EFNIR: Tono & Lims Hiiragi

[LizEF]

Extra Fine Nib Ink Review: Tono & Lims Hiiragi

This is review #333 in my series. Here's the YouTube video:

Post-recording notes: This was a gift from a generous FPNer.  This is my first Tono & Lims ink. I have nothing close to this shade of green - which is saying something...  This ink is hard to understand. For two days, it was so pale I couldn't use it. On day 3 it was darker, but then by day 5, it was absurdly pale again. Sometimes flossing brought out some dried pigment and flow was better, other times, it did nothing. I really don't understand this ink. Whatever else is true, I can't recommend it - not even sure it would flow in wetter or larger nibs...

The ink stained the disposable pipette and the cartridge, so I'm glad I'm using the Penmanship body for this. Cleaning was a pain. If you don't need to refill your pen with a different ink on the same day, then do yourself a favor and soak it in an appropriate flush.  Otherwise, break out your swabs, brushes, flush, and ultrasonic cleaner...  And expect soft plastic to get stained. My pen did not stain, though, so there's that bit of good news.

Erratum: "she answered" (in the story), should not be in cursive (aka italics).

Zoomed in photo (Color is off, but hard to describe how. It should be brighter and yellower, I think.)

Screenshot (Color is desaturated.)

Scan of Completed Review (Closer, but I think the color should be between this and the zoom.)

Absorbent Paper Close-up (top is puzzle paper like thick newsprint, bottom is old 20lb copy paper) (Neither color is quite right.)

Line width (The "I" in "Ink:". 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 285µm. With 333 inks measured, the average line width is 297µm.)

Microscope image (400x.)

Water Test Results

Previous Review: Diamine Winter Miracle.

Images also available on Instagram: @zilxodarap.

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View a list of my inks, complete with review results in a google sheet.

Need to catch up on The Adventures of Quin and Makhabesh? Find the whole story here.

Hope you enjoy. Comments appreciated!

[Mercian]

Hmm.

• Almost too pale to read;
• stains converters;
• very difficult to clean out of one's pen;
• from your flossing experience I infer that it may cause clogging.

Hic sunt monstra marina! 😱

 

Edit to add:
Perhaps this ink might be better-suited to use in sac-filled vintage pens that have ebonite feeds? 🤔
(Except, obviously, for the Parker "51".)

[LizEF]

36 minutes ago, Mercian said:

Hmm.

• Almost too pale to read;
• stains converters;
• very difficult to clean out of one's pen;
• from your flossing experience I infer that it may cause clogging.

 

36 minutes ago, Mercian said:

Hic sunt monstra marina! 😱

  Yeah, it's not an easy ink.  Better for art and very wet and well-sealed pens, I think.

 

37 minutes ago, Mercian said:

Edit to add:
Perhaps this ink might be better-suited to use in sac-filled vintage pens that have ebonite feeds? 🤔
(Except, obviously, for the Parker "51".)

Alas, I don't have the experience to say, but certainly the hooded nib would help, along with the presumably wet ebonite feed...

[Mercian]

1 minute ago, LizEF said:

certainly the hooded nib would help, along with the presumably wet ebonite feed...

 

I personally wouldn't risk this Tono & Lims ink in a "51", because of the many fine channels in its 'ink collector'.
I once let some R&K Salix dry out in an aerometric "51" (because of a family medical emergency), and when I got back to the pen it took me several weeks of repeated vinegar soaks to clean the pen to the point that no more iron-salts/ink were/was wicking out of it.

And of course my "51" then stank of vinegar for several ink-fills afterwards

 

That experience led to me buying a Parker (UK) Junior Duofold to use with ESS Registrars' Ink.
The ink channels in that pen were cut in to its ebonite feed, and so are very wide in comparison to the channels in an injection-moulded collector/feed. This makes it a very 'wet'-writing pen.

As such, I think that a pen from that series might be a good candidate to put this 'Hiiragi' in to.
Even then, it's still possible that the ink might stain the 'pli-glass' sac that is in the pen

[LizEF]

3 minutes ago, Mercian said:

I personally wouldn't risk this Tono & Lims ink in a "51", because of the many fine channels in its 'ink collector'.
I once let some R&K Salix dry out in an aerometric "51" (because of a family medical emergency), and when I got back to the pen it took me several weeks of repeated vinegar soaks to clean the pen to the point that no more iron-salts/ink were/was wicking out of it.

And of course my "51" then stank of vinegar for several ink-fills afterwards

Glad you were able to get the Salix out.  And yeah, wise not to repeat the risk.  There are so many inks that flow well. I see no reason to risk one that doesn't.  (Honestly, I don't understand how the ink got to market.  Why would you not experiment with the ink in numerous commonly-available pens to test its limits?)

