Jump to content

Rosendahls ink - Scrivil series - Cadet Blue


Daneaxe

Recommended Posts

 

This is a review of the now-defunct Swedish ink manufacturer Rosendahls, their Cadet Blue fountain pen ink, of the Scrivil series, which appears to have a military theme. Since the ink is no longer in production, it can only be found vintage, although several FPN'ers have found several here & there, it is probably a challenge to acquire. Now, with that said, let's see how it looks..! The bottle looks a lot like the normal Pelikan ink bottle, and can be sat slightly on its side to allow for easy emptying when the ink level starts to get low, plus the opening is of a good size.

 

The first writing test is with a no-name "Iridium Point Germany" pen with an EF nib, see discussions elsewhere about these pens. The ink flows very nicely, with good lubrication, and makes a potentially scratchy pen nice & smooth to write with. Color is a pale blue, I'd even call it a baby blue, which is too pale in my eyes for everyday writing. However, there is no feathering, the letters have clear definition and no shading is seen here.

 

Second writing test is with a Jinhao X450 with the factory M nib, which is infamous for writing wet. Also here, good ink flow, nice lubrication and it just writes very well. Like the previous test, we see no feathering and each letter is clearly defined. But look at the color! This is now a medium blue instead, which is a nice surprise. It indicates a dynamic blue which will probably shade well. More on that later. If you look *very* closely, you can see shading in the letters here, but only by zooming in on a hi-res pic.

 

Third writing test is just a quick experiment with a dip pen, which did not go super well, but still showed that the color deepens as you lay down more ink, and a little border shading is seen, but otherwise it is an example of how little I know about dip pens.

:)

 

Next comes the ink swab, where you clearly see color difference according to amount of ink, and border shading both in the triple layer, near bottom, plus in the circles, left. We see several shades of blue, from baby blue to navy, which is very nice to see in what you might think is just a simple, almost boring, light blue, and so it appears at first glance, but this li'l fella has more layers than an onion!

😃

 

The water resistance test shows that 90% of the ink goes away from having water dropped on it, making it quite the opposite of water resistant.

🤔

My conclusion is that this is an extremely well-behaved ink, fully functional despite being at least 30 years old, possibly 50, very dynamic in coloring and with great potential for shading. It dries quite quickly when writing normally, 5+ seconds, even on Rhodia paper, and in all the tests I made there was not a single bleed-thru. I had no hard starts or drying ink in the pens used. Since it's not waterproof, I wouldn't call it archival, although it might be UV-resistant, I have no data on that. What I *do* know is that this is an ink which is very easy and pleasant to use, with properties which we might wish were in more modern inks.

 

I will finish with a writing sample inspired by Matt of The Pen Habit, showing a quote from one of my favorite authors.

 

Stay safe,

Daneaxe

20210626_191332.jpg

Cadet-EF-nib.jpg

Cadet-wetM-nib.jpg

Cadet-dippen.jpg

Cadet-inkswab.jpg

Cadet-waterresist.jpg

Cadet-Onering-poem.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 17
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

  • Daneaxe

    6

  • inkstainedruth

    4

  • lapis

    2

  • mizgeorge

    2

Popular Days

Top Posters In This Topic

Posted Images

You were too quick for me, mizgeorge, I was uploading pics from another device... Try again, pls.

😃

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Interesting.  Some of the photos make it look like vintage Skrip Peacock (and the closest modern substitute I've found, Diamine Turquoise) -- while others make it look more like Edelstein Topaz and Diamine Havasu Blue.

Thanks for posting the pics.  Wondering now about some of the other Rosendahl ink colors.

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

Looks a bit like Pelikan's Turquoise or Waterman's South Sea Blue (which has a different bottle, of course).

In regard to your first two hand-written lines of "The quick red fox...". Is that also the ink you're reviewing or another ink as a comparison and/or "reference?

Life is too short to drink bad wine (Goethe)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 minute ago, lapis said:

Looks a bit like Pelikan's Turquoise or Waterman's South Sea Blue (which has a different bottle, of course).

In regard to your first two hand-written lines of "The quick red fox...". Is that also the ink you're reviewing or another ink as a comparison and/or "reference?

Lapis, this is, as I alluded to in the review, all the same ink, in different pens/nibs, to show that this is a truly dynamic blue. Goes from baby blue to mid blue by using a bigger nib, and with my flex dip pen, I almost made it write navy blue..!

😃 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Okay, thanks. Looks like two very different inks.

Life is too short to drink bad wine (Goethe)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

+1 on that.

Yesterday I was in antiques shop I had never been to before (just spotted the sign as I was driving along).  There was a box with what I think had been a quart (!) bottle of Sanford Pen-It Blue Black, but sadly no ink left in it -- just dried up stuff caked on the inside of the bottle.  Great if you're a glass collector -- but for me, not worth asking the price....

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

Thanks for the nice comments everybody, it's my first review here.

:)

Ruth, I also have their ink no. 2, royal blue, from their standard series, which is a bit darker. I might post something about it later...

😃

A little addition to my review: I did not say very clearly that all test was on Rhodia dot grid paper, 80 g/m2. 

I did a quick test on some cheap absorbent paper where there was much feathering, but still no bleed-thru.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

19 minutes ago, lapis said:

Looks like two very different inks.

Yes, it does, doesn't it? Exactly my point here - I actually believe that many inks change color depending on which pen/nib you are using - with this one, you could get dramatic shading using a true flex pen, like I tried to show. Sadly, I'm a rank amateur when it comes to flex & dip pens, but I'm learning..!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It also can depend very much on the paper, Daneaxe,  A couple of years ago I had people convinced that I had in a pen was green -- and I was going "Nope.  It's Waterman Mysterious Blue!"; which seems to be VERY aptly named because I've seen it look teal, dark blue black and (that time) a slightly blue-leaning green -- all depending on the pen and paper.

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

1 hour ago, inkstainedruth said:

but sadly no ink left in it -- just dried up stuff caked on the inside of the bottle.

Funny you should mention that - I am right now experimenting with reconstituting a vintage Pelikan royal blue, where there was just some powder at the bottom. I bought it for 10 SEK (1 $) just for the bottle, but when I got home, I thought "hey, let's see what happens!" and added ca 10 ml water to it. Shake a bit, leave it overnight and perhaps gain some *very* vintage ink!

😎

Vintage-Pelikan.jpg

PS: Notice the bottom of the box - it says Günther Wagner - the creator of Pelikan. A hint about the age of this :) 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It's lovely :) I had a feeling it might be a turquoise-y ink.

 

Do the navel cadets still wear the bright blue kragor? I can only guess that's where the name came from.

 

I'd love to find some of these inks!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

@Daneaxe, if you decide to share, I would enjoy seeing the Royal Blue and the reconstituted Pelikan ink. :)  Whether you share or not, hope you enjoy them!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'd also like to see that.  Some inks take well to being reconstituted while others don't.  (The guy who runs the mailing list for my local pen club said that vintage Sheaffer ink does well, but that vintage Parker ink does not.). I don't know about other vintage ink brands, particular for ones from outside the US.

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

Thanks for this, great pics

 

awesome looking ink! But then again, I have a thing for turquoise :) 

 

Just give me the Parker 51s and nobody needs to get hurt.

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
      33474
    3. Ghost Plane
      Ghost Plane
      28220
    4. inkstainedruth
      inkstainedruth
      26573
    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...