Pelikan 4001 Blue-Black Acting Suspiciously

[nop_bkk]

Just bought a bottle of Pelikan 4001 blue-black in Asia. Inked up a Pelikan M400 F and Noodler's Ahab with an F Goulet nib. Both produced very faint lines, however the lines started to darken after about 15 seconds and after 30 seconds the writing became a "satisfactory" blue-black. Anyone have a similar experience?

[doggonecarl]

I think there is an iron gall component to Pelikan Blue Black. That would account for it darkening.

[Frank C]

Sounds like there is some problem. Pelican Blue Black goes down blue-black and darkens with time. I wonder about the quality of your ink.

[sargetalon]

Was there some water still in your feed, from a recent flush perhaps? That can dilute the ink and result in the behavior that you describe. It's not typical at all for what I've experienced but I would try it in another pen before passing judgement. There has not been any iron gall component to the blue-black Pelikan ink for a few decades based on what I've read. It did indeed used to have an iron gall component but that is no longer the case.

[nop_bkk]

The faint lines are indeed legible, but do not give a sense of satisfaction in putting nib to paper and leaving a trail of writing from a proper fountain pen. Might as well use invisible ink.

 

I will experiment with a few other pens to see what result I get. By the way, the nib was flushed and left to throughly dry.

 

Seems there are quite a few opinions of iron-gall content. I just pulled the page I wrote three days ago, and it is now a very dark blue-black. If I have time, I will post pictures to compare fresh writing and time-elapsed writing.

 

Thanks again from sunny Bangkok!

[Notgatherox]

4001 Blue Black eventually turns grey

 

 

~Epic

[The Good Captain]

New-ish bottles of 4001 have a nice blue-black colour but older ones can exhibit a gray look. I'm convinced that there is a bit of IG content which explains the darkening and excellent water-resistance, in part. It's probably my favourite ink. I don't think you have a problem.

[Arkanabar]

It definitely sounds like you've got a bottle of iron gall ink with minimal and/or faded colorant. Tannoferrogallic acid starts out clear and darkens over time as it oxidizes. The colorant is there so you can see the ink until it fully oxidizes, which can take a few days or more. You might get a more satisfactory experience by adding some royal blue ink.

 

(Now there's an idea. I could mix that Chesterfield Archival Vault IG ink I mistrust with some of the Blackstone powdered Cashmere Blue that Amberlea sent me! Those inks are supposed to improve the performance of what they're mixed with....)