Good Inkwell?

[Blu3poptart]

Hello fellow fountain pen enthusiasts! I have recently been sucked into a healthy obsession with fountain pens haha xD. I currently have a Monteverde invincia black tie (fine nib), a lamy safari (extra-fine nib), and a lamy al-star (medium nib) on the way. I also have noodler's black ink.

 

I was just wondering if there was a good inkwell that won't dry out the ink. The current one for noodler's is too tall and could make it difficult to refill pens when the ink runs low. I'm looking for a reasonably priced inkwell. I'm in college, so money is a little tight.

 

Thanks for your help!

[RobW]

The TWSBI ink bottle might work for you. Have a look on their site or on Goulets'. Also might be worth considering a Visconti Travelling Inkpot, which is easy to tuck into a bag in case you need a refill between classes. The latter can he had for around $70 at various pen stores.

Edited January 22, 2013 by RobW

[phlosar]

If money is tight, you could carry ink in a Nalgene bottle. The 15 or 30 ml sizes work well, and either should cost $2 or less. The 30 ml can be found at REI. Both are at Amazon. These should not leak. You can fill a lever or plunger or converter or similar type of pen directly from the bottle, or you can buy a syringe set (Goulet pens for example) and fill cartridges.

[Bo Bo Olson]

For a real ink well, you need a screw top bottle. A few can be found on English Ebay.

The flip top ones are easy to find, but because way back then, one used only two or three inks, and one used one's work inks, it did not matter that the ink in the well dried up after a few days, because you were filling it up for normal use every other day or so.

 

Twsbi seems to be a good modern bottle.

 

What you need is MB shoe bottles.

Buy MB ink in said bottles, use ink up, and put other ink in it.

Could find empty MB bottles on Ebay's. With luck. Lots of folks don't know how valuable they are.

 

Look for used 4001 Pelikan and Waterman ink bottles. Old Sheaffer is a great one.

 

There are some more beautiful ink bottles there are some real fancy Japanese, C'dA, Pelikan and a couple of others for ink bottles.

[Joker4Eva]

Just bought a "used" bottle of Montblanc ink just for it's bottle. The black is nice, but isn't really waterproof. Even less so compared to my everyday use Sheaffer Skrip.

[wallylynn]

MB bottles are awesome. But I'd suggest the Lamy bottles to match your Lamy pens. They work just as well and less than half the price.

[Blu3poptart]

Thank you all for your replies! I've looked at all of the ones you recommended and I have come down to 2. The lamy 50ml bottle and the Montblanc 50 bottle. The Montblanc bottle looks as if its shape would make it easier to refill pens. Is there any advantage of one bottle versus the other? Or is it just mainly preference?

[Salerno_AFG]

I like the TWSBI bottles. They have an insert in them so you can adjust the level of the ink and also get that last little bit of ink out of the inkwell or if you own a TWSBI 540 pen it has a small nib that directly feeds the pen.

[Blu3poptart]

On second glance of that inkwell, it looks very nice. Does it work well with non-TWSBI pens?

 

Edit: I suppose I meant to ask if other brands can draw the ink in the same manner. Say for instance, a lamy z24 converter. Or perhaps there is a way that doesn't submerge the nib in the ink too much.

Edited January 23, 2013 by Blu3poptart

[Salerno_AFG]

On second glance of that inkwell, it looks very nice. Does it work well with non-TWSBI pens?

 

Edit: I suppose I meant to ask if other brands can draw the ink in the same manner. Say for instance, a lamy z24 converter. Or perhaps there is a way that doesn't submerge the nib in the ink too much.

 

There is a cone shaped insert with oval opens on the side so you can decide how much ink is in the cone. This allows you to adjust the depth of the ink in the cone and also makes getting the last drop out of the ink bottle very simple. Very ingenious contraption. The Goulet Pen Company has them normally in stock or Ebay thru TWSBI. The cap rings are colored to assist in identifying the ink color also.

 

http://a248.e.akamai.net/origin-cdn.volusion.com/zecn7.jeyr6/v/vspfiles/photos/TW-M7442190-2.jpg?1352980631

[mAnuscript69]

Thank you all for your replies! I've looked at all of the ones you recommended and I have come down to 2. The lamy 50ml bottle and the Montblanc 50 bottle. The Montblanc bottle looks as if its shape would make it easier to refill pens. Is there any advantage of one bottle versus the other? Or is it just mainly preference?

Both the Lamy and Montblanc bottles will make filling easier when ink runs low. I'd say buy the bottle which looks better to you.

I have yet to finish a bottle of Lamy or Montblanc ink, (getting there) but I'd guess the Lamy bottle will get you slightly further than the Montblanc bottle but the difference is negligible.

 

On second glance of that inkwell, it looks very nice. Does it work well with non-TWSBI pens?

 

Edit: I suppose I meant to ask if other brands can draw the ink in the same manner. Say for instance, a lamy z24 converter. Or perhaps there is a way that doesn't submerge the nib in the ink too much.

I believe the TWSBI inkwell is compatible with standard international converters. I'm pretty sure a Lamy converter would be too wide.

[wallylynn]

Normally, the nib needs to be submerged *past* the nib, up to and including a little bit of the section (the grip). If not, you'll suck air. (If you look at the underside of your Lamy feed, you'll notice a square-ish notch, that's a breather hole).

 

The lamy bottle comes with some blotting paper to wipe your section and nib with. You could also use tissue. It's counter intuititve, but wet/damp tissue works better than dry.

 

Here's a video by FPN moderator Watch_art demonstrating how the cone inserts (like on the TWSBI) work: