Water on Nahari ink - experiment

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I drew lines with about 5 years old Nahari ink on a business card and on klaf (unknown type and source of klaf). Let it air dry, then baked it in the kitchen oven at about 90 degrees C for half an hour to make sure it is really really dry.

Then, dripped water on the lines. Here is what it looks like.






On the klaf the ink spread a lot. On the card it barely spread. I then dripped more water all over the ink lines on the card. The ink for some mysterious reason did not spread. I don't know why is there such a big difference between ink on card and ink on klaf.

Comments

  1. Rabbi Eli GutnickMay 1, 2013 at 12:30 AM

    seemingly the card is dry and klaf naturally has moisture in it, which means the ink does not dry as fast or easily.

    ReplyDelete
  2. BenyominMay 1, 2013 at 2:37 AM

    R' Zvi,

    Thanks for this. I think the card paper is sized (chemically treated) to minimize spreading ink while the klaf is not. What this experiment clearly shows is that Nahari is VERY susceptible to water damage. Frankly, it's surprising we're not hearing more reports of water damaged sifrei Torah.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. BenyominMay 1, 2013 at 2:50 AM

      Also, you mentioned putting the klaf in the oven to dry it, I've always wondered are there any kashrus issues with putting animal products (klaf, kulmusim, etc) in an oven and heating them beyond yad soledes bo? Or for that matter putting gid in your mouth to wet it before threading a needle? Obviously all the materials come from behemos taharos, but generally they weren't shechted.

      Delete
  3. Etan KatzMay 1, 2013 at 3:43 AM

    To obtain more meaningful results you’d have to repeat the experiment with different brands of ink and different types of klaf.

    ReplyDelete
  4. YitzchakMay 1, 2013 at 4:27 PM

    R' Eli, you mentioned on your first thread that Nahari ink generally turns red, not purple. Are they using a new formulation, because when I've had water damage the ink is bluish purple and Zvi's experiment shows the same.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Rabbi Eli GutnickMay 1, 2013 at 9:25 PM

    Aaron said that, not me

    ReplyDelete

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