 

5 minutes ago, Mercian said:

That experience led to me buying a Parker (UK) Junior Duofold to use with ESS Registrars' Ink.
The ink channels in that pen were cut in to its ebonite feed, and so are very wide in comparison to the channels in an injection-moulded collector/feed. This makes it a very 'wet'-writing pen.

As such, I think that a pen from that series might be a good candidate to put this 'Hiiragi' in to.
Even then, it's still possible that the ink might stain the 'pli-glass' sac that is in the pen

  Yep.  I suppose there's someone out there for whom this ink is worth it, but it's not something I'm interested in further.  Though I'll note that it only stained soft plastics.  The pen itself - very hard and smooth plastic - wasn't stained.  So I assume the soft plastics have "pores" (or something) for the pigment to get into (or hold on to).

[Penguincollector]

  To me it sounds like a good candidate for something like the Sailor Hocoro, Pilot Iro-Utsushi, or a Kakimori. It’s a beautiful color, but very hard to read in EF. The microscope image looks like what I imagine the yucky grey stuff in the story looks like. Thank you for your always excellent review, Liz.

[I-am-not-really-here]

Well, now we know, that your EF pens weren't favored, after all. 😎

[LizEF]

27 minutes ago, Penguincollector said:

  To me it sounds like a good candidate for something like the Sailor Hocoro, Pilot Iro-Utsushi, or a Kakimori. It’s a beautiful color, but very hard to read in EF.

Yes, exactly!  Art and dip-pen calligraphy / writing seem the best options, to me.

 

27 minutes ago, Penguincollector said:

The microscope image looks like what I imagine the yucky grey stuff in the story looks like.

 

27 minutes ago, Penguincollector said:

Thank you for your always excellent review, Liz.

You're most welcome!

[LizEF]

28 minutes ago, I-am-not-really-here said:

Well, now we know, that your EF pens weren't favored, after all. 😎

  Nope.  This ink definitely does not like EF nibs - or at least, it doesn't like anything short of a firehose - but I won't be putting it into my Visconti to confirm.

[Penguincollector]

6 minutes ago, LizEF said:

Yes, exactly!  Art and dip-pen calligraphy / writing seem the best options, to me.

 

  I wonder if that’s the intended audience. I know that dip and glass pens of all sorts are really popular right now, especially in Japan (podcasts have been raving about them, and the pen shows have had popular glass/dip pen makers in the last couple of years). Many ink manufacturers in the East are making dip specific inks with large amounts of pigments, shimmer, and dye loads that can clog pens. 

[Sailor Kenshin]

YOW.

 

Line width looks like a dirty tornado.  Micro looks like a sideways explosion of sparkly frog spew.

 

Maybe that's why the groans.  Poor frog.  I don't think he's a monster, though.

 

I had never heard of this ink nor brand.  Thank you for saving me!  The story more than makes up for this, er, green.  Go, Makhabesh!

 

(Writing about monsters seems to be my specialty of late.)

 

Ya dunnit again, @LizEF.  And if not a dip pen, I'd look for a gusher that cost, oh, five bucks.

[LizEF]

1 hour ago, Penguincollector said:

  I wonder if that’s the intended audience. I know that dip and glass pens of all sorts are really popular right now, especially in Japan (podcasts have been raving about them, and the pen shows have had popular glass/dip pen makers in the last couple of years). Many ink manufacturers in the East are making dip specific inks with large amounts of pigments, shimmer, and dye loads that can clog pens. 

Well, based on Yoseka's site (the only one I could find that explicitly said), the inks are intended for fountain pens.  But apparently not all fountain pens.

[LizEF]

51 minutes ago, Sailor Kenshin said:

YOW.

 

51 minutes ago, Sailor Kenshin said:

Line width looks like a dirty tornado.  Micro looks like a sideways explosion of sparkly frog spew.

 

52 minutes ago, Sailor Kenshin said:

Maybe that's why the groans.  Poor frog.  I don't think he's a monster, though.

🐸

 

53 minutes ago, Sailor Kenshin said:

I had never heard of this ink nor brand.  Thank you for saving me!

I've heard of the brand, but this is my first ink by them.  I don't have any others at present, so it will have to stand alone for now.

 

54 minutes ago, Sailor Kenshin said:

The story more than makes up for this, er, green.  Go, Makhabesh!

Thanks!

 

54 minutes ago, Sailor Kenshin said:

(Writing about monsters seems to be my specialty of late.)

 

55 minutes ago, Sailor Kenshin said:

Ya dunnit again, @LizEF.  And if not a dip pen, I'd look for a gusher that cost, oh, five bucks.

Yes, exactly - and one that's easy to clean (just in case you want to).

[Penguincollector]

8 minutes ago, LizEF said:

Well, based on Yoseka's site (the only one I could find that explicitly said), the inks are intended for fountain pens.  But apparently not all fountain pens.

  Is it a dry ink? My Pilots hate dry inks.

[LizEF]

44 minutes ago, Penguincollector said:

  Is it a dry ink? My Pilots hate dry inks.

