Ink freezing point?

[jzmtl]

Strange question I guess, but any idea what is the typical freezing point of fountain pen ink? I clip my pen on outside jacket pocket sometimes and winter here can get down to -20C (or 0F), just wondering if ink would freeze and damage the pen.

 

Current ink is MB racing green, others include Parker quink black, and waterman florida blue.

Edited January 10, 2010 by jzmtl

[GouletPens]

Well, if it's water-based ink, sure enough it'll freeze. As far as how long that will take will depend on many factors. I do know that frozen water will expand with a pressure of 10,000 PSI! I powerwashed houses for a while, and if the system wasn't winterized properly, water in the metal pump would freeze and crack open the steel!! I can only imagine how easily it could break plastic. If I were you I'd keep that pen wrapped up and close to your body where your body heat will keep it warm!

[Everette]

Since FP ink is made out of mostly water, I would say that it's probably somewhere around 32F (0C). Someone will surely correct me if my assumption is wrong. I've not actually tested it.

Noodlers Polar series is freeze resistant down to very low tempratures, around -110.2F. More info http://www.pendemonium.com/ink_noodler_info.htm <- there.

[jzmtl]

Thanks for the quick replies. From the description of polar black it looks like ink freezing is pretty common problem in the north, so looks like I'll keep the pen in the inside pocket!

[txinsk]

Next to your body should be no problem, unless you feel like your freezing yourself. At which point hypothermia would endanger all your fountain pen enjoyment, not just one pen (if I am being too subtle I mean death). Inside a carry case that came outside with you, you do have some time before freezing will occur. But if you leave a pen in a car for a while, like I did in -30, you better have it filled with something freeze resistant, polar black in my case. Really the need is just in case you do something silly like I did, or you are somewhere where heating is not great.

 

When generic ink freezes is a good question. I know that most things that dissolve in water lower its freezing point. Salt water freezes at a lower temperature than fresh water and so on. So the ink itself will provide some protection but -20 on either scale is pretty cold and I would not chance that if I had a reason to worry.

 

Rick

[gyasko]

We can be certain that ink does not freeze at 0°C. Exactly what the freezing point is depends on the ink, but the general rule is that for every mole of dissolved stuff/kg of water, the freezing point drops by 1.8°C. Ocean water freezes at -2°C but very saline desert lake water freezes at -20° or lower.

 

Central heating often makes this a moot issue.

[djh]

I'm not sure of the freezing point of "normal" fp ink either, but I take no chances and have filled my Lamy 2000 with Noodlers Polar Blue for the winter. You could either do something similar or simply carry your pen in an inside pocket.

[Sandy1]

Next to your body should be no problem, unless you feel like your freezing yourself. At which point hypothermia would endanger all your fountain pen enjoyment, not just one pen (if I am being too subtle I mean death). Inside a carry case that came outside with you, you do have some time before freezing will occur. But if you leave a pen in a car for a while, like I did in -30, you better have it filled with something freeze resistant, polar black in my case. Really the need is just in case you do something silly like I did, or you are somewhere where heating is not great.

 

When generic ink freezes is a good question. I know that most things that dissolve in water lower its freezing point. Salt water freezes at a lower temperature than fresh water and so on. So the ink itself will provide some protection but -20 on either scale is pretty cold and I would not chance that if I had a reason to worry.

 

Rick

Hi,

I found that while keeping one's pen inside the coat worked for the pen, I got cold from having the coat open & closed & open & closed. (Ditto for battery-powered devices.) Back-up approach was to tie a lanyard to the clip lash to to my wrist, and tuck the pen up the left sleeve.

So I had a pen loop added to the outside of the left coat sleeve and switched to an eyedropper: more ink = more time to freeze, and by having the ink sloshing about it would need to be colder to freeze.

Well, what I found to be the real problem was the ink freezing in/on the exposed nib. Ha!

Anyway, thanks to the folks at Noodler's for Polar Blue. My Varuna & I thank you. (Oh, the Varuna's so big that one doesn't need to wrap it in hockey tape to increase the girth & comes in a textured finish which improves grip when wearing gloves.) They now have an eye dropper with a clear acrylic barrel, so that Polar Blue is gonna glow. OoooLaLa.

Strange things done under the midnight sun ...

Bye,

S1

[buffalowings]

where do you guys live? I never had a problem with ink freezing while the pen was in my pocket

[meiers]

where do you guys live? I never had a problem with ink freezing while the pen was in my pocket

 

Dear BuffaloWings!

