Cartridge Question

[Inkedinker]

I found a lovely ink which I am assuming is no longer sold in bottles (The garnet red) but it's only available in cartridges... good time to buy a new Pelikan 😊 What models accepts the cartridges? Also would another pen accept this cartridge as well??

[sargetalon]

Garnet was only made for one year in 2014. All that is left of it is old stock in the pipeline. Pelikan cartridges are standard international sized. In general, they'll fit Faber-Castell, Kaweco, Rotring, Porsche, Caran d'Ache, Waterman, Tombow, OHTO, Pelikan, Visconti and Schneider.

 

As far as Pelikan goes, the P200, P205, Stola, Epoch, Pura, and Pelikano cover the bulk of Pelikan's current cartridge offerings. There have been a lot of cartridge models in the past. The Ductus has been discontinued but is a great pen and can still be found though it's pricey. Definitely a bigger pen on par with an M800.

[Inkedinker]

Sarge, since it's old stock, would it be worth using?

 

What's the average shelf life for cartridges or bottles for that matter??

[sargetalon]

Sarge, since it's old stock, would it be worth using?

 

What's the average shelf life for cartridges or bottles for that matter??

 

 

You'll get various opinions on this matter but most inks are pretty stable and can last for many years (i.e. decades) if well cared for. I'd have no hesitation using Garnet as its only 2 years old.

[Inkedinker]

Awesome!! Appreciate the input. Looks like I'm hunting for another Pelikan

[sargetalon]

Awesome!! Appreciate the input. Looks like I'm hunting for another Pelikan

 

 

You might want to check this out so you're not surprised by what you'll get with Pelikan's cartridge pens.

 

http://wp.me/p4XMw3-IU

[Inkedinker]

Well Sarge... know of any good cartridge pens lol

[Bo Bo Olson]

Some nice poster sent me pelikan Garnet and Faber Castel's Garnet.

I like the FC garnet better...it was browner.

IMO Pelikan Garnet was just another reddish ink.

Red inks are very bad for Pelikan windows.......purples is not all that great either....clean often. Don't let purple ink set too long....use up, don't let the purple ink hang around. Golden Pelikan rule....write purple until time to clean....One Purple...One Pen.

 

For Cartridges......Celebry (gold=steel) and the 38X/39X....don't know which I have and ain't worth the time to look..it's not marked on the pen (got two different green marbled lacquers on the Celebry andthe 38x/9x.) ....all have that nice like the '80s-97 400, that springy 'True' Regular Flex nibs.

I only have that old 1/2 a width narrower F in both the Celebry and 38X...the older m400 is a M.

 

Being semi-vintage....would be cheaper than new....and as good.

 

If you hurry Edelstein Amethyst should still be available ) I picked up at my B&M some three six packs...and was a year late. and the teal Aquamarine also, I picked up a six pack of that in case the bottle didn't come in. If it hadn't I'd bought two more six packs.

 

One must realize....I am against cartridges in they are very, very expensive. E4.90 for 6...the bottle only cost E14.90.

 

Remember Pelikan comes in both short international or the long....and you can re-fill a cartridge with any fountain pen ink. I do that often...in bottles have a wider selection of inks.

 

The 4001 Green is a good shading ink. Brown shades and is a reddish brown. Turquoise will shade on good paper and is as good as Lamy. Violet is fine. I'm sure you can get all of them in cartridges. I lucked out and have some '90's from back in the day...when Pelikan made so, so many colors in cartridges.

I was so stupid. ...and only took a sample pack instead of every single one ....I still had hopes of a flea market pen. I had let my childhood of never being able to afford cartridges effect my judgement. ..............How was I to know that was a once in a life time .... I was 'noobie'!!!

 

Well, I can always puncture a cartridge or two and vampire them into a piston pen.

[PAKMAN]

They fit my Epoch and Pura. But should fit any other pen that accepts international size carts.

[Inkedinker]

BoBo do you know where I can find a bottle of the Edelstein Garnet? I'd love to try a bottle but I have exhausted my limited resources, I am stuck with the conundrum of using the cartridges.

 

Thanks Pakman, I'll try one in my Lamy. Should fit. If not maybe my Karas Kustom will stomach it.

[jrusting]

I went on the quest for a bottle of Edelstein Garnet last year. After much searching, I found one from a vendor in Malaysia. It was expensive, but I got one! I wanted this ink to "match" red striped binde on a M600. A month later, I tried to order a second bottle for "inventory," but they were all gone. Good luck with your search...

[Bo Bo Olson]

The bottles are all the same...pretty, with a different name on them.

Could be you could find Amethyst, still but even that will be hard to find.

 

Could be more luck with Garnet in cartridges on German Ebay. Amethyst is ok in cartridge.

 

I lucked out and was able to find some MB LE inks some 4-5 years ago of inks that were then 4-5 years old in my B&M. The MB Christmas Greens and Browns. I paid the then normal price of E12/13.................... I can save you ten euro...if you want to buy now from me...an opened and once used bottle.....someone wants Buy Now....110E for MB Winter Forest.

Gandhi is E75.

 

I don't have a great collection of LE inks. And one needs to be more careful and read all the reviews. I do not like red-redish inks much. Pinocchio/Carlo Collodi ink was much more reddish than I expected...I expected a brownish red. From my reading.... (When I finally get some of my 'grail' paper it might be the reddish brown I'd hoped.)

MB Swift/Seaweed...was @ the same as Vert Empire and not the remake of MB Racing Green as all hoped. Just a not quite clone murky green.

 

Somewhere there is a great post where a fine poster did 35-40 murky greens.

