Kaputnik
August 16th, 2014, 04:45 PM
Water resistance in a fountain pen ink is an almost essential quality for me. I say that, not to start a debate with those who don't care about it, or who want an ink that will wash out of their clothes, but simply to state a fact about my own preferences.:tea:
That said, I sometimes take a chance on inks that are not specifically sold as water resistant, in the hope that maybe they will turn out to be okay. With some of these, the seller stated that the water resistance was unknown, or in some cases, that they were not water resistant. In other cases, there was just no word one way or the other. When I got them, I would run my own tests, and I've come up with a number that are good enough. If I had a notebook full of important notes, and I got caught in a heavy downpour, everything would still be legible once the notebook had dried out afterward.
My test is to write on a piece of scrap paper, put it in the sink, and run the hot faucet on it full out for about 30 seconds. Then I let it dry out on a paper towel. A problem ink will sometimes seem okay after the initial soaking, but then will spread and blur to illegibility while it's drying.
Fully water resistant. These inks may feather very slightly around the edges, and the color might lighten a little, but the effect is very slight.
Sailor Jentle Doyou (Dark Brown). A pleasant surprise, since this is about the nicest shade of brown I've ever used.
Pilot Blue-Black. My favorite blue-black ink. Some other blue-blacks are pretty much just black when they dry. This one is a very dark blue.
Namiki Blue. My standard, all purpose blue.
De Atramentis Gaius Julius Caesar. Why I thought I needed a gray ink, I'm not sure, but at least it's usable for anything I want it for.
Good enough. These inks run a bit more, sometimes bleeding a lot of color onto the page. The basic shapes of the letters remain in place, though, as if only a part of the ink is running. What is left is legible, even if there's a bit of a mess on the page around it.
Iroshizuku Yama-Guri. Another nice brown.
Iroshizuku Shin-Ryoku. I go through periods of not wanting to use any green, but this is a good one.
Iroshizuku Asa-Gao. Perhaps the least water resistant of these three Iroshizuku inks, but "good enough", and a beautiful color if you don't spill water on it.
Private Reserve Ebony Purple. I can actually wash almost all the purple out with this one, leaving a black residue.
De Atramentis Aubergine. Another nice purple. I've actually had some problems with purples that were fully water resistant, clogging, nib creep, that sort of thing, so the DAA is my best compromise.
What inks might other people add to this list?
By the way, going off on a bit of a tangent, when I was testing all my FP inks, I also tested all the ballpoints, gel pens, and felt tips that I had around the house for comparison. I found that all of the black or blue ballpoint inks were just fine, as you'd expect. Some of the less common colors, though, red, green, and purple, did run or fade noticeably. And for gel pens, although all the black refills I tried were water resistant, the other colors often were not, or not to the same degree.
That said, I sometimes take a chance on inks that are not specifically sold as water resistant, in the hope that maybe they will turn out to be okay. With some of these, the seller stated that the water resistance was unknown, or in some cases, that they were not water resistant. In other cases, there was just no word one way or the other. When I got them, I would run my own tests, and I've come up with a number that are good enough. If I had a notebook full of important notes, and I got caught in a heavy downpour, everything would still be legible once the notebook had dried out afterward.
My test is to write on a piece of scrap paper, put it in the sink, and run the hot faucet on it full out for about 30 seconds. Then I let it dry out on a paper towel. A problem ink will sometimes seem okay after the initial soaking, but then will spread and blur to illegibility while it's drying.
Fully water resistant. These inks may feather very slightly around the edges, and the color might lighten a little, but the effect is very slight.
Sailor Jentle Doyou (Dark Brown). A pleasant surprise, since this is about the nicest shade of brown I've ever used.
Pilot Blue-Black. My favorite blue-black ink. Some other blue-blacks are pretty much just black when they dry. This one is a very dark blue.
Namiki Blue. My standard, all purpose blue.
De Atramentis Gaius Julius Caesar. Why I thought I needed a gray ink, I'm not sure, but at least it's usable for anything I want it for.
Good enough. These inks run a bit more, sometimes bleeding a lot of color onto the page. The basic shapes of the letters remain in place, though, as if only a part of the ink is running. What is left is legible, even if there's a bit of a mess on the page around it.
Iroshizuku Yama-Guri. Another nice brown.
Iroshizuku Shin-Ryoku. I go through periods of not wanting to use any green, but this is a good one.
Iroshizuku Asa-Gao. Perhaps the least water resistant of these three Iroshizuku inks, but "good enough", and a beautiful color if you don't spill water on it.
Private Reserve Ebony Purple. I can actually wash almost all the purple out with this one, leaving a black residue.
De Atramentis Aubergine. Another nice purple. I've actually had some problems with purples that were fully water resistant, clogging, nib creep, that sort of thing, so the DAA is my best compromise.
What inks might other people add to this list?
By the way, going off on a bit of a tangent, when I was testing all my FP inks, I also tested all the ballpoints, gel pens, and felt tips that I had around the house for comparison. I found that all of the black or blue ballpoint inks were just fine, as you'd expect. Some of the less common colors, though, red, green, and purple, did run or fade noticeably. And for gel pens, although all the black refills I tried were water resistant, the other colors often were not, or not to the same degree.