My little Write in Rain Notebook and ink water resistence test.

[Revolvergeek]

I did a little experiment in response to a post over on EDC forums. These were done with what I had on my desk.

From top to bottom:

1) Parker ballpoint with a Fisher broad point black Spacepen refill
2) Sanford Liquid Expresso Extra Fine Line Pen, black
3) Pilot G2 Black Fine Point
4) Pilot G2 Mini, fine point black ink
5) Lamy Safari fountain pen, medium nib, Noodler's bullerproof black ink
6) Shaprie Micro, extra fine point black
7) Sanford Uniball Vision, bold point, blue black ink
8) Sanford Uniball Gel Impack, bold point, blue ink
9) Parker Jotter ballpoint with black Parker gel ink refill

The first scan is about 2 minutes after writing on the paper. After a minute of so several off the inks were still very wet and smeared when I ran a finger down the edge of the page (thus the smearing). The Noodler's Bulletproof black looks funny because I wrote over it twice to try to get it to show up. The ink just did not want to go onto that coated paper.


Here is the same page after a 30 second soak in cool water.


Here's the page after an additional 5 minute soak in cool water.


And here's the page after a 13 hour overnight soak. Maybe not a realistic threat under normal circumstances for most folks, but after Katrina and Rita who knows what is possible.


Here they all are side by side to show the progession.


None of the inks ever bled through to the back of the page. The Parker Gel ball point refill was a huge disappointment to me. If it didn't take so long to dry with the risk of smearing, the Unibal Gel Impact would be very hard to beat. Personally, to balance cheap / smooth writing / fast drying / permanent, it is extra / ultra fine point Sharpies for me all the way for day to day use.

Danny

 

[kr1]

Thanks for this. I always have a fisher space pen on me. It looks like it works pretty good. I carry a Sharpie with me on duty but its not a fine point. I need to find one of those fine point Sharpies. Don't think I've seen one.

Very good test.

Thanks,
KR

 

[Tohatchi NM]

I've had good luck with uniball vision elite black ink. I tried a similar test on regular paper, and it didn't bleed in water or alcohol overnight. Acetone made it bleed.

 

[btuner]

yeah the uniball vision elite is great! i was messing around a few years ago and drew a stick figure on my arm and didnt wash it off in the shower and it lasted almost a week. and that was under my sleeve rubbing on it too!

 

[FredMan]

(first post!!!)

I use Rite in the Rain paper all the time (forester, sometimes you just gotta cruise when it's raining). This paper is really designed for pencil use, not pen use.

Pencil works great. You can even write with it underwater in pencil.

Interestingly, I see that some of the map software companies advertise their version of RitR paper, for printing weatherproof topo maps to take to the field. Good concept, but if you print your map on your inkjet printer it'll last about oh, maybe 13.2 seconds when wet. Laser printers work well for this type use; what I do is print on plain paper then run it through the copier with RitR 8.5x11 sheets. Sure, it's not color, but it won't run.