Fountain Pen In Labs?

[CPenCPenC]

I am going to work full time for a month in a laboratory and using a water soluble ink is definitely something I want to avoid in a place where spillage is a possibility. Therefore I am going to avoid using fountain pen and stick to a ballpoint biro pen.

 

Although I am quite curious, are there any scientists on this forum who use fountain pens despite working a lot of the times in labs?

[mooshi]

I used an FP exclusively in college (other than pencil for maths)... Bio-Chem major at the time. I stuck with Iron Gall inks or Noodler's "bulletproof" stuff for the most part. Never had a problem with that.

[CPenCPenC]

I used an FP exclusively in college (other than pencil for maths)... Bio-Chem major at the time. I stuck with Iron Gall inks or Noodler's "bulletproof" stuff for the most part. Never had a problem with that.

 

Awesome!

[akustyk]

I've used a fountain pen in the lab a lot. Just use permanent ink, such as any iron-gall ink (Pelikan Blue-Black, etc.) and a regular fountain pen.

[CPenCPenC]

Cheers, what is an iron-gall ink please?

[e-beth]

Durability and legibility are nice things to have in a lab notebook but the single most important thing about a lab notebook is that you actually write in it. Since doing experiments is far more fun than writing about experiments, unless the lab you are working in has regulations about the type of pen and ink you use, I would suggest using whatever pen and ink you most enjoy using since that will most encourage you to write in your notebook. If necessary (and if it's not prohibited) you can always photocopy your notebook to make sure you have a durable copy of your notes. But, it sounds like there are some good options for waterproof inks, so I would try those.

[RudyR]

Durability and legibility are nice things to have in a lab notebook but the single most important thing about a lab notebook is that you actually write in it. Since doing experiments is far more fun than writing about experiments, unless the lab you are working in has regulations about the type of pen and ink you use, I would suggest using whatever pen and ink you most enjoy using since that will most encourage you to write in your notebook. If necessary (and if it's not prohibited) you can always photocopy your notebook to make sure you have a durable copy of your notes. But, it sounds like there are some good options for waterproof inks, so I would try those.

 

And think about this, during the periods of discovery when fountain pens were in common use, those people so engaged most probably used them in their labs. Same with the medical professions and I would say they used Iron gall ink for the most part.

 

Iron Gall ink is a centuries old ink formula using iron compounds, gallic acid from oak galls (the best coming from Aleppo Syria) and some dye. Very simple to make but hard to do right. Some formulas would eat through the paper after a the passing of decades, others would be buffered or formulated properly so that it cause little damage to the paper.

 

Current Iron Gall inks are considered safe for most of the world's pens using quality materials. An occasional flushing of the pen every three months is recommended. I would do the same for any ink.

[Diderot]

Depends what sort of a lab it is - wasn't very clear to me.

If it's a "wet" lab, one thing you may want to think about is if you want to handle a fountain pen with gloves on - you may have to wear a pair most of the time, and then take that same pen out of the lab and carry on using it.

I wouldn't .

 

[AAAndrew]

I would get a Preppy, convert to a eyedropper (a small o-ring and some silicon grease) and fill it with an iron-gall or other bullet-proof ink. Use it in the lab, then when you're finished, if the pen is contaminated you can just toss it. They're cheap and work great for an eyedropper. It will also hold a huge amount of ink. And I would imagine one of the finer 02 Preppies would be great for taking notes.

 

I was able to demonstrate the durability and waterproof qualities of Diamine Registrar's ink to my company's Quality Assurance folks and convince them it meets the regulations for permanence of ink for signatures. I'm assuming that because of it's durability comes from its chemical reaction with the paper it would be even more resistant to the occasional solvent spill than ball point or roller ball inks, depending on the solvent. Just an assumption.

[dwong]

I used a Lamy Safari EF nib with Noodler's Bulletproof Black back in my lab days. If I had to do it again, I would use either a Platinum Preppy, Pilot Metropolitan or Safari with Noodler's Air Corps Blue Black.

[ScienceChick]

And all the KWZI IG inks give you lots of fun - and serious - colors.

