Platinum Chou Kuro Black: "Distilled water recommended..."

[inkstainedruth]

Well, a guy I used to know once said that he only used one brand of oil in his vehicles (don't remember which) but said that there IS a difference in that it depends on where they're pumping the oil FROM...  So he used a brand that was pumped as crude oil here in PA, and never had a problem.

This is sort of the same issue as where the water out of the tap is coming from -- we once stayed at a place south of State College, PA, and the water coming out of the tap was so soft that I wasn't sure I was getting all the soap off me when taking a shower -- as opposed to where we live, where the mineral content is so high that there is NO WAY I'm *not* going flush pens with anything *but* distilled water -- I see the buildup around the bottom of the faucet in the bathroom and I don't want any of that clogging up the nib and feed on a pen.... 

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[LizEF]

Has anyone seen this ink in a sample vial?  Does it cling to the walls or bead and run right back down to the bottom?  Does it stain the cone, or drain right off when you tip the vial upside down?  Etc.  Also, has anyone made a swatch by some method other than using a Q-tip to swab a gallon of ink in a little tiny square?  Like, say, using the back of your nib to make a simple swipe?  If so, is it a black hole, or is it grey?

[sketchstack]

2 hours ago, LizEF said:

  Also, has anyone made a swatch by some method other than using a Q-tip to swab a gallon of ink in a little tiny square?  Like, say, using the back of your nib to make a simple swipe?  If so, is it a black hole, or is it grey?

 

I don't know about the sample vial, but this ink is, to use your words, "a black hole". I have it in a generously wet Platinum Preppy 05 ("medium") and I don't see shading or anything that is not pure black. The pen strokes are black from start to finish.

 

Come to think of it I have it in a finer Preppy too --same thing. The line is black, start to finish. Most of my usage is on Endless Recorder paper which I believe is supposed to be a shade-friendly paper. But again, no shading here. Just black lines. 

[SLinkster]

2 hours ago, LizEF said:

Has anyone seen this ink in a sample vial?  Does it cling to the walls or bead and run right back down to the bottom?  Does it stain the cone, or drain right off when you tip the vial upside down?  Etc.  Also, has anyone made a swatch by some method other than using a Q-tip to swab a gallon of ink in a little tiny square?  Like, say, using the back of your nib to make a simple swipe?  If so, is it a black hole, or is it grey?

 

I have a whole bottle.

 

The stuff is thick and clingy on a glass dip nib. It piled up when dropped onto my swatch card and did not move easily when I tried to spread it by tapping the card on the table.

 

Swab: first pass with a "dry" swab that I used to clean the inside of the lid had very little ink on the swab; that's the lower section. Upper section is one pass with a fully-saturated swab.

 

Black hole, with sheen if you lay it on thickly. 

 

And I'm embarrassed, I just realized I misspelled "permanent" on my card. 🤦‍♀️

[LizEF]

Thank you, @sketchstack and @SLinkster!  I was gifted a sample of this ink.  It runs off the walls of the sample vial quickly and cleanly, forming "beads" on the walls in a couple of spots - no clinging to the walls at all.  I think that suggests a high surface tension.  There was no sign of settling or staining in the cone at the bottom.  When I made my swatch, I used a nib like these:

 

And the swatch looks like a dark, warm grey except where three passes or so overlap - like your dry swab, @SLinkster.  The writing from my dipped Jinhao F nib shows shading and doesn't seem that dark.

 

After chatting with the person who gifted me the sample, she's going to try shaking the bottle really well and sending me another sample to see if it's the "black hole" I was expecting to see.  Thanks to both of you for helping me figure out whether my sample is "good" or what.