What Do You Guys Think Of Vintage Sanford Inks?

[katerchen]

Blue-black in particular. I'm thinking of buying a NOS bottle, but couldn't really find any online writing/swab samples.

 

Thanks in advance,

-k

[inkstainedruth]

I had a small bottle of Sanford Pen-It Blue-black that I think may have been an IG ink. And dead at that. I did bad things to the original Con-B converter in my Pilot Metropolitan; plus, I wasn't getting any sort of color out of the ink.

The only good parts of the experience were that the ink bottle only cost me a buck; and that I bought it in the same booth as a Waterman Exclusive with an 18K nib for ten bucks, and in the same antiques mall where I spotted a Jotter window ballpoint (on the way back I stopped at an antiques place and found a second -- different -- Jotter window BP and was able to then trade the two Jotters to FPN member JotterAddict62 for a bottle of vintage Quink Washable Violet and a bottle of vintage Quink Microfilm Black.

YMMV -- because I've generally had good luck with vintage Quink, reasonable to good luck (depending on the color) with vintage Skrip inks, and somewhat okay luck with vintage Carter's inks.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[katerchen]

Yikes. Thank you!

[eharriett]

None of my Penits by Sanford seem to have issues. I don’t recall the blue black though. It has been awhile since I last opened. Most of my Sanford usage has been light blue lately. I’ll see if I can check it.

[kestrel]

My lone bottle of Penit Blue is so pale as to be useless.

[Noihvo]

My lone bottle of Penit Blue is so pale as to be useless.

 

Perfect for mixing, or markup/highlighting?

[corniche]

Hi K,

 

Love your avatar; I've always had a soft spot for black cats, 🥰 even though I don't have one now.

 

With vintage inks; look out for:

 

1. Rotten egg/potato or mold smells or floating mold

 

2. Take a skewer and stir the ink - if you can pull it out with no strings attached- great. Also check the skewer for lumpy bits/sediment. (Lumpy bits [looks like curds], are always bad; sediment varies - show pic if you find any).

 

If none of these issues present themselves, you're probably golden. 👍

 

Dye breakdown/deterioration/weakness, as the others have described, kills the buzz, but is usually harmless.

 

Good luck in your hunt.

 

Sean

 

PS: Yes, be wary of Blue-Black; it's a good candidate for OLD SCHOOL iron gall. If you get a Blue-Black; do a color shift test before you put it in a pen... and then see how it treats a Preppy first.

[katerchen]

My lone bottle of Penit Blue is so pale as to be useless.

 

The bottle is cute though (it's tiny, holds 0.75 ounce) :

 

 

 

Imagine that with the royal blue cap ... I was just too lazy to look further. But now I want a red one too

 

I picked up a couple of Royal Blues for as many bucks and probably will just pour out the ink for the same reason as you wrote. But they'll make excellent desk bottles for dipping and quick refills.

 

The Blue Black in question is different though ... a pint bottle that costs $50 with shipping. If that turns out to be useless, that's a much bigger mistake.

 

-k

[corniche]

You're welcome, k; glad I could help.

 

S.

[eharriett]

Pulled mine out and dipped a glass nib pen to check. Here's results. Looks like standard blue black to me, still.

 

[amberleadavis]

So, did you buy it? Have you enjoyed it?

[katerchen]

No ... I decided to play it safe. If Ruth warns against it, I listen

 

The little 0.75 ounce bottles are cute as a button though.

 

-k