Sailor "sei-Boku": Pigmented Nano Ink Mini Review

[AndyYNWA]

This review tipped me over the edge and I finally bought a bottle. Thank you.

 

Theres something rather special about this ink and its changeling qualities are adorable.

You will not regret it! Fantastic ink, both in performance and colour.

[Mulrich]

I'm using this ink in a pen right now and find it really dry. It's possible th cartridge is old but I wanted to hear others opinions.

[Intensity]

Not dry for me that I've noticed. Used it in two pens. It's not a highly lubricating ink, however, so perhaps your pen is also on the dry side with the feed/nib. Try checking that the nib is clean between the tines too, just in case.

[Tas]

Another member mentioned its dryness to me but fresh out of the bottle in my Pilot Custom 91 its a solid 6. Its also a better match to the Tsuki yo body I own than Tsuki Yo itself.

[AndyYNWA]

Not dry, but if you don't use the pen regularly the nib tends to dry out. It has to be used at least once every day or you have to slightly prime the nib.

[Intensity]

Not dry, but if you don't use the pen regularly the nib tends to dry out. It has to be used at least once every day or you have to slightly prime the nib.

Doesn't that depend on the pen/cap seal? This is not the case with two pens I have loaded with this ink. One is a Nakaya with a somewhat dry flow and the other is a Jinhao X750: both wrote right away and well just now, after a few days of being unused.

[AndyYNWA]

Sure, the pen effects this. But right now I have an AL-star loaded with it, and the cap on that pen usually seals quite well. Could maybe also be the pigments that make it flow slightly less than other Sailor inks.

[Intensity]

I've had some trouble with my Lamy nibs and ink flow (different inks however). What turned out to be the case were debris between nib tines (flossing helped) as well as some very tight spacing between the tines that converged at the tip to have almost no clearance (and thus scraped the paper due to very dry flow, and helped debris to get stuck in the flow channel). I have 3 copies of the 1.1mm nib now, and only one writes well without starving the line of ink: all have the tine spacing greatly diminish to vanishing at the tip, though one is a bit better. On the contrary, my single copy of the 1.5mm nib has nicely parallel tines and has excellent ink flow. I even posted in the Lamy section asking why my pen was super hard-starting and scratchy every time with Lamy Petrol, but worked okay with my most lubricated, super-flowing Organics Studio Walden Pond. It turned out to be the nib: I only had the one bad 1.1mm nib then and no others to compare it to. If you can get your Lamy nibs from a local brick and mortar shop, I highly recommend that option, so you can inspect the tine alighnment against a bright light before selecting one to purchase.

Edited November 1, 2017 by Intensity

[RoyalBlueNotebooks]

I've had some trouble with my Lamy nibs and ink flow (different inks however). What turned out to be the case were debris between nib tines (flossing helped) as well as some very tight spacing between the tines that converged at the tip to have almost no clearance (and thus scraped the paper due to very dry flow, and helped debris to get stuck in the flow channel). I have 3 copies of the 1.1mm nib now, and only one writes well without starving the line of ink: all have the tine spacing greatly diminish to vanishing at the tip, though one is a bit better. On the contrary, my single copy of the 1.5mm nib has nicely parallel tines and has excellent ink flow. I even posted in the Lamy section asking why my pen was super hard-starting and scratchy every time with Lamy Petrol, but worked okay with my most lubricated, super-flowing Organics Studio Walden Pond. It turned out to be the nib: I only had the one bad 1.1mm nib then and no others to compare it to. If you can get your Lamy nibs from a local brick and mortar shop, I highly recommend that option, so you can inspect the tine alighnment against a bright light before selecting one to purchase.

So what can I do to make my 1.5mm Lamy Al-Star nib write like a proper stub and not like a drying up, lowest-end iridium point? Under a loupe, the tines are super close to each other near the tip. Should I open them up? Did this help with your issue?

[Intensity]

I see you are in Italy. I actually got my 1.5mm in a Fabriano boutique in Rome, but also saw them in other pen and stationery stores there for the same prices. They only cost 5 euro there (though fine or extra fine were 8 euro), which is cheaper than in the USA. I'd just see if you can buy a better-aligned nib in person, which is what I did. Otherwise I think it's not easy to safely spread the tines on the wide italic nibs without some good tools. A thin brass shim (combined with the risk of scratching the channel) costs a good portion of a brand new replacement nib anyway.

