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Showing 1 of 7 conversations about:
Bungubox Tokyo Metro Ink Set
Jono2112
8
Aug 8, 2018
So, I like Sailor ink. But is this a good deal? $99USD? 20mL each? I’d love the opinion of someone who knows these inks as I’m a newbie to the fountain pen world!
CAAR
75
Aug 10, 2018
Jono2112A year or two ago, ink by volume this would be terrible if it was a normal set of ink, but, a few things are why this is so much higher than before: 1. Sailor is increasing their price point a lot. It had been going up steadily for a decade or so but is now increasing massively. 2. While Sailor makes this ink, its actually Bungubox ink (Sailor makes the in store inks multiple places in Japan), which is a line for a particular store in Japan that is carried by a few America stores. The colors are unique to line and are not just the normal ink in a different package. 3. This is a limited collectors set of an already more expensive line of ink, so your price is going to be sky-high. If you really want this set because its a set, its probably your only real way to get it in the U.S. without going through a re-seller. If you want to try Sailor inks, or even Bungubox ink, there are a lot of cheaper options.
Jono2112
8
Aug 10, 2018
CAARAwesome. Thanks for the detailed answers. Do you have any ink recommendations?
CAAR
75
Aug 11, 2018
Jono2112It depends on what you are looking for; the answer will be really different for inking paint washes vs. what works for cheap officer paper. Your best bet is to start with sample bottles, most of the reputable dealers sell sample size containers, including store made ones of brands that normally don't come in small sizes.
Jono2112
8
Aug 11, 2018
CAARThank you that sounds like good advice. I need everyday ink for lab books and good ink for my high quality journaling. So far I have tried Sailor, Keweko, and Diamine. All seem to be good but the sailor is really smooth, opaque and my favorite.
CAAR
75
Aug 12, 2018
Jono2112Sailor is really good, it is just rising in price from what it was not that long ago.
For basic stuff, some good options are Waterman Mysterious Blue, Aurora Black, and Shaffer Skrip Red; they are cheap, works on most paper (particularly as long as you are using a nib of western fine/Japanese medium or smaller), and are known to be really easy on a pen (and are fairly easy to clean). Pilot and Lamy's basic inks are also really good in this regard, particularly their blue-blacks.
The Pilot Iroshizuku is a step up in price, now about the same per oz as Sailor (and cheaper than some Sailor lines) but is generally really good and includes some of my most used inks.
If you want something that will work on just about any paper if you use a small nib, your best options are Sailor Kiwa-Guro/Nano Black and Platinum Classic Blue-Black. Both are the best behaved ink on paper I have ever used (though I normally don't like anything bigger than a Japanese FM) but there are some big caveats. The Nano Black is not a dye ink, so it is not totally water soluble. On the plus it makes it very resistant to water and it doesn't soak into cheap paper, but it does mean you have to stay on top on using any pen it is in and being good about cleaning it so it won't clog up. The Platinum Classic Blue-Black is the best behaved blue ink on cheap paper (it is blue when you write, and turns black over time, as was traditional with blue-blacks) but it is an iron gall ink, so you have to be very good about cleaning the pens not only because of clogging issues, but also because it will eat through some materials, plus, iron gall inks can rust over time, so don't use it for archiving. Platinum is a big company that has been making their inks for decades, so as iron gall goes, this is as safe as it is going to get, but by the same token, don't put it in a nice steel nib pen without knowing what you are doing first. The other downside of it, is that it is very hard to find bottles of it, so its difficult to use in anything but a Platinum or Nakaya.
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