Ink Usage

[daniel_art]

How much ink can be used from a bottle? Google seems to think I can use almost all of it, but in my (limited) experience, I have to completely cover the nib for it to fill properly. This means discarding the last half inch (ish) of ink. Is this normal or am I doing something wrong?

[UpadhyayAbhinav]

There are numerous methods to use the last half inch of inks. If you have an eyedropper pen, you can obviously use the last drop of ink. Many companies make small inkwells of size 4 ml or so, into which you can pour ink from your bottle and then dip the nib and fill your pen. In a converter, you can use an ink syringe to directly fill the converter from your ink bottle and then push the piston down a little bit to prime the feed. There are numerous videos available on YouTube on these hacks.

[Wahl]

I tend to use the same inks, so that half inch goes into the next bottle.

[A Smug Dill]

9 hours ago, daniel_art said:

This means discarding the last half inch (ish) of ink.

 

No; it just means you cannot expect to be able to use the last bit of ink up by refilling your pens with that method.

 

You could transfer the ink (by a straight pour or otherwise) into an “ink miser” or some such apparatus, to make filling easier.

 

If you're using a cartridge/converter-filled pen model, depending on the shape of the original bottle, you may be able to fill the detached converter (i.e. independently of the pen) directly by letting the mouth of the converter rest on the base of (the interior of) the bottle and drawing the ink up into the converter's cavity.

 

Or you could use an eyedropper, pipette, or a syringe with a blunt needle attachment, etc. to draw the remnants of ink in the bottle into the apparatus' cavity, then directly deposit the ink into an empty cartridge, or converter, or the barrel of an eyedropper-filled model, or the reservoir in a piston-filler model if the nib unit can be unscrewed and removed (thus allowing access to the interior of the reservoir through a narrow hole where the feed usually sits against) from the grip section.

[inkstainedruth]

Some styles of bottles are designed to get more ink out when the bottle gets low -- they might have a depression in the bottom (rather than be flat across the bottom), or are designed to be put on an angle if they have flat sides.  Vintage bottles of Sheaffer have a shelf near the top (apparently those style "jar" bottles were designed for using with Sheaffer Snorkels); and De Atramentis inks have a sort of ink well designed into the neck of the bottle with a sort of stone that blocks the indentation in the neck of the bottle while you're filling from the top of the neck.

Another method might be to get some small vials (like the kind that are used for samples -- some of the vendors sell empty ones) and use a syringe or pipette to transfer ink into the vials and fill from them when the bottle gets low.  Sample vials are also really useful for travel purposes, when you don't want to haul a larger bottle (or several bottles if you have multiple pens which are inked up with different colors).

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

 

[Runnin_Ute]

I have had success using virtually all of the ink in bottles from several manufacturers. including Waterman, Pelikan, Edelstein, Levenger, Diamine, KWZI, Lamy and I am probably forgetting some. Sometimes I have to put the last 3-5 ml in a sample vial, but I can get it all. The most recent one was a bottle of Waterman Serenity Blue if I recall correctly.

[Chris1]

I too have transferred the last of one bottle into the new bottle of the same ink, though it hasn't always ended well. Funnny how you only notice the spills as you go to pick up the new bottle! A small funnel can be your friend...

 

I would say that ink is pretty cheap and those last drops aren't worth the bother, but some ink is indeed not so cheap and some inks come in bottles are pretty basic and not designed for fountain pen use. 

 

I transfer inks from poor bottles (now with a funnel and a lot of care and blotting paper) into nicely designed ones early on in the life of that ink and add a small label to the bottle to let me know what is in there. I'm thinking Penman bottles, MB 'shoe' bottles, Sheaffer Scrip shelf jars, and other well-designed ones (pun intended). 

 

Keep good bottles for re-use and send the others to the recycling bin.

 

 

[Penguincollector]

  I’m a big fan of the standalone Ink Miser, especially for use with the little Diamine bottles and long tined nibs. The plastic is more forgiving than the glass bottom of the bottle. 
 

  My other favorite thing to do with the last little bit is syringe it into a sample vial and add pearlescent mica to it and make my own shimmer ink. 

[InesF]

All that was written before,

plus: Pineider and Visconti have special travel inkwells where you can fill a piston pen with the last drop of ink. And almost as good is the special (and expensive) inkwell from TWSBI which can be used with the TWSBI Vacs and 590's and with almost any other pen.

Finally, there is the "Erka rapid" from Rohrer & Klingner which can be fittet into all Pelikan and Waterman bottles (and maybe also to others?).

 

Never discard ink because the bottle is not full enough for your piston/converter filler pen!   

[jchch1950]

There are many ways to use all the ink in your bottles. For me lately, it has been an eyedropper and Pous 88 pens. No mess, no dripping in the sink, no need to balance the bottles and no mix of old and new ink. 

[jchch1950]

Opus instead of Pous.

[chromantic]

Normally, I just use a sample vial. I bought a couple of Lamy Crystal inks a few months back and threw in an ink miser because those bottles are kind of shallow but I haven't used it yet.