Jump to content

Birmingham Pen Co's Uss Requin Navy Blue Ink: A Review


finnegans

Recommended Posts

I initially thought this ink leaned towards the purple but see now that it dries to a deep navy / blue-black. It's a very well-behaved ink, and I've since loaded it into a piston-filler (Lamy 2000), run through it, and had it clean out entirely with around 10 flushes, so -- as good as any of the easiest-cleaning inks (for me, anyway). I ran through the testing rubric on Tomoe River Paper, so it gives great line definition and nice, true color -- but dry times are off the chart. Regular paper offers an under-ten-second dry time with a European medium nib (Kaweco medium tested). If you like the color -- or are, like me, forever in search of more blue-blacks -- it's a great everyday ink: almost black in a bold nib, true navy in a fine-medium, and a steely-gray-blue in an extra-fine, and office-friendly in all three.

 

On TRP:

 

post-131860-0-45833300-1514737569_thumb.jpg

 

And on my everyday office paper, Staples' Sustainable Earth (bamboo) paper:

 

post-131860-0-69245700-1514737591_thumb.jpg

 

On fancy-shmancy letterhead paper (unsure of bond designation, but like the vast majority of mass-market consumer products it probably wouldn't mean anything anyway - in any case, this is a custom letterhead from Crane's):

 

post-131860-0-73640800-1514737616_thumb.jpg

 

And on a piece of paper I pulled out of the laser printer:

 

post-131860-0-72115300-1514737637_thumb.jpg

 

All told, it's a very versatile ink - works well on any paper provided you choose an appropriate nib and has nice variation in color with different nib sizes; I'll be putting it into the rotation, as it has all the right qualities and it actually adds something to my blue-black collection...

 

 

 

[edit: to repost pictures, as I believe I musta bunged it up somehow]

Edited by finnegans
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 5
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

  • finnegans

    4

  • jmccarty3

    1

  • inkstainedruth

    1

Popular Days

Top Posters In This Topic

Posted Images

Interesting. I just tried this a couple of days ago, and you're getting more blue (and more shading) than I did (although I was writing on really crummy and absorbent Piccadilly sketchbook paper, which has often really affected ink color and behavior for me in the past).

I also have been having issues with the pen it's in -- a vintage Morrison lever filler. I only get a half a page of writing out of a fill, so I'm now wondering if it's there's a problem with the pen (I pulled it out after having not used it for a couple of years and am worried that I'm not getting a complete fill).

Thanks for the review.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

 

edited for typos

Edited by inkstainedruth

"It's very nice, but frankly, when I signed that list for a P-51, what I had in mind was a fountain pen."

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Initially, I rather wondered if I was getting more blue and more shading than I actually did, myself - which is to say that this seemed more blue and more shady than I recalled - but when I pulled the pages and really looked, the scans are pretty accurate. Under normal light, though, and not "really looking," there isn't a ton of shading. And the color is profoundly nib-dependent. That Jinhao lays down a wet medium-bold that is all-but-black at times, whereas the blue comes out in finer nibs.

 

And good luck with that Morrison - the last lever filler I had that didn't work is the last lever filler I had; looking at Richard Binder's repair guide made me realize it was beyond my capacity. Maybe some commercial pen flush?

 

Also, anyone know how to delete a post? For some reason* this one went up twice.

 

Finn

 

 

* It may have been what my tech support guy likes to call a problem between the keyboard and the chair

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I ordered all of the Birmingham samples recently, and last night ordered a bottle of Requin Navy Blue, among several others. I like a lot of these inks, and am trying to give a little financial support to Birmingham while his store is shut down. Small businesses are the lifeblood of our hobby.

Rationalizing pen and ink purchases since 1967.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Same here - grabbed a few samples (for anyone whos not seen them, they come in quaint little brown glass bottles, as if from another era), and got to like each one in its own way. Theres a lot of personality in them, and some thought has gone into the tones and characteristics. And although if Im being honest Id probably buy these inks if they were made by Faceless Writing Equipment Co., its a great bonus that its a small business run by an enthusiast/good guy.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now


  • Most Contributions

    1. amberleadavis
      amberleadavis
      43844
    2. PAKMAN
      PAKMAN
      33501
    3. Ghost Plane
      Ghost Plane
      28220
    4. inkstainedruth
      inkstainedruth
      26627
    5. jar
      jar
      26101
  • Upcoming Events

  • Blog Comments

    • Shanghai Knife Dude
      I have the Sailor Naginata and some fancy blade nibs coming after 2022 by a number of new workshop from China.  With all my respect, IMHO, they are all (bleep) in doing chinese characters.  Go use a bush, or at least a bush pen. 
    • A Smug Dill
      It is the reason why I'm so keen on the idea of a personal library — of pens, nibs, inks, paper products, etc. — and spent so much money, as well as time and effort, to “build” it for myself (because I can't simply remember everything, especially as I'm getting older fast) and my wife, so that we can “know”; and, instead of just disposing of what displeased us, or even just not good enough to be “given the time of day” against competition from >500 other pens and >500 other inks for our at
    • adamselene
      Agreed.  And I think it’s good to be aware of this early on and think about at the point of buying rather than rationalizing a purchase..
    • A Smug Dill
      Alas, one cannot know “good” without some idea of “bad” against which to contrast; and, as one of my former bosses (back when I was in my twenties) used to say, “on the scale of good to bad…”, it's a spectrum, not a dichotomy. Whereas subjectively acceptable (or tolerable) and unacceptable may well be a dichotomy to someone, and finding whether the threshold or cusp between them lies takes experiencing many degrees of less-than-ideal, especially if the decision is somehow influenced by factors o
    • adamselene
      I got my first real fountain pen on my 60th birthday and many hundreds of pens later I’ve often thought of what I should’ve known in the beginning. I have many pens, the majority of which have some objectionable feature. If they are too delicate, or can’t be posted, or they are too precious to face losing , still they are users, but only in very limited environments..  I have a big disliking for pens that have the cap jump into the air and fly off. I object to Pens that dry out, or leave blobs o
  • Chatbox

    You don't have permission to chat.
    Load More
  • Files






×
×
  • Create New...