When You Get A New Pen, What Is The First Ink You Use In It?

[Hil64]

I usually use Diamine Florida Blue or Rustic Brown, because I know that they're well behaved and flush easily. I like the colours anyway, but the flow and ease of use characteristics come first with a new pen.

Edited December 17, 2012 by Hil64

[ac3y]

I pick from the batch of samples I haven't yet tried in a pen.

[JefferyS]

Depends on the color of the pen.

[pmhudepo]

Waterman Florida Blue, or Serenity Blue as it's called these days. Iroshizuku Asa-gao is very good as well, but a little expensive for test runs.

[RudyR]

I give them a good go with Montblanc Midnight Blue. It tends to be a little bit dry (but not to dry) so it gives me a good baseline to see how good the nib is. Since MB/MB is always in my ink rotation and always carried then each pen must be able to handle it well.

[ethernautrix]

I don't have a particular first-ink ink. I use whatever I'm curious about at the time.

 

Recently, I realized that I change inks much more frequently than I believed. I'm starting to fill the cartridges only partially. Heh.

[pty21]

I like to use Noodler's Midnight Blue on a pen's maiden voyage. I has given me good results in the three pens I've used it in and, since my pen addiction is only getting stronger, I foresee it having several more opportunities to be the first ink of choice.

[The Good Captain]

I'll often have planned the first ink for a pen before it even arrives. For example I was convinced that I'd put R&K Verdigris in the M101N Lizard. As it turns out, it was Edelstein Tanzanite, so maybe next fill.

[Daisy]

Whatever strikes my fancy, to be honest. I know that some people (including Wim, the admin of FPN) strongly advocate using a known-good well flowing and proven ink -- like Waterman South Seas Blue -- to "prime the feed" on a new pen and slick it up for more "complex" inks, and I think that's a fantastic idea... for someone with more self-discipline than I have when a brand spanking new pen is burning in my hands.

 

I will say this though: I never ink ANY pen that is new to me (new, used, modern, vintage, whatever) until it has been thoroughly flushed in soapy water, rinsed, and fully dried. I can't tell you how much trouble that has saved me with avoiding hard starts and skips -- not to mention the time I bought a pen that was supposed to have been recently restored and filled it with soapy water only to have that same water flow right back out through the lever hinge in the barrel because there was no intact sac in there. Much better it be soapy water than a snootful of expensive Iroshizuku, eh?

 

So after I've already gone through all that flushing and rinsing and waiting for it to dry, I have no patience left for waiting *whatsoever* and put in any ink I please.

[Harlequin]

I don't have a particular first-ink ink. I use whatever I'm curious about at the time.

 

Recently, I realized that I change inks much more frequently than I believed. I'm starting to fill the cartridges only partially. Heh.

Let me ask you this, if I may. I only have one pen thus far, so it hasn't been an issue for me yet. But what do you (or I guess, what is considered normal) when you are writing or doing something and you want to use more than one color of ink, but the same pen? Is flushing the pen each time you want to change ink the accepted or preferred method? Or do most people who find they want/need to do that just have extra pens (even extras of the same pen) specifically for that purpose? If I were writing or drawing something and needed to switch between the pens frequently, it would be a real pain to have to flush it each time!

 

 

Obviously I'm truly a newbie, so pardon my ignorance if I intruded into a conversation with a question that is better posted elsewhere.

 

 

[DET]

Usually Waterman Florida Blue, Sheaffer Blue, Parker Quink Black or Sheaffer Black. Or sometimes J. Herbin Bleu Nuit. Why? They're all reliable, well-behaved, predictable inks. That way if the pen isn't working the way I expect, I know it's the pen and not the ink that's at fault.

[ethernautrix]

But what do you (or I guess, what is considered normal) when you are writing or doing something and you want to use more than one color of ink, but the same pen? Is flushing the pen each time you want to change ink the accepted or preferred method? Or do most people who find they want/need to do that just have extra pens (even extras of the same pen) specifically for that purpose? If I were writing or drawing something and needed to switch between the pens frequently, it would be a real pain to have to flush it each time!

 

"Normal" is a dynamic concept, and what is normal for me (to have a handful of pens (or more) inked at all times) is not normal for those who prefer having twenty or thirty or more of their pens inked which is not normal for those who have many pens but have only one inked at a time.

 

So, really, you have to ask yourself, Do I mind flushing out my one pen every time I want to change the ink? Would I prefer having more than one pen so that I can have more than one ink ready to go?

 

If your answer to both questions is yes, you've come to the right place; no one here will discourage from getting another pen, especially if it will help you. :-)

 

What a great many of us here struggle with is not so much the idea of having more than one pen and more than one ink but, rather, how many more?

 

I imagine some people are more comfortable having one pen and cleaning it whenever they want to change the ink, even if others (such as myself) would find that to be terribly inconvenient and fussy.

 

Myself, I have never owned just one fountain pen, even when I bought my very first, which was likely a Pilot Varsity (or two or more, because of different nib sizes and ink colors). Prior to that, I had hundreds of Bics and Papermates and Flairs -- ballpoints and felt tips and markers -- many, many colors. So getting two or more Pilot Varsity fountain pens wasn't such a stretch. But it might have been a Parker Vector that was my first, in which case, I did buy only one, and that might have led to my purchasing a couple of Pilot Varsities. And I've spiralled in and out of control ever since.

 

:-)

[StrangerT]

PR Cosmic Cobalt.

 

 

Why? Because that's the only bottle of ink I own.

[IWantThat]

I'll often have planned the first ink for a pen before it even arrives. ...

 

Same here, and it always depends on the pen. If it's a vintage pen, I usually chose a J. Herbin ink. If it's new, I choose whatever color seems to "go" with the pen. It might match or be a complementary color, or something way out there like orange ink in a blue pen...just to be different.

[georgeb]

I use ink of the same manufacturer as the pen first ,if I have some, to approximate what the company was trying for. After that I use whatever suit me.

[mAnuscript69]

Whichever ink that strikes my fancy at the moment.

[iamchum]

il papero seppia. Because it's thin, easy to clean and dull. There is no other reason for me to use it apart from testing the nib to see if it needs any tuning. lol

[indigirl]

I always put PR Lake Placid Blue in a new pen, & now that you've asked this question I can think about articulating why.

 

I think it's because it is a color I like but don't love; there is an emotional neutrality to it in that I pretty much always feel the same about it, whereas my feelings about most other inks are more seasonal or depend upon my mood. With a new pen I want to use an ink that will not distract me from the pen itself. Also it's an ink I rarely use otherwise, & using it in new pens is a way to make sure it gets used at all. Of course, it's a well-behaved ink, too, with no fancy or unusual properties.

 

Does that make any sense? :embarrassed_smile:

[seffrican]

Upon reflection, my system seems to be to fill from whichever bottle is nearest.

[anaximander]

I usually start new pens on J. Herbin Pearle Noir, for the reasons stated by DET above. It's a reliable ink that works well in all my pens. Iroshizuku Asa-gao has similar properties, but I ran out.