Ink Expiration Dates

[chuancao]

Do ink expire? I ask because I have two bottles of Pelikan ink that's been opened for over 5 years. When I use it in my Hero pen, it writes perfectly. However, in one of my Cross pens, it skips. I have always thought it has to do with the the Cross pen. But just occurred to me if it can be the ink. But then again, why does the Hero pen take the old ink so well?

 

Do ink expire?

 

 

[excarnate]

...two bottles of Pelikan ink that's been opened for over 5 years....

 

I have a bottle of Parker Super Quink Ink Permanent Black from ~1984 I believe (or '89) and it doesn't seem to have changed at all.

 

$0.98 for 2.5 oz. Oh my.

[Mameluke]

As far as i know, if the ink bottle is not left open, inks can last for many many years.

 

I guess you never tried the ink on both pens 5 years ago so it's gonna be hard to test, but my guess is that it is the pen not agreeing with the ink.

 

 

I have the same problem with some pens liking some inks but not doing so good with others.

 

 

 

Mame

[southpaw]

Do ink expire? I ask because I have two bottles of Pelikan ink that's been opened for over 5 years. When I use it in my Hero pen, it writes perfectly. However, in one of my Cross pens, it skips. I have always thought it has to do with the the Cross pen. But just occurred to me if it can be the ink. But then again, why does the Hero pen take the old ink so well?

 

Do ink expire?

 

 

Assuming no molds, fungi, etc., grow in the ink, the answer is "not really." Water may evaporate over time, but you can always add a bit of distilled water to dilute it back to it's "normal" concentration. Many vintage FP users also use vintage inks. An old bottle that's completely dried up (nothing but powder left) can be reconstituted and used.

[BirdValiant]

Assuming no molds, fungi, etc., grow in the ink, the answer is "not really." Water may evaporate over time, but you can always add a bit of distilled water to dilute it back to it's "normal" concentration. Many vintage FP users also use vintage inks. An old bottle that's completely dried up (nothing but powder left) can be reconstituted and used.

 

Isn't that how Nathan developed Antietam?

[tinneyp]

I am so glad this thread came up. I was actually searching specifically for this topic.

 

Since I moved to full time parenthood (six years ago) I do not get to write as much as in the past. I had a few pens I kept filled mostly buying cartridges, but recently I have cleaned up several I forgot had ink in them, put a few gems in storage, and established a group for daily use.

 

In doing so the first bottle I opened was Pelikan Black which smelled like mildew. I also threw away my last couple of violet Waterman Mini cartridges and some Sheaffer cartridges that all looked to be about a third full.

 

This made me think, well since I have not bought a bottle of ink in probably a decade or more. I should place an order for a couple of my old standards (Waterman Violet and South Sea Blue) to get started again. This was before I thought things through.

 

As I awaited my order, which took and additional two weeks for an out of stock Pilot converter, I started consolidating my ink supply. So this evening I am thinking, can I really throw away 12 bottles of ink? Ok, the Mont Blanc black looks funny, but I always thought it did, and it was working in a Lamy before I bought a fresh bottle of Skrip black yesterday and switched.

 

Well I have been using some of the inks and they seem fine, even after having been closed for from seven to who knows how many years, over a decade in a few cases.

 

Thank you. This thread has convinced me that I should not be worried about using my old ink, except for that mildew thing.

 

So what to do with two and an eighth bottles of South Sea Blue. Maybe I need to take out another pen; no I’ll wait for Waterman (Parker) service to return my Laureat.

 

[scribbler77]

Do ink expire? I ask because I have two bottles of Pelikan ink that's been opened for over 5 years. When I use it in my Hero pen, it writes perfectly. However, in one of my Cross pens, it skips. I have always thought it has to do with the the Cross pen. But just occurred to me if it can be the ink. But then again, why does the Hero pen take the old ink so well?

 

Do ink expire?

 

I have several bottles of ink and quite a few cartridges that I bought more than 20 years ago. They were stored with other effects when I was moving and only recently unpacked. The ink in bottles is quite usable. One I have have been using a lot is a bottle of Waterman Red that I bought at Selfridges in London back when it cost 1 pound sterling--late 70s or early 80s. It is in a bottle unlike other Waterman bottles I have seen: a narrow, flat oval shape with a cap at one end. The red ink is spectacular--much better (darker, almost burgundy) than the current Waterman. Maybe there was some evaporation, but I doubt it because the cap was quite tight.

 

Ink in plastic bottles and cartridges does evaporate, however. I found a cache of Montblanc and Rotring cartidges that were purchased in the late 1970s or early 1980s. Those that are transparent (the Rotring) are about half to 60% full of ink. (The MB cartridges are not transparent, but they don't last very long in a pen and I suspect that less than half of the original volume is there.) I also have some Pelikan Fount India in plastic bottles which show more than 50% evaporation. I assume the evaporated inks could be thinned a bit with distilled water if necessary, but it is interesting to me that water seems to evaporate slowly out of plastic, but not at all out of glass.

 

[finalidid]

Har. You should see the bottles of ink I got out of the sludge from the bottom of the Katrina barrel two years ago ...

[wvbeetlebug]

I bought a couple of old ink bottles from a fleamarket a couple of weekends ago. One was a bottle of Quink with quite a bit of old ink dried up in the bottom of the bottle. I was rinsing it out and then stopped and realized what I was doing. Does this mean I can attempt to use it? What about debris or any other "chunks" that might be in it? It is a very pretty blue. Not sure which one because the label is gone.

[alexanderino]

Yes, ink gone bad is a real concern. Came across some ancient Dunhill and Faber-Castell ink bottles [stocked a few years ago]. They all smelled dreadful and felt slimy to the touch. When used with a dip pen, they came out looking pale.

 

The contents were instantly disposed of down the drain.

Edited January 27, 2008 by alexanderino