Check Washing Tests, Bulletproof And Non-Bulletproof Inks

December 2, 2012

This is one of my first posts here, but I had an idea to do some tests on the various inks I have in my pens... some bulletproof, some not.

I happen to have a book of old checks from a bank that I no longer use. I've removed my personal information, for obvious reasons. Other than that, I've written them out very much as "normal" checks (and didn't bother much about legible handwriting). I wanted to test to see which inks held best to the checks.

Each has been scanned before the beginning of the tests, as shown below. Then, each check will be subjected to the tests shown below, moving on to the next step after passing the preceding test. If the ink is removed, or almost completely removed, it will be considered a fail and it will not continue to the other tests.

Original scans:

http://photobucket.com/pete84inktest-before

Inks included are as follows:

Noodlers (Air Corps Blue-Black, Bad Green Gator, Bay State Blue, Bulletproof Black, Heart of Darkness, Libertys Elysium, Midnight Blue, Navy, #41 Brown [2012])

Omas Blue

Parker Quink (Black, Blue, and Blue-Black)

Pelikan 4001 Brilliant Black

Private Reserve (Velvet Black and Midnight Blues)

Uniball (Jetstream Blue, Jetstream Black, and Vision Elite Black) - all supposedly "super inks" per the manufacturer

Waterman Florida Blue

I would have done more inks, but those were the only ones I had inked just now.

The battery of tests will be as follows:

(1) Hour-long water soak

(2) Ammonia soak

(3) Acetone soak

(4) Bleach soak

I'll post results of each phase. On to the water test. Wish me luck!

December 2, 2012

Thanks for the testing I am looking forward to seeing the results even though I only write a half dozen checks a year theses days.

This is one of my first posts here, but I had an idea to do some tests on the various inks I have in my pens... some bulletproof, some not.

I happen to have a book of old checks from a bank that I no longer use. I've removed my personal information, for obvious reasons. Other than that, I've written them out very much as "normal" checks (and didn't bother much about legible handwriting). I wanted to test to see which inks held best to the checks.

Each has been scanned before the beginning of the tests, as shown below. Then, each check will be subjected to the tests shown below, moving on to the next step after passing the preceding test. If the ink is removed, or almost completely removed, it will be considered a fail and it will not continue to the other tests.

Original scans:
http://photobucket.com/pete84inktest-before

Inks included are as follows:
Noodlers (Air Corps Blue-Black, Bad Green Gator, Bay State Blue, Bulletproof Black, Heart of Darkness, Libertys Elysium, Midnight Blue, Navy, #41 Brown [2012])
Omas Blue
Parker Quink (Black, Blue, and Blue-Black)
Pelikan 4001 Brilliant Black
Private Reserve (Velvet Black and Midnight Blues)
Uniball (Jetstream Blue, Jetstream Black, and Vision Elite Black) - all supposedly "super inks" per the manufacturer
Waterman Florida Blue

I would have done more inks, but those were the only ones I had inked just now.

The battery of tests will be as follows:

(1) Hour-long water soak
(2) Ammonia soak
(3) Acetone soak
(4) Bleach soak

I'll post results of each phase. On to the water test. Wish me luck!

December 2, 2012

Update:

Well, so far all of the Parker inks are history. Blue and Blue-Black were both removed fully with just water. The black came off with ammonia.

The Omas blue came most of the way off with water, then ammonia finished the job.

Waterman blue came off with water only. In like... 5 minutes.

Noodler's Midnight Blue and PR Midnight Blue were both almost completely gone with water, ammonia finished them off too.

Noodler's BSB wasn't moved by water, but ammonia started peeling it off. It's moving on to the acetone test.

None of the fully "bulletproof" inks were moved at all by water or ammonia -- and acetone doesn't seem to be doing anything to them either.

The Uniball Jetstream inks (blue and black) held fast with water. Ammonia started removing them and they're soaking in the acetone right now.

The Uniball rollerball ink (from the Vision Elite pen) is still unaffected. Water and ammonia have done nothing. It's in acetone right now and doesn't seem to be feeling the effects.

More updates as they become available. Scan after the test.

Edited December 2, 2012 by Pete84

December 30, 2012

Great experiment!

One would think Jetstream will act the same as, if not better than, Vision Elite. It's advertised as "prevent chechfraud" and "fade & water resistant/ Acid free". They are also pigmented...

I love Jetstream smoothness and fast dryness, yet security is a priority to me... why it didn't perform well in the test?? any ideas?

January 1, 2013

OOh, thank you! I'm looking forward to seeing the results.

January 1, 2013

Great experiment!

One would think Jetstream will act the same as, if not better than, Vision Elite. It's advertised as "prevent chechfraud" and "fade & water resistant/ Acid free". They are also pigmented...

I love Jetstream smoothness and fast dryness, yet security is a priority to me... why it didn't perform well in the test?? any ideas?

Uniball's gel and liquid inks seem different from whatever they're using in the Jetstream. They may market them all as super ink, but they behave quite a bit differently. After a soak in the rain, my Jetstream notes were noticeably spread, while the Signo gels didn't even look like they'd been touched.

January 3, 2013

Wow, your testing sounds quite extensive, what with all those different inks. It wouldn't have occurred to me to use no longer viable checks (great idea, BTW). Are you doing the tests in sequence (i.e., with the same batch of samples over and over) or do you have enough old checks that you can test for each process separately?

I'll admit that I basically restrict that sort of pen/ink use to Noodler's Kung Te Cheng (or sometimes a blue-black iron gall ink).

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth