Are Pigment Inks Unfairly Maligned?

[inkyfingr]

I frequently read warnings about the potential for clogging pens with pigment inks. Is this based on any actual evidence or is it mainly hypothetical? Can anyone provide experience either good or bad with pigment inks in fountain pens?

[FPFan]

I'm a Platinum Carbon Black ink user, along with Sailor Blue-Black which is also a pigmented ink. With these types of ink you will want/need to clean them a bit more frequently and use the pen on a pretty regular basis. Once the ink has dried in a fountain pen it will be extremely difficult to remove the ink thus resulting in a need for at the least, a new feed. One never wants to allow these inks to dry in a pen. Otherwise the are very wonderful inks! Once the ink is dried on the paper one would have to destroy the paper to remove the ink. It is perfect for total permanence, it can be used as a base ink for a watercolor drawing and the black is not going anywhere! I use Carbon Black in a daily basis and love it!

[brunico]

I had Sailor Kiwa-guro dry out in a fountain pen I'd inadvertently left uncapped for a couple of weeks. It took a bit of a soak to shift it all, but the pen came out perfectly clean. I presume carbon inks merely silt up feeds/collectors rather than gum them up (as acrylic or shellac inks would do). The flow wasn't blocked (since the dried-out pen drew in water straight away): I just wanted to clear out the old ink. And I used only water - not ammonia, ear syringes, ultrasonic cleaners, WD-40 or anything else.

 

Except in such cases of gross negligence, I don't handle carbon inks any differently from dye inks.

[VivienR]

I'm a big fan of Platinum Carbon Black, also use it quite often. Never had any problem with it, when its filled into my pen, I use it kind of daily basis, but even with a few skipped day had no problem. As said previously, you need to take bit more care when use pigmented inks.

[tinta]

As with the ferrogallic inks that I like to use on a regular basis (Scabiosa, Akkerman #10, MBMB, etc...) pigmented inks also may require extra effort with your pen hygiene.

I've occasionally used the cartridge version of the Sailor Kiwa-guro for a specific writing task. Since black is not a favourite ink colour, the cart is quickly removed & the grip/section is blasted through with RO water using a rubber bulb. Never had problems.

 

I don't believe that the pigmented inks have been given a bad press here, but there have been alerts about possible clogging. It is wise to heed these & the warnings (suggestions) by the ink/pen manufacturers.

Sailor & Platinum have detailed instructions to follow. Here's one of these.

http://www.platinum-pen.co.jp/e_about_ink.html

Edited December 6, 2014 by tinta

[inkyfingr]

I guess my point is that these inks always come with stern warnings about the possible damage that can result, but has anybody had any "actual experience" with clogged feeds that was not resolved with standard flushing methods?

 

I have experience with the Platinum Blue Pigment ink - I deliberately left it in a pen feed open at both ends for a full week and it flushed out fine. I might argue that these inks are no more troublesome than many dye-based inks. In fact, I have had far more issues with several dye-based inks even in pens that have been in a fairly active rotation.

 

If I'm wrong about pigment inks, please let me know. But please provide some evidence or first hand experience...

[SeeksAdvice]

I cycle Sei-boku, Kiwa-Guro, and Carbon Black through pens every now and then. Only nib/feed I've had serious issues with on the carbon black type inks is a Waterman Phileas EF. That nib resolutely refused to come clean. Had a problem with a TWSBI 580 in which the carbon black left deposits in the barrel.

The big problem, IMO, is with the pigmented inks that are "lesser" in quality than the Sailor/Platinum lines. The Sailor "nano" inks at least, use rather fine particles that are more likely to stay suspended and clean out. Have not tried any other pigmented inks so cannot say for certain, but I think that one issue is severe clogging due to insoluble particles.

[77kath]

Thanks for the link, Zoé! I'm using Platinum Carbon Black in a rather fragile Platinum pen, and I really like the way it flows and holds up. I guess I'll just clean the pen diligently and stop worrying.

[Buzz_130]

All of my experiences are good with Sailor and Platinum pigment inks. I've only used these inks in my Sailor, Pilot, and Platinum pens, but all of these modern pens have worked incredibly well with these inks. I treat them like any high-saturation dye inks with good cleaning between color changes or storage, and I don't let them dry out.

 

Like their IG brothers, the nano inks are excellent on normal paper. I have no problem writing on regular, 20 lb, copy paper with these inks in nib sizes that I normally use (F to Japanese . Not only do you get the durability and lasting effect of the nano inks, but you also get a very good ink for normal office paper.

 

Buzz

[Sandy1]

Hi,

 

It seems quite likely to me that reported problems with clogging and/or difficulties during clean-up are due to inadequate pen hygiene / lack of vigilance.

 

Shortly after purchasing a bottle of Sailor sei-boku I just couldn't stop myself from trying to blend it with other inks. (Curiosity + blonde optimism!) The results were interesting in that I could not discern any pattern or trend for creating a successful blend, other than all trials with members of Noodler's family of bulletproof inks and iron-gall inks failed. Many of the blends that failed often resulted in gunky globs. (Despite my failures in trying such blends, I won't discourage anyone who understands the risks to have a go.)

 

Consequently, I caution those who use nano particle inks to ensure their pen is scrupulously clean before and after using such inks; and to use them in pens with fairly simple feed+collector assemblies. Due to my low Tedium Tolerance I would avoid pens that are tedious to cleanse, such as Visconti 'power fillers' and pens with ye olde plumbing such as the beloved Snorkies & Vacs.

 

For clean-up after use, I found that plain water and patience does the necessary. If I wanted to 'escalate' a plain water clean-up, I'd use a surfactant and/or a cleaning solution for technical pens such as Koh-i-Noor Rapido-Eze, or just give it a spin in the ultrasonic. I see no upside to using a stronger than usual ammonia-based cleaning solution, indeed it may be the case that as there are no dyes to break down, ammonia would be of little benefit. My experience with rescuing a Pelikan M400 with dried-out nano ink was related at Post № 7 of another Topic: https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/index.php/topic/247577-removing-dry-ink-from-pelikan-800/?p=2702656

 

Bye,

S1

[cellmatrix]

I think the problems with pigments are exaggerated, they are easy enough to clean out, especially with a spin in the ultrasonic, like S1 says. The one thing I would caution people about (and this is true for iron gall too) is that the pigment ink can dry out on the nib a bit faster than normal if you are not careful.