Help! Need A Suggestion On An Ink.

[Shamalama]

Hi, I was wondering if anyone could give me a suggestion on inks for a beginner/student. The paper i write on varies, so I would prefer one that wouldn't bleed through and feather. I also plan on making the Lamy Safari my first fountain pen, and an ink that pairs with this pen would be nice. So far, I am looking at the Noodler's Black and the Diamine Intense Black.

 

Any suggestions on a better starter pen would be nice too.

[Shamalama]

My bad, the Diamine Onyx Black.

[ac12]

I would put an Extra Fine nib on your Safari.

I used a Parker 45 with a Fine nib, similar to a Safari EF nib.

 

The ink would depend on matching up the flow of the ink with the flow of the pen.

- If the Safari is writing dry, then I would put a wet ink in; Waterman black or Noodler's black

- If the Safari is writing wet, then I would put a dry ink ink; Pelikan black.

 

Unfortunately, there is no way to know in advance if the pen will write wet or dry. But I would guess that the Safari might write on the dry side.

 

Other pens to consider

New

• Pilot Metropolitan, with F nib
• TWSBI Eco, with EF nib

Used only (no longer in production)

• Parker 45, with F nib. (I used this in college, undergrad thru grad school).
• Sheaffer, No Nonsense, with F nib.
• Sheaffer, school/cartridge pen, with F nib. This is cartridge only.

[Zeeppo]

As for a starter pen I would suggest the Nemosine Singularity with a fine nib. It can work as a cartridge,converter, and an eye dropper. It also comes with cartridges and a converter. It comes in several demonstrator and opaque colors.

 

If you can get to a meet up you may be able to try some inks there.

 

You may want to try Pilot Iroshizuku. They have a blue black that I have used on some pretty cheap paper. You may also want to consider a lighter color like turquoise.They also sell it in a smaller bottle so you are not investing as much.

 

Another thought it to find a web site or shop that sells ink samples. The Goulet Pen Company sells ink samples in tons of colors and brands.

 

Also pens with fine or extra fine nibs work better on cheap paper.

 

I hope you find what you are looking for.

[ParkerDuofold]

Hello Shamalama,

 

If you are both a student and also new to fountain pens; you may want to consider an erasable ink... the following inks are all erasable using one of Pelikan's "Super Pirat" correction pens:

 

- Pelikan 4001 Royal Blue

- Lamy Blue

- Sheaffer Blue

- Waterman Serenity Blue

- Parker Quink Washable OR Permanent Blue

 

 

The Safari is an excellent pen; I have 17 Safari/Al-Stars and will continue to buy them.

 

 

- Anthony

Edited April 19, 2017 by ParkerDuofold

[Kanshaku]

It lacks class, but for my Lamy pen I use Lamy cartridges. I'm an itinerant English language teacher and write on scraps of photocopy paper in my person-person lessons. It's acceptable, I think, to change a cartridge mid-lesson and relatively quick, clean and easy when compared to the bottle alternative. Lamy periodically have limited runs of interesting colours often to match new pen-body colours.

[Chrissy]

If you want black then Diamine Onyx Black is a nice black to use.

[displacermoose]

Noodlers Heart of Darkness is a great black that performs wonderfully on even the worst paper. Pilot blue, while boring, is cheap and exceptionally reliable.

[angelov95]

Noodler's X-feather is a great ink for what you seek. I never use blacks though. But it does not feather even on super cheap bad paper.

 

As for pens lamy is great a starter. Pilot metropolitans are pretty nice too. Just throwing the suggestion as no one said anything about those.

[Inkantadora]

For beginners, I usually recommend Waterman ink since it is the most well behaved ink I know and it is the ink of reference for students in France from grade school on wards. However, since you are in Japan, Pilot Iroshizuku might be the best way to go. Take-Sumi is a beautiful black, well behaved and with a fine nib pen you should be more than a-Ok.