I live in Winnipeg - the coldest city of its size on the planet.

It gets cold here. Believe me.

Matt

[gyasko]

I never had a problem in Montreal, Wisconsin, or Japan (no central heating). If it's cold enough for the ink to freeze on the nib, it's too cold to be writing.

[PhotoJim]

 

I live in Winnipeg - the coldest city of its size on the planet.

It gets cold here. Believe me.

 

Moscow? Archangelsk? Vladivostok?

 

There are lots of Russian cities that are a lot colder than Winnipeg. And I live in Regina, so I know that Winnipeg is cold.

[PhotoJim]

I keep a couple of fountain pens in my laptop bag which rides in my car's trunk, even when the temperatures are in the -30s C. No problem so far. I don't leave the bag there all day, though. It might sit there for a couple or three hours on a highway trip but the trunk gets some heat from the passenger compartment.

 

I carry a pen in my car but it's a Fisher Space Pen. Ordinary ballpoints don't work well in extreme cold; the Space Pen works fine. For as little as I use it, the cost of operation is negligible, but it always works when I need it.

[Pat1]

where do you guys live? I never had a problem with ink freezing while the pen was in my pocket

 

Dear BuffaloWings!

I live in Winnipeg - the coldest city of its size on the planet.

It gets cold here. Believe me.

Matt

I went to Canada in the winter. My wristwatch stopped from being outside when I was wearing it. Canada is a cold place, but nice smart funny people who wear tooks and muchlucks to keep feet from freezing off where wolves will eat them. They have many languages, and play hockey on ice - even the girls and young women if you can imagine nd I am not joking - I saw it. Someone there invented basketball. Maybe they like beer sometimes too much.

[NoeticVoyager]

I carry my pens in my briefcase. I usally travel by car, with the occasional walk and use of public transport I live in Sweden, we've got some very cold winters over here. At the moment the temperature is down to -16 C (about 3 F), last week we were below -20 C ( -4 F). I've never had any problems with my ink freezing...

[HelzBelz]

The Pilot Varsity that lives in my car hasn't any problems in our British winter thus far. I'd estimate that it goes down to maybe -5 C at night, so the pen's fine with that. Even so, I've ordered some Polar Blue for my better pens that need to leave the house when it's cold. I'd rather not take any risks.

[ilubiano]

where do you guys live? I never had a problem with ink freezing while the pen was in my pocket

 

Dear BuffaloWings!

I live in Winnipeg - the coldest city of its size on the planet.

It gets cold here. Believe me.

Matt

 

As a fellow 'Pegger who commutes to university daily with his FPs, i can say that it does get wicked cold here. But i've gone for spells at a time waiting for the bus outside and i've never had my FPs freeze up. I just keep them in their case inside my bag (i think blocking them from the wind, which can be deadly here, goes a long way to prevent them freezing), and I keep one in a pocket beneath a jacket and that one doesn't even get cold to the touch, much less freeze solid.

 

Granted, that doesn't mean i'll be about to sit and write something outside in -30C weather any time soon, but generally speaking you shouldn't have problems with freezing unless you're spending much time outside in the cold temperatures.

Edited January 28, 2010 by ilubiano

[lapis]

Here it's usually not all that cold, but this winter is freezing the "ahh, y'know" outta me. A whole week at -21°C (-5°F). Still, a couple of pens in my T-shirt pocket or several newly-bought Herbins or CdA bottles in my parka pockets saw no harm over 1-2 h.

 

Mike

[Bloch]

I'm thinking about ordering a bottle of Iroshizuku ink, but don't want it to freeze before it gets to me!

Right now it's 22 degrees fahrenheit here, with the expected low for the next few days at 15.

I don't know how long packages sit in postal trucks; long enough for liquids to freeze?

Anybody have any experience with Iroshizuku inks freezing?

[Yoda4561]

I'm thinking about ordering a bottle of Iroshizuku ink, but don't want it to freeze before it gets to me!

Right now it's 22 degrees fahrenheit here, with the expected low for the next few days at 15.

I don't know how long packages sit in postal trucks; long enough for liquids to freeze?

Anybody have any experience with Iroshizuku inks freezing?

 

There have been a few sporadic reports of inks freezing en-route in the far north. Personally if I lived up there I'd wait till late spring to order a nice/expensive ink like that.