How much ink do you use per month?

[AimlessWanderer]

I'm a relatively light user of fountain pens, and might only go through a couple of cartridges (or equivalent) per month. Call that 2ml per month.

I probably have in the region of 150-160ml of bottled ink, and just over 100 cartridges (94 arrived today). That's not counting ink for dip pens. I probably have enough to last 5 years, before running out of any primary colours.

How much ink do you use per month, and how does that relate to your reserves?

 

[KW Driver]

Uh.... couldn’t even begin to measure it because I refill from bottles. I refill my 2 primaries about once a month I’d say without knowing how much I’m putting in.

whatever a TWSBI 530 mini holds, and an Esterbrook SJ (9450 XF nib) to the bottom of a seated nib section. my other SJ (9314-F?, Fine stub) gets reloaded about every 2 months.

I tend to write daily at least a short journal entry if not more. I’ve got about 70ml left in that bottle of ESS, and a bunch of Noodler’s Heart of Darkness that I don’t really use. Maybe 80 odd ml?

 

[Slivovitz]

Killing time this morning, waiting to see how something more important turned out.

I can't be very helpful with actual data. But one approach you could try if you want to make your own estimates is to use just one pen in one notebook, and see how many pages you get on a single fill. Also record how many pages you fill in a day across all your notebooks, even if you didn't use the same pen in each one.

I tried this with a number of pens some years ago, but if I recorded the results, I'm not sure where. As I recall, I did get about 40 A5 sized pages with one pen, and only 8 with another. One tends to remember the extremes, but most were probably in the 20 page range at best.

I also keep an ink log, mostly for the purpose of putting the same ink in a newly emptied pen if I'm going to refill it right away, rather than flushing it out. It's a small notebook that I didn't want for anything else, and I record the day I filled a pen, and what ink I put in it. When I refill it with the same ink, I just leave the entry as is, when I decide not to refill and clean out the pen, I just line it out. Since I typically have at least two pens inked, usually more, and since it might be as high as six, this doesn't necessarily tell me how long it would take to use up the ink in a single pen. But organized a little differently, it would be usable for that.

At a minimum, I write a couple of journal pages a day, sometimes more, plus briefer entries in a couple of other notebooks; a longer writing project has been stalled for some time. I make some quick jottings at work as needed, and generally have two fountain pens with me there, although I often use a mechanical pencil instead. My "reserves" are ample. I have probably three or four unopened bottles of Namiki Blue alone, which is one of my favorites, and the only favorite for which I have gone through an entire bottle. Considering my stocks of other inks that I'd be happy enough to use in its place, I'd have to be seriously inattentive to discover suddenly that I was out of ink, or that I would be before I could get another bottle delivered. And then there are the inks which I don't like so much, but which would be better than not writing at all. Considering my actuarial prospects, it's likely enough that I will never run out of ink. And yet, I've bought four bottles of ink this year, different colors of De Atramentis Document inks. Luckily, my shaving ADs seem to be behind me. Haven't bought anything shaving related in five years.

 

[Vacumatic]

A few years ago I had a Cross as my daily writer and that used a cartridge a day. With Lockdown, a converter full lasts about a week.

 

[Shutterbug57]

I'm a relatively light user of fountain pens, and might only go through a couple of cartridges (or equivalent) per month. Call that 2ml per month.

I probably have in the region of 150-160ml of bottled ink, and just over 100 cartridges (94 arrived today). That's not counting ink for dip pens. I probably have enough to last 5 years, before running out of any primary colours.

How much ink do you use per month, and how does that relate to your reserves?

My ink use varies quite a lot month to month. THBS, if I just used the inks in my current inventory, I would likely die before exhausting the inks. I still want to buy a bottle of Diamine Denim ink.

 

[AimlessWanderer]

My ink use varies quite a lot month to month. THBS, if I just used the inks in my current inventory, I would likely die before exhausting the inks. I still want to buy a bottle of Diamine Denim ink.

