Ink Bottles

[svejk]

I like Noodler's/Swisher's ink quite a lot, and I appreciate paying for
ink and not a fancy bottle, but I have decided to get some bottles to
decant the 'colored water' of my choice into. Partly this comes from
having trouble seeing how far I am dipping the pen into the ink and
getting it down too far and having to wipe out the cap threads (or
drain out the cavity around the cap clip on my Lamy 2000s) but also
from having knocked a capped, full bottle of American Eel off of my
desk onto a brand new hardwood floor. Of course, the cap broke and I
can now tell you from hands on experience that Nathan is not kidding
about amazing dye concentration.
At any rate it seems that retailers can't profitably stock bottles in
the quantities involved. Thinking back on some derogatory comments on
a brand of ink I found a place that sells Montblanc ink cheap.
Shoplet.com:

http://www.shoplet.com/office/db/MNB12569.html

has Montblanc ink for $6.62 each, with free shipping over $25 which is
covered by four bottles. They really are good bottles.

[Bluesea]

Post by svejk
Thinking back on some derogatory comments on
a brand of ink I found a place that sells Montblanc ink cheap.
http://www.shoplet.com/office/db/MNB12569.html
has Montblanc ink for $6.62 each, with free shipping over $25 which is
covered by four bottles. They really are good bottles.

Yup. MB has great bottles. Just dump the ink.

[Dave]

Post by Bluesea

Post by svejk
Thinking back on some derogatory comments on
a brand of ink I found a place that sells Montblanc ink cheap.
http://www.shoplet.com/office/db/MNB12569.html
has Montblanc ink for $6.62 each, with free shipping over $25 which is
covered by four bottles. They really are good bottles.

Yup. MB has great bottles. Just dump the ink.

Hey! The blue-black is nice! (I haven't used the other colours, but MB
blue-black, though it isn't necessarily what everyone would call a
pretty colour, performs well in almost every situation I've used it in.)

David

[Garglemonster]

Post by Bluesea

Post by svejk
Thinking back on some derogatory comments on
a brand of ink I found a place that sells Montblanc ink cheap.
http://www.shoplet.com/office/db/MNB12569.html
has Montblanc ink for $6.62 each, with free shipping over $25
which is covered by four bottles. They really are good bottles.

Yup. MB has great bottles. Just dump the ink.

Oh, it's not that bad if the price is right. It's not the saturated
stuff that seems to be more popular these days, but then, the same is
true of vintage Skrip and Quink. The blueback is an old school
blueblack, and the bordeaux is a cheaper substitute for Skrip burgundy
than the Herbin Poussiere de lune. It looks like the place mentioned
above only has black, though.

[JP]

I tested the weather resistance of my collection last winter
by writing with each ink and tacking the paper outside.
The Montblanc black washed away first, beating the Herbin violet
by a day or so. I would think the bottles are the better buy.
They are well designed.

[Garglemonster]

Post by JP
I tested the weather resistance of my collection last winter
by writing with each ink and tacking the paper outside.
The Montblanc black washed away first, beating the Herbin violet
by a day or so.

Try any blue inks like the highly touted Waterman Florida blue? It
must be bad ink, too.

Some might think less permanence would also mean it's safer to use in
their pens.

[Bluesea]

Post by Garglemonster

Post by Bluesea
Yup. MB has great bottles. Just dump the ink.

Oh, it's not that bad if the price is right. It's not the saturated
stuff that seems to be more popular these days, but then, the same is
true of vintage Skrip and Quink.

I like Skrip and Quink. I have a bottle of turquoise MB that's the same
shade as Sheaffer's but it's a much drier ink so I mix it 1:1 with
Sheaffer's to make it useable for one of my pens.

Post by Garglemonster
The blueback is an old school
blueblack, and the bordeaux is a cheaper substitute for Skrip burgundy
than the Herbin Poussiere de lune. It looks like the place mentioned
above only has black, though.

I wouldn't want to wait until I used up all the MB ink before reusing the
bottles for others. That's all I meant.

Post by Garglemonster
Boys, you have ALL been selected to LEAVE th' PLANET in 15 minutes!!

What's the deal? I'm still here :).

[Renard DellaFave]

For bottles and caps I go to an outdoor supply store called REI. They
are also online at http://www.rei.com.

Their 1,2, and 4 oz Nalgene HDPE bottles are the standard for inkjet
ink storage, and I like their 2 oz Lexan bottle with the narrower
mouth.

Glass is better at preventing evaporation, but unless you're going to
keep it over a decade, at which point it may be moldy, the HDPE is
fine. Lexan is polycarbonate, which AFAIK does not allow water to
evaporate though it. In any case, they don't break, and the 1 oz is a
great travel size.

[Tony Belding]

Post by svejk
I like Noodler's/Swisher's ink quite a lot, and I appreciate paying for
ink and not a fancy bottle, but I have decided to get some bottles to
decant the 'colored water' of my choice into.

I reached the same conclusion.

My favorites (thus far) are the old Parker Penman ink bottles with the
little plastic insert in the neck. I only have three of them, though.
Levenger ink bottles also have a similar plastic insert.

I've never tried them, but the Montblanc bottle does look like a good design.

Monoject hobby syringes with the curved plastic applicator tip are
pretty handy for moving and mixing ink between various containers.
Probably handy for filling eyedropper pens too.

Be sure to label your bottles. :)

[Aaron W. Hsu]

Post by Tony Belding
I've never tried them, but the Montblanc bottle does look like a good design.

Having used Montblanc bottles quite a lot, I can vouche for their
utility and ease of use.

Aaron W. Hsu

[MartinMcKeeman]

In addition to the Montblanc bottles, Visconti's is nice. Unusual shape, but
effective. Gets a "B+" to Montblanc's "A".

[krishnananda]

Post by MartinMcKeeman
In addition to the Montblanc bottles, Visconti's is nice. Unusual shape, but
effective. Gets a "B+" to Montblanc's "A".

I'm always afraid I'll knock the Visconti bottle over while filling a
pen. It's shape is pretty but the wide base/narrow top of a Sheaffer
bottle is more practical to me...

[Arnold D.]

On Mon, 21 Dec 2009 20:35:17 -0500, krishnananda

Post by krishnananda
I'm always afraid I'll knock the Visconti bottle over while filling a
pen. It's shape is pretty but the wide base/narrow top of a Sheaffer
bottle is more practical to me...

Lamy has the best shape bottle IMHO. Deep inkwell in the centre,
sloped upper to help the ink into the well. Can fill a large nib
(Visconti/Stipula/Pelikan 800) easy and of course tissue dispenser to
clean the nib after filling.