Dry Writing Parker Vacumatic (wet ink recommendations)

[mcannad1]

Hello,

Do you all have any recommendations on a safe ink, that is on the wetter side and would work well in a dry writing Parker Vacumatic? Should I avoid the newer iron gall inks like Rohrer and Klinger Salix?.

[silverlifter]

I use IG inks in my Vacs, and they work well because they tend to be wet writers.

Salix is on the dry side, so that is the only reason I'd not recommend it. Give Serenity Blue a shot, that flows well. Or Aurora Black if you'd prefer a black.

[KrazyIvan]

I tend to use Waterman Florida Blue (now Serenity Blue and I am down to my last bottle) in my vintage pens. It is easier to clean out a vacumatic that has been filled with it.

[azkid]

What inks have you tried and found too dry? That may help us calibrate how dry of a writer the pen is.

Any particular color you're looking for?

Quink Black seems to work in a range of my medium to dry pens (Esterbrooks, 1920s Duofolds, Parker 51s). Flows too much in wetter writers.

Iroshizuku Take-sumi seems to flow pretty wet. It works for me in drier writers like Pilot Metropolitans or finer nib Esterbrooks. Has a pH of 8.56. In medium or wetter writers it seems to flow too much for me.

Iroshizuku Tsuki-yo seems to be on the wetter side. Not sure about pH or suitability for a Vacumatic. I've mostly used it in a few modern pens.

As mentioned above, Waterman Serenity Blue seems to work well in nearly everything. Seems a favorite of some pro restorers? Their Mystery Blue works well in a range of my pens, also. Both are well behaved and feel nice to write with.

I prefer less saturated inks as they take much less time to clean out of Vacumatics versus the more saturated inks. The above clean up pretty quickly out of various pens.