(February 2019) In order to know how much ink is produced by grinding 1 tael of ink stick. I'll grind the ink today to test it out.
Test 1
Choose a very cheap 1 tael (one tael in ancient times was about 31 grams today) of ordinary Huangshan pine smoke ink, which was bought by a treasure for less than 10 yuan. It took an hour to grind away only 4 grams, and grind out 20 grams of medium-concentration ink (the ink has a heavier specific proportion than water, and should be less than 20 ml. This amount is enough for an average calligraphy amateur to practice for one to two days).
Test 2:
Select 2 taels of oil smoke ink (62 grams), which was bought by a certain treasure for more than 20 yuan.
After grinding for more than 30 minutes, 1 gram of ink stick was removed, and 15 grams (less than 15 ml) of ink with a suitable concentration was obtained. Ink output ratio: 1:15
Based on this quality of ink sticks, 500ml of ink requires 33 grams of ink sticks. (Exactly one or two)
Conclusion: Ink sticks of different qualities are produced The ink is different, the lowest is: 4 grams of ink stick produces 20 grams of ink, which means that the solid ink stick can produce ink at a ratio of less than 1:5. The ink output ratio of the second ink strip is 1:15.
Disregarding factors such as loss and the inability to grind ultra-short ink sticks, 500 ml of ink requires at least one tael (more than 30 grams) of ink sticks.
In addition to writing calligraphy works, you can use ink sticks or ink blocks to grind ink. I personally suggest that it is best to buy ink when learning calligraphy, which can save a lot of time. Even if you buy ink sticks (blocks), you should choose thick ink sticks of more than 4 taels (120 grams). They have a large contact area with the inkstone and produce more ink. Compared with small ink sticks, you can save time.