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.
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:
