Birmingham Pen Co. - Shippingport Atomic Power Plant Electron

Finally I get to try one of the new inks from Birmingham Pen Co.  Their inks used to be made in Germany and bottled in the USA.  They are now manufactured and bottled by the Birmingham Pen Co. in the USA.  Three inks have been released, all are blue. I recently received a bottle of Shippingport Atomic Power Station – electron.

The Shippingport Atomic Power Station was located near the present day Beaver Valley Nuclear Power plant on the Ohio river in Beaver County, Pennsylvania.  Beaver County is northwest of Pittsburgh.  Apparently, it was the worlds first atomic electric power plant exclusively for peacetime use.  The first electricity was produced on December 18th 1957 and the plant continued to operate until 1982.

The electron is a subatomic particle important in nuclear physics.

On opening the bottle it is is clear this is going to be a bright blue ink.

Chromatography didn’t reveal much in the way of a combination of shades in the ink just a bright blue – turquoise / electric blue colour.

Col-o-ring and Tomoe swatches were very similar.

Col-o-ring

Tomoe

For the writing I used a Birmingham 6th Avenue with a medium nib and boy does this ink flow – very wet but an incredibly quick drying when on the paper.
I started with Rhodia and too much ink was laid down for me which led to feathering and show through though it had an impressive dry time.

It was a similar result with copy paper.

Much better on Tomoe i.e. no feathering or show through but the dry time increased which, given the properties of Tomoe is not surprising, it was still on the quick side.

At this point I was thinking I really liked the colour BUT did not like how much ink was being delivered – was it the ink with amazing flow or a very wet pen. I inked up another pen with a  medium nib and had similar results on Rhodia.

Then I inked one of my Leonardo pens, a pen I infrequently use because I find it too dry. I am forever having to prime the pen no matter what ink I use, priming even when writing.  Starting was no different I had to prime the pen but when ink did flow it flowed.  Rhodia paper again.

Overall the colour of this inks is great and I am pleased to see the new inks appearing on the Birmingham ink web site. For my use this ink is too lubricated – it won’t get much use until I can find a suitable pen which is a shame as I like the colour.  Despite finding it too ‘wet' I know others love its characteristics and this will not put me off trying some of the other Birmingham Pen Co. inks as they appear.
​Credible dupes are:

Saturation – high
Shading – minimal
Sheen – no
Shimmer - no
Flow – good perhaps too good 
Nib dry-out - none
Nib creep - none
Start-up – immediate except my Leonardo pen but thats the pen
Feathering – yes, only paper to not see feathering was Tomoe
Drying – very quick
Cleaning – easy
Water resistance – not sold as water resistant and really isn’t