Does red ink damage the pen?

[kaissa]

Hello to all,

 

I read somewhere in this web site that red ink may be damaging the fountain pen in the long run. Is this true? I use red ink almost daily and use a Pelikano pen for it.

 

I plan on buying a Parker Sonnet or a Waterman Ici Et La for my red comments. I will use this pen only with red ink. I do not want to damage a nice pen.

 

I currently use Pelikan 4001 ink and plan on using Waterman ink in the future.

 

Thank you for your time,

[JJBlanche]

Red ink isn't damaging, per se, but there is a much higher incident of it staining the plastic parts. Even with regular flushing, I don't know that this is avoidable.

 

[Edgar Allan Bo]

Only INK I would never put in my pens anymore is Pelikan 4001 Red, but everyone has his own opinion...

 

Some other reds worked great in my pens!

[lapis]

My favourite red is Skrips red.

No problems noted yet.

 

Mike

[skipwilliams]

I've never heard of any ink "damaging" pen, except for staining. This assumes, of course, that you're not using a high or low pH ink, which are pretty unusual these days. Sonnets are pretty bulletproof, in my experience.

 

OTOH, I would never put any of the high dye inks in any clear or light colored pen, especially vintage ones. I've found some reds and most purple inks very prone to staining. Purple is especially bad. I've also had prolems with some light colored pens' inner caps getting irreversibly stained.

 

Skip

[Greg]

I've never heard of any ink "damaging" pen, except for staining. This assumes, of course, that you're not using a high or low pH ink, which are pretty unusual these days. Sonnets are pretty bulletproof, in my experience.

 

OTOH, I would never put any of the high dye inks in any clear or light colored pen, especially vintage ones. I've found some reds and most purple inks very prone to staining. Purple is especially bad. I've also had prolems with some light colored pens' inner caps getting irreversibly stained.

 

Skip

 

 

Isn't staining damaging the pen?

 

I had some old Platignum red which seemed to soften the sac over a couple of years to a gooey mess. Even the gold nib needed cleaning as opposed to rinsing. Also stained the little window in my Skyliner. I chucked the rest.

 

I've been using Diamine Passion Red lately, absolutely fine, just like any other colour

 

Greg

[Orval]

Thanks to the combined wisdom of my FPNetwork fellows, I use for editing a Safari with converter and red Skrip ink with excellent results since almost a year. Zero staining until now, but I dont want to try red ink in my more expensive pens.

 

Orval

[KCat]

Some saturated reds and red-browns have been cloggers in my pens and I avoid them. One ink did actually damage a pen *but* I inked it, used it for a 2-3 weeks, then let it sit unused for about two weeks. Now, IMO, that shouldn't be long enough to cause that problem but that ink is much loved by many folks so I consider it an isolated event and don't reveal the ink. I pretty much avoid reds except for Diamine. I've had very good luck with Diamine inks in general. They tend to be bright or rich colors without being too saturated.

 

I will say that the problematic ink was not Skrip or Pelikan. I have no experience with those inks.

 

 

 

 

[skipwilliams]

Well, yes, I guess staining is pretty bad if it goes too deep to clean. Most stains can be cured with a little ammonia or Fantastik w/bleach. But I have decided to swear off any demonstrator pens with mechanisms. I use some of the ED pens with clear barrels, but not something like an Omas Ogiva (sp?), Aurora 88, or Pelikan M800 demo. With any pen that has clear or very light colored components, I only use plain vanilla, old-fashioned blue, blue-black, or black inks like Diamine classic, Waterman, Sheaffer, or Parker Quink.

 

Wow!. I've never heard of an ink actually dissolving a sac, but that's pretty good evidence that some will.

 

I used Baystate blue for a week or two and had the hardest time getting it off a couple of pens. It wasn't for me.

 

I've also had problems with inks getting in between cheap piston fillers' rubber gasket and the barrels. Again, purples and reds seem to be the worst offenders. Noodlers bulletproof inks, with their different surface tension and tendency to creep, also seem to get around seals more than other, more benign inks.

 

Personally, I wouldn't put any high dye ink in any vintage pen with an ink window or non-black material. I can't see how they'd bother anything that's Hard Rubber or black plastic though.

 

Skip

 

 

Isn't staining damaging the pen?

 

I had some old Platignum red which seemed to soften the sac over a couple of years to a gooey mess. Even the gold nib needed cleaning as opposed to rinsing. Also stained the little window in my Skyliner. I chucked the rest.

 

I've been using Diamine Passion Red lately, absolutely fine, just like any other colour

 

Greg

 

[thibaulthalpern]

Curious to know if Visconti's Burgundy (or sometimes known as Bordeaux) stains the plastic of pens. It's a favourite red of mine.

[kaissa]

Thank you all for your replies. I am glad to learn that the problem with red ink is more of staining rather than damaging the pen itself.

 

Sincerely,

[Robert Hughes]

I use Waterman Red in my Sonnet all the time. The converter is a little pinkish, so what? It doesn't affect the operation of the pen.

 

I might worry a little more about vintage piston pens staining, as the plastic has had 50 or so years to break down and generate microscopic voids in the surface for red ink to stain. Otherwise, no worries.

[offbase]

Pelikan's pink even managed to irrevocably stain the ink window of my wifes M400; I shudder to think what the straight red might due.