J. Herbin Refillable Rollerball Inks

[thudthwacker]

My daughter -- after hearing me yammer about them incessantly -- became very interested in trying out new inks. However, the couple of times she tried a fountain pen, she didn't especially enjoy the experience -- she's a lefty, and pushing the nib along wasn't to her taste.

 

However, I recalled that I'd heard about at least a few rollerball pens that would take international standard cartridges (or their moral equivalent converters), did some shopping around, and picked her up a J. Herbin Refillable Rollerball. As of last night, she was cheerfully writing away with it, filled with Iroshizuku Yama-budo.

 

My question, for folks who have used refillable rollerballs (the J. Herbin or one of the others): what inks have you found to be safe and trustworthy? Obviously, any of the various shimmer inks should probably be avoided, as I can't imagine one of them not clogging the ball. But what else? Should nanopigment inks be given a pass? How about cellulose-reactive inks? Any horror stories to share? On the other hand, what inks have you found to be well-suited to rollerball use?

 

Many thanks. Happily, I've got a number of Iroshizuku, Waterman, and Sheaffer inks in my collection, which I think will last my daughter awhile in her ink experiments while I look around for others that I'm confident won't cause her grief.

[SallyLyn]

I have no rollerball experience. Got a Noodlers one years ago with the purchase of a bottle of ink but never played. Where is that thing?

That gives you a clue Noodlers or some can be used. There probably is discussion about the Noodlers roller. A search might pull something up.

 

What I did want to say, from my experience Sheaffer and Waterman inks mix well even between the two brands. You can make a nice teal with Waterman blue and green. In the ink recipes going back to around 2005-8 there are some nice Sheaffer, Waterman recipes. Making very small mixes of inks is fun and not wasteful. Will need a blunt syringe to fill the cartridge. Blurple is another nice Waterman mix of blue and purple. I use it or the teal in many of my vintage pens because they are safe.

[Anne-Sophie]

I would think that Herbin ink cartridges would work well with their inkroller.

 

Herbin has such a wide range of ink colors that you might have to buy her another refillable rollerball=inkroller.

 

Edited to say Herbin regular colors, available in the square bottle with a pen rest, the small round bottle or the cartridge, not the limited edition Herbin in the big and fancy bottles.

 

Lamy makes an inkroller and I believe Pelikan does, as well, they are used in Europe by school children.

Edited May 6, 2018 by Anne-Sophie

[dapprman]

I used J Herbin carts in mine but I did find the carts would leak inside the barrel (though not outside). Also there's a hole at the end you need to fill if you want to eye dropper it.

 

I wouldn't use glitter inks as I found mine to be dry as a writer, so would expect it to be easier to gum up.

[WyattDragon]

I have personally used both Lamy blue and Noodlers Dragons napalm. They both worked well with no issues. My warning about the Herbin rollerball is that it is very hard to completely clean, because it uses a felt like feed. Great pen, and it should be good with most Noodlers ink. DO NOT use any of the noodlers bay state inks, as they will destroy the pen.

[Steveg58]

I have a J Herbin metal case rollerball that is permanently in ink. I have only used J Herbin and Visconti cartridges with it.

I also have a Monteverde Invincia Inkroller which is a right terror about which inks it will accept. It would not write reliably with my Diamine inks but was quite happy with Platinum Rose Red Pigment ink.

I also had a Kaweco Sports with their ink rollerball which was well behaved although I only ever used cartridge inks with it. It is even smaller than the J Herbin roller so I find it too awkward to use.

[KellyMcJ]

I have Sailor Sei Boku in mine right now. Pilot Blue Black if I recall also worked. Heart of Darkness gave hard starts. Sei Boku is the best so far.

 

I don't really like the pen...filling is an exercise in trial and error (fill converter, insert, depress plunger to fill feed, and draw up ink through the tip with converter installed.) and I find it scratchy unless held at a high angle, which is...unpleasant.

[Steveg58]

I have Sailor Sei Boku in mine right now. Pilot Blue Black if I recall also worked. Heart of Darkness gave hard starts. Sei Boku is the best so far.

 

I don't really like the pen...filling is an exercise in trial and error (fill converter, insert, depress plunger to fill feed, and draw up ink through the tip with converter installed.) and I find it scratchy unless held at a high angle, which is...unpleasant.

 

I haven't been game to use pigmented inks in my J Hebin rollerballs because, unlike the Monteverde, they look like they have a fibre ink wick. I'll have to give it a go, Sei-boku is so nice. Using cartridges it is no worse than other cartridge pens, and as you have found you have to hold it like a rollerball not a nib pen.

[KellyMcJ]

 

I haven't been game to use pigmented inks in my J Hebin rollerballs because, unlike the Monteverde, they look like they have a fibre ink wick. I'll have to give it a go, Sei-boku is so nice. Using cartridges it is no worse than other cartridge pens, and as you have found you have to hold it like a rollerball not a nib pen.

Mine definitely doesn't have any fiber. It's s standard feed/collector. Maybe there are two versions out there?

[Steveg58]

I have a couple of unused plastic ones as spares and I can clearly see that the spigot that pierces the ink cartridge contains a white fibrous material. The one I use normally is the metal version but I have been assuming it has the same construction. These pens date to 2013 / 2014.

[MisterSheaffer]

I have two J. Herbin rollerballs. I filled one cartridge with Waterman Serenity Blue and it writes and flows smoothly. I filled another cartridge with Noodlers Black and it wrote dry and squeaky. The ink was coming out a light grey. I cleaned out the cartridge and feed and refilled it with Parker Black Quink. It wrote and flowed smoothly.

[minddance]

Will it be possible to clean this pen? As in remove thr fins to wash and dry thoroughly?

[dkirchge]

I have a couple of the J. Herbin rollerballs. I've only inked one of them up but it writes very nicely with J. Herbin Violette Pensée, not too wet and not too dry with no squeaking. I haven't tried any other inks yet, but I will probably order some Perle Noire soon and try that out in my other pen.

[Honeybadgers]

The only way I managed to kill one was using noodlers baystate blue. Don't touch shimmer inks and stay away from baystate colors and it should be very reliable.

[probablyobsessedwithpenstuff]

I have on of those and i did eyedropper convert it successfully buy adding come sealant to the bottom and an o ring on the threads, unfortunately the plastic started to crack because i over tightened it, however if your a bit more careful than me you could get away with it if you decide to settle on one ink

[probablyobsessedwithpenstuff]

Will it be possible to clean this pen? As in remove thr fins to wash and dry thoroughly?

As far as i can tell no, and you get a lot of water stuck in the fins, however it doesn't work like a fountain pen since the ink does not tend to fill the fins so it is not much of an issue, although the trapped moisture may annoy anyone with a bit of ocd

[Corona688]

My daughter -- after hearing me yammer about them incessantly -- became very interested in trying out new inks. However, the couple of times she tried a fountain pen, she didn't especially enjoy the experience -- she's a lefty, and pushing the nib along wasn't to her taste. ink experiments while I look around for others that I'm confident won't cause her grief.

What nib did you hand her? Collectors dislike medium nibs these days, but they're common for a reason -- they work. A southpaw might find anything narrower scratchy. Edited October 30, 2018 by Corona688