review: robert oster signature motor oil

Pen Chalet very kindly reached out and offered me a sample of Robert Oster Signature ink in the shade Motor Oil! Let's take a gander.

Robert Oster Signature is an Australian brand that is perhaps best known for their highly-sheening blue inks: Fire and Ice, Lake of Fire, and River of Fire. I, personally, have never tried any of their inks before, partially because I have so much ink already, and partially because sheening inks tend not to play well with my left-handed nature. Don't get me wrong, I'm that person who insists that all left-handed people should use blotter paper and become underwriters. At the same time, I must admit a little trepidation that my writing will become a smudgy mess.

Luckily, Robert Oster Signature also has another 82 inks with a color for pretty much everyone, including some that aren't bursting at the seams with sheen. Motor Oil definitely lies in this territory (although wouldn't it be cool if this ink did sheen, like the road after the first light rain? Anyways...).

Robert Oster Signature packages their inks in 50 ml plastic bottles with a golden sticker seal on the front and a white, circular sticker on the top with the ink name and a color swatch. The bottle is narrow and long: it might be easy to tip over, but you also get plenty of depth to dip your fountain pen into.

Motor Oil is a murky green-brown. It's not named for fresh motor oil, which is a clear yellow gold, but the used stuff. Sounds kinda gross, I know.

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Motor Oil has some water resistance, though it spreads out into an interesting red tone.

It took about 30 seconds to dry on Kokuyo MIO paper.

There's a little bit of shading in both the fine and broad nibs.

On Tomoe River paper, there's not much difference. A little bit of shading, but not much.

Motor Oil is an interesting color and there isn't much out there quite like it. Colorverse JFK's Dog Pushinka is getting in the right direction, though it's more gray. Robert Oster Signature Bronze is more green. Colorverse Space Laika is warmer. I threw in Diamine Tobacco Sunburst just for fun,

I have this ink in my Pilot Custom Heritage 92 with a broad nib. This pen tends towards the drier side, but Motor Oil had no trouble. It  had nice flow that was a tiny bit on the drier side.

All in all, I really enjoyed using Motor Oil. "Weird" colors are always interesting to use, and I think they bring a little playfulness to the regular ol' blue and black rotation. Robert Oster Signature is definitely not the cheapest ink brand, but considering the wide range of colors, you're likely to find something in the collection that you wouldn't find elsewhere.

Where to buy

I want to thank Zach from Pen Chalet for offering me the ink to try. I received this ink for free in return for my honest opinion and review.

• Pen Chalet: bottle / sample

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This post was updated on 1/12/20 to match my current review methodology.