Search the Community

Trying to find out if anyone has used Kurotokage (black lizard) ink from the Osaka Pen House in Japan. Swatches? Experience? Does it smear?

J Herbin Perle Noire (Black Pearl) My go to black inks for sketching and writing are Platinum Carbon Black and Sailor Kiwaguro. But I wanted to do some artwork and got this on a whim. I had forgotten how wonderful sometimes a shiny black ink can be (much like Japanese Sumi ink, or lamp black inks) and this one delivers. The chroma is unexciting, but there seems to be hint of yellow.... But this was the first ink that tamed the Ef Kakuna steel nib pleasurable. I also enjoyed using it with the Osmiroid with Copperplate nib but paradoxically less in Lamy Safari or the Jinhao with fude nib. Still I managed to use half of the 10 ml bottle. Writing samples: I used quotes by Josephine Baker, inspired by Perle Noire: Meditations for Joséphine, a tribute to her. Note the yellow in the smudging: It doesn't like Hammermill very much.. Ghosting and bleed through.... What was surprising was how easy it was to clean, despite being a very respectable water-resistant ink. Watertest: Comparaison And now a bit of artwork. The orange ink is Noodler's Apache Sunset. What is interesting is that it turns into gold when in contact with bleach. You can see the bleach/ gold reaction in this piece inspired by @LizEF Adventures of Quin & Makhabesh. (And a huge thanks for giving me permission to do so) The lower part of the page is all done with Herbin Perle Noir. The female Egyptian cat (Noodletitti ) , the little kitten and the lower background (diluted). The gold was created by a glass nib dipped in bleach. (other inks red: Organics Studio, Oscar's Copper, Dark Brown of the staff, and purple sphinx aka Makhabesh PIlot Yamaguri, Background dark brown (right) is Gutenberg Urkundentinte G10, and left is home made pomegranate ink) · Pens used: Pilot Kakuna Ef, Lamy Safari (EF/F/M/B), Osmiroid Copperplate, Jinhao 450 fude · What I liked: Delicious black, reminds me of sumi ink, great for art, amazing lubrication. · What I did not like: You might have Startup issues if the pen is left uncapped. · What some might not like: It doesn’t like cheap papers. · Shading: No · Ghosting: On cheap paper · Bleed through: Same as above. · Flow Rate: Wet · Lubrication: Excellent · Nib Dry-out: None · Start-up: None · Saturation: Beautiful shiny black · Shading Potential: Why would you want a black ink to shade? · Sheen: None · Spread / Feathering / Woolly Line: No · Nib Creep / “Crud”: No. · Staining (pen): No · Clogging: No · Cleaning: Very easy · Water resistance: Very good · Availability: 10/30/500 ml bottles, cartridges. Please don't hesitate to share your experience, writing samples or any other comments. The more the merrier

Dear all, I'm asking here for your help: If you had to pick a good black ink for a pen that you care about, to be used together for the next six months in a large project with tens to hundreds of written pages, what would this ink be? I've issued this request for help also on the thread that inspired me to ask it, where I shared pics and info about the pen I will be using throughout this project: I've just signed my first professional book deal. (On computer systems.) There's a lot left to do and we'll see how it goes but I plan to do at least the planning and content-design in pen on paper. I already bought the pen for it, a Pilot Custom Urushi in vermillion red with 18k two-tone M nib (FKV-88SR-R-M), and I like very much my first experience with it, which happened today. The remaining details regarding the ink-search are as follows: I'm trying to decide on an ink for this Pilot Custom Urushi, M nib. I will have to draw many details and also cross-hatch large structures, and also write both small and large-sized text. I prefer wetter nibs and inks, but here I'm going to also use paper like Moleskine's Workbook (pulpy, very porous) and Leuchtturm 140 gsm (semi-rough and coated), and I'd prefer not to have much feathering. Water-resistant inks are a plus. Some shading would not be bad, but even the lightest shade must be easily legible. I'm thinking at the moment, in this order: Noodler's Dark Matter - seems good, but not water-resistant. Noodler's X-Feather - but it's quite pigmented and I'm afraid it's going to clog the feed and I won't know how to clean it. Noodler's Heart of Darkness - never used it before, but the reviews are raving. May have issues with the Moleskine. Sailor Kiwa-Guro - never used it, but seems to me a (micro-)pigmented ink that you can flush away easily. Sailor Do-you - this one I'm convinced will do a good job and keep flowing (and lubricating). Pilot Take-Sumi - love this ink, but its water resistance seems just too low to consider. What if I spill even a drop of coffee? Pelikan 4001 Black - never used it, but heard good things about it and it's cousins Brilliant Brown, Royal Blue, etc. are wonderful. Same concerns about water resistance as for the Take-Sumi. Platinum Carbon ink - fantastic ink, but how do I clean it after six months?! Are there strong enough but safe cleaning fluids, e.g., the Rohrer and Klingner Reiniger? I'll stop here; eight is a round number in my world. I would appreciate your replies, especially today, when I'll take my decision and hope not to revisit. Do you have other suggestions? They're most welcome. Thanks, everyone.

