Pilot's Bad Black Namiki

[Paganini]

Over the years I've had the odd bottle of ink go "bad." For me, this invariably manifests as a very strong ammonia smell from the ink. To date, this has happened to two bottles of Noodler's, an almost new bottle of Platinum Carbon Black (ouch!), and even some Carbon Black cartridges!

 

Most recently I got a bottle of Pilot Namiki Black from an Amazon seller that had this strong ammonia smell as soon as I opened it. In the past I'd just dump the ink down the drain, and maybe try for a refund if the return window was still open. But since reading FPN I've become familiar with the work of SamCapote and this famous thread:

 

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/171278-biocide-shootout-tests/page-2

 

So I decided to try and save it. This afternoon I rinsed out an old ink bottle and an Aeropress coffee filter with some denatured alcohol. I filtered the ink, and did indeed find a substantial layer of slimy film and sediment left behind. I added 6ml of 4% Phenol solution (from Natural Pigments as in the reference thread).

 

I will report back in 2 or 3 weeks with the results. I am not sure how well this will work - I have read that some Japanese inks have a PH of 8.0 or above. I don't know if Namiki Black is one of these inks, but effectiveness of Phenol is supposedly reduced by high alkalinity. So we'll see how it goes...

 

- N

[khalameet]

This particular ink has a pH-value of around 8.0 if I recall correctly.

 

But I was under the impression that all Pilot standard inks have this very sharp (phenol like) smell? Although that doesn't justify the sediment and slime...

[Paganini]

Hi Khalameet,

I have a bottle of Namiki Blue, and also a bottle of Pilot Blue-Black. They smell similar to each other, kind of sweetish. They do *not* smell similar to my bottle of Phenol, which, to me, smells like a visit to the dentist. I, too, have read that the stock Pilot inks already contain Phenol, so I find this puzzling.

 

Maybe the concentration of of Phenol in Pilot inks is to low for me to smell it, and too low to handle whatever got into my bottle of Namiki Black?

 

- N

[Paganini]

Seems to have worked! No more ammonia smell, just smells like the dentist.

 

- N

[inkstainedruth]

Good to know. I bought my husband a bottle of Namiki Black to go with the Vanishing Point I gave him, but I don't think he's opened it.... (I don't even want to think about how awful the dried up ink in the pen is at this point...).

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth