Color inks in sac fill pens

[Spideysgirl]

Correct me of I'm wrong, but I thought I read somewhere on the internet that you shouldn't put colored ink in sac filler pens. I think they said it clogs the pen or something. I just refurbished an Esterbrook that my dad bought for me over the weekend and I filled it with Diamine Tropical Green. Somehow I feel I am going to damage the pen.

[KrazyIvan]

Some inks have been known to melt ink sacs. It is usually the highly concentrated colors or "boutique inks" as they are known. I try not to use any of those inks in vintage pens. An easy way I use to test if an ink is too "strong" to use in a vintage pen is by placing the ink in a plastic sample vial. If you are filling from samples, it's even easier. If the sample vial is stained with ink or the ink clings to the inside of the sample vial, it does not go into my vintage pens.

[Chrissy]

Correct me of I'm wrong, but I thought I read somewhere on the internet that you shouldn't put colored ink in sac filler pens. I think they said it clogs the pen or something. I just refurbished an Esterbrook that my dad bought for me over the weekend and I filled it with Diamine Tropical Green. Somehow I feel I am going to damage the pen.

All ink is 'colored', even black ink. Mostly inks are made from dyes and water. So it's not true that you shouldn't put 'colored' ink in sac filler pens. Some inks are more acid than others, so they might damage the sacs in sac filling pens. If you stick with inks known to be safe, and don't use those that are really saturated, you will be OK. Diamine Tropical Green isn't an ink that will damage your pen. Their ink has been around for over 150 years, so they have made ink for use in sac based pens.

[Jon Szanto]

What Chrissy said is spot on. There is some very thin, anecdotal evidence that inks in the red spectrum can be a little harder on the sac, but I don't think it likely. More than harming the sac, using highly saturated inks just have an annoying problem: it will take a lot of flushes to clean out from a traditional sac filler. However, the Estie has an edge - you can unscrew the nib unit! Once you've done that, rinse out the interior of the sac with a thin stream of water from the tap until it runs clear. Clean the nib unit fully, either under running water or soaking overnight and then flushing under the tap (ALWAYS covering the drain to not lose the nib unit!) and then re-insert the nib.

To be honest, I tend to keep inks in my sac pen that don't change much, finding a color I like and sticking with it. If I want a pen to try a lot of variety of inks, I stick with a converter pen, or maybe a piston filler. Just a lot easier to clean between different inks.

[grainweevil]

Given the highly acidic iron gall inks in use during the heyday of the sac-based filling mechanisms, I tend to view concerns about what inks to use in them with a jaundiced eye. I do wonder if the modern lack of regular use mightn't be more of a problem than modern inks. But if you want to be absolutely safe, stick to washable blues, which are probably the closest thing to uncoloured ink (i.e.water) as you can get while still making a legible mark.

[Chrissy]

What Chrissy said is spot on. There is some very thin, anecdotal evidence that inks in the red spectrum can be a little harder on the sac, but I don't think it likely. More than harming the sac, using highly saturated inks just have an annoying problem: it will take a lot of flushes to clean out from a traditional sac filler. However, the Estie has an edge - you can unscrew the nib unit! Once you've done that, rinse out the interior of the sac with a thin stream of water from the tap until it runs clear. Clean the nib unit fully, either under running water or soaking overnight and then flushing under the tap (ALWAYS covering the drain to not lose the nib unit!) and then re-insert the nib.

To be honest, I tend to keep inks in my sac pen that don't change much, finding a color I like and sticking with it. If I want a pen to try a lot of variety of inks, I stick with a converter pen, or maybe a piston filler. Just a lot easier to clean between different inks.

Doh! I forgot about the Estie and it's screw out nib units. To be fair I only have one and I never use it!

That makes it much easier to clean than other sac pens.

I'm one of those people who like to change inks all of the time, so that's why I stick with converter and piston filling pens.

[stub]

My issue has not been with acidic inks but rather highly Alkaline inks. In particular, Iroshizuku Asa Gao but other high chroma inks are somewhat suspect for me now too (within reason)

I just got a bunch of pens re-sacced and an angry email complete with horror photos of gooey sacs. These beloved pens are back in action. I inked them with:

Waterman Purple (stains but in 2 decades of using this ink I have seen it do nothing else)
Waterman Florida Blue
Aurora Black
Monty Blank JFK

All lovely inks I enjoy a lot. I don't feel like I am making a huge sacrifice by not using Visconti Blue or AsaGao or Shocking Blue. I have plenty of pens that can get those inks. I am saving the super saturated high chroma stuff for other pens now mostly. My Pilots run great with Iroshizuku inks so I will continue to use those with them.

I do still have one sac pen filled with Regency Blue (GOD I LOVE THAT INK) but that is a PVC sac so ....

[stub]

Also: narrowing down my ink choices (feel slightly overwhelemed anyway) and changing a lot less. I tend to find an ink that works with a particular pen and keep to it. There are a bunch of pens that literally have only had one ink in them the whole time I owned them (sometimes your first impulse is right).

[grainweevil]

My issue has not been with acidic inks but rather highly Alkaline inks.

My point was less the acidity or alkalinity but the general extremeness of inks that sacs have been exposed to in the past - I simply didn't make it very well. To be honest I view a good many of the modern inks with some alarm, but that applies to using them in all pens.

[tadas]

A general guideline I've heard is to use brands/versions of ink that were around when the pen was made -- use Sheaffer, Parker, Waterman, etc. in pens from the 20's, 30's, 40's and 50's. Use Private Reserve, Noodlers, etc. in modern pens. The late Susan Wirth recommended avoiding the modern "boutique" inks entirely, and also suggested limiting German inks (MontBlanc, Pelikan) to German pens only. I consider this on the extreme side. I would be leery of some of the more "extreme" Noodler inks - Bay State Blue goes into Preppy eyedropper conversions and $2.00 Chinese pens and nowhere near classic pens in my house

[Hawk]

I had a cherry P51 with a clear sac (possibly never inked) and used a 'purple' ink in it. I have not been able to flush it clean, even with pen flush. I'm a little more careful now. I got over it. If it bothered me that much I would change the sac.