Hi everyone hope all are doing fine and in good health. I am looking for a fountain pen ink which is fade proof and goes easy on Fountain pen with F nib as well as on the pocket. I am new so with my basic knowledge i know that Iron gall inks are solid inks which last till the paper lasts. Other brands like Bulletproof inks are also there but they are not easily available. I had shortlisted ESS but Mr Victor at the company being short tempered just wants to throw the sale on the face. The way he dealt with my enquiry I am least bothered in the ink and dont want to give him business any more. I have easy access to only below inks Diamine registrars ink Pilot black Pelikan 4001 brilliant black ink Does ESS work like a small road side vendor with burgers on sale that they have a specific time frame to deal with and after that they close the shop? Ess you better behave well with your customers if you dont have minimum courtesy to reply and 2-3 emails are too much for you then take a printout of the email and gulp them down your throat like you expect us to order after all this

Hi all, I mostly use western 'F' nibs, but have recently bought two LAMY Z50 nibs in EF, and I want to find a 'permanent' black ink that will work well with them. For the last several years I have used Noodler's Black as my 'permanent' black ink - it is very black, and very permanent, and I have always found it to be very good. Its only 'flaw' was its penchant for nib-creep. In the last few months though, I suspect that the ink in my bottle (which has been open since 2014) may have 'denatured' or 'gone off'. I found that the aerometric Parker "51" in which I have always used my Noodler's Black would no longer write when I put the ink in to it. It seemed to have dried-out in the nib. I tried my ink in one of my new EF Z50 nibs, and the ink gave me its usual nib-creep. But, after sitting in the capped pen unused for only two hours, it had dried-out to the point that the nib wouldn't write. The nib does write with Parker Quink Blue, so I am fairly certain that my bottle of the ink has come to the end of its usable life. After seven years, I'm not complaining. Anyway, it occurred to me that my need to replace my Noodler's Black is actually an 'opportunity' for me to try a new ink 😀 So, I am now asking for your recommendations for a 'permanent' black ink; one that I will be able to use in my pens with 'F' (and now also 'EF') nibs. I live in the UK, so my options are: De Atramentis Dokumentus Black; Platinum Carbon Black; Rohrer & Klingner Document Black; Sailor Kiwa Guro (carbon nano-particle ink); Or, if none of those are likely to suit my needs, a fresh bottle of Noodler's Black. I have read the reviews of those inks on here, and have seen reports of disturbing nib-creep and clogging for the R&K ink, disturbing bleed-through for the De Atramentis ink, and conflicting accounts for the Sailor and Platinum inks. Several of my pens are NOT easy to clean (especially the "51", but also the Safaris), so I would like an ink that is fairly easy to clean out of a pen, and won't clog up/dry out in a pen very quickly. So, do any of you out there in FPN-land have experience of using these inks in pens with F/EF nibs? If so, which of these inks would you recommend to me? Would you actually recommend something else entirely? My thanks to you in advance for your answers 👍 Slàinte, M.

Montblanc Elixir Calligraphy Black Black Inks by Montblanc Three Montblanc Black Inks

For the last few years I've enjoyed Platinum Carbon Black. It dries quickly, works in practically any paper, and is basically indestructible, so it is good for things like addressing envelopes, making grocery lists, and writing down recipes. I don't use very much black ink, though; my usual Carbon Black pen is a Platinum Plaisir. Ink will live in it more or less indefinitely without drying out, so I only open my Carbon Black bottle once or twice a year. As a result, even though my bottle of Carbon Black is several years old, it's nearly full. This morning I opened it up and it made a *FSSS* sound, and a VERY powerful ammonia smell issued forth. I assume (and the internet seems to agree) that this ink has Shuffled Off This Mortal Coil. This happened to me once before with some Noodler's inks - but those inks were maybe a decade old or older, and since then I have improved my ink hygiene (now filling from a clean dispensing syringe each time). So, sown the drain went my nearly full bottle of PCB. On the other hand, my old bottle of Quink is maybe 15 years old, and just as good as the day I got it (which is to say, not a great ink, but it still seems perfectly fresh). So I'm looking for a new black ink, one that will age well in the bottle. I've used samples of J. Herbin Perle Noire, Aurora black, and Lamy black. I found them to be perfectly nice. Does anyone know how they keep over time? In addition, I'm sure there are other black inks I don't know and/or haven't tried. The three above are somewhat less waterproof (understatement!) than Carbon Black. If there's a more waterproof one that will sit in the bottle without turning into cat pee, that would be great! - N P.S. I should mention, I dislike Noodler's black. I know a lot of people swear by it, but it's so oversaturated that it smears long (I mean weeks or years) after drying.

It's about black ink, and what pen. I'm seeking a silky-smooth writing experience; smoother and less scratchy/feathery than my Platinum Preppy 03 that has a mix of Levenger Raven Black and Montblanc Black. This pen will always be filled, ready to write, a dedicated black-ink pen. And since paper is a biiiig factor, my usual papers are Kokuyo Campus, Rhodia and MiquelRius, with the occasional foray into Cheap Lousy Paper. The ink candidates: Levenger Raven Black (pretty much ruled out for Bad Behavior) Quink Black Pelikan Black Waterman Black Montblanc Black (in the old shoe bottle) Chesterfield Obsidian Monteverde Black Ash Sailor Black carts Platinum Black carts, an endless supply Lamy Black (carts) and a Lamy Safari F (this was actually a pleasant combo, I may return to it). The 🖊 pen candidates: Nemosine Singularities, F and XF Platinum Plaisir F Sailor Sapporo MF Jinhao Shark (I like these cute little writers) Wing Sung 601A Hero 616 Currently filled: A Pilot Petit with a mix of Levenger Raven and Quink Black. Complete disaster. Bleedyriffic. That Platinum Preppy with a mix of, yes, you guessed it, Levenger Raven and MB Black. Slightly less of a disaster. Any thoughts? Experiences with any of the above in combination? Recommendations? Oh...and I am NOT buying any more black ink, not even carts or samples. Thanks for reading this overlong, overfussy post!

Is there any good black ink available in India? I have used bril black, it writes in a dark grey shade so i didn't like it. I also tried parker black, the colour is a saturated dark black but the ink does not flow properly. I tried parker black in a parker frontier pen, if i don't use it continuously for even 30 hrs it dries up and getting the pen to start is very tough. I want to know if this may be because of any batch variation and only i am affected. Kindly suggest a good black ink. Im studying in Kharagpur(WB) and want to know the availability of sulekha inks in the region.

I found a stash of old reviews that got misplaced during a house move, so a belated thank you goes out to Terminal, who sent me this and two other Iroshizuku inks to test drive for a review. http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/xq90/537/pNbi3R.jpg

