Writing In Bible - Successful FP Hack!

[akrohn2010]

I have seen a few older threads on this but nothing recent so I thought I would share my small experiment and success with trying to find a pen/ink combo that allows me to use my fountain pen to underline and write in my Bible margins: something I love to do but have been hesitant to use my fountain pens for.

 

After reading everything I could find on the forums about other experiences, I took the nib out of a Pilot Penmanship (Pilot EF) and swapped it onto my Metro, and used Noodlers Black. The result is no bleed through and minimal show through: only slightly more than a ballpoint and about the same as a G-2 rollerball.

 

My Bible is a Crossway ESV Heirloom Wide Margin edition: a higher end bible with quite thin pages, so this should work well with thicker paper bibles as well, but I am not sure how well this would work on a less expensive bible. Pictures below - I used one of the reference pages to test ink and nib combos. Notice that even the text show through due to the extreme thinness of the page: my goal was to find a combo that showed through the same as normal text.

 

I was surprised to see that Noodlers Black actually showed through less than Sailor Sei Boku, but that is probably due to black blending in better than blue.

 

Hope this helps someone!

~AK

Edited April 22, 2018 by AK-47

[twin63]

Thanks for posting your results. I have always used ballpoints for underlining and noting in my Bibles, but will have to try this.

Edited April 22, 2018 by twin63

[MKeith]

I use Sakura Pigma Micron pens. Acid free and no bleed through on Bible paper, with various fine/extra fine points..They have like 15 different colors.

Edited April 22, 2018 by MKeith

[Maccabeus]

This is exactly why I switched to ESSRI http://www.registrarsink.co.uk/registrars_ink.html

 

Iron gall ink is incredibly bleed and feather resistant. It even works well in pulpy mass-market paperbacks

[akrohn2010]

I tried Rohrer and Klingner Scabiosa - the only iron gall I had on hand - for that same reason. It didnt feather or bleed but the show through was worse than Noodlers Black or Sei Boku (you can see it in my pictures).

 

I am sure this is a function of just how thin my bible pages are: I had to find an ink that didnt bleed OR show through excessively. The Heirloom bibles are quite thin even with cross references and wide margins.

 

Noodlers Black continues to surprise me in its versatility. Other than excessive nib creep I have not discovered many downsides to its permanence, lack of bleeding/show through, and performance on bad paper.

 

EDIT: apologies for my poor punctuation, iOS seems to edit out much of it; not sure why.

Edited April 23, 2018 by AK-47

[akrohn2010]

I use Sakura Pigma Micron pens. Acid free and no bleed through on Bible paper, with various fine/extra fine points..They have like 15 different colors.

I have seen quite a few people use these! I will probably end up using them if I change my mind down the road or perhaps for travel. So far I am quite happy with my Metro/Penmanship frankenpen and Noodlers.

[Mulrich]

My EDC scriptures have such thin paper I stick with pencils for markings. I've never even tried a FP in my scriptures; I rarely even use BP or RB.

[Runnin_Ute]

I have mostly used colored pencil, but at times have also used a Stadtler Mars 700 .18 mm technical pen. I find that even my EF fountain pen nibs are too fat. I have it and a .1 mm, I prefer the slightly wider .18 but need a new point.

[dcwaites]

Sailor Sei-boku does bleed through more than either Noodler's Black or Sailor Kiwaguro. I don't know why. However, I have had best results with my Parker 51 XXF and Kiwaguro.

[DrDebG]

I use Sakura Pigma Micron pens. Acid free and no bleed through on Bible paper, with various fine/extra fine points..They have like 15 different colors.

 

+1. This are really great and do not bleed. But they are expensive.

 

When I am traveling, I use a Pentel 8 color Automatic Pencil, and the dark blue Micron pen.

 

I use the Crossway Single Column Journaling Bible which has a bit thicker paper but everything but the Micron pens and pencil bleeds through or shows through really badly. I also do not recommend Pilot G2s. They showthrough badly.

[akrohn2010]

I also do not recommend Pilot G2s. They showthrough badly.

 

They sure do! Too bad since for a non-FP they are nice to write with.

 

Microns are the clear leader in ease of use, but I was determined to find a fountain pen solution without resulting to a custom grind, if one existed. The Penmanship EF will do, though even it lays down a fairly thick line (relatively speaking - for tight margins) on Bible paper.

 

Down the road if I ever make it to a pen show I intend to have a nib re-ground to a XXF to serve as my permanent “Bible margin” pen.

[akrohn2010]

Maccabeus, I sent you a PM about ESSRI. Thanks for your suggestion!

