A good blue for daily use?

[RudyR]

Montblanc Permanent Blue is an excelllent ISO rated document ink. De Atramentis has the only other ISO rated document ink available. It has excellent writing characteristics and is waterproof. It is so good it might just possibly replace my favorite go to ink, Montblanc Midnight Blue (recently discontinued formula which I have 3 bottles of).

[brewsky]

Iroshizuku tsuki yo, or sailor gentle yama Dori are my first choices.

[LagNut]

On my sei-boku experience, first was in the platinum plasir, in which the cap does seal. It's the 20USD pen from platinum.

After a long trial in that, went in a sailor realo, and that pen's been drinking that ink for probably over a year with no issues.

Mike

[SawtoothJL]

I have Noodler's liberty elysium, bad blue heron and a bottle of Lamy blue. I find that the Lamy blue is more purple than blue; haven't bothered to test the water resistance of it. I haven't had an issue with the Noodler's inks in TWSBI or Sailor pens. Just My two cents

[conib]

FWIW, when I read conib's story, I thought the most likely explanation was that the pen was not cleaned thoroughly enough before switching to Sei Boku.

Mike, are you saying that you've successfully used sei-boku in a Platinum Cool "M"?

-- Constance

[mhosea]

FWIW, when I read conib's story, I thought the most likely explanation was that the pen was not cleaned thoroughly enough before switching to Sei Boku.

Mike, are you saying that you've successfully used sei-boku in a Platinum Cool "M"?

No, I'm not usually that cryptic. Biscuit said "One pen I was thinking of using for "blue" was a Platinum Cool, but conib said that was a no-no." That's not what you said, but somehow a piece of personal experience had just been elevated to that status of a blanket recommendation against using Sailor Sei Boku in all Platinum Cools. There are many reasons why a given pen and ink combination might not work. Usually the root cause is something specific to that particular pen (not all pens of that brand and model) which makes some inks flow well and not others. But in this case we need also to consider that Sailor nano inks are notoriously incompatible with other inks (even with each other), and some pens do make it extremely difficult to remove all traces of the previous ink. There's more than one possible explanation besides the first one that came up there.

[conib]

But in this case we need also to consider that Sailor nano inks are notoriously incompatible with other inks (even with each other), and some pens do make it extremely difficult to remove all traces of the previous ink.

However, in this case my Cool had not had any ink in it prior to being filled with sei-boku -- new pen, first ink. In fact, I disassembled the section for a thorough flush prior to that first fill of sei-boku, and I can confirm that its translucent colorless feed was pristine.

-- Constance

[mhosea]

However, in this case my Cool had not had any ink in it prior to being filled with sei-boku -- new pen, first ink. In fact, I disassembled the section for a thorough flush prior to that first fill of sei-boku, and I can confirm that its translucent colorless feed was pristine.

Thanks. At least that handily rules out incompatibilities with other ink.

[conib]

Subsequent fills of the Cool with Platinum Black (2 cartridges, non-nano) were fine, no issues.

I then salvaged the balls from the empty Platinum Black cartridges, put one of them into the converter, and filled it with Pelikan 4001 Turquoise. That fill went fine, again with no issues.

I've continued to equip the Cool's converter with a ball, and currently the Cool is filled with Waterman Mysterious Blue. So far it's going great, with no problems.

At some point (perhaps when this fill is finished) I do plan to try the Platinum blue nano ink in my Cool.

It may be that the ball in the converter is necessary for good operation with nano ink, and if that fill with Platinum blue nano goes well I may try sei-boku again in the Cool.

-- Constance

[blopplop]

Noodler's Bad Blue Heron is a daily carry for me because it's bullet proof. Also Sailor Sei Boku blue/black is another daily carry because I use it in my Bible.

I'm planning on grabbing Noodler's Aircorp very soon for daily carry too.
Dave

[biscuit]

However, in this case my Cool had not had any ink in it prior to being filled with sei-boku -- new pen, first ink. In fact, I disassembled the section for a thorough flush prior to that first fill of sei-boku, and I can confirm that its translucent colorless feed was pristine.

Thanks. At least that handily rules out incompatibilities with other ink.

Perhaps some manufacturing inconsistency in the ink? Now I'm tempted to try some Sei Boku in my Platinum Cool and see how it works out. Interest of science...

[mhosea]

I wouldn't know about inconsistencies in the ink. I've seen plenty of variation depending on how wet the pen is and whether there was water still in the feed when the ink was loaded from the cartridge/converter side (rather than by filling directly from the bottle). The only theory I have for why it wouldn't work has to do with the wettability of the clear feed. I've not seen anything similar with the Lucite feeds on my Parker VS's, but it's conceivable (though a bit mysterious still) that the Platinum Cool's feed might be rather particular in some respects. This wouldn't be my first or second guess, rather the only explanation intrinsic to the pen's design that I can even think of. Usually when an ink is hard-starting or "clogs" in a pen, it has to do with the cap seal, but Platinum understands this issue, and my impression is that they pay special attention to such matters.

[conib]

Now I'm tempted to try some Sei Boku in my Platinum Cool and see how it works out. Interest of science...

That would be great!

[conib]

it's conceivable (though a bit mysterious still) that the Platinum Cool's feed might be rather particular in some respects. This wouldn't be my first or second guess, rather the only explanation intrinsic to the pen's design that I can even think of.

If this helps in the diagnosis: I kept having to force the sei-boku into the Cool's feed (by turning the converter's piston knob); the pen would then write until the ink in the feed was exhausted -- ink would not flow into the feed unless it was forced.

Usually when an ink is hard-starting or "clogs" in a pen, it has to do with the cap seal, but Platinum understands this issue, and my impression is that they pay special attention to such matters.

The Cool doesn't have Platinum's special slip-seal cap though.

-- Constance

[mhosea]

If this helps in the diagnosis: I kept having to force the sei-boku into the Cool's feed (by turning the converter's piston knob); the pen would then write until the ink in the feed was exhausted -- ink would not flow into the feed unless it was forced.

It's consistent with multiple possibilities, unfortunately, though if the pen has been working well with every other ink you have used in it, then either another try with Sei Boku will work without incident, or it will do exactly the same thing. If the former, then I would assume that the initial attempts to clean the feed did not remove all the manufacturing residues that might have been present, whereas the surfactant-laden ink followed by flushing might have done the job. If the latter, then we would be forced to accept that this ink doesn't like that feed.

[LagNut]

Just to throw this info in. Both pens I've used for this ink seal, as far as I know. The Plasir seals, though some other Platinums do not. The Realo has a good seal also.

The residue I see from sei-boku is an extremely fine film. Like a fog. Wipes off with light physical pressure. If it clogged a feed, there would have to be really small passages. I wouldn't be surprised if it did change the wetting properties of a feed. I'm a little surprised a platinum feed would fall prey to this, however.

Interesting info.

Mike

[conib]

if the pen has been working well with every other ink you have used in it, then either another try with Sei Boku will work without incident, or it will do exactly the same thing. If the former, then I would assume that the initial attempts to clean the feed did not remove all the manufacturing residues that might have been present, whereas the surfactant-laden ink followed by flushing might have done the job. If the latter, then we would be forced to accept that this ink doesn't like that feed.

When I'm finished with the tasks associated with the Cool's current fill of Waterman Mysterious Blue I'll clean it out thoroughly and then fill it with sei-boku again. It will be a while before I can do that though (weeks, maybe a month or longer), as my pen-ink testing plate is kind of full right now, but I'll post again with the results when it's been done.

It would still be good to have other data from other Cools out there ... hint, hint ...

-- Constance