Rohrer and Klingner - Fernambuk

Rohrer & Klingner - Fernambuk - Ink drop

Rohrer & Klingner have been making inks for over 130 years. Their inks are consistent and reliable. In today’s ink, Fernambuk, their expertise comes through in the powdery richness of its saturated beauty! The name Fernambuk comes from Brazil’s national tree (also known as Pernambuco or Brazilwood). It’s a prized hardwood famous for its orange red shine, and is commonly used to make bows for stringed instruments. As an extract, it’s used to make a dye called Brazilin. Although this ink lacks the strong orange influence that typifies the wood, it does resemble the liquid extract, and is quite pretty.

From powdery pink to the red of a newly ripe raspberry, this ink jumps off the page! Rather than wood, or trees, or even dyes, I can’t help but think of candies dusted with a light coating of finely powdered sugar, or a piece of cinnamon gum as you first unfold the wrapper.

Rohrer & Klingner - Fernambuk - Ink Swatch Card

As a writing ink, Fernambuk performs well when used with the right papers. It has a wet, smooth flow and low viscosity, and this can lead to feathering on some papers. In my tests, it performed best on Rhodia (80g) and Kokuyo (70g), with no feathering and a well-defined stroke profile. There were tiny amounts of halo and shading, but this is not a shading ink. Performance on Mnemosyne, Apica, and office copy paper was disappointing, with fairly significant feathering. You might have better results on these papers if you use a fine or extra fine nib. Drying times on Rhodia and Kokuyo ranged from 25-40 seconds. Times were much faster on the other three (5-15 seconds).

This really is an attractive, unusual ink. I don’t have anything truly equivalent. What stands out to me is the beautiful powderiness, and the heavy pink influence on even its darkest shades. Consider finer nibs, and go with Rhodia, or another coated paper. Start writing — this ink will make you smile!