Long Time Experiences With Kwz Ig Inks?

January 20, 2019

Hello!

I recently discovered the KWZ iron gall inks and am hooked.

However, I don't exactly know how aggressive these inks are. Especially the blue black should contain a very high iron gall content from what I read.

I would like to use these inks at work and university.

Let me hear your thoughts about them!

January 20, 2019

The only one I have tried is KWZ iron gall violet #3, and it's a beautiful color but bleeds through cheap notebook paper.

I would definitely recommend the ink, but only for use on less absorbent papers.

January 20, 2019

I have IG Green #2, IG Green Gold, IG Red #3, IGL Aztec Gold, IG Gold, IG Mandarin, IG Gummiberry, and IG Turquoise. I have began using them since the Fall of 2016, and have been using IG Turqouise, IG Green Gold, and IG Gummiberry with Baltic Memories as a break between the IGs in a Sheaffer Imperial II Deluxe exclusively since October of 2017 with no damage seen to nib, cap, or sac. Have not used IG Blue Black yet as I have a number of other IG Blue Blacks, but couldnt imagine it would cause any harm as these inks appear to be quite stable and well balanced as far as modern IG inks go. They are a bit wetter than other IG inks, and can feather or spread a bit more on lesser quality papers, but all are well behaved otherwise, and all are some of my favorite inks.

Edited January 20, 2019 by JakobS

January 20, 2019

I have used pretty much all the KWZI iron gall inks (and I have a number of them) in my stash in Parker Vectors, which have steel nibs. That includes IB Blue Black, and IG Blue #3. I haven't had any issues, and it's a toss up as to which of those two inks I like more.

My understanding is that modern iron gall inks are a lot more benign than their vintage dip pen counterparts. They do need a little extra maintenance while flushing, since you don't want to use ammonia solution (or at least not at first): my regimen is to flush with distilled water, then with dilute vinegar solution [1 part white vinegar to 9 parts distilled water, although I just eyeball that, the same way I eyeball dilute ammonia solution] and a drop of Dawn dish detergent (which may or may not be available outside the US), then more distilled water to flush the vinegar solution out. I generally then do a flush of ammonia solution followed by more distilled water to rinse. And of course you need to flush the pen a bit more often between refills than you might with a standard ink (I would not, for instance run any IG ink in a pen for *anything* like as long as I've run Waterman Mysterious Blue in one of my Parker Vacumatics -- which is almost 3-1/2 years at this point... ; but I've also run MB Beatles Psychedelic Purple in my Pelikan M120 Iconic Blue since September, and just this morning refilled it with distilled water to see how the color looks diluted because I'm lazy about flushing sometimes).

If you're using a c/c pen, you may want to pull the converter out to fully flush out the bottom of the converter and the back of the feed for any residual ink -- especially if you're then going to use a standard ink in the pen next.

The reason to use the vinegar solution, of course, is to not cause a chemical reaction between the highly acidic ink and the alkaline ammonia solution....

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

January 21, 2019

I love their iron galls.

Would I use them in a $600 pen? Probably not since my writing is in spurts andvoens can lay down for a week or more.

But the IG Green has been in my Moonman M2 for 8 months. Every fill or so I clean the nib and feed well with a bulb.

I’m probably over cautious on using it in an expensive pen, that’s my choice though.

The bigger issue I’ve encountered with the 3 IG from them I have used.....your mileage on paper may vary greatly.

On TreeFrog sugarcane, which takes every other ink I usually use like a champ, it bleeds through...in a fine nib. Other varieties and papers bleed or feather where other inks do not.

January 21, 2019

I have IG Turquoise. Haven't used it in a while, but for a period of time I used it a lot. Just take care in cleaning the pen you use regularly. I did find that KWZI IG inks in general are wetter than other IG inks.

January 21, 2019

Well, I noticed something odd today too. I used the blue black - and again, this one should contain a very high amount of IG - in my TWSBI 580 in a medium nib.

I took the pen to work with me where I can only use cheap copier paper. And many inks like Herbins Bleu Nuit, Perle Noire or Pilot Blue Black behave very well on this paper. Not to mention Salix/Scabiosa or Platinum's or Pelikan's Blue Black. All of these inks neither bleed through nor feather, as you would especially expect from the latter ones since IG inks should behave like this on cheap paper.

Well, KWZ Blue Black feathers and bleeds quite heavily on this paper, which really surprised me. I always thought that the IG content of such inks should prevent this behaviour.

For whaz it's worth, there are no issues on Clairefontaine or comparable papers and I really love the way the ink looks and darkens. This one darkens a good bit more than Salix or similar inks.

What I love about all of the inks I have tried so far (Blue Black, Mandarin and Blue #5): It is pure joy to write with them. They feel perfectly smooth unlike any other ink I have used so far. No flow issues either.

I hope their non-IG inks are similar to this.

Edited January 21, 2019 by khalameet

January 21, 2019

What I love about all of the inks I have tried so far (Blue Black, Mandarin and Blue #5): It is pure joy to write with them. They feel perfectly smooth unlike any other ink I have used so far. No flow issues either.
I hope their non-IG inks are similar to this.

Their standard inks are amazing as well. I especially enjoy Brown Pink, Eldorado, Raspberry, Old Gold and Baltic Memories, some say Baltic Memories can be a bit dry, but I have yet to experience this in my Sheaffer Imperial II Deluxe with medium nib.

January 21, 2019

I have only experienced KWZ IG Blue #5 but I am happy with it.

It behaves as I would expect an IG to do, i.e.it feathers less than other inks on absorbent paper, and is not half as dry as R&K Salix.

I have posted this evidence several other times as the question comes up.

The paper used is very absorbent, and I use it to test feathering.

Pelikan Royal blue, which behaves well even on copy paper feathers badly on this paper.

IG #5 show almost no feathering except in very marginal end spots.

Royal blue is the lighter colour at the top and right side, IG #5 is the darker colour in the middle

In the early days of KWZ I had corresponded for a while with Konrad. He explained to me that several of his inks are a mix of IG with non IG pigment. That is because a pure IG ink just becomes black when dry, while if you want some colour you have to find a right balance of IG and non IG. He has experimented a lot to find stable formulations to this aim.
He is a chemist and his almost laboratory approach to producing ink allows him much more experimenting than big companies. The downside is that sometimes he does not have sufficient time to keep up with requests which have grown (that is why sometimes you need to wait for new batches of particular colours to be produced).

my experience with IG #5 is that it is a very well behaved ink, however I also do not use it in very expensive pens especially with ink windows or transparent barrels. It has stained a plastic glass in which I washed a pen filled with ink. The stain can be removed by rubbing but that is not so easy inside a pen.
I have no issues in converter pens, in the worst case I can replace the converter.

I also use it in some of my cheaper ebonite ED pens.