Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Humanities/2021 January 3

= January 3 =

Fountain pen ink
It appears that Parker's no longer make red or green Quink. Could anyone recommend a bottled ink suitable for use with Parker's pens? Thank you, DuncanHill (talk) 01:34, 3 January 2021 (UTC)


 * You might want to check out the fountain pens subreddit. I think you’d be far more likely to get a lot of varied opinions by asking there. 69.174.144.79 (talk) 02:12, 3 January 2021 (UTC)
 * I found The Pen Company. Alansplodge (talk) 16:41, 3 January 2021 (UTC)
 * That is quite a price range, with litre prices ranging from $89.00 (Schubert Diamine) to $797.40 (Chiku-rin Iroshizuku). --Lambiam 00:18, 4 January 2021 (UTC)
 * I don't think many people could work their way through a litre of fountain pen ink in a lifetime. British ink bottles are generally 2 fluid ounces (57 ml), although we used to have ink in gallon cans (160 fl oz) at school for our dip pens, I never remember one running out. Alansplodge (talk) 16:49, 5 January 2021 (UTC)
 * So a liter is a lot. Prices starting to look more reasonable now. Still I would just use a disposable ballpoint that comes pre-filled in packs of 10 for like a dollar as I have no special hobby of fine pens. Is the pre-fountain pen ink waterless? Sagittarian Milky Way (talk) 17:08, 5 January 2021 (UTC)
 * It's the same ink (actually, our school ink was a bit more watery than the Parker ink, presumably because it was cheaper). Alansplodge (talk) 21:20, 5 January 2021 (UTC)
 * Oh I get it now, the gallon container was only used to refill smaller ones or someone added water when it felt too evaporated. Sagittarian Milky Way (talk) 23:04, 5 January 2021 (UTC)
 * Yes, you fill one of these (an ink well) that fits in one of these (a school desk). A suitably gullible child was given the prestigious title of "ink monitor" and tasked with topping them up from an enormous tin can and then had to explain to their mother why they had ink on their white shirt. Alansplodge (talk) 00:17, 6 January 2021 (UTC)
 * I may have been born early enough to remember a school desk with inkwell hole in storage in New York City and would've thought it was for a hypothetical thingy for reloading or parking fountain pens. Sagittarian Milky Way (talk) 01:02, 6 January 2021 (UTC)
 * They were still in use at my London primary school in the late 1960s, but we were the last to use them. Alansplodge (talk) 12:16, 6 January 2021 (UTC)
 * I never thought I'd see hipster ink or Gucci ink. But I'm sure it's really good, or at least has some cool facet like containing gold or hand-milked octopus ink. It's $24 an ounce and Japanese so it must be something. Sagittarian Milky Way (talk) 00:38, 4 January 2021 (UTC)