[ac12]

It lacks class, but for my Lamy pen I use Lamy cartridges. I'm an itinerant English language teacher and write on scraps of photocopy paper in my person-person lessons. It's acceptable, I think, to change a cartridge mid-lesson and relatively quick, clean and easy when compared to the bottle alternative.

 

Using cartridge in not lacking in class. Most people would rather use a cartridge than hassle with a bottle of ink. They want to avoid the possible mess of using bottle ink. Also a cartridge will generally hold more ink than a converter.

 

My experience in college is that you do NOT want to change cartridges in the middle of class.

It takes too long to change cartridges and to get the ink from the new cartridge to get down to the nib. And during this time, you are not paying attention to the teacher/professor.

 

It is much faster to switch to another pen (fountain pen, gel pen, roller ball or pencil) and continue taking notes.

Then when you have time between classes, lunch break, or at home, change the cartridge on the empty pen.

In college, I carried TWO Parker 45s, when #1 ran out of ink, I just switched to #2, then changed cartridges between classes.

 

Tip: With bottle ink pens, after you finish your homework, fill the pens. This gives you a FULL load of ink when you start the day.

Edited April 19, 2017 by ac12

[ParkerDuofold]

 

Using cartridge in not lacking in class. Most people would rather use a cartridge than hassle with a bottle of ink. They want to avoid the possible mess of using bottle ink. Also a cartridge will generally hold more ink than a converter.

 

My experience in college is that you do NOT want to change cartridges in the middle of class.

It takes too long to change cartridges and to get the ink from the new cartridge to get down to the nib. And during this time, you are not paying attention to the teacher/professor.

 

It is much faster to switch to another pen (fountain pen, gel pen, roller ball or pencil) and continue taking notes.

Then when you have time between classes, lunch break, or at home, change the cartridge on the empty pen.

In college, I carried TWO Parker 45s, when #1 ran out of ink, I just switched to #2, then changed cartridges between classes.

 

Tip: With bottle ink pens, after you finish your homework, fill the pens. This gives you a FULL load of ink when you start the day.

Hi AC12,

 

I believe Kanshaku was referring to changing cartridges in the middle of a lecture as lacking class; not using a c/c pen per se.

 

- Anthony

Edited April 19, 2017 by ParkerDuofold

[ehemem]

Noodler's Black. Also consider Pilot Black and Blue Black. Might be easier to get if you are indeed in Japan...

[Shamalama]

Any opninions on Lamy black? Does it perform well on cheap paper, for ex. Bleeding/feathering

[ac12]

 

 

Any opninions on Lamy black? Does it perform well on cheap paper, for ex. Bleeding/feathering

 

Probably OK with a dry EF nib.

[ParkerDuofold]

Any opninions on Lamy black? Does it perform well on cheap paper, for ex. Bleeding/feathering

Hi Shamalama,

 

I use a lot of Lamy Black, (it's rivaling my use of Aurora Black), because it's easy to find and i love Lamy's ink bottles, (and it's a great ink, too).

 

All of my pens are tuned to be WET writers with medium and broad nibs and I just tested the two pens I have loaded with Lamy black... not much feathering to speak of, but a little bleed-through when I use it on Wal-Mart notebook paper.

 

So, if you use a dry or moderate writing pen with an EF or F nib; you should be just fine with it.

 

- Anthony

[Shamalama]

Sorry to ask another question, but has anyone used the J. Herbin Perle Noir ink. I'm looking at jetpens.com and looking at their black ink guides, and it has a very fast dry time. Is it any good? Feathering, bleeding through paper, etc.

P.S. my ethnicity is Japanese, but I live in the U.S. (Better go fix that)

[displacermoose]

It's been a while since I've used it, but I remember Perle Noir being a very good ink. Actually, all the standard Herbins I've tried have been extremely well behaved (the ones with the gold flecks are a different matter).

[Witsius]

If you want an ink that will perform well on even the worst paper, choose Noodler's Black.

[Abner C. Kemp]

- Pilot Blue Black

- Pelikan 4001 Blue Black