Very dry.

[yazeh]

Great review @LizEF  and sorry have inflected upon you such an atrocious ink.  Maybe i was hoping that I was mistaken and that you could find a 

redeeming feature for this ink. But there are those that cannot be saved.

Surprisingly the final two photo have a crystalline quality

Two men as prey for Makhabesh.... I didn't know he was a man-eater  

 

Thanks for enduring this ink and yet managing to bring magic to this world. 🙏🙏🙏

[LizEF]

11 minutes ago, yazeh said:

Great review @LizEF  and sorry have inflected upon you such an atrocious ink. 

You're most welcome, and no need for apologies!  I'm glad I could review it and confirm that this ink is not for super-fine nibs, or at least not ones that are less than gushers.

 

12 minutes ago, yazeh said:

Maybe i was hoping that I was mistaken and that you could find a redeeming feature for this ink. But there are those that cannot be saved.

Exactly.  Between our reviews, potential buyers will know what they're in for - that's a good thing!

 

13 minutes ago, yazeh said:

Surprisingly the final two photo have a crystalline quality

Yeah, the microscope image kinda surprised me, looking almost glittery.

 

13 minutes ago, yazeh said:

Two men as prey for Makhabesh.... I didn't know he was a man-eater  

 

14 minutes ago, yazeh said:

Thanks for enduring this ink and yet managing to bring magic to this world. 🙏🙏🙏

Glad to do it!  Thanks for enabling me!

[InesF]

Looks like an adventurous ink for writing adventure stories!   

 

Thank you, @LizEF, for taking the effort of getting rid of ink stains from your pen! Furthermore, thank you for the ink review, for giving us some hints about the origin of the Grey Spots and for designing microscopy images that look like waves of water splashing from cliffs. 😋  

 

No matter how unique this ink colour may be, it doesn't seem to check even the minimum requirement boxes for routine use - except for making water resistant Grey Lines every 4th day... 🙄

 

But there is this nice adventurous (or almost magical) effect I can see from the magnified images (and a bit also from the page screenshot): the lines appear grey-ish with bright green halo around them. The 1.4 seconds dry time (we know: no aqueous fluid can evaporate within less than 2 seconds) is probably "sucking" time with the dye then distributed along the paper fibres. The line microscopy doesn't show it clearly, but I guess, the "pale green halo" fills the whole area of the photo, does it?

 

This ink is about as interesting and as useful as diet water or DVD rewinder.  

 

Can't wait until next Wednesday to read more about Makhabesh following the suspects and grey confetti following Makhabesh! 😋

[LizEF]

4 hours ago, InesF said:

Looks like an adventurous ink for writing adventure stories!   

That's one way of putting it.

 

4 hours ago, InesF said:

Thank you, @LizEF, for taking the effort of getting rid of ink stains from your pen! Furthermore, thank you for the ink review, for giving us some hints about the origin of the Grey Spots and for designing microscopy images that look like waves of water splashing from cliffs. 😋  

You're most welcome!

 

4 hours ago, InesF said:

No matter how unique this ink colour may be, it doesn't seem to check even the minimum requirement boxes for routine use - except for making water resistant Grey Lines every 4th day... 🙄

Its behavior really was bizarre.

 

4 hours ago, InesF said:

But there is this nice adventurous (or almost magical) effect I can see from the magnified images (and a bit also from the page screenshot): the lines appear grey-ish with bright green halo around them. The 1.4 seconds dry time (we know: no aqueous fluid can evaporate within less than 2 seconds) is probably "sucking" time with the dye then distributed along the paper fibres. The line microscopy doesn't show it clearly, but I guess, the "pale green halo" fills the whole area of the photo, does it?

Hmm. I'm not sure I understand what you're asking...  I've got the review sheet under the microscope again.  The lines seem to have scattered darker patches of pigment more toward their middle (but not entirely) and the edges are generally paler, but I'm not seeing separation of grey from green, for example.  The line used for the line width image actually has a darker streak of pigment down the middle - perhaps some dry pigment scraped off the nib.  Does this photograph, using the cell phone, looking through the eyepiece, taken just now, of the same area, clarify for you?

 

The screenshot image always looks more grey (color de-saturated) than reality.

 

5 hours ago, InesF said:

This ink is about as interesting and as useful as diet water or DVD rewinder.  

(Well, for us normal folk, this is true, but artists like @yazeh have their secret ways to make inks like this useful. )

 

5 hours ago, InesF said:

Can't wait until next Wednesday to read more about Makhabesh following the suspects and grey confetti following Makhabesh! 😋

Thanks!

[yazeh]

3 hours ago, LizEF said:

 (Well, for us normal folk, this is true, but artists like @yazeh have their secret ways to make inks like this useful.  

You read my mind. I was thinking of pulling it out of its corner of shame and see iif can give some love ☺️