EFNIR: Kaweco Smokey Grey

[LizEF]

34 minutes ago, lapis said:

Liz, in case you're still listening....

...

FWIW, as for the sake of comparison, smokey grey has a dry to medium flow while Graphite is much wetter and also better lubed. At the same time, this Diamine is much more saturated (no, not just darker) than the Kaweco.

 

Finally my small subjectivism: actually I'm not all that hot about this grey because it's IMO, for me, personally speaking, that is, too neutral. I love any other grey ink with more than "just grey" in it. E.g. Old Man Winter!

Thanks!  Your post is very informative.  I'm with you, I want my grey leaning ever so slightly blue, though now I'm thinking Old Man Winter is a little too pale.  I'm going to try out some Payne's Grey (Callifolio and  L'Artisan Pastellier Classique) eventually and see how I like those.

[LizEF]

Here's the line width measurement. The line is one of those used for dry time.  Magnification is 100x.  The grid is 100x100µm.  The scale is 330µm, with eleven divisions of 30µm each.  The line width for this ink is roughly 280µm.

 

[Detman101]

This will definitely be my next grey ink!

-DM-

[LizEF]

1 hour ago, Detman101 said:

This will definitely be my next grey ink!

I'll be interested in how you like it.  I popped a cartridge into my Waterman Carène without cleaning out the remaining Waterman Mysterious Blue, and I liked it less and less as the Smokey Grey took over - lubrication and flow both decreased.  It's improving now that there's almost no Mysterious Blue at all, but I'm thinking this ink is just drier and less lubricated - we'll see whether I pop in another Smokey Grey cartridge when this one runs dry (am trying to use up all my cartridges).

[Detman101]

15 minutes ago, LizEF said:

I'll be interested in how you like it.  I popped a cartridge into my Waterman Carène without cleaning out the remaining Waterman Mysterious Blue, and I liked it less and less as the Smokey Grey took over - lubrication and flow both decreased.  It's improving now that there's almost no Mysterious Blue at all, but I'm thinking this ink is just drier and less lubricated - we'll see whether I pop in another Smokey Grey cartridge when this one runs dry (am trying to use up all my cartridges).

I agree with what you have written. During my search for a Neutral Grey with shading, I ordered a sample of "Kaweco - Smoky Grey" 2 weeks ago. My thoughts were that most of their other ink samples that I have are so VERY well lubricated...this would also be well lubed.
NOPE!
This is almost as dry-writing as a Diamine grey ink! 
I had to add a little "White Lightning" to my sample of "Smoky Grey" to make it usable. 

On that note, perhaps I should quit being lazy and continue searching for another "Grey" ink that performs better.
There has to be something out there that fits the need more precisely than this ink.

-DM-

[LizEF]

26 minutes ago, Detman101 said:

On that note, perhaps I should quit being lazy and continue searching for another "Grey" ink that performs better.
There has to be something out there that fits the need more precisely than this ink.

There are so many greys, but that doesn't mean someone's mixed the right color of grey (because let's face it, they've all got leanings and hues and tones and such) with the right combo of flow and lubrication...  But if that's the case, it just means we need more greys! ...until someone finally gets it right.

[yazeh]

@LizEF I popped a cartridge in a Kaweco and one in a Karas with an ebonite feed  I regretted it's I forgot the pens for a few weeks, now they are writing ok. Would I recommend it, not really. With so many greys available, there are better options available ☺️

[LizEF]

58 minutes ago, yazeh said:

@LizEF I popped a cartridge in a Kaweco and one in a Karas with an ebonite feed  I regretted it's I forgot the pens for a few weeks, now they are writing ok. Would I recommend it, not really. With so many greys available, there are better options available ☺️

Well, I can't forget the pen - it's my newest and I'm loving it (even with the less-than-ideal ink)!  (Also, given how dry it is here, I really prefer to write daily with every inked pen.)

 

And I only have 2 or 3 more short cartridges and it's gone!  Hopefully the other three Kaweco colors I have do better. (Am bound and determined to just plug them in and keep going. Will clean the pen if I'm forced to, but don't plan to.)