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Thread: ASA I CAN ebonite Pen - Ink makes a difference.

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    Default ASA I CAN ebonite Pen - Ink makes a difference.

    ASA I CAN ebonite pen with 1.1 JoWo stub ol.jpg

    I will often spend $40.00 (a little less, a little more) on a pen that otherwise I might not get to try. That's what I did with this one.

    This is an I CAN pen from ASA in India. $28 for the pen with an additional $4.00 for the broad nib. While I have Ranga pens that I truly enjoy, I'd never tried a pen from ASA. I ordered it a month ago and it showed up yesterday.
    It comes in the elephant sleeve, wrapped in bubble wrap. An eyedropper, I flushed all of it in homemade pen wash, let dry, greased the barrel threads, and inked it with Noodler Bad Blue Heron.

    Wet doesn't describe what came out. It was more like a double-triple broad. I heat set the nib and feed, but it didn't help. I changed nibs to a Goulet (JoWo) 1.1 stub, one of my favorites. Heat-set, and it still gushed. Fiddled with it about an hour more. Nib in, nib out, heat-set, gusher. Over and over. Nothing I could do would help.

    Finally, thinking about the ink, I remembered that Bad Blue Heron had been very wet for my Neponset and Triple Tail, causing me to not use BBH in those pens.

    So I emptied, cleaned, and inked the pen with Noodler Black.

    What a difference! You can see the difference in the lines. Top line BBH, bottom line Noodler Black. Now it writes like my other 1.1 stubs. This is 26 lb copy paper. The BBH was worse on Rhodia.

    The pen is nicely made, it's not a Ranga, but it's still a good writer. I'm happy I bought it and happier I've learned that some inks just don't work for me. Bad Blue Heron is one such ink.

    If you want an inexpensive ebonite pen, this one may interest you.

    Sometimes it's not the pen, it's not the paper, it's not even you - it's the ink.

    Cheers.
    Sg
    Last edited by sgphoto; March 22nd, 2020 at 08:27 AM.

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    Senior Member Dreck's Avatar
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    Default Re: ASA I CAN ebonite Pen - Ink makes a difference.

    I have found this to be true for all of my Indian ebonite eyedroppers, whether from ASA or Ranga. My Ranga 3C pens were real firehoses with Manjiro Nakahama Whaleman's Sepia (arguably one of the "wetter" inks anyway), but perform magnificently when fitted with a .6mm or .8mm Nemosine stub and loaded with ESSRI.
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    Default Re: ASA I CAN ebonite Pen - Ink makes a difference.

    My Rangas are converters and plastic feeds.

    I have ESSRI, which I love for many reasons. It is a much drier ink. I have another ebonite from FPR I got in the mail yesterday and will ink that eyedropper with it. I have a Nemosine .08 stub arriving tomorrow so I'll do that then and let you know.

    Thanks for the information.
    Sg
    Last edited by sgphoto; March 22nd, 2020 at 11:02 AM.

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    Senior Member Jon Szanto's Avatar
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    Default Re: ASA I CAN ebonite Pen - Ink makes a difference.

    It is for this reason I use a benchmark ink - usually Waterman Serenity or Mysterious Blue - to ink a pen that has no track record with me (i.e. if I were to pick up another Platinum 3776, I know how it flows and wouldn't feel the need). I also start with a very standard paper as well. Lots of ink formulations can affect the flow of a pen, but putting a known liquid in there can really let you know right away how a pen is going to work, and point you in the right direction, either in terms of physically tweaking the pen or picking a particular style of ink.
    "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."

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    Default Re: ASA I CAN ebonite Pen - Ink makes a difference.

    Quote Originally Posted by Jon Szanto View Post
    It is for this reason I use a benchmark ink - usually Waterman Serenity or Mysterious Blue - to ink a pen that has no track record with me (i.e. if I were to pick up another Platinum 3776, I know how it flows and wouldn't feel the need). I also start with a very standard paper as well. Lots of ink formulations can affect the flow of a pen, but putting a known liquid in there can really let you know right away how a pen is going to work and point you in the right direction, either in terms of physically tweaking the pen or picking a particular style of ink.
    You are absolutely correct. I've done that with several new pens but didn't this time so I got bit. At least now I know what ink NOT to use.

    I have five papers -Rhodia, Clairfountane, Apica, Black and Red, and 26 to 32 lb copy paper. I write on each paper with each new pen so as to know what works and what doesn't work so well. So far, Bad Blue Heron has been a bad choice for all of them.

    Noodler Black, Red Black, Walnut, Legal Lapis, and Liberty's Elysium have done fine. Waterman Black and Serenity Blue also do well. I have Apache Sunset, but other than the writing samples I've done it's not my cup of tea.

    ESSRI works well in most pens. I have two, an Ahab and a Churchman's Prescriptor, that stay inked with it. Every couple of weeks I flush them but haven't experienced any difficulty with them so far even going longer between cleanings.

    It probably helps that I take time every day to write with all inked pens even if it's only a couple of lines.

    But you are correct. Waterman Blue is a good ink by which to judge many things.

    Thanks.

    Sg

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    Jon Szanto (March 22nd, 2020)

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