If you’ve been hoping to travel to New York, you’re probably out of luck for a bit. Due to Covid-19 travel restrictions, travel to the Big Apple is severely limited. But don’t despair, somehow Sailor knew this would be the perfect time to add the New York fountain pen ink to their USA 50 States ink series. A different state inspires each ink in the series, and New York recently joined the lineup alongside previously released Colorado, California, and Texas fountain pen inks. Read the full review of Sailor USA 50 States New York fountain pen ink and then enter to win the bottle used for this week’s review.

All About the Ink Maker: Sailor

This week’s ink comes from Sailor Ink Company, a popular and trusted manufacturer with a great reputation in the pen industry. Sailor makes more than 68 different fountain pen ink colors and uses ITF Technololgy (European Ink Treatment Formula) that offers improved ink flow. Inks created using ITF Technology allow fountain pen users to leave their pen uncapped for longer without ending up with a dried out nib, and the ink itself acts as a lubricant for the feeding system to avoid clogging.

In early 2020, Sailor released the first two inks in their USA 50 States Ink Series: California and Colorado. More recently, they released two new inks, Texas and New York fountain pen ink. A couple of weeks ago, we took a look at USA 50 States Ink Series Texas fountain pen ink, and this week, we’ll be getting up close and personal with Sailor’s New York fountain pen ink.

All About the Ink Series: Sailor USA 50 States Ink Series

This week’s ink, Sailor New York fountain pen ink, is one of 2 new inks recently released from the USA 50 States ink series (there are now four fountain pen inks available in the Sailor USA 50 States ink series). Sailor USA 50 States inks are made in Japan, and each ink’s color is inspired by and intended to represent the state it is named after. Sailor’s USA 50 State ink series includes:

• Colorado
• California
• Texas
• New York (this week’s featured ink)

And, of course, 46 more inks are coming soon for the other 46 states in the USA. Pen Chalet is a proud, authorized retailer of Sailor products. We carry a full range of Sailor fountain pens and fountain pen inks. This week’s featured fountain pen ink, Sailor New York ink from the USA 50 States ink series, is in stock now at Pen Chalet and ready to ship!

All About This Week’s Chosen Ink: Sailor New York Ink

What do you think of when you think of New York? Looking at Sailor’s New York fountain pen ink, you probably think of the major urban centers, New York City, Times Square, Madison Square Garden, Broadway, Central Park, Empire State Building, and, of course, New York’s beloved baseball team. (Whether you love them or you hate them, you’ve heard of them). The dark blue pinstriped baseball uniforms made infamous by classic hall-of-famers Babe Ruth, Joe DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle, Lou Gehrig, and Derek Jeter served as inspiration for Sailor New York ink’s classy, deep dark blue-black ink color. Sailor New York ink shows up great on paper, with medium saturation, and has a lot of great traits.

*** We’re about to dive into the nitty-gritty details of this week’s review tests. If you’re a full review reader, enjoy. If not, you can skip to the bottom to enter to win the bottle of ink used in this week’s ink review. Just don’t forget to come back and read the rest of the review later if you’re interested in learning more about Sailor New York ink.

It’s Time: Sailor USA 50 States New York Ink Review

This week we put Sailor New York fountain pen ink through our standard ink review tests. We’ll tell you what happened.

Read the full review of Sailor USA 50 States New York ink.

Ink Review Testing Factors (to keep things scientific):

For this week’s ink review, we tested Sailor USA 50 States New York fountain pen ink using a French-made J. Herbin spiral glass dip pen (with a tip comparable to a medium-fine fountain pen nib) on Rhodia dot pad paper. Remember that using different papers or different nib sizes may produce different results!

What Sort of Ink Bottle Does Sailor Use?

Sailor USA ink comes in the standard 20 ml. Sailor ink bottle. The small, square bottle is the same one used for Sailor Shikiori fountain pen inks. Sailor packaging has a nice presentation. The heavy-weighted ink bottle includes a simple label that names the state (doubling as the ink’s name).

How Much Does Sailor USA 50 States Ink Cost?

Sailor USA 50 States ink is on the higher end of the pricing spectrum for fountain pen inks considering the 20 ml. ink bottle size. Look for discounted pricing at Pen Chalet.

How Did Sailor USA 50 States New York Ink Fair in the 1-Dip Test?

We use the 1-dip test to see how far the ink can write on paper with “1 dip.” This week, we dipped our J. Herbin spiral glass dip pen in Sailor New York ink once for each writing sample shown above (“S,” “X,” and scribble lines) and the ink very easily wrote across the paper on all three writing samples with a lot of ink to spare.

How Fast Does the Sailor USA 50 Ink Dry?

Sailor New York fountain pen ink showed a quicker dry time than the other Sailor USA 50 States inks we’ve reviewed at approximately 7-8 seconds. (This dry time is very fast for a medium to high saturation ink).

Does USA New York Ink Bleed Through?’

We saw no bleeding during normal use of Sailor’s New York ink on Rhodia dot pad paper. Surprisingly, there was only a very slight amount of bleeding during the heavy saturated cotton swab test, which is unexpected for a medium to high saturation ink. Plus, that very slight bleed was only at the wettest points.

Was There Any Feathering While Using Sailor New York Ink?

We saw no feathering during normal use of Sailor New York ink, but there was some slight additional feathering during the water test.

How Does Sailor USA 50 Ink Stand Up to Water?

For the water test, we let an ink sample dry for about 3 minutes before running a wet cotton swab over the sample. This week’s ink isn’t waterproof, and when we ran the test, we saw heavy color smearing, which is typical for a dark ink. Even with the heavy color smearing, the lines were still legible (with some very slight distortion).

Does New York Ink Have Good Shading Traits?

During our Sailor New York ink review, we didn’t see much shading due to the dark color and medium to high saturation.

Final Conclusion on Sailor USA 50 States New York Ink:

Sailor USA 50 States New York fountain pen ink is a higher-priced ink (for the smaller 20 ml. ink bottle size). The ink color brings the urban pulse of New York City to life in its deep, vibrant blue-black ink color. One of two new additions to Sailor ink company’s new USA 50 States ink series, it offers the quickest dry time of the series so far and works well as an everyday ink color. Sailor’s high-performance inks are safe for fountain pens and well-regarded throughout the pen industry. Happy writing from New York and Japan!

Enter to Win Sailor New York Ink:

Enter to win the actual bottle of Sailor New York ink that Pen Chalet used in this week’s ink review:
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