Fast Dry Inks

How To Test Dry Time

I use a Pilot Vanishing Point with a medium nib on Rhodia Goalbook paper. I do four x's and then wait until the time has elapsed and try to smear it. The fastest dry time I have seen is Noodler's Polar Purple at three seconds. The longest dry time I have seen is J. Herbin Rouge Hematite at a whopping 90 seconds. I have noticed that high sheening inks take longer to dry than average inks.

dry-time-2.jpg

Example

Robert Oster Marine dry time test.

Average Dry Time

I've reviewed 319 inks so far, but I didn't start testing dry time until review number 60. So I took the dry time results for inks 60-319 and averaged them. The average dry time is 31.5 seconds, which totally surprised me-I thought it would be closer to 20 seconds. 

Fast Drying Inks

I consider inks that dry under 15 seconds to be fast drying inks. Below I've included swabs of fast drying inks, divided into 1-3 seconds, 3-4 seconds, 6-10 seconds, and 11-15 seconds. I will update this page whenever I find an ink that dries under 15 seconds. Click on the swab to go to the review of that ink.

1-3 Seconds:

4-5 Seconds: 

10 Seconds:

15 Seconds: