Go to inks

[Sammyo]

I seem to always have Sailor Blue/Black and Sheaffer Skrip Peacock in at least one pen at all times... until my Peacock sample bottle runs out

[picautomaton]

Parker Quink washable blue, love this ink. Put it in a nice old pen with ebonite feed.

[stub]

Aurora Black is my go to black.

Aurora Blue is a go to for some wetter pens (I find this ink well lubricated but not all that wet and is dependable, well behaved and cleans out well. A solid royal blue performer). Nearly identical is MB Royal Blue. Similar color, behavoir. Also a slick ink but with a slightly relucant flow.

For drier pens i use a lot of Visconti Blue or Asa-gao

For Vintage pens, many get: Waterman Florida Blue

Blue-black of choice is Sailor

Probably half my pens get Sailor Blue black, Waterman FL Blue, Aurora Blue, or Visconti Blue. A few pens are always inked with Aurora Black for work.

If I need water resistence (monsoon season) Pilot Blue is a go to.

Red (markup): MB Corn Poppy Red.

But really it boils down to 1 Black, 1 Red for mark-up, one vintage safe blue, one wet blue, one dry blue. & Anything else is just extra.

BUT I HAVE A LOT OF EXTRA. heh.

[mcorrea]

Almost permanently I have J Herbin Eclat de Saphir in one pen (stub nib) and Perle Noire in another (fine nib). My third inked pen has a different ink every week. I try to keep it at three inked pens, but sometimes a fourth or fifth slips in.

[carlos.q]

I always carry two pens and one of them is always filled with MB Permanent Blue. It's fully waterproof, works well with cheap papers and has nice shading.

[R.A. Stewart]

I'm so boring. Waterman Intense Black. Some day I'll get another couple of pens and maybe even a second bottle of ink.

[naimitsu]

Recently, I've been keeping MB Tolstoy in my EF VP.
And the Voyager has BB Aofuji... but mainly because I'm too lazy to take the time to do a full clean to switch inks because vac filled pen.

[inklord]

With all the inks available, is it really so that those who use mainly a few inks still use blue, black, or blue-black? Very few of us seem to use just one or two inks with those inks being, lets say, Sailor "Oku-Yama" and Noodler's "Zhivago". I find that puzzling. Other than myself, I know only one other fp person who could happily live with just one ink, and it's neither blue nor black nor whatever we may perceive to be a blue-black... So, come out of the woodwork, odd color people! Any single ink user claiming Diamine "Claret" to be "It"???
(Of course there's our Yama-Dori lover on pg 1 of this thread, and Mr.Toffee (Fred) - hooray to these pheasant and toffee lovers!

[R.A. Stewart]

Does Cthulhu still post on here? Last I knew, he used gall from the unwholesomely ancient oak forests of Y'gh'thaan mixed with the unceasing tears of the damned, and it was of a colour not of any normal spectrum.

[FredRydr]

Sounds evil enough to clog anything.

Fred

[Dreck]

Does Cthulhu still post on here? Last I knew, he used gall from the unwholesomely ancient oak forests of Y'gh'thaan mixed with the unceasing tears of the damned, and it was of a colour not of any normal spectrum.

You may be thinking of Noodler's El Lawrence

[Paddler]

With all the inks available, is it really so that those who use mainly a few inks still use blue, black, or blue-black? Very few of us seem to use just one or two inks with those inks being, lets say, Sailor "Oku-Yama" and Noodler's "Zhivago". I find that puzzling. Other than myself, I know only one other fp person who could happily live with just one ink, and it's neither blue nor black nor whatever we may perceive to be a blue-black... So, come out of the woodwork, odd color people! Any single ink user claiming Diamine "Claret" to be "It"???
(Of course there's our Yama-Dori lover on pg 1 of this thread, and Mr.Toffee (Fred) - hooray to these pheasant and toffee lovers!

I refuse to use an ink whose name I can't pronounce. That puts a serious limit on the choices right there. I tried a couple of Herbin inks and have to wipe my chin when I name them. I get a hard look from my wife when I mention Poussiere de Lune.

I use a lot of homemade black walnut and butternut inks but those are a little too specialized for most fountain pen users.

[inklord]

I use a lot of homemade black walnut and butternut inks but those are a little too specialized for most fountain pen users.

Wow - you get those filtered well enough so they don't clog the feed?

[Dreck]

I use a lot of homemade black walnut and butternut inks but those are a little too specialized for most fountain pen users.

Wow - you get those filtered well enough so they don't clog the feed?

That's what I'm wondering. What would I have to do to procure a sample of your black walnut ink?

[gbryal]

The only ink I have two bottles of is Waterman's Mysterious Blue. It's my first choice for my vintage pens, and any new pens, and sort of a default, known good ink.

[Paddler]

I use a lot of homemade black walnut and butternut inks but those are a little too specialized for most fountain pen users.

Wow - you get those filtered well enough so they don't clog the feed?

I use a lot of homemade black walnut and butternut inks but those are a little too specialized for most fountain pen users.

Wow - you get those filtered well enough so they don't clog the feed?

That's what I'm wondering. What would I have to do to procure a sample of your black walnut ink?

I filter the inks through a respirator filter that is fine enough to remove pollen from the air. The filters are easily and cheaply available at local hardware stores. A small plastic funnel and some hot melt glue cobbles up a gravity fed ink filter. Examination with a microscope reveals no stray walnut cells that could clog a feed or bridge up in a nib slit. Coffee filters are not fine enough.

Walnut ink is a bit corrosive, so I have to be careful to use only gold nibs. Steel nibs for dip pens wear flat quickly.

As for samples, I don't know what to say. I have about a dozen different kinds, made with different recipes at different times of the year. The walnut ink gives a rich, warm brown line. Made with iron, it is a rich black color. Butternut husk ink starts out like walnut, but then it coats the inside of the inkwell with a yellow substance and then it turns a mousy brown. I haven't saved any of that.

I posted some recipes on FPN, years ago. They should still be there. They are not posted under ink recipes. They are under the general blab threads. A search for butternut should turn them up. (I don't hang out there any more. There are so many blinky ads it crashes my browser.)

[inklord]

I use a lot of homemade black walnut and butternut inks but those are a little too specialized for most fountain pen users.

Wow - you get those filtered well enough so they don't clog the feed?

I use a lot of homemade black walnut and butternut inks but those are a little too specialized for most fountain pen users.

Wow - you get those filtered well enough so they don't clog the feed?

That's what I'm wondering. What would I have to do to procure a sample of your black walnut ink?

I filter the inks through a respirator filter that is fine enough to remove pollen from the air. The filters are easily and cheaply available at local hardware stores. A small plastic funnel and some hot melt glue cobbles up a gravity fed ink filter. Examination with a microscope reveals no stray walnut cells that could clog a feed or bridge up in a nib slit. Coffee filters are not fine enough.

Walnut ink is a bit corrosive, so I have to be careful to use only gold nibs. Steel nibs for dip pens wear flat quickly.

As for samples, I don't know what to say. I have about a dozen different kinds, made with different recipes at different times of the year. The walnut ink gives a rich, warm brown line. Made with iron, it is a rich black color. Butternut husk ink starts out like walnut, but then it coats the inside of the inkwell with a yellow substance and then it turns a mousy brown. I haven't saved any of that.

I posted some recipes on FPN, years ago. They should still be there. They are not posted under ink recipes. They are under the general blab threads. A search for butternut should turn them up. (I don't hang out there any more. There are so many blinky ads it crashes my browser.)

Thanks for all the info - never thought of using respirator filters to clean up fluids, but it makes sense! We have a big old Black Walnut tree by the house and we use both the nuts and make dye from the hulls... I know what my next project will be!

[Lovementos]

I always have my Sailor 1911 filled with Sailor Kiwaguro Nano Carbon

[southpaw52]

I enjoy a variety of inks. I normally keep a dozen plus pens filled. I do not use a particular ink with a particular with a certain pen. The inks I chose for filling are Iroshizuku, Sailor, and Diamine.

I clean my pens monthly, then refill them with choices from previously stated inks. Sometimes I mainly use mainly blue inks and red inks, other times a rainbow of colors.

That is the great thing about pens/inks is the unlimited choices.