A review about using Vanishing point fountain pen with Platinum pigment ink for a year
It’s been about a year since I started to use the fountain pen, Pilot Vanishing Point, with Platinum Pigment ink, so I review about that.
Preface
- In general(in Japan), it is not recommended to fill fountain pens with non-genuine brand ink. So if you try, please do so at your own risk.
- Just recently (as of February 2022), the long-awaited genuine Pilot pigmented ink has been released! So I recommend you it strongly if you need water resistance ink with VP.
About the pen, Pilot Vanishing Point
For certain reasons, I use the fountain pen, Pilot Vanishing Point (hereinafter referred to as VP), for daily note-taking. I think this pen is most practical pen due to combining the smooth writing feel characteristic of fountain pens and the ease of use of knock-on mechanism like a ballpoint pen. It’s indispensable to me.
The only concern with using this pen was water resistance. As of 2021, Pilot genuine ink were no pigment ink, with high water resistance, but all dye ink, basically water-soluble.
However, even with dye ink, there are some exceptionally water-resistant dye inks. The genuine blue black, I used until then, is so1. Its water resistance is not perfect like pigment ink but almost no practically problem 2 for me. Until my hand sweat become worse last year.
About the ink, Platinum pigment ink for fountain pens
Except Pilot genuine, There are several pigment ink for fountain pens. and this time I chose Platinum’s ink for two reasons. First, the ink (only black, even so) has a relatively long seller. Second, the ink can be mixed with other colors3. I wanted to use 2 dark colors, like blue-black and burgundy, but I couldn’t find ready-made pigment inks like that. So I wondered to mix the colors. So I mixed black with blue into blue-black, and red with black into burgundy. That plan is gone well.
How was it after a year of use
- As reputed, the VP nib was more easily to dry out than other fountain pen having cap.
- As long as I use every day, the nib remain fresh ink so that’s no problem.
- The nib dries out and gets scratchy when I did’t use a couple of days or the ink runs out.
- Unlike dye ink, I couldn’t restore by refilling ink or washing with water.
- Platinum genuine cleaning solution could restore so I think it’s not so critical issue unless the nib has completely clogged up
- There are no problem about open/close mechanism due to ink sticking.
- I was worried about that the dried ink around lid may stick lid but it’s unnecessary
- There was a build up of dried ink like dirt around lid. You may need to rake it with swab or toothpick before the dirt builds up to overflow,
Therefore, if you are careful about running out of ink and use it every day, there will be no problem, especially if you use it as your main writing instrument like me.4
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I heard Pilot genuine black is also waterproof. I don’t know why the two ink has waterproof even though they are dye ink, it’s interesting. ↩︎
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Specifically, the color shifts a little when I touch it with a wet hand, but it’s not a problem for visibility, and the stains can be quickly removed with water, so I wasn’t too concerned about it. I think pencil stains are more troublesome because they are shift even if my hand is dry and not dissolve in water. ↩︎
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According to Official Q&A, mixing pigment inks is not impossible but the color will dull. So mixing in order to make darken maybe no problem. ↩︎
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Conversely, it would be difficult to use multiple VPs with pigment ink properly. In my case, I used one more VP for emphasis. I did not use this one every day, and I had to scribble with it to keep it from drying out, that made me too restless and bothered so I stopped to use. ↩︎