Parker ink pH

[maxS]

Does anybody know, what medium has Parker's inks - Superchrome, Quink?

I guess it must be faintly alcali, or not?

Are hard rubber parts subjected to inky corrosion?

[twdpens]

Quink blue has a pH of 2.7, Quink black, 3.0. These figures are not unusual for writing ink. Superchrome was "off the scale" in terms of fountain pen ink alkalinity with a figure of 12.1. All figures from Greg Clark's "Fountain pen inks, A Sampler".

 

HTH,

 

Martin

[maxS]

Thank you very much, Martin!

[johnboz]

Just to chime in here...

 

I just tested a bunch of inks for my new book about vintage inks and here are the numbers I got for Parker's dangerous inks. Please note, regular Quink is very safe to use, but the following inks are not:

 

Superchrome Jet Black - 11.4

Superchrome Blue-Black - 11.2

Superchrome Turquoise Blue - 11.8

Parker "51" India Black - 11.0

Parker "51" Tunis Blue - 10.8

 

Compare those numbers to Quink from the same era (1940s):

Quink Black - 6.7 (water is 7)

Quink Blue-Black - 3.0

 

I figured all of my tests had an error of +/- 0.3, which puts them pretty close to Greg's results.

 

I'm currently doing a "torture test" by keeping a pen filled with some Superchrome for a few months (using it daily) and seeing what happens.

[mstone]

Hmm. I hadn't realized that superchrome was alkaline--I'd assumed it was acidic. I wonder if some of the horrible superchrome clogs affecting unrestored 51s are actually caused by loading a pen with regular ink while it still had traces of superchrome in it, and getting some spectacular salt precipitates?

[johnboz]

Hmm. I hadn't realized that superchrome was alkaline--I'd assumed it was acidic. I wonder if some of the horrible superchrome clogs affecting unrestored 51s are actually caused by loading a pen with regular ink while it still had traces of superchrome in it, and getting some spectacular salt precipitates?

 

Hmmm.... that's one I'll have to try. Maybe not in a pen, though.

 

Surprisingly, most inks are acidic, all the way down to around 2.0 (even modern inks)!

[maxS]

johnboz, thank you very much!

Great research!

 

[penhound]

Current Parker Quink black tests out to have a pH of 5.6 by my meter. The lowest pH level on Parker Quinks was a 4.5 pH on the Parker Green.

 

New issue of Fountain Pen Inks - A Sampler is coming to you very soon!