Results 1 to 7 of 7

Thread: Diamine Registrar's Ink (iron gall) messed up my Lamy 2000

  1. #1
    Junior Member
    Join Date
    Jul 2016
    Posts
    2
    Thanks
    0
    Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts
    Rep Power
    0

    Default Diamine Registrar's Ink (iron gall) messed up my Lamy 2000

    I welcome any insight on this problem I've been having.

    I was given a fountain pens for my birthday about fifteen years ago. I enjoyed it but after a little, I discovered that its ink could wash away with water. I didn't know there were other options in ink so I stopped using the pen I had.

    A few months ago I mentioned this to a clerk at my favourite stationary shop, that I'd love to use a fountain pen but that water-soluble ink is a deal breaker. He said, but there are permanent inks.

    I bought the Lamy 2000 and the only permanent ink they stock, the Diamine Registrar's Ink. After a few weeks, the pen started to clog. The ink had quickly stopped being the rich blue black that it started as and often I would have a few hints of the dark colour and then a much thinner pale blue. Then it started to clog and I couldn't write a full sentence without having to stop and nurse the flow out again.

    When I went back to the shop, they kindly ordered a medium nib and switched it for my fine nib. That seemed to have solved the problem for a while but then that too started clogging. The owner speculated that the iron gall was reacting with the gold nib. (But then isn't gold nonreactive? Perhaps with the laminate.)

    This last week, I gave up on the ink and picked up Noodler's Black from another shop in town. When I switched out the ink, I took the pen apart (not like in the timid video on the Lamy website where they show a beautiful video of an animation of emptying the pen and filling and emptying it with water a few times) and rinsed it with filtered water. The first day the pen wrote smoothly for the better part of an hour. And then started to go dry towards the end of my writing time. I thought, well, there is a gentle cross-draft going through my apartment on this hot and humid day. Maybe that's why. But then I wrote again just after midnight and it started stopping again. So much so that I switched back to my faithful Uniball Deluxe. I disassembled the pen and this time soaked it until morning with a hint of biodegradable dish soap, as some people (the shop owner included) had suggested.

    I filled it again with the Noodler's Black and that morning, yesterday morning, it wrote beautifully. My only remark was that it had a lot less character than the Diamine (like a one note whisky to the Diamine's complexity of colour) but that it wrote smoothly with my pen.

    Then last night, I wrote for half an hour and it started to skip. This morning the skipping became too much and I had to go back to the Uniball.

    So, first, I strongly suggest avoiding iron gall inks such as the Diamine Archival Registrar's Ink in a Lamy 2000. I don't know if this would be an issue with all gold nib pens or if it is the lamination process that Lamy uses to coat the gold nib. I just know I will never again put that ink in this pen, as beautiful as it is.

    And, second, can anyone help me? I'll go back to the shop and see what they suggest. But this is driving me crazy. Is this problem coming from residue from the iron gall? It was in both the fine and medium nibs. The only other common denominators are me and the notebook, a Leuchtrum, think Moleskin but nicer paper.

    Is there a way to clean the pen once and for all?

    Thanks,

    Andrew

  2. #2
    Senior Member Jon Szanto's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2012
    Posts
    6,617
    Thanks
    7,796
    Thanked 11,042 Times in 4,011 Posts
    Rep Power
    22

    Default Re: Diamine Registrar's Ink (iron gall) messed up my Lamy 2000

    It sounds as if the pen is not releasing all the residue. Since you've done *some* disassembly, I'd try to take it apart again and give the parts a ride in an ultrasonic cleaner (you might have to ask around to find someone who has one?). This is probably the only way to guarantee you are getting all the other stuff off.

    Once that is done, I think you need a new ink. I can tell you that I gave up on using Noodler's Black after a while as it, too, was clogging pens and getting thick. If I didn't use it in a pen for a while it would evaporate some of it's moisture and the resulting ink would smear, even days after writing. As far as IG inks are concerned, they *do* need more care, but your pen should probably have been ok, and gold nibs are the perfect situation for IG. You might investigate KWZ inks - harder to find (except can be ordered online) but they make IG in a number of colors and everyone seems to find their behavior very good. Other than that, you could also give an ink like Sailor Kiwa-Guro a try, which is a nano-particle black ink with permanence. Again, any of the inks that are made to be permanent will likely require more effort. And, since I don't have much experience beyond using other people's 2000s, in time you may find that a different pen is more suited to these type of inks.

    Good luck!
    "When Men differ in Opinion, both Sides ought equally to have the Advantage of being heard by the Publick;
    and that when Truth and Error have fair Play, the former is always an overmatch for the latter."

    ~ Benjamin Franklin

  3. The Following 2 Users Say Thank You to Jon Szanto For This Useful Post:

    Chrissy (August 16th, 2019), inklord (July 9th, 2016)

  4. #3
    Senior Member D Armstrong's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2013
    Location
    Toronto, Ontario. Canada
    Posts
    127
    Thanks
    0
    Thanked 126 Times in 64 Posts
    Rep Power
    11

    Default Re: Diamine Registrar's Ink (iron gall) messed up my Lamy 2000

    To get rid of bad residue build-up you will have to completely disassemble things: take the nib and feed right out of the section. Ultrasonic is effective for getting into little nooks and crannies, but nothing beats actually disassembling and hand cleaning. Pay particular attention to the tiny channel between the feed and the barrel (ink reservoir), as that is notorious for kludging up in any pen, using any ink. You can use a fine wire (think the finest guitar string) to ream it out if it is bad. You can use a toothbrush to clean out the feed and nib.

