Ink Pellets C1915

[Larry Barrieau]

The Trenches of WW1 were not conducive to the comforts of home, much less to ink bottles. A relatively new discovery, ink pellets, made using a fountain pen much easier. A tiny pellet would be put into an eyedropper ink pen and then water from your canteen poured in. The pen would be agitated, the pellet dissolved, and in a minute or two, you had a full ink pen. During the war, pen companies made pens which had a small compartment to hold the pellets and keep them dry until needed. They were named Trench Pens.

 

I found some original pellets on ebay and diluted a few to make about 20ml of ink. It's not bad at all for being a hundred or so years old. My dream, my grail, would be to find an affordable Trench Pen. I won't be holding my breath.

 

 

edit I should have gone to Google before I posted. There is a very similar posting at Munson' s Pens. Sorry

Edited May 19, 2020 by Larry Barrieau

[IThinkIHaveAProblem]

This is FREAKING COOL

 

Thank you.

 

Could. you do a full review? maybe post it in the

Th-INKing Outside the Bottle

section of the forum?

 

That would be awesome.

 

Nice handwriting btw, we seem to be aiming for the same results. it's just that you are doing MUCH better at it than i am

[Larry Barrieau]

I don't know enough about ink properties to do a review. Thanks. I've posted before about this but I don't think I supplied a picture of the writing. I've seen a few for sale on Go Pens, I think. They were way way out of my price range. Seven years ago when I first started with pens a gracious guy showed me his collection of pens. He had a few Trench Pens. It was exciting to hold and look at them. They were not for sale.

[IThinkIHaveAProblem]

could do something simple like one of Chirssy's reviews

(example: https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/290939-ink-review-diamine-amaranth/ )

 

or something more varied like one of visvamitra's reviews

(example: https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/index.php/topic/279443-passage-blauw-pw-akkerman-ink-no-1/ )

 

or for the truly ambitious, try and do a review like Sandy1's

(example: https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/239426-diamine-blue-black-r2/ )

 

Here is a sample ink review form:

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/100963-ink-review-forms/

 

and here are some helpful tips on how to do/what to include in a review

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/40261-updated-suggestions-for-what-to-include-in-an-ink-review/

 

Or just make something up! and write out your own thoughts on the ink and your experience writing with it

 

Anything would be good! Some information about this ink is better than no information about this ink! (I'm a history nerd, and really like to know about stuff we can't get anymore)

 

I'd love a trench pen someday, but like you, they are way out of my price range. So I content myself with my "51"s and more recently, my snorkels

[welch]

Interesting find, and thanks for recovering the ink well enough to write some.

 

I think FPN member Corniche was working on powdered inks for fountain pens several years ago. Somewhere way back, he explained to FPN what he had learned.

[Larry Barrieau]

Ink would go way down in cost if you didn't have to ship it in a heavy glass bottle.

[Ink Stained Wretch]

Ink would go way down in cost if you didn't have to ship it in a heavy glass bottle.

 

Case in point: Thistle Blue/Black ink. A member mentioned it here on FPN years ago, and some of us got some from the Australian Flea-Bay. Between the favorable exchange rate at that time and the fact that the seller wasn't asking much for it in the first place, it was quite cost effective.

 

It was advertised as being "from before the war." So it has to be from 1939, or earlier. They didn't specify which war, however! It's possible that they were talking about World War I. If that's the case the stuff could be from 1914, or earlier .

 

It's decent ink. It is totally NOT water resistant, but there are such inks being sold today. It's not an iron-gall ink, just has that greenish hue that many old iron-call blue/black inks had. So far I've found it to mix well with other inks.

 

This is a different powdered ink