Good Monday morning ink?

[pico]

I have a few pens, Parker Urban, Sheaffer and a Jinhao x450 that I tend to leave in my office. I've also got about 30 ink samples, but trials are taking for ever so I thought I'd ask for your help.

What inks work well for leaving over a weekend and still write when you come in Monday morning? I know it is very pen dependent so your experience and comparisons are appreciated.

My results so far:
Yes: Parker black quink, Noodler's 54th Mass.

Nope: Noodler's Polar Black(this surprised me), Diamine Ox Blood(worst so far), Noodler's Baystate Blue(bad), Noodler's Liberty's Elysium(least bad of the "no" batch)

I'd like to find go-to inks in blue, black, brown, green, and red

PS: as a side note I have a Jinhao 602 I got for $5 that nothing seems to ever dry out in, even ox blood which dries for hard starting in an hour in some of my other pens. Amazed.

[tandaina]

For me this is way more about the pens than the inks.

Some of my pens will dry out if not used overnight. Some will sit for days, a week, and start no issue. Sorry I can't be more help, I'd be inclined to find pens with really good seals and leave those at work.

(I leave no pens at work, all inked pens go with me everywhere in their pen roll!)

[TerraNoir]

I agree. The inks you have listed in your No list are the ones I know do not dry up in my pens. And Noodler's 54th Mass...DEFINITELY has some start up issues in a few of mine. I think really its the pen more than the ink.

Just sort of echoing tandaina.

[Jeph]

Yes, it is the pen more than the ink. I use mostly Diamine inks and the same color behaves differently in different pens. I have a Sheaffer Prelude that sits on my desk as a back-up and it only hard started once and that took sitting for a month. I have some other pens with poorly sealing caps that can't go an hour capped without hard starting using the same ink. Ooops, just checked and it (Prelude) hard started in only 2 1/2 weeks this time. It was, however, running freely by the end of the word "Sheaffer." I picked up a old Kaweco piston filler at random this weekend that was in my "out of rotation to be cleaned pile" for probably 2 months and it started on the second downstroke. I have other pens that get used daily that hard start every single time. My Faber-Castell 55S had been sitting since Thursday afternoon and started this morning on the first stroke. And this is a pen that dries out relatively quickly when left uncapped.

It is all about the caps.

Edit: Tried the rest that I have with me and all started instantly after being unused for the shown times:
Geha Piston ~1 week+ Diamine Red Dragon
Pelikan M100 ~2 weeks Diamine Green Black
Pelikan M150 ~2 weeks Diamine Pumpkin (or something orange, I forget)
Pelikan M200 ~5 days (EF) Diamine Midnight Blue
Pelikan M200 ~1 week (.7 CI) Diamine dark purple home brew
Pelikan M250 ~2 weeks+ Diamine Eclipse
Pelikan M600 ~5 days Diamine Red Dragon

The F-C 55S is using Pelikan Königsblau
The Prelude is using Diamine Sapphire Blue

[pico]

I guess I worded my question badly. I know each of my pens has its own issues with this. So, forget I said I have more than one pen and I'll pretend I only own my Parker Urban (my oldest favorite I've had for years).

In the one single pen I have noticed that some inks tend to dry out when left over night and over the weekend while some seem ready to start up happily Monday morning. In a single pen, with no real variations in temperature and humidity I must assume the difference is in a particular inks tolerance to minor evaporation in the cap and stay more viscous than another.

I've been using Parker Black Quink as my only ink for many years and recently decided I'd like to try other inks. My first try was Diamine Ox Blood because it is an amazing color to me. After a single night it was dry as a bone on the nib. So, I switched to storing the pen over night nib down. This helped and it started easier, but after 2 days it was dry again and required dipping in water and cleaning with a rag to get going again. This is not something I'd ever seen over years with Quink. In fact I could leave my Urban parked for a week and Quink would skip a little, but not like this.

In conclusion, there's more at play here than just the pen. All inks do not seem to tolerate sitting unused exactly the same. I was just asking for opinions on which ones seemed to tolerate sitting better when all else is equal. I understand many people change inks like they do socks, so may not see this behavior. I was thinking a few basic colors would be fun to find to add to just always black, but this ink color thing just may not be for me.

[Jeph]

Ahh, ok I can see that question now in your origianl post. In general I find that blacks and blues behave the best and reds the worst. I can offer no technical explanation for that.

Noodler's Bad Black Moccasin was a little tempermental for me. But Parker Quink Black and Diamine Eclipse (my Diamine black substitute) don't give me any problems. Diamine graphite (a greenish grey) also appeared to dry out relatively quickly. I would say Diamine Ancinet Copper was the worst behaved of all of my inks although the Red Dragon does not give me any problems.

The Prelude is one of my few C/C pens and it performs very well after being neglected so I can't attribute it to piston fillers vs. C/C.

[Gertyyeds]

I hear your frustration! Finding inks that don't hard-start after a weekend can be a challenge. It sounds like you've got a good starting point with Parker Quink and Noodler's 54th Mass. For your other colors, I'd recommend trying some samples that are known for good drying times. Here's what others have found:

Blue: Sailor Souten or Pilot Iroshizuku Kon-peki
Brown: Diamine Ancient Copper or Noodler's Walnut Brown
Green: Sailor Jentle Souten or Pilot Iroshizuku Yama-budo
Red: Sailor Kiwa-Guro or Diamine Registrar's Ink

That Jinhao 602 is a champ! It's amazing how some pens seem to handle buy dissertation inks differently. Maybe it has a great feed or a drier nib that helps prevent evaporation.

[Lithium466]

That above post looks AI written. I would love a bright red Sailor Kiwa-Guro, sadly so far it's called Storia mix red and it's particularly lousy

[welch]

Try Parker's (Permanent) Blue -- not Washable Blue. I find it on Amazon, and, before that, bought several bottles from a pen shop in the UK. Around 2012, Parker execs visited Art Brown's Pen Store, in NYC. At the time, the permanent blue was available only as a special order through Parker USA, and only for about $15. Marilyn Brown suggested that Parker import the permanent Blue, which is a bit more purple than Waterman Blue. The execs said "nope". (Marilyn also suggested that Parker re-start their Penman inks, pointing to the "luxury" inks from Pilot and Pelikan...and their luxury prices. Parker, again, said "no".)

This stuff: https://www.amazon.com/Parker-Founta...01&sr=8-1&th=1