    If that doesn't do it, you may have an issue with a lack of air exchange choking off the flow of ink. But try a deep cleaning first. The 2000 is a good, solidly engineered pen, so it's probably just dirty.
    David Armstrong
    --
    www.restorersart.com
    • Antiques for Readers & Writers •
    --
    www.sevanti-letterpress.com
    • Guaranteed Fountain Pen Friendly •

  5. The Following 2 Users Say Thank You to D Armstrong For This Useful Post:

    Chrissy (August 16th, 2019), Deb (August 17th, 2019)

  6. #4
    Member
    Join Date
    Feb 2013
    Location
    Bellingham WA
    Posts
    57
    Thanks
    10
    Thanked 36 Times in 24 Posts
    Rep Power
    12

    Default Re: Diamine Registrar's Ink (iron gall) messed up my Lamy 2000

    It's possible that your pen writes dry in the first place and I have found that some dry writing pens will balk and exhibit poor flow characteristics with some iron gall inks and other dry inks. I have a number of different Iron gall inks I use in many of my pens and find that Diamines is the dryest and most problematic of all my iron galls. After trying various Iron gall inks, I found that Platinum Blue/Black flowed the best.

    I would say that if your pen is having flow issues and you want to use a permanent ink, then I would suggest using Pilot Blue or Pilot Blue black. Montblanc also makes a very good Permanent Blue.

    But I really dont think your pen would clog so readily after such a short time using an Iron Gall ink. But just in case you do find you have a clog feed after using iron gall ink (and in most cases its caused by letting your pen dry out), the usually solution is to soak the feed in vinegar for a few (maybe more) days and it will dissolve any iron particles.

  7. The Following 2 Users Say Thank You to RudyR For This Useful Post:

    Chrissy (August 16th, 2019), inklord (July 9th, 2016)

  8. #5
    Senior Member Flounder's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2013
    Location
    Scotland
    Posts
    374
    Thanks
    285
    Thanked 402 Times in 161 Posts
    Rep Power
    11

    Default Re: Diamine Registrar's Ink (iron gall) messed up my Lamy 2000

    I'm not au fait with iron galls or the 2000, but this is the first I've heard of the Lamy 2000 nib having a laminate coating.

    Diamine did mention in an email once that "We do have a 1 iron gall ink which is Registrar`s Ink, this is an archival ink and can be used in a fountain pen, however, extra cleaning/flushing is recommended with this ink."

    In re: 'permanent' blue (vs washable) my understanding is that this refers to spillages washing off clothes rather than being water-proof or archival.
    Latest pen related post @ flounders-mindthots.blogspot.com : '70s Pilot Elite pocket pen review

  9. The Following User Says Thank You to Flounder For This Useful Post:

    Chrissy (August 16th, 2019)

  10. #6
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Mar 2015
    Posts
    737
    Thanks
    1,209
    Thanked 439 Times in 271 Posts
    Rep Power
    10

    Default Re: Diamine Registrar's Ink (iron gall) messed up my Lamy 2000

    This is what I already wrote in response to your post on another iron gall thread:
    "I have been using Iron Gall Inks from Rohrer & Klingner (Salix and Scabiosa) in my L2k's frequently without any adverse effects, and btw, the old formulation of Lamy blue-black was an iron gall ink, so I would assume its a problem of Diamine Registrar's ink. Chemically, it is highly improbable that the ink would react either with 14k gold (the nib material) or Platinum (the plating of the nib); there is, however, a remote possibility that the Platinum would trigger some reaction within the ink, acting as a catalyst. This would then happen with all platinum surfaces. Most likely, the ink was insufficiently stabilized."
    I stand by that - never had a problem with either Lamy or R&K ferrogallic inks in either my L2ks or any other pen. The only effect was that the nibs felt a bit more 'velvety' rather than 'glassy smooth' with the iron gall ink. But there are also - as others have mentioned - plenty of upscale permanent inks without having to be stuck with either iron gall or Noodler's formulations: Platinum, Sailor and Montblanc all offer excellent permanent inks and these are widely available from internet retailers.
    To get back into the swing of things, it's probably really best to completely strip the nib/feed/section assembly (don't loose that o-ring or the clutch ring!!) and clean it as suggested by other contributors.
    Last edited by inklord; July 9th, 2016 at 01:59 PM.

  11. The Following User Says Thank You to inklord For This Useful Post:

    Chrissy (August 16th, 2019)

  12. #7
    Member
    Join Date
    Jul 2019
    Location
    Columbus, Ohio
    Posts
    45
    Thanks
    128
    Thanked 12 Times in 10 Posts
    Rep Power
    0

    Default Re: Diamine Registrar's Ink (iron gall) messed up my Lamy 2000

    The only issue I have with Diamine Registrars in a Lamy 2000 is that I feel compelled to wash the stainless section with each fill. If I don’t, I get a partially dark snoot. So now I put Macassar in the Lamy, and just wipe it’s nose when I fill. Registrars moved to a Vanishing Point, with a wet-ed up nib. Still, two years of use in the Lamy with just (let’s be honest) biannual Speedball washes and no issues.

Tags for this Thread

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •