really don't remember ink going that fast when I was in school. Two pens for an essay-based exam but those lasted for four hours.

 

Maybe I was writing longer than an hour? Two hours would be more what I would expect. I don't know.

 

But this puts my calculations of how much ink I need to budget for this project in a whole new light. It's a lot more expensive than typewriter ribbons - one or two of those a book, $7 each.

 

On the other hand, it is nice to write by hand again. With my practicing calligraphy this winter, my writing is almost legible.

 

 

 

[wallylynn]

Was it a clean pen? The feed can hold more ink than you might expect.

 

Use a writing slope?

 

Height adjustable chair?

 

Look at some old Penmanship books for posture.

[thesmellofdustafterrain]

It could be that I just cleaned the pen, but I did fill via the nib so I don't know.

 

I like the idea of a writing slope. I'll give that a try next. Using 'proper' posture is a bit hard because of mobility issues, but the old books are good inspiration of things I can try.

[Intensity]

Was it a converter filled pen? Converters can hold less than 1ml of ink (some have low volume like 0.4ml capacity), and that’s at a perfect complete fill. It’s frequently not a perfect fill, and there’s some air gap above the ink in a converter. Also the rate of ink usage depends on how much ink is expelled in a line. Some medium point pens can be very juicy writers, expediting the usage of ink.

[thesmellofdustafterrain]

Was it a converter filled pen? Converters can hold less than 1ml of ink (some have low volume like 0.4ml capacity), and that’s at a perfect complete fill. It’s frequently not a perfect fill, and there’s some air gap above the ink in a converter. Also the rate of ink usage depends on how much ink is expelled in a line. Some medium point pens can be very juicy writers, expediting the usage of ink.

 

I think this is it. I didn't know the capacity was so small.

 

Maybe it's time to think about a portable inkwell. Do you think sample vials like I get from Goulet would work for carrying in my bag? It was nice to get some serious writing done away from home. My typewriter, while portable, doesn't quite work in every situation.