And now for something completely different - De Atramentis Document ink Cartridges De Atramentis Document ink Black De Atramentis Document Ink in…. Cartridges Well I guess like most Fountain Pen fans I love bottled ink. Bottled inks are available in a vast array of colours As an extra bonus the bottle is a private joy for the Fountain Pen writer and is a beautiful reminiscence to the golden age of Fountain Pen writing. And maybe not un important the price per ml. is usually lower But what if you own a smaller Fountain Pen like these down here https://www.lacouronneducomte.nl/webstore/main/fountain-pens-c-1.html I own 2 Kaweco Sport Fountain Pens. Nice and small so that they will easily fit in your pants pockets. The down side is that they are to small to for normal converters. In that case an ink cartridge brings a lot of ease and it is as practical as a small fountain pen can be. And... It keeps your fingers clean, or at least mine since I am quite a clumsy idiot 😉 De Atramentis Document Ink Black The ink is smooth writing wet yet fast drying ink De Atramentis was one of the first ink manufactures to bring out a Non-IG permanent ink on the market. I have more than once tested the permanency of those inks. My most recent review was the one down here De Atramentis Document Inks Revisited - The 2018 Collection https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/341246-de-atramentis-document-inks-revisited-the-2018-collection/ One Colour…. To start with? As far as I know, De Atramentis is doing a Henry Ford with it’s ink cartridges "Available ink any colour as long is it black." But just as Henry Ford later delivered more colours, I believe that Dr J will do so too. Not only Dr J already produces more than 250 inks, he is always keen on satisfying this clients wishes. https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/322431-de-atramentis-comparison-of-all-standard-inks/ Making a black ink that is truly black is quite a difficult thing to make if the ink should not only be truly black but als be perfectly safe for Fountain Pens at the same time. Judging from my (non scientific) comparison up here. The De Atramentis Document Ink seem to be the blackest ink shortly followed by the De Atra Black and that other sensational black: Sailor Jentle Black btw. The De Atramentis Night Black seems to have a dark green hue down here are some of the technical specs (as suggested by Ann Finley 2007) (not copied in but for this ink) points 1-5 1 = 5= Fountain Pens: , Kaweco Calligrapy Classic Sport BB nib and 1,5 Italic nib Paper: Vleveka Classic Line Paper and ordinary copying paper Drying time Very fast less than 3 seconds points 5 Flow: very smooth points: 5 Lubrication: wet points: 5 Feathering : little points 4 Bleeding: nada points 5 Shading: very good points 4 Waterproof: Bomb Proof points 4 Package: Simple but elegant points 4 What Colour would you like in a Cartridge As mentioned before Dr J. produces over 250 inks. When he started producing Document ink he only started with Blue, Dark Blue and Black. Today, also inspired by the requests of some artists, he has extended the range quite impressively... This down here is the 2018 range It might be a nice Idea to mention the colours you would like to see in a cartridge, in your response to this topic. Although the packaging cost of cartridges are, relatively, more expensive per ml, it might inspire Dr J to produce the colours most mentioned, in cartridges For YOUR inspiration click the link down here to see the comparison of all standard inks, or be inspired by the document ink comparison above https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/322431-de-atramentis-comparison-of-all-standard-inks/ Availability Currently, as far as I know, these Cartridges are only available on the De Atramentis Webstore https://www.de-atramentis.com/Patronen/ But the fine stationery suppliers down here not only carry a lot of De Atramentis inks in there assortment… They also will go (almost) all the way to satisfy their customer… You might want to inform there La Couronne Du Comte I guess Dennis and Rik would even travel to the moon to get it for you (just pay them a million or 2 ) Well it is safe to say that they do almost everything to satisfy their customers… http://www.lacouronneducomte Bankers have Rothshield Ink lovers have the Goulet Pen Company. Rachel and Brian carry the almost* largest assortment of ink on earth an it's near surroundings http://www.gouletpens.com (*almost Dear Amberlea Davis carries the largest assortment in the universe but is not a seller Larry Post of Australia is a Great Supplier of Stationary and Artist Equipments. They carry a lot of De Atramentis Inks http://www.larrypost.com.au/ The same applies to Singapore based Arters of the utterly friendly Yitpeng and WeetekOng http://arters.com.sg Conclusion Although not being a great fan of cartridges and black inks, I must say that these Document black ink might be quite useful. First of all I do have some smaller Fountain pens and these cartridges, literally, fit in quite well. Cartridges are made for ease of use and that combined with a fast drying permanent ink is a good offer in my opinion…. Especially if this tempts Biro-Bast..ds to use the Noble Fountain Pen 😉

Hi everyone, I am interested on making the point on Noodler's Black once and for all (if that is even possible) because I have read and heard lots of contradictory things about that ink which has made me hesitant to buy it and use it in my more expensive pens and I am sure I am not alone in that boat. I have no bias against that ink, I know that some people here with lots of fountain pen experience and knowledge swear by it, and it indeed seems to have a lot of excellent properties that most people want, but I have also read other knowledgeable pen people such as Richard Binder in his article on inks be critical of it and say it could damage pens or at least dirty them a lot to the point of being very difficult to clean properly. All these contradictory stories and opinions have left me a bit lost as to weather or not Noodler's Black is an ink I want to use. So what is the definitive answer on Noodler's Black, if there's even one? PS: Maybe this has already been discussed thoroughly in an other thread I have missed, if so let me know, but all the threads I have read so far have just left me as divided as before on the issue.

I am taking up a particular penance for Lent. I shall not write with colored ink. I will only use black ink for my writing. For notes, journaling, correspondence, and other writing, I shall use only black ink from Ash Wednesday to Easter. Any pens with colored ink (other than Widow Maker; see below) get flushed on Ash Wednesday, if I don't do it Shrove Tuesday. And other than for flushing, the pens with colored ink don't get uncapped once Ash Wednesday starts. The sole exception is that I'm going to keep my Plaisir filled with Widow Maker (a color I don't enjoy using) for purposes of markup. I need to mark up a document I produce daily at work, and the markup has to be immediately apparent whenever I look at it. My wife may also ask me to look over some of her homework, and I will use it for marking that up also.