I know what you mean!

My most used ink is Diamine Grape. I've used just under half a 30ml bottle of that, but some of that was used for darkening Amaranth, which I didn't like. My others are Sherwood Green, Twilight, Teal, and Burnt Sienna. Only one of those (Sherwood Green) has been used enough for the level the drop below the top of the label. Aside from the cartridges I've used, that's the total ink consumption of bottled ink for three and a half years!!! If I had to guess, I'd say I've used about 18ml of bottled in that time ... or 5ml per year! It's highly doubtful that I'll ever use up all the rest at that rate. And that's just 6 x 30ml bottles!

I have gone through a few packs of cartridges though, and two of the three fountain pens that get all the use here, are both on cartridges at the moment. I ought to put a converter back in one of them, but it's just too easy to pop a cartridge in every time. The other is a pocket pen that only uses carts. Converter's won't fit in it, but I do sometimes refill them with a syringe.

 

[Dominic]

It takes probably 4-6 weeks to run a cartridge/converter out of ink.

 

[Shutterbug57]

This week I have used half of a 2 ounce bottle of Quink. There has been a bit of writing, but I also used the ink to do my periodic inspection and maintenance on all my pens. This includes checking the filling mechanisms and performing writing samples. I put the ink back in the bottle when done, but some stays in the nib, feed and reservoir. This activity consumed half of a previously unopened bottle.

 

[AimlessWanderer]

This week I have used half of a 2 ounce bottle of Quink. There has been a bit of writing, but I also used the ink to do my periodic inspection and maintenance on all my pens. This includes checking the filling mechanisms and performing writing samples. I put the ink back in the bottle when done, but some stays in the nib, feed and reservoir. This activity consumed half of a previously unopened bottle.

That's a heck of a lot of "lost" ink. Must be quite a few pens.

I don't bother doing any checks like that, unless I'm planning on putting something into everyday use... which is almost never, as my array of users barely changes. All my "spare" pens (either duplicates of frequently used pens, or pens I bought to try, which now lie dormant) are all stored ink-free. Either they have never been inked, or have been fully stripped down and cleaned. That said, I don't have sacs and bladders to keep a check on, or (so far as I know) any other perishable components.

I have two more pens on their way to me, my first additions for quite some time. They too will sit there ink-free, until one of the other (currently in use) pens has emptied its respective reservoir, and been stripped, cleaned, and been prepared for a long sleep. Three inked pens take long enough for me to cycle through. If I add a fourth, I get swamped for choice, and I risk slow starts, dried feeds, and having to strip down pens I otherwise wouldn't have needed to.

In other words, I always veer towards the lazy option

 

[Shutterbug57]

That's a heck of a lot of "lost" ink. Must be quite a few pens.

I don't bother doing any checks like that, unless I'm planning on putting something into everyday use... which is almost never, as my array of users barely changes. All my "spare" pens (either duplicates of frequently used pens, or pens I bought to try, which now lie dormant) are all stored ink-free. Either they have never been inked, or have been fully stripped down and cleaned. That said, I don't have sacs and bladders to keep a check on, or (so far as I know) any other perishable components.

I have two more pens on their way to me, my first additions for quite some time. They too will sit there ink-free, until one of the other (currently in use) pens has emptied its respective reservoir, and been stripped, cleaned, and been prepared for a long sleep. Three inked pens take long enough for me to cycle through. If I add a fourth, I get swamped for choice, and I risk slow starts, dried feeds, and having to strip down pens I otherwise wouldn't have needed to.

In other words, I always veer towards the lazy option

It took 3 days to get through my pens, so, yeah there are a few. I too store pens ink free. Right now, I have 2 inked up and in service. The review I just did was to ID what needs work. Most pens are in great shape, but I did find a few that need new sacs. It is usually the vac and lever fillers that need work. Next up is fixing what’s broken.