Safely Inking Clear/High Condition Vacs

[bunnspecial]

I've mentioned this elsewhere and seen scattered responses, but I have two vacs in my collection, one of which I've had for a little while and the other a more recent acquisition. These both have perfect barrel clarity-I didn't understand waht a clear barrel meant until I saw these.

 

One is an Azure Major, and the other an Emerald Junior. The Azure is the one I've inked. I'm pretty sure I put Waterman Florida/Serenity in it, or if not it would have been Quink Washable. The Emerald I've not inked in my possession.

 

I've seen comments from Ron Zorn advising Sheaffer Peacock Blue if anything, although I'm not sure if the current Slovenian one(which I have) is comparable to older ones(not sure if I have any-would have to check).

 

If I were to occasionally ink these, am I safe using either Waterman or Quink Blue, and of course clean thoroughly after, or should I just avoid inking all together? Are there any possibly better inks? In the Royal/Washable blue category I also have Pelikan and Montblanc on hand. All of these are bottles I've bought in the past few years(even though I have vintage bottles of most of these). I hate to have pens I don't use, but also hate to ruin what are such nice barrels...

[lionelc]

it would be a shame not to use them unless collecting for the sake of selling them later on as high condition vacs.  pelikan 4001 royal blue is pretty safe for my vintage pens including some of my vacs with good barrel transparency.  cleaning them completely of ink is a bit of an issue - the vac feeds retain a lot of ink despite multiple flushes

 

[inkstainedruth]

I used Waterman Mysterious Blue in the 1937 Red Shadow Wave Vac for over three years without any flushing, flossing, or other maintenance.  So, you can't go wrong there.  

If you can find vintage inks for not a lot of money, vintage Quink should also work okay.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth