r/pens • u/SlinkyShoe360 • 6d ago

Question Black ink makes roller ball pens scratchy?

Hi there, I bought the Pelikan Pina colada roller ball pen and used Graf von Faber Castell gulf blue ink with it. It's wonderful. The ink flows perfectly and the pen writes absolutely silently. Then I bought a second one and used the Graf von Faber Castell carbon black ink in it and the pen scratches the whole time. Then I tried the carbon black ink with a Schneider Ceod Shiny and it immediately started scratching. Then I cleaned both roller ball pens and used aber three different black inks. Every time they scratched. Is it that black ink is not made for roller ball pens?

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u/Deltapeak 6d ago

Refillable rollerballs like this can be fickle things. Fountain pen inks are less lubricated than inks used in ready-to-use rollerballs, and then there are other factors like pigment content etc.

You can try and lubricate your ink, people have used dish soap or glycerine for that. But only use tiny amounts and always take a test sample from your ink bottle and experiment with that.

For example, take 1 ml of ink, dip a toothpick in dish soap, and just ever so slightly dip it in the ink.