Another Test Of Four

I like plastic porous point pens especially the technical pen type. These come in very fine point diameters and I am a self confessed fine point freak. They also write smoother than any other type of pen available. The point may not be as durable as a metal tipped pen but if they are treated right the tip can not only last the length of the ink supply but through a refill or two (yes, I try and refill non-refillable pens). Because these pens are often used in art work, scrap booking and archival documents the pigmented ink is often acid free, water proof and fade proof. However not all the pens in this test meat all those criteria, but more on that later. Right now I want to talk about pigment ink.

Dye ink is the old standard ink and it's just what it says. The ink stains or dyes the paper fibers, changing the color of the fiber. Such ink can be washed or bleached out of documents such as checks sometimes with nothing more than water but most certainly with common chemicals. Pigment ink is different in that it does not stain the paper instead it gets in between the paper fibers and lodges there. Because of this it is far more resistant to washing and bleaching techniques as well as being fade and water resistant.

The pens used in this test were the: Alvin TechLiner Technical Drawing Marker 0.20mm; Kuretake ZIG Memory System Millennium 0.25mm; Mitsubishi unipin Fine Line 0.20mm; and the Sakura Pigma Micron 0.20mm all in black ink. The Alvin, Mitsubishi and Sakura were labeled as water proof and fade proof. The Alvin, Kuretake and Sakura were all labeled as acid free and archival quality. All four were labeled as pigmented ink.

The paper used was standard notebook quality paper on a 5" x 7" writing pad. The test comprised of writing the name of each pen with that pen followed by a short line. At the end of the line I lightly pressed the pen to the paper for 10 seconds to test for bleed through. Finally I dipped my finer in nasal spray (because it was handy and to simulate a non-water spill) and placed a single small drop on each line. I did not smear the line. After a few minutes I patted up the liquid then blew it dry with a small heat gun.

All the pens wrote smoothly, as expected. All appear to produce nice dark lines, as expected. What wasn't expected was the fact that all the pens bled through to the next page. Being pigmented ink I expected less bleed through through I must confess that bleed through was far less than gel ink pens with dye ink. The worst offenders were the Alvin and the Kuretake bleeding through with a spot as big as that left on the top page. Next came the sakura with a slightly smaller spot than was left on the top page. Finally the least offender was the Mitsubishi with a spot barely 1/2 the spot left on the top page. The number beside each spot is the number of pages each pen bleed through.

As expected all passed the liquid test. None of the inks bleed through or feathered or changed colors. Sore one for pigmented ink. Pigmented ink is also why each appears so dark. Dye ink would make such thin lines appear gray in contrast.

The Mitsubishi and Skura appear to have tied for the pen with the thinnest line width. Not really surprising there as they claim the same nib width. However the Alvin, with the same nib width as the previous two, seems to have tied with the Kuretake for second place. That only goes to show that not all pen nibs of equal size are. Just 'cause it sez so don't make it so.

Well for my money any of the four would make nice fine nibbed writing instruments. For some reason as yet unknown to me, I seem to have a fondness for the Mitsubishi with the Sakura coming in a very close second. As far as price goes (something I've never mentioned before in a review because I feel it shouldn't make mush of a difference) they all sell for under $3.00 so no matter which one that you choose it shouldn't make such a huge dent in your pocketbook.