Jump to content

Birmingham – Honus Wagner Infield Brown


crahptacular

Recommended Posts

The Birmingham Pen Co.’s line of inks (30 colors when I bought the sample pack, but I think they’re at 40+ and counting) feature various colors based on or inspired by notable locations or people associated with its home city of Pittsburgh, PA. I bought their sampler pack, and plan on slowly going through the whole line of inks, though I expect it will take me quite a while. For those interested, I posted some color swatches in a different topic (https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/328952-birmingham-pen-co-ink-swatches/) where you can get a quick idea of what the whole line looks like together.

 

Infield Brown is a brown of medium saturation with a pinkish undertone. It isn’t a very reddish brown like FC Terra Firma (3rd comparison), but is definitely on the red/pink side of things when compared to yellower browns like Lie de The (1st comparison). In writing the pink is not too apparent, but when diluted with water, the pink dye tends to spread to the edges to become very noticeable. The ink wrote a little bit dry. It paired poorly with my PenBBS fine nib (which is ordinarily a dry writer already), resulting in a pale, anemic line. In the broad nib, it did better, but I had some problems with skipping—maybe one out of ten downstrokes wouldn’t take. When it wrote, the ink shaded nicely with a lot of contrast between the lighter and darker shades. Unfortunately, neither of the pens I used seemed to like the ink, so I didn’t much enjoy the experience.

 

Flow/Lubrication: Low

Shading: Moderate High

Sheen: None

Water Resistance: Moderate High

 

 

The following sample was done with a PenBBS 309 (F) and a Namisu Ixion (Broad) on Tomoe River (68gsm, white, loose-leaf). Doodle was done with a size 0 liner. Flex writing was done with a Zebra G nib.

 

Inaccurate Image(s) Disclaimer: The scan has a bit too much purple (mainly in the very diluted parts of the doodle), but is accurate as far as the writing and smear go. The comparisons are not quite right (scan is lacking some red in all of them).

 

Scan:

fpn_1530654150__infield_brown_scan.jpg

 

 

Comparison inks from left to right (big smear is the featured ink):

J Herbin Lie de The, Birmingham Walnut St Brown, Franklin Christoph Terra Firma, GvFC Hazelnut Brown, Diamine Oxblood

 

Writing Samples (scans; some color correction), from Haruki Murakami’s “Kino”

 

Maruman Mnemosyne:

fpn_1530654181__infield_brown_mnemo.jpg

 

Midori MD:

fpn_1530654209__infield_brown_midori.jpg

 

Franklin-Christoph:

fpn_1530654251__infield_brown_fc.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 6
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

  • Bo Bo Olson

    1

  • goodpens

    1

  • inkstainedruth

    1

  • crahptacular

    1

Thank you for this. Your drawing is beautiful.

 

I am a big fan of brown inks. I have a Pittsburgh connection, but have not yet tried Birmingham Inks. I should track this one down to make it the first in the line that I try.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'll admit that I have not tried this one yet, even though I picked up a bottle of Honus Wagner early on. I'm not a huge fan of red leaning inks, though, so it remains to be seen if I like this one.

I have a bottle of the original formula of Walnut Street Brown, which I like very much (the reformulated version, for which Nick got the components from someplace else) is way too red for my tastes.

But thanks for the review.

Ruth Morrisson aka 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

Right handed Honus Wagner life time .329 batting average, was the only other batter to use a split grip, than the left handed Ty Cobb .367 batting average. Ty Cobb commented on their high averages and that no one else tried their style.

Cobb himself called Wagner "maybe the greatest star ever to take the diamond."

In reference to P. T. Barnum; to advise for free is foolish, ........busybodies are ill liked by both factions.

 

 

The cheapest lessons are from those who learned expensive lessons. Ignorance is best for learning expensive lessons.

 

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I had the same experience as you did with this ink. I didn't like it in my PenBBS because it was pale and dry, but when I put it in my Shaeffer italic Fine, I loved it. It had a nice dark color that looked great.

Thanks for the review.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have it and like it. I find it to be on the reddish side of brown. I'm using it in a Pilot Kakuno with an EF nib.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 5 months later...

Another great review - thank you! Stunning handwriting and sketch as always.

 

I love most solid and darker brown inks regardless if they lean to the reddish side or not. Juicy nibs are my favorite and I'm guessing this ink will shine when used in a Visconti Homo Sapiens. I'll be ordering a sample once they're available and in stock (probably get their entire sample range).

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
      33494
    3. Ghost Plane
      Ghost Plane
      28220
    4. inkstainedruth
      inkstainedruth
      26625
    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...