Problems with Montblanc Permanent Black Ink

[Fawkes]

I recently tried using Montblanc's permanent black for my drawings, but I have given up on it because the ink never seems to dry. I can go back to the drawing two days later and find the ink will still smudge. For reference I am using a Pelikan 400NN with an XXXF nib on 150 gsm Stillman & Birn paper.

Is this normal for this ink? Is there anything I can do to shorten the drying times? Or should I just go back to Noodler's Black?

[Wile E Coyote]

Try thinning the ink with water.

[Jeph]

That is very strange. I have no knowledge of that brand of paper. What is it coated with? On standard cheap copy paper my Permanent black won't smudge immediately after writing. On Rhodia it takes sometimes 10 or 15 seconds to dry to a smudge free state but that is all. And all of the pens that I use are wet. With a needlepoint I don't have any idea why you are having that problem. There must be something about the paper that the ink really does not like. Have you tested the ink on other papers to see how it behaves?

[Fawkes]

I'll try thinning it with water. Any ideas as to why that might work? I'm not much of an inkophile. Stillman & Birn is a maker of high-quality sketchbooks. The Epsilon series is similar to Rhodia paper, but works well for drawing. Aurora Black, Noodler's Black and other inks all work fine on it, but the MB ink refuses to dry. The MB ink works semi-well on other papers so I don't know why its giving me trouble.

[bleunuitguy]

Fascinating... I have trouble getting Noodler's Black to dry without smudging later. My bottle of MB PB tends to dry quickly and remains smudge proof. I have noticed on highly coated papers the top layer of MBPB that doesn't soak into the paper and react to the cellulose can be smudged with a hard pressed thumb, but who does this to their papers on a consistent basis? On regular papers you encounter in an office environment, it has been great for me. Maybe try a different paper?

[Craig Ruhl]

My thought is that it may be the paper. Try the same pen and ink combo on some other papers and compare. I use Montblanc Permanent Black daily in a variety of pens without incident of smudging. On coated papers only do I see an increased dry time. Best wishes,

Craig

[Fawkes]

My thought is that it may be the paper. Try the same pen and ink combo on some other papers and compare. I use Montblanc Permanent Black daily in a variety of pens without incident of smudging. On coated papers only do I see an increased dry time. Best wishes,

Craig

That was my thought, too, but since it worked well on HP 32lb paper (which is what I normally use) I didn't think it would be an issue on other papers. I will have to try it out on my other papers (Rhodia, Clairefontaine and Smythson) tomorrow.


Fascinating... I have trouble getting Noodler's Black to dry without smudging later. My bottle of MB PB tends to dry quickly and remains smudge proof. I have noticed on highly coated papers the top layer of MBPB that doesn't soak into the paper and react to the cellulose can be smudged with a hard pressed thumb, but who does this to their papers on a consistent basis? On regular papers you encounter in an office environment, it has been great for me. Maybe try a different paper?

I used to have the same issue with Noodler's in a Platinum 3777 UEF, but the Pelikan needlepoint doesn't seem to have that issue. I'm gonna have to keep messing around, and if worse comes to worse I might email Montblanc about it.

[Wile E Coyote]

I'll try thinning it with water. Any ideas as to why that might work? I'm not much of an inkophile. Stillman & Birn is a maker of high-quality sketchbooks. The Epsilon series is similar to Rhodia paper, but works well for drawing. Aurora Black, Noodler's Black and other inks all work fine on it, but the MB ink refuses to dry. The MB ink works semi-well on other papers so I don't know why its giving me trouble.

Not exactly sure why it works, but it does for some oversaturated inks. If/when you try it please post your results.

[Fawkes]

I will definitely post results when I do it.

[Fawkes]

So, in my (un)scientific experiments I thinned out the ink with water and tested it on a couple of different papers (Rhodia, the sketchbooks, etc.) and it performs much better now. Its still a very dark black, but it actually dries now and more readily resists accidental smudges than it did before. I found that 3 parts ink to 2 parts water does the trick.

I don't really know why it works, but it does and I'm happy though, I wonder if the thinning of the ink will affect its permanence in the long run. But, I don't care for now.

[Wile E Coyote]

It makes about as much sense as turning right to make a left turn in NJ, yet it still works.