What kind of ink should I use?

The answer to this question is simple: use an ink intended for use in a fountain pen – not India ink or drawing ink.

With few exceptions, you can use pretty much any fountain pen ink in hard rubber pens. This is also the case if your pen holds its ink in a sac, cartridge, or converter, so that the ink never contacts the barrel or any transparent or translucent parts. If your pen is made of celluloid or another relatively permeable plastic, however, and if it also holds its ink in direct contact with the barrel or other transparent parts, avoid densely-pigmented intensely colored inks such as Private Reserve and OMAS violet. Some recommended inks that are widely available: Parker's Quink, Sheaffer's Skrip, Pelikan's 4001.

You may be told to discard ink that is more than a year or two old. This is nonsense, as many pen collectors routinely use inks that are decades old. This is not to say that old inks cannot go bad; watch out for any sign of separation or sedimentation, or for off smells.

Plunger-fillers (and to a lesser extent, piston-fillers) may benefit by having supplementary piston seal lubrication in the ink. A few drops of liquid glycerine (available from pharmacies) added to a bottle of ink can give you a bit of backup insurance in case the original piston grease gets washed away.

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