Ink Safety

[southpaw52]

I read with interest a recent post about harsh inks. I was surprised to find that Iroshizuku inks was listed. I used Iroshizuku inks in my vintage pens i.e. Esterbrooks. With no ill effects.

How is it determined that an ink is harsh and will cause problems? Are not some of these issues due improper pen hygiene? If Iroshizuku is on the that list would that include sailor inks also?

[Pterodactylus]

I think nobody can answer your questions.
This claims do not have a founded scientific base.
At least I never heard of any which sounds reasonable.
Also not if an ink is acidic or alkaline.
There were always such inks also in the times when sac pens were still common.

I think that such claims most of the times are based on personal experiences, observations or that somebody heard, read something.

To proof empirical what happens when a sac turned into goo and proof that it has something to do with a specific ink would be really difficult (takes a lot of time, repeating, money,....)
Realistically nobody will ever do that.

I think that sometimes a sac turned into goo can have many reasons.
Maybe faulty sac material, maybe chemical interactions with a specific ink component with this special sac material, maybe a chemical reaction between ink remainings of previous used inks with the current used ink, maybe......

Currently there is no proof (believe something is not proofing) that any ink can cause damage to a specific sac material of a specific sac Manufacturer (of a specific production batch).

It can also turn out that specific batches of sacs of certain manufacturers had poor quality and it has nothing to do with any ink used.

So many believes, rumors, possible root causes,.......

Personally I do not hesitate to use any ink including high saturated ones in my sac pens.
Till now I had no problem with any of them.

And even if a sac will fail some time, who cares.
There is a reason why sacs (commonly) are not used in modern pens anymore.
They are just far less reliable than e.g. Piston fillers.
We are using outdated old ancient technology with sac pens and we have to live with the disadvantages of failing sacs if we use such things.

As said... who cares.... if a sac is failing it will be replaced.

It's like driving an old car, there you also have to live with high maintenance and breakdowns ... but who cares if it is fun to use such things.

[inklord]

...thanks for the enlightened words, Ptero!

[stub]

As said... who cares.... if a sac is failing it will be replaced.

By magic?

[southpaw52]

Petro, thank you for your insight.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-T337A using Tapatalk

[Pterodactylus]

As said... who cares.... if a sac is failing it will be replaced.

By magic?

Not really by magic, there are several possible ways.

One is to do (or learn) it by yourself. (Of course also depending on the complexity of the pen)
Tinkering, tuning, repairing our pens is an extension of the hobby which boosts the scope of the hobby and for many people also the fun far further.

This is of course not an option for everyone but worth a consideration.


And the other options are those guys with the almost magic hands which resurrect almost every ancient artifact in exchange of a adequate monetary compensation

As said I see a sac as a expendable material which has to be replaced at some points of time, like an oil filter in a car.


But this is an interesting topic, I'm keen to hear other opinions of sac pen users as well.

[stub]

As said I see a sac as a expendable material which has to be replaced at some points of time, like an oil filter in a car.

That is one way to look at it. But ...that presumes that the sac has merely torn and not melted and that the rupture of the sac has not left the rot and the goo and the remainder of the ink and/or water inside your pen, and that there is nothing inside your pen that gets all rusted and messed up causing more extreme naptha and dental pick clean up effort and risk.

Not every sac pen is merely and acrylic pen with just a lever. A torn sac in a lever pen is one thing. A melted goo-a-thon in, say, A Sheaffer pnuematic is a whole nother ball of, uh, wax






(break out the guitar strings)

[Pterodactylus]

True, that looks ugly, thanks for showing it.

I have to admit that I only own simple lever sac pens (and also simple leverless ones (twist knob).

I also have to admit that I tried a long time to avoid sac pens at all, just because they are problematic compared to e.g. piston fillers and eye dropper pens.

[stub]

I just sent 5 Sheaffer snorkels out for restoration (and one vac), some had just been restored only a few years ago all were melted like this or worse. Goo everywhere. The common demomonator was Iroshizuku.

Is it definiitve that it was the ink? Can I prove that? Could it have been the heat and the ink, could it have been a bad bunch of sacs (seems unlikely as all 5 pens were from different times and restorers) the water from my tap? UFOs? North Korea? Obama?

Again let me put the disclaimer: totally unscientific, anecdotal, uncontrolled & would not hold up in a court of law. But very strong hunch is that Iroshizuku does not like the kind of sacs that go in Sheaffer pneumatic pens and the sacs didn't just fail, they failed in the messiest way possible. I live in the least fountain pen friendly modernized country on earth. No tools, no local restorers and repairers etc. and hellishly expensive shipping so yeah.

Funny thing is that before this I just used Waterman, Sheaffer, regular Pilot etc. from about the mid nineties until very recently. & never had this problem. I bought a bottle of Asagao on a trip to Japan a couple years back ($9!). Fell in love with the ink and started putting it in everything and now I have a whole bunch o' pens (I have more sitting unrestored to go out soon) with ruptured and melted sacs.

So I'll go back to "boring" inks for now. I already spend way too much on pens, repairs, around the globe tracked shipping.

Folks should use their judgement, but as I said my experiences, limited and unscientific as they are jive with what I have been told by Ron Zorn, Brian Grey, Stacy Hills, Sarj Minhas (who litteraly just posed this on Instaram the other day) and a whole bunch of other people. Should I ignore what I see and ignore these folks for anons on internet fora? Considering the costs I am going to play it more conservative here. Youse should use your own judgement.

Enjoy