 

There is a great deal of normal inks one must have....some 100 mainland European ones. (100 or more DA inks not counted)...not counting English..Diamine's 200.....Japanese or even the 500 noodler inks.

 

What does a LE give you that a normal won't. I do like MB Blue Diamond.....if I looked hard enough I could have found a close match or three. (I do admit to ego problem....wanting something special...and getting it.)

 

That is what I suggest for older LE inks, instead of paying a fortune for one, like that MB Winter Forest. There are three or four dark pine needle green inks to be had....at normal prices. Check around....and remember to buy good to better paper often...or the ink won't dance at midnight.

 

Pelikan LE Aquamarine is not really IMO an Aquamarine...it is a teal ink. There are other Teals...should you miss this years. Order now!. Teal inks are not all that many. There are other real Aquamarine inks...some towards the green, some towards the blue.

 

 

Amethyst can be had in cartridges. Other Purples/violets can be had. But I'm glad I got three 6 packs...that is a more unusual. Someone more into the purple-violets could have a matching ink.

 

 

Do take care to where someone is claiming an inks so so very expensive....folks in the States. For years I avoided the 'super expensive' C d'A inks...now those no longer made. Then when that happened, I went looking here in Germany for the more expensive Swiss ink....Euro to more valuable Swiss Frank......and found them dirt cheap....E08,50 So I got 2/3s of them....should have gotten all. There is no herb against stupidity.

 

Perhaps Garnet, can be easily matched in regular inks. In to me nothing special...there must be many red-reddish inks....

 

How far do you want to go back in LE Pelikan inks?

I never even thought of buying the pink LE.

 

Look more to the future. Soon in March there will be a new Pelikan LE.

This year and last MB had some 3-4 LE inks named after their pens. I found none I needed...none really jumped out at me like that blue...Diamond of 4 or so years ago.

Will Lamy bring back the great shading LE Dark Lilac? Or what is their next....a Green that works .

 

 

IMO...DA makes better inks than Diamine...if you go looking. The problem with DA is...they make the same ink twice...once as normal, then once under some famous name. Not a cheap ink either. It too is a one man ink company like Noodler.

[Calabria]

I don't think cartridges last as long as bottled inks. For one, the plastic has micro-pores that allow a bit of water to evaporate. Also, I think the little ball closure is not absolutely air tight. My ink cartridges from various companies usually look only half full after a few years.

 

Use it or you loose it.

[Inkedinker]

What if I drain the cartridge and put into a glass jar?? Actually after using one of the carts in a modern Conklin Duragraph, I wasn't as excited as I thought I would be.

[Bo Bo Olson]

I have some cartridges from the late 80's-'90's back when Pelikan made so many, many colors...I have two great grays...a regular gray and a silver gray. The orange was good, shaded a bit.

Rose and lilac are going to take a while.

Once I'm sure, Pelikan made more ink colors than any company in the world for cartridges.

 

I also have some Parker Quink from the same time.
I had Sheaffer cartridges for a calligraphy pen from '70's.

 

You need a needle syringe...take your sharpening stone to your drugstore, tell the druggest you want the longest thickest needle and a 10-12cc syringe for your fountain pens...or order a rubber needled one from the net.

Being a freak...with fountain pens can get you things you might not have thought of. Someday you might want some glycerine for your fountain pens...or 'adjusting' inks.

Here in Germany we don't have or I couldn't find non-sussing ammonia cleaning fluid that is mixed 1-10 for pen cleaning. So I got a real little bottle at my druggists. A dulled flat needle is what you want as is....that way you have no legal problems.

 

Load the cartridge as either shoving in in....or in the case of my just inked with Quink red, P-45, let the pen seat the cartridge. Take it off and fill to the little line that I've noticed at the top of the cartridge....regular water works fine. Shake and put on your pen.

It didn't want to push on...so I let the pen seat it.

 

Any 'new' cartridge you buy will still be good for at least 5 or so years.

My '90 Lamy Persona....bought 4-5 years ago...had half dried cartridges that I reloaded with water and worked just fine. That pen was from @ '90 in it didn't have the way too tiny bump on the recessed clip to keep the pen from rolling off the desk, that was put on a couple of years later.

 

So old ink...can be refilled in the bottle....just guess how much was in the bottle?...if thick can be thinned more than your first guess.

Any cartridge can be filled back to the little line in the top of the cartridge.

 

I re-fill cartridges...being too cheap to look for a converter that fits....and one that works...has some sort of gismo inside to break up ink vapor lock.

Edited December 10, 2016 by Bo Bo Olson

[Inkedinker]

No I mean drain the cartridge for a typical fountain pen. I only have a few pens (which I rarely use) that are cartridge fill. I was thinking pulling the fluid out of the cartridge and placing in a bottle to use in a traditional fountain pen (like a Pelikan Mxxx) for regular use. As I said I wasn't really such a huge fan of the ink anyway so it's kind of a moot point.

[aeba]

Unless you have a metric ton of cartridges, I would keep them as they are. What comes to Pelikan mxxx(x), you could just suck the ink from cartridges with a syringe and fill directly to barrel of a Pelikan. Of course that way doesn't prime the nib...

[Bo Bo Olson]

If you want to you can empty into a glass jar...or open the cartridge pull the ink out with your needle syringe and empty it directly into your Pelikan and screw the nib back on.

That way you have no waste on the bottom of a glass jar.

 

You should re-hydrate the ink before squirting it into the pen or the glass jar.

 

Shaffers old Scrip ink jar, has a ink ledge. MB shoe and Waterman and Pelikan make good to the last drop ink bottles. You can find empty ink bottles on Ebay.

Edited December 11, 2016 by Bo Bo Olson