Re: [NTLK] [OT] Fountain pen ink

I'm not a fan of Quink, but if you like it there's nothing
particularly wring with it. If you use your pens regularly and flush
them out once in a while, any fountain-pen safe ink (meaning: don't
just grab some india ink) should be fine for you. If you let the pen
sit without use for more than a few days, you should empty and flush
it. That's true of any ink.

Noodler's ink is very durable, and has claims to have ingredients
that prevent bleeding and spreading. Private reserve makes good ink
as well--other people have claimed it is more likely to bleed and
feather, but that's not my experience. If you can get a hold of
Aurora inks, they are excellent.

If you are writing in a Moleskine, the paper quality is highly
inconsistent and the paper quality was never all that good to begin
with. You're going to want a fine or extra-fine point of a pen that
tends to write pretty dry in the first place.

You mentioned Rotring and while I love Rotrings both of mine are too
wet to use in a Moleskine. There's also a lot of trouble with the
company, it seemed they've "paused" distribution outside of Europe so
you may have some difficulty getting your hands on one. Of course,
that may mean that now is the time to buy.

My Parker '51' writes well on Moleskine paper, as do my other
Parkers, which are all more modern and inexpensive. I think the most
Moleskine-friendly pen I have may be the Pilot Knight.

I can't comment on Shaeffers--I have an irrational dislike for those
pens, so I haven't owned one in fifteen years.

I have been writing about both the Moleskines and fountain pens and
fountain pen inks lately. Forgive the shameless plug for my blog, but
take a read at http://splicer.com/ or if you'd prefer to weed out the
non-pen related material try this:

http://splicer.com/category/stylii/

Sadly, I have to say that the Moleskine, while a beautiful and well-
designed notebook, is almost totally unsuited for writing with a
fountain pen. The company needs to be bought and forced to buy good
paper, preferably from somewhere other than China.

But that's just my opinion.

Steve

On May 10, 2007, at 2:21 AM, William Barnes wrote:

> The thread on pens and Moleskines a week or so ago resonated with me,
> as in the distant past before PDAs I very much enjoyed writing with
> Schaefer and Osmiroid pens. Coupled with my need for a decent
> haircut, which for me means Ernest Wilhelm in Vancouver, I'll make
> the ferry trip to the mainland and visit Vancouver Pen Company, which
> is unfamiliar to me but seems to have outstanding reviews despite
> being sufficiently old-fashioned to not even have a web site.
>
> I have pretty much decided on a Rotring or possibly Waterman pen, and
> would like to know what brand of ink is recommended. In the past I
> remember using Parker Quink, but have been using ball-points and gel
> pens for so many years that I don't know what has changed in inks for
> fountain pens. Are 'permanent' inks pigment-based and, if so, do they
> clog fountain pens? Most of my writing is on Moleskine journals.
>
> Thanks in advance for any help.
>
> William
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