Ink Shelf Life?

[bowyorang]

I've only been using fountains for a couple years now and have only used cartridges up to this point. I decided however to take the plunge and use a converter so I ordered a bottle of MontBlanc Irish Green. When I received it yesterday I saw that it had a small sticker on it that said Sept, 2018. I can only assume this is an expiration date. Is this something I need to be aware of? I saw that some people have an extensive collection of inks and I can't imaging myself using anywhere near that much in just four years....

Edited September 6, 2014 by bowyorang

[mirosc]

No need to worry.

Ink can last decades without trouble. Just keep it out of the sun.

It can be that some water evaporates and the ink level drops a little bit, but mostly it's not a problem. If there's trouble ahead you will recognize it when the ink starts to smell or some gooey slime or mould appears.

 

by the way: a search with "ink" "shelf life" should return several threads about this topic

e.g. here or here or more

Edited September 6, 2014 by mirosc

[bowyorang]

Thanks for the quick reply! I was hoping that was the case because I can see myself acquiring several colors! I just didn't want to get several bottles and then in a few years go to use one and it had gone bad somehow.

Ya, I've tried the search a couple times and it doesn't seem to work well on my phone, which I use most of the time. The google search function never reads right on it. Sorry. I'll try to do some searches next time. Thanks!

[sexauerw]

I currently have several pens filled with ink that is more than 50 years old and they are writing beautifully. One of them has Sheaffer Skrip V-Mail Black which was only made during World War II (V-Mail service only existed from June 15, 1942 through Nov. 1, 1945) so that ink is between 69 and 72 years old. The others can't be dated so precisely.

 

Edited to correct ink age.

Edited September 7, 2014 by sexauerw

[bowyorang]

I currently have several pens filled with ink that is more than 50 years old and they are writing beautifully. One of them has Sheaffer Skrip V-Mail Black which was only made during World War II (V-Mail service only existed from June 15, 1942 through Nov. 1, 1945) so that ink is between 59 and 62 years old. The others can't be dated so precisely.

WOW! That is awesome!

[_Stormin_]

They will fade on the page (or may fade over time) but most inks sealed and out of sunlight will last as long as the pen they're intended for.

[arcadeflow]

My Pilot Blue 30ml bottle came with a sticker from the importer with the expiration date. It was 1 month remaining. That made me curious about how many years have those bottles sit in that little stationery shop. Also thought about making an offer for the remaining expired bottles, but that old lady probably won't understand how ink can expire. And she is probably right.

[martinbir]

I currently have several pens filled with ink that is more than 50 years old and they are writing beautifully. One of them has Sheaffer Skrip V-Mail Black which was only made during World War II (V-Mail service only existed from June 15, 1942 through Nov. 1, 1945) so that ink is between 59 and 62 years old. The others can't be dated so precisely.

 

Even more awesome is the fact that they are actually 10 years older than stated. Between 69 and 72 years old!

[PaganArcher]

I have several bottles of Sheaffer Skrip purple and red that are at least 30-40 years old. They were my great grandfather's after WWII. Still write just fine. I'd love to find his pens and put the pair to use again.

[KBeezie]

Keep it out of the Sun AND anything that emits UV (which is a lot of our lighting now days, especially office lighting). A cool, dry and dark place should do, like inside of a desk drawer or among the bookshelf behind cabinet doors. Though I do understand the urge to show off the bottles in a desk setup.

 

Fungus is the biggest killer of inks (and likewise sacs, feeds, etc if contaminated), where as UV being the largest attacker of it's saturation/color.

 

Typically what I like to do is transfer some of the ink from the bottle into a sample vial for filling, this way I can put the ink bottle back into it's box and tuck away until I need to fill up the sample vial again with a syringe. It also reduces the risk of contaminating the primary storage of ink from either other inks or fungus/etc.

 

I keep a ziploc bag with sample vials of the main inks I use in my pens so I can refill as needed (and it's easier to just pack that up on the go).

 

They do make chemicals you can add to a bottle to prevent mold growth, but seems like a bit much in my opinion. Also some manufactures (like Caran d'Ache, when they responded there were no pH neutral inks despite Noodler's own advertising) claim the higher acidity of the ink prevents mold/fungal growth

Edited September 7, 2014 by KBeezie

[sexauerw]

 

Even more awesome is the fact that they are actually 10 years older than stated. Between 69 and 72 years old!

Duh! That's what I get for trying to finish a post after my wife has called me for dinner. I didn't proof-read it.

[FayeV]

I currently have several pens filled with ink that is more than 50 years old and they are writing beautifully. One of them has Sheaffer Skrip V-Mail Black which was only made during World War II (V-Mail service only existed from June 15, 1942 through Nov. 1, 1945) so that ink is between 69 and 72 years old. The others can't be dated so precisely.

 

Edited to correct ink age.

This is so very cool!!!

 

Now all we need to do is be able to find out when our favorite inks will be "discontinued" so we can stock up on them.

I was disappointed to find out that Black Swan in Australian Roses was changed to a more purple color. I should have picked up another bottle earlier this year. The trick is balancing stocking up on extras of favorites "just in case" they're no longer available. I just picked up Apache Sunset and love it even though I am not a big orange person. Wonder if I should pick up a spare bottle just in case....

[amberleadavis]

I keep my inks in open cabinets. NOT cool dark places. I've had inks in the direct sun - did bunches of tests on that too. Some inks will disintegrate over time. When you open them, you can tell they are not correct. Most inks will last beyond your life time.

[SeeksAdvice]

I'll add serious hard-core freezing to the list of things that seem to mess with ink. Doesn't really make sense to me, but I've had a couple of inks that were exposed to sub-zero temps and were never the same after. Amusingly, one bottle of Polar Blue never behaved properly after accidently being left in a car at -30 to -35FF or so, the bottle I intentionally left out at -18F thawed out and worked okay. Wonder if it was different components in the ink, or if the 12 to 17F temperature difference mattered. My bottle of the Blue that Shall Not be Named also didn't take well to freezing.

Had two inks of mine change color in the bottle, and not sure why. My bottle of "Sapphire" Edelstein basically lost a lot of its blue components, with no visible potential biological activity. My bottle of M205 Duo ink started turning slightly orange, but had some indications of possible biological activity in it.

Then, of course, there is my current mess of WTH is it in the bottle(s).