Edited April 24, 2018 by AK-47

[Corona688]

I wonder how well a black Pilot Varsity/VPen would write. They have the fastest-drying ink I know of by a long shot.

[truthpil]

Thanks for bringing this topic up again, flyingpenman!

 

It's interesting that Noodler's Black works for you on Bible paper because I figured it would take too long to dry and might smudge.

My other concern is that it would smear pretty badly if some liquid accidently got on the page. I've had so many problems with the unabsorbed part of this ink (the part that stayed on the surface and didn't bond with the paper totally) smear with a single swipe of the finger years after writing.

 

For years I've been using FPs to write in a Cambridge Wide-Margin NASB which I believe is bound in the same place as the ESV Heirloom editions are and may use the same paper. Sei-Boku has worked perfectly for me with a Pilot Penmanship EF nib in a Pilot 78G (the step on the Metropolitan hurts my hand haha). I also like how the teal ink makes my notes stand out from the black text.

 

I also use a Pilot 78G F nib loaded with De Atramentis Document Red to underline key words in the text and it mostly works well because the ink quickly absorbs entirely into the paper, although there is an occasional case of feathering if the feed is too saturated.

 

For highlighting I have had no problem using Noodler's Year of the Golden Pig and Dragon Catfish Pink in Preppy highlighters. These inks work well and won't bleed through as long as I don't let the pen stay in contact with the page too long. I'm trying some dilution experiments with these inks as well.

 

I want to pass all my markings and notes on to my children so permanent inks are a requirement for all my Bible marking purposes.

[Flaxmoore]

I've had good luck with a fine Platinum Preppy loaded with Diamine Registrar's. Next to no showthrough or bleedthrough. Also works a treat on textbooks.

[akrohn2010]

Thanks for the add-ons, TruthPil and Flaxmoore. I tried Sei-Boki in my EF but the show through was surprisingly worse than Noodlers in my Heirloom ESV. Maccabaeus graciously gifted me a sample of ESSRI but same story as Sei Boku. Guess my bible doesnt like blue ink...no smudging from Noodlers Black yet!

[truthpil]

Thanks for the add-ons, TruthPil and Flaxmoore. I tried Sei-Boki in my EF but the show through was surprisingly worse than Noodlers in my Heirloom ESV. Maccabaeus graciously gifted me a sample of ESSRI but same story as Sei Boku. Guess my bible doesnt like blue ink...no smudging from Noodlers Black yet!

 

Oh, you mean show through. I guess I was thinking more about bleed through because I just assumed show through was a given with Bible paper. I mean, even the Text itself shows through, so I didn't really notice my notes doing the same thing in a distracting way.

 

That's really surprising about ESSRI because that is one of the driest inks out there. After a few days the blue will completely disappear and you'll have a black and grey line. With a dryer pen ESSRI turns to a dark grey. I ended up with 2 massive bottles of ESSRI because I wanted to use it for making my own family record pages in the front of my Bible. However, I didn't like the immense shading and pale hue for such a task and am now leaning toward Platinum Carbon Black, although I'm a little concerned about feathering with that ink.

[torstar]

https://evangelicalbible.com/

 

is a fun website.

 

I keep a few pristine and write in others designated for this purpose.

 

No way would I write in my Allans....

[akrohn2010]

Oh, you mean show through. I guess I was thinking more about bleed through because I just assumed show through was a given with Bible paper. I mean, even the Text itself shows through, so I didn't really notice my notes doing the same thing in a distracting way.

Very true - though in my comparison I was amazed to see that Noodlers Black showed through as little or even less than the text, which was incredible.

 

That's really surprising about ESSRI because that is one of the driest inks out there. After a few days the blue will completely disappear and you'll have a black and grey line. With a dryer pen ESSRI turns to a dark grey. I ended up with 2 massive bottles of ESSRI because I wanted to use it for making my own family record pages in the front of my Bible. However, I didn't like the immense shading and pale hue for such a task and am now leaning toward Platinum Carbon Black, although I'm a little concerned about feathering with that ink.

I may give ESSRI another shot - maybe I pressed too hard in my writing sample with my near-needlepoint Pilot Metro/Penmanship mashup and dug into the paper a little...

[truthpil]

I may give ESSRI another shot - maybe I pressed too hard in my writing sample with my near-needlepoint Pilot Metro/Penmanship mashup and dug into the paper a little...

You bring up a good point, pressure does make a lot of difference on thin paper. When writing in my Bible I barely let the nib touch the paper because I don't want to make an indentation. Unfortunately, that combined with the control needed for tiny writing can give me some finger or wrist pain during a long session.