 

Do try flossing between the tines with something thin and non-abrasive first, such as flat plastic dental floss if you can get it in at the base of the slit where it's wider. Then clean off any residue with some toothbrush/toothpaste. It does help with my 1.1mm nib that's almost okay.

Edited November 1, 2017 by Intensity

[RoyalBlueNotebooks]

I see you are in Italy. I actually got my 1.5mm in a Fabriano boutique in Rome, but also saw them in other pen and stationery stores there for the same prices. They only cost 5 euro there (though fine or extra fine were 8 euro), which is cheaper than in the USA. I'd just see if you can buy a better-aligned nib in person, which is what I did. Otherwise I think it's not easy to safely spread the tines on the wide italic nibs without some good tools. A thin brass shim (combined with the risk of scratching the channel) costs a good portion of a brand new replacement nib anyway.

 

Do try flossing between the tines with something thin and non-abrasive first, such as flat plastic dental floss if you can get it in at the base of the slit where it's wider. Then clean off any residue with some toothbrush/toothpaste. It does help with my 1.1mm nib that's almost okay.

You're right, the Lamy nibs are fairly priced here in comparison to abroad. I got my Lamy nib for 4,50€ from a local store in a big city nearby. When I saw the price on Gouletpens for example I was baffled. I can buy a Pilot 78G in broad or double broad (stub nibs) for that price.

 

Anyway, I did some tuning on my Jinhaos with a thin piece of plastic. I have no idea how they are called in English. They are pieces of plastic that one sticks to a page in a book or notebook to mark it. A portion of the piece of plastic has glue on it, the rest does not. I use a couple of these things to floss nibs and try to open the tines a little bit, and it seems that they worked fairly well on the Jinhao nibs. I'll try this method with the 1.5 stub since I don't want to give up yet.

[rudyhou]

i find this ink surprisingly not as dark as i thought a blue-black shade of blue should be, and yet i still enjoy the interesting shade of blue.

[AndyYNWA]

Let it sit in the pen a couple of days and it will get darker...

[rudyhou]

Let it sit in the pen a couple of days and it will get darker...

 

thanks for the tip.

[katerchen]

 

 

Hmm, now I need to try it. I wonder if it's a match for my nemesis, the evil Utility Company Return Envelope.

 

I swear that thing is made from blotter paper. The tiniest touch from the tip from a fountain pen will spread out instantly. The only thing I can use to write my return address on it is a true Extra Fine pen with 4001 Königsblau ... and it still will look like a Sharpie crawl.

 

-k

 

And I'm happy to report that the ink stood up to the Evil Sponge Envelope Paper. Even in a medium pen. OK, Sailor medium ... but still.

 

-k

[KellyMcJ]

 

And I'm happy to report that the ink stood up to the Evil Sponge Envelope Paper. Even in a medium pen. OK, Sailor medium ... but still.

 

-k

 

Isn't it great for this? I still get feathering and bleeding on the worst paper in the wetter areas of writing (where it pools at the end of strokes) but I'm just so happy with how it performs on the Worst Paper Ever in my Sailor fine nib.

[Bookman]

i find this ink surprisingly not as dark as i thought a blue-black shade of blue should be, and yet i still enjoy the interesting shade of blue.

 

Try it as a dip-pen ink. I use Speedball ##512 and 513 nibs, and the result is a very-dark ink line.

[IndigoBOB]

I tried a small sample of this a while ago and wasn't entirely impressed. I was picky at the time and young in my fountain pen days with too little in a way to test it out... But after acquiring a taste for Kiwa-Guro and learning just how good such an ink can be after trialling it through different pens on different surfaces, this Sei-Boku is coming back to mind and I am going to have to get a bottle of this.

 

I am super impressed with sailor inks.

[rudyhou]

 

Try it as a dip-pen ink. I use Speedball ##512 and 513 nibs, and the result is a very-dark ink line.

 

thanks for the suggestion. i shall give it a go with my glass pen.

[Venemo]

How is the drying time of this ink?