Jump to content

What Makes Some Inks More "wet" Than Others?


Charles Skinner

Recommended Posts

My very favorite ink, as of this morning, is ---- Noodler's Mata Hari's Coridal ---- Really love it. -- But, I had to try it in three pens before I found one with which they would "play well together." ---- In the first two pens, the line put down was almost like a paint brush. Very, very "wet," if that is the right word. ------ Finally I put it in a pen with a "fine" nib, and it works great! Really love it. My favorite, ---- as of the last few days. --- My question is:---- It seems to me that some inks are "wetter" than others, meaning that they just naturally put down more ink than other inks. Am I making any sense at all? --- Just don't know how to ask this question. Help me to understand things I SHOULD know about fountain pen inks! Charles Skinner

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 11
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

  • Fuzzy_Bear

    2

  • sansenri

    2

  • Charles Skinner

    1

  • Sailor Kenshin

    1

inks include additives of different types

in a simplified explanation wet ink includes more surfactants which reduce surface tension and this makes ink flow "wetter"

(you can play on surface tension but also on viscosity with different additives, and also concentration of the dye, so several factors play in)

Edited by sansenri
Link to comment
Share on other sites

And if you ever get an ink that is too dry for a certain pen, you can easily make it wetter by dipping the tip of a toothpick or blunt syringe in a drop of Dawn dish detergent and then dipping that into the converter full of ink (swirl the toothpick around for a bit before pulling it back out). I have found this trick to be a lifesaver and it has made it possible to enjoy certain ink/pen combos I thought would never play well together.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

For piston pen, is it OK to drop a couple drops to the bottle ink itself?

 

I like Diamine Majestic Blue in my Pilot Heritage 92 Fine. But they don't like each other so far. A Pilot Heritage 92 cannot be opened.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

you can do it, but if you get it wrong (too wet) you've messed up the whole bottle...

transfer some ink with a syringe in a smaller but tall container (in which your pen fits so you can fill the piston) add the toothpic point or two to it and then fill the pen.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

One of the most used wetting agents in laboratory settings is Triton X-100.

Jeffery

In the Irish Channel of

New Orleans, LA

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 months later...

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now


  • Most Contributions

    1. amberleadavis
      amberleadavis
      43844
    2. PAKMAN
      PAKMAN
      33494
    3. Ghost Plane
      Ghost Plane
      28220
    4. inkstainedruth
      inkstainedruth
      26627
    5. jar
      jar
      26101
  • Upcoming Events

  • Blog Comments

    • Shanghai Knife Dude
      I have the Sailor Naginata and some fancy blade nibs coming after 2022 by a number of new workshop from China.  With all my respect, IMHO, they are all (bleep) in doing chinese characters.  Go use a bush, or at least a bush pen. 
    • A Smug Dill
      It is the reason why I'm so keen on the idea of a personal library — of pens, nibs, inks, paper products, etc. — and spent so much money, as well as time and effort, to “build” it for myself (because I can't simply remember everything, especially as I'm getting older fast) and my wife, so that we can “know”; and, instead of just disposing of what displeased us, or even just not good enough to be “given the time of day” against competition from >500 other pens and >500 other inks for our at
    • adamselene
      Agreed.  And I think it’s good to be aware of this early on and think about at the point of buying rather than rationalizing a purchase..
    • A Smug Dill
      Alas, one cannot know “good” without some idea of “bad” against which to contrast; and, as one of my former bosses (back when I was in my twenties) used to say, “on the scale of good to bad…”, it's a spectrum, not a dichotomy. Whereas subjectively acceptable (or tolerable) and unacceptable may well be a dichotomy to someone, and finding whether the threshold or cusp between them lies takes experiencing many degrees of less-than-ideal, especially if the decision is somehow influenced by factors o
    • adamselene
      I got my first real fountain pen on my 60th birthday and many hundreds of pens later I’ve often thought of what I should’ve known in the beginning. I have many pens, the majority of which have some objectionable feature. If they are too delicate, or can’t be posted, or they are too precious to face losing , still they are users, but only in very limited environments..  I have a big disliking for pens that have the cap jump into the air and fly off. I object to Pens that dry out, or leave blobs o
  • Chatbox

    You don't have permission to chat.
    Load More
  • Files






×
×
  • Create New...