 

Vanness Pens KWZI page No affiliation , just a happy customer

[LisaN]

+ 20 for actually writing in the notebook.

In grad school, I used a Parker Vector with Permanent Black Quink.

Now I use whatever I like, because I am not worried about spilling water or other chemicals on my notebook. When weighing, I never have any trouble with spills, and everything else can be recorded at the desk.

The trouble is not with the spills, but with the sitting and writing.

 

We OC's don't wear gloves, except for the big heavy PPE ones, and no one writes while wearing them.

Latex gloves don't protect you from what we do.

[gordonhooker]

In my airforce days I had to use ballpoint pens because everything we did with paperwork had to be in triplicate so you had two layers of paper and carbon paper to get through. I hated it and will not use a ballpoint unless forced to

[graystranger]

I used fountain pens in R&D labs since 1996 (when I started using fountain pens after over 30 years of using ballpoint pens. I did not use them where I wanted permanent writing, lab notebooks, "official" legal signatures, etc. until I discovered Noodler's bulletproof ink in Jan, 2009. But, when I had to "suit up" and wear gloves I only used the stick ballpoint pens that were laying around those facilities, as everything coming back out had to be "smeared" to detect any contamination.

 

But, I never hesitated to use fountain pens in other areas where we were running experiments that did not require such precautions. I loved my Vanishing Point with Noodler's Black for my lab books, filling out forms, taking data in notebooks, etc. I would not hesitate at all to use them. The rich, black, very dark writing stood out over the writing of others who used ballpoint pens. And, my ink was more permanent than theirs! It was hard to tell my signature or other writing on a copy, as the copy was as dark as the original.

 

Working in labs involved with ceramic materials, refractories, ceramic matrix composites, etc. I noticed something I never expected. The dust in such labs where we were handling aluminum oxide, carbides, and other hard powders made my Fisher Space Pen refills start to blob far sooner than when I used them in labs without such abrasive dust. I think the highly polished carbide ball in the refill was picking up the abrasive dust on its surface and wearing the socket it rotates in. Since these refills are pressurized, tiny blobs of ink would bleed out after an hour or two. Got to where I usually wiped the tip off before writing with it. This stopped when I started working in facilities that did not have the dust. Not enough dust to see easily, but I'm sure it was there on the lab tables. Of course it did the same thing to cheap ballpoint tips, but not being pressurized they did not bleed out. But, that is not fountain pen related, just thought I'd mention it.

 

In lab books that used carbon paper to make a duplicate, I used ballpoint or gel pens.

[e-beth]

Depends what sort of a lab it is - wasn't very clear to me.

If it's a "wet" lab, one thing you may want to think about is if you want to handle a fountain pen with gloves on - you may have to wear a pair most of the time, and then take that same pen out of the lab and carry on using it.

I wouldn't .

 

 

I didn't often need to use gloves in lab, so I forgot to consider this aspect. I like the idea of using an inexpensive pen in that situation, in case you do need to get rid of it because it got contaminated with something nasty!

[Tryek25]

When I worked in a Cleanroom any pen other than a ballpoint was not cool. I got yelled at pretty hard my first day on the job when I pulled out of Cross Solo.

[French]

When I worked in a molecular biology lab, I used an inexpensive Baoer pen with Noodler's Black ink (their original bulletproof ink). The requirements for our lab notebook was the ink needed to be black and permanent. Never had an issue.

[HildyZ]

I'm a lab rat, too, although now I'm mostly at a computer. I use a Lamy Safari, among others, and Sailor Black ink. The "carbon nano" is waterproof, and I prefer it to Noodler's. It might be easier to find in the UK.

[beanbag]

One big potential problem is that many labs require you to use their official lab notebook, which may not work with fountain pens well at all. And the other papers might be cheap copier paper. Instruction manuals may have whatever random paper, etc. Just give up and use a gel pen. They work really well and are cheap.

[bsenn]

Just give up and use a gel pen. They work really well and are cheap.

Say whaaat?!? We don't want to use pens that "work really well" and are "cheap". We'd rather use fountain pens!