10 years of fountain pen inks
Posted on May 02, 2025 by nowaiii — 2 min
I saw someone's post on the fountain pen subreddit about removing a bottle of ink from their shopping cart, because they calculated their ink would take 33 years to use up.
I have always thought that I already have a lifetime supply of ink as well. I keep thinking of this fact, but also I want new shiny exciting ink colour. Now that winter is over, ink won't freeze in transit, if I really want to, it's time to order.
But let me see how much ink I have in my possession:
Sailor Jentle Yamadori - 30 ml Quink blue black - 25 ml Monteverde purple mist - 15 ml Monteverde rose pink - 29 ml SketchINK Emma - 58 ml J. Herbin 1670 Stormy grey - 45 ml J. Herbin 1670 Chivor Emerald - 49 ml J. Herbin 1670 Hematite red - 49 ml Noodler's raven black - 85 ml
Total 385 ML
I have read that my pilot convertor holds 0.7 ml of ink, and I refill about once per week, so that will take 551 weeks or 10 and a half years to use up. That is more than enough ink for me to use over a lifetime.
It was a mistake that I basically bought the 3 bottles of J. Herbin at once (with those mass drop discounts back in the days) and then I realized that I didn't have pens to use them. I didn't have any non-fine pen at the time. I still only have one medium TWSBI ECO to use that shimmer ink right now and due to laziness, I am only ever using stormy grey in it. If I use a bolder pen, I can probably speed up the timeline a bit. Just a bit. My main pen is Pilor Prera Fine and currently trying to use up yamadori. I even started a tally of how many refills will it take until I empty the bottle. The 30 ml above is most definitely an estimate.
I would really like to get more ink colours. Like what if I buy these nice Diamine colours. I should indefinitely put it off.
I did not even count the other non fountain pen inks that I have. So much drawing is done digitally these days, I end up hoarding these supplies forever, but the lust for new things is also forever.