Waterman Black

[mhphoto]

This is a plain ol' black ink with a pale, peachy sheen that I just love. Here's how it looks in some various pen, including my new Waterman 52½V.

 

And I think my scanner is on the way out, because I re-scanned it three times and each time the paper was straight on the scanner bed and crooked in the end result. :hmm1:

 

http://i1355.photobucket.com/albums/q712/FiveCatKnittery/WatermanBlackPenComparisons.jpg

[Lloyd]

I'm not sure about your bottle, but my Waterman Black is more of a BlueBlack. If you give it a rinse, only the blue component remains.

[ethernautrix]

Wow, do I like that comparison! Very nice! And very cool'a you to do it!

[The Good Captain]

Good review of a much-understated ink. I do have some of this and if I wanted to use a black then this one, Pelikan 4001, Sheaffer or Quink would be it. 'Depth' in an ink is good to see and this has it.

[lapis]

Very well put, that stuff about "depth". Now I know why I like some blacks more than others... and... am not all that hot about blacks in general. I think the best question from here on would not be: "What is the blackest black?", but rather "What black has the most character/individuality/pizzazz?"

 

http://i654.photobucket.com/albums/uu264/peli46/blackyum.jpg

[The Good Captain]

I think the best question from here on would not be: "What is the blackest black?", but rather "What black has the most character/individuality/pizzazz?"

What a fabulous statement: I couldn't have put it better myself.

http://www.emoticonsfree.org/wp-content/uploads/evilgrin0023.gif

[torstar]

WM has always been dependable and safe for me, and certain bottles are always on the go, but that shade doesn't get much playing time.

[mhphoto]

Thanks, all!

 

Very well put, that stuff about "depth". Now I know why I like some blacks more than others... and... am not all that hot about blacks in general. I think the best question from here on would not be: "What is the blackest black?", but rather "What black has the most character/individuality/pizzazz?"

 

Nailed it!

[ethernautrix]

Very well put, that stuff about "depth". Now I know why I like some blacks more than others... and... am not all that hot about blacks in general. I think the best question from here on would not be: "What is the blackest black?", but rather "What black has the most character/individuality/pizzazz?"

 

http://i654.photobucket.com/albums/uu264/peli46/blackyum.jpg

 

Interesting.

 

I'm realizing I've enjoyed using black inks -- the blackest I could find -- not for character but to simply show the words I was writing, to contrast with the paper but not get in the way of what I was writing. Of course, most of what I wrote could benefit from a bit of pizzazz. Maybe I'm shifting to brown inks, cos I'm accepting that my writing needs ink with character, to compensate. Ha ha ha ouch.

Edited November 26, 2012 by ethernautrix

[wastelanded]

I agree, a black ink with some character is nice. Of course some folk only like black-as-night black inks, and fair play to them: there's a place for both. I find that Aurora and Skrip blacks give me either quality when needed. But I think I will give the Waterman's a go sometime soon as well.

 

I really like this kind of review, we could use more of them. Amazing how differently one ink can behave in different pens!

[Bookman]

Thanks for thinking of this, mhphoto. For a long time I found black boring as an ink color. And when I wanted or thought I needed a black ink I wanted absolutelyblack. Now, I've discovered a fondness for Waterman because, in all but one of my pens, it isn't absolutelyblack. (My Waterman Kultur has a sick sense of humor, and Waterman comes out as black as Noodler's Old Manhattan Black.) Aurora is still my favorite black ink, but I like Waterman more than I thought I would. Good job.

[mhphoto]

When I first started back into the fountain pen hobby I received this ink as a Christmas present. I'd gotten a Parker Sonnet for Christmas a few years before (nib was a dud from the factory, and I'm currently saving up to have it reground into a cursive italic) and since it had been a cruddy writer it spent most of the time in the desk.

 

My first impression of this ink was a negative one. Not really knowing just how many inks there were out there, I'd expected all black inks to be BLACK. This one, with its blueish hues and fairly heavy shading in drier pens had, at least to me, the distinct look of being watered down. So it too sat in the desk while the fountain pen hobby waited in the inky shadows for me to approach it again several years later.

 

But when I got the blackest black I currently have (Noodler's Bad Black Moccasin) I discovered that, while it's good to have a "black" black, there's so much soul in heavy shading, tinted blacks (not to mention ones with sheen, like this one).

 

So, as my bottle of this relatively cheap, previously hated ink runs down into its last ten milliliters, I find myself considering it one of my personal favorites.

 

P.S. Here's me writing with Waterman Black in my new-to-me Waterman 52½V!

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LTjvOQzCxw0&feature=share&list=ULLTjvOQzCxw0

 

P.P.S. Here's a funny, related story that almost ended in inky tragedy.

 

Before getting the bottle of Waterman Black I'd gone to Hobby Lobby (the only place I knew that carried ink at the time) in search of something to fill this newfangled thing I'd learned to work called a converter that fit in my 18K gold nib Sonnet. So I went and picked up the cheapest bottle of black ink they had.

 

Dr. Ph. Martin's Bombay India Ink…

 

(I think I heard everyone's gasps)

 

But when I got home I felt uneasy about putting it into my pen (perhaps I have the shining? Maybe Tony was telling me it was bad and to run away…), so I took an empty Pilot Varsity, opened it up, and filled it first as a test.

 

Welcome to Clog Town.

 

So the India Ink remained on my desk (still's there, taunting me with the ghost of an innocent Varsity).

Edited November 27, 2012 by mhphoto

[JonSzanto]

Thank you. Waterman Black wasn't on my radar until earlier this year when I bought a pen from Susan Wirth at the LA Pen Show. She *strongly* (in the way only she could do) that I not put any "fancy" inks in the pen (a nice CI Waterman), suggesting a conservative choice like Waterman inks. Picked up a bottle there and have been enjoying it, and the qualities you highlight.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LTjvOQzCxw0&feature=share&list=ULLTjvOQzCxw0

<sigh> Watching that video - those are the only moments in my life where I am sorry I am not right-handed. Lovely penmanship.

Edited November 27, 2012 by JonSzanto

[mhphoto]

<sigh> Watching that video - those are the only moments in my life where I am sorry I am not right-handed. Lovely penmanship.

 

Thank you! I was surprised that video turned out at all, between having to hold the camera still while writing and my wife in the background talking about our new phones' data plan.

[torstar]

My dud Sonnet nib made a wonderful dart against a concrete wall after sending it back twice.

[Lloyd]

I like this ink when I classify it as a dark BlueBlack ink. If I classify it as a Black ink, I feel it is inferior.:hmm1:

[Gcouch]

I've always equated it with my usual Parker Quink. Overall a highly underated ink.

[ethernautrix]

Thank you! I was surprised that video turned out at all, between having to hold the camera still while writing and my wife in the background talking about our new phones' data plan.

 

Tee hee!

 

I, too, loved the video. Lovely!

 

Waterman Black used to be my ink of choice... some twenty years ago up through about ten years ago, give or take.

[whych]

My dud Sonnet nib made a wonderful dart against a concrete wall after sending it back twice.

Not the pen's fault, but the nib.

Parker quality is not the best any more, Even their top range gold nibs need tuning to write without scratching.

 

What I have found with Sonnet nibs is that the pen needs to sit nib down for a couple of days when filled for the first time to get the ink to feed properly.