Best inks for vintage Parkers?

[JayFromBrooklyn]

I got a nice NOS Parker 45 on the way- blue with silver cap and gold trim, medium gold nib, never been inked. What's a good ink for it's maiden voyage using a converter? Should I stick with Parker Quink? I kinda like the color of the washable blue better than their regular blue, is that a good choice? I also really like the looks of the turquoise bottled inks by Waterman, Pelikan, and Pilot,... would those be ok for first use in a vintage pen? Any suggestions for something better? This is my first real fountain pen. I don't actually do much writing of any importance, just got a weird fascination with fountain pens all of a sudden to try to improve my handwriting for some unknown reason that i can't quite explain.

Part 2 - To go along with the above unexplainable pen fascination- I also bought a few vintage Parker Vectors and a bunch of different nibs: fine, medium, stub, broad, extra broad... to learn calligraphy, or just try out some cool lettering styles. For these, I'll probably use Parker blue/black cartridges to start out with. Are there any other brands of cartridge that fit the Vector (and also asking for the 45), or am i limited to just the ones from Parker? I've seen that you can syringe different inks into empty cartridges but just asking if there are other easier options to just buy and pop into the pens.

 

[dojpros]

When I first started in the FP world in 2005ish, I always mated my ink by brand to pens. Parker Quink for a Parker 45 is exactly what I did in both Blue and Black. That is never a bad way to go.

I found that those Quink colors did not dry as fast as their counterparts in Lamy or Pelikan or Waterman or even standard Pilot.

Over time, I have consolidated a 30+ pen collection to 15 max, strongly favoring Lamy AL Stars and a few vintage Schaeffer's. Parker 45s, Pilot Metropolitans and a couple of basic Waterman's were sold off.

If I was going to buy one ink only it would be Lamy- it works in everything, the bottle has a "teat" in he bottom so you can get every last drop and it has a roll of blotter paper integrated and included in the bottle design. 50 ML is well under 15.00 shipped all day long.

Amazon.com

 

[nemo]

Modern Parker Quink blue is a good safe ink but I've noticed it will fade over time.
Pelikan, Lamy, Waterman, Sheaffer, and Montblanc are some I regularly use and trust.
Pick an ink made by a large company that manufactures pens, an old rule I've used.
I've had issues with "boutique" inks like clogging, staining, melted sacs, and SITB.

 

[psfred]

I use more Skrip Blue-black than anything, it's a requirement for my Parker "51" vacs due to diaphragm issues (they melt with anything else, some of them melted before installation too, ditto 14 1/2 sacs, but not 14 regular or 16 size....). Parker Quink Washable Blue is as mild as ink gets, but as noted, fades on sulfite processed paper and is the opposite of water resistant.

Quink Black is OK, but has a reputation for clogging pens

I you have a convertor, you can use any ink. Noodler's will get gummy if you let it sit in the pen for long periods without writing, but otherwise a Parker 45 or Vector will be fine with any of them, ditto for Private Reserve or anything else out there.

 

[WetShaveVet]

Aurora cartridges will fit as well. Or get a syringe and refill the cartridges you already have. IMHO Aurora is a "safe" ink.

 

[Keyvan]

Waterman Serenity Blue is the best ink for the widest array of pens. It doesn’t clog feeds and it is fairly easy to clean out. Parker Quink blue is also a good choice. I have not used the Skrip inks, but I can believe that they would also be good.

 

[Legion]

I quite like Noodler's inks for coloured ink, and have used that a lot in my vintage Parkers and not noticed any problems.

For black I just use Quink.

 

[JayFromBrooklyn]

Thanks for all the replies and suggestions. I was a little disappointed at first when the Parker 45 arrived in the mail...it was listed and shown in the photo as a medium, but the one I received was a fine point. But I think if my goal is to improve my handwriting I'll eventually come to appreciate the fine point in time....and 45 nibs are pretty easy to find and swap anyway.

I may order a medium point Lamy Al-Star, so that I'll have both new and vintage pens to mess around with. There's a limited edition blue "Aquatic" color for 2024 that looks pretty awesome.

I think I'm gonna stick with Quink for the Parkers and get a bottle of Lamy turquoise to go along with the aquatic pen. ...and maybe get some samples of the other brands mentioned in the replies too. Also saw some cool looking Rhodia books with turquoise covers. More Badger & Blade rabbit holes to fall into.... LOL

 

[WetShaveVet]

The Lamy Safari is a tank. I have a resin one in the ugliest green colour you can imagine but it has served me for what must be 30 years.

 

[Borderboss]

I've got a number of Parker 45s in my rotation. They work fine with pretty much any company's ink, including some pen cloggers like Private Reserve. I even use some old Parker Penman Ruby in one of them, and the Penman ink was renowned for clogging. The fortunate part about the P-45 is that the nib and section unscrews easily for flushing and cleaning.

For a turquoise ink, I really like the Diamine Havasu Turquoise. It's a darker color than other turquoise inks I've tried, but it's still definitely turquoise. I run it in a P-45 and also a Parker 41 with no problems whatsoever.

If you prefer cartridges, I frequently see old Parker Quink turqouise cartridges on ebay. I've used them and the color is fine.