Hey, Inkheads . . . I'm down to three options for my primary black ink. I'd like to get some feedback from folks who've used all three and can make an informed suggestion about which is the overall better ink, and share with me your thoughts on specifically why. I'm not looking to consider any other black inks except these three. Thanks in advance for your feedback. These are the three I'm considering. Let me know your preference, would you? Darkness, saturation and ease of use are my biggest concerns. A ) Pilot Iroshizuku Take-sumi Bamboo Charcoal Ink B ) Sailor Kiwa-Guro Pigmented Black Ink C ) Platinum Black Ink Happy Holidays, Scriptorius

I recently used a sample of Iroshizuku kiri same and I loved it, but I have to wonder, before I buy a bottle, if gray ink is worth it. Isn't it just watered down black ink? I put two drops of Noodler's Heart of Darkness and mixed it with almost 1ml of water and I got something quite similar in color, although it is missing the warmth of kiri same. Just looking for any other thoughts on this, if anyone is able to justify gray inks. Kiri same is a really nice ink, so I may buy it anyway, but I can't get that nagging feeling out of the back of my mind that I could be much more frugal and just water down my black inks. Has anyone tried watering down take sumi?

I think I've been using Pelikan 4001 Royal Blue for 99% of the time I write with fountain pens. It's cheap here, easily available for a long time and I like it. But I'm in the mood recently for some black ink as well. I've seen that Noodler's Heart of Darksness and Bulletproof are highly praised here as being the blackest of them all, but I can't find it locally and ordering it would cost me five times more than my regular Pelikan ink. I don't think it's simply worth it, with that money I can buy a new pen (or save for a really nice one). However, at a shop near me, I've found Pelikan 4001 black and Parker Quink black. How are these two compare to each other, in term of darkest black, watery feeling and so on? I could buy them both, but I'm afraid that that I would have too much black ink lying around(1), since I use it quite rarely anyway. So what are your thoughts regarding these two models? Parker is a bit more expensive, but not much. They also have Lamy and Faber-Castell cartridges with black ink, if they are worth it, I can buy a bunch and use them (after extracting the ink with a syringe, if it's worth the trouble, meaning if they are blacker). (1) Also, since I'm a n00b, how long can you keep a bottle of ink before it spoils? It's probably years, but I remember seeing some thick deposits on some no-name ink that I've forgot about in a closet for like 10 years or so. Was it because it was a cheap one, or it's normal for old inks to develop deposits on the bottom of the bottle?

I'm not a doctor, but on occasion in my work I write notes in old-fashioned paper medical charts. The hospital's only rule is "black only." Everyone, to my knowledge, uses ballpoint or the occasional rollerball. If I'm going to use FP ink, it will need to meet these standards: black, waterproof, photocopiable, permanent (these records are kept forever), and fast-drying enough not to smear if I have to pass the page to someone else as soon as I finish. Now here's the angle that makes me think I may be looking for a unicorn: these pages are printed on horrible copier paper, the worst you can imagine, so what I use must be non-feathering, and non-penetrating both in terms of bleed-through or see-through (both sides of the paper are used). If any of these standards are not met, I will have broken federal privacy laws and hospital record-writing rules, and lose my job. No joke. Is there a doctor in the house? Or perhaps I should say is there someone else who is in this situation, because doctors probably have enough status at our place to write in crayon if they wish. Yeah, I searched, and the variables here, in my opinion, introduce a valid new discussion. Final comment: I'm willing to dedicate a pen to an IG ink if that's the answer. Thanks in advance for any advice.

Hello, I hope I'm posting in the correct category. I'm not very experienced with ink and I'd like to try grey. I flushed one of my new Pilot pens and didn't wait for it to dry before putting in the black cartridge that came with it and I liked the resulting grey ink. My main purpose of this grey ink would be for school notes. I don't use black ink for school because it is hard to distinguish between printed text and annotations. Ideally it should be waterproof because I still haven't figured out how to drink water properly. Will a diluted Noodler's Black/HOD/X-Feather/Borealis/Polar/etc. still be waterproof enough that I can read my notes if my incompetent self spills water all over them? What are the benefits of buying a bottle of grey ink instead of diluting black, aside from reduced bulletproofness? Are there any "recipes" you can recommend? If there is a good reason to avoid dilution that I have overlooked, which waterproof greys can you recommend, aside from Lexington Grey? Thank you!

We're very excited to release our first waterproof Blackstone ink. Barrister Black is a well behaved, pure black, nano carbon ink that is 100% waterproof, fade proof and is highly resistant to bleach, alcohol and acid. Barrister Black comes packaged in in 30ml HDPE Nalgene bottles. If any Australian FPN members would like a free sample for review please email me at kevin@justwrite.com.au You can see a review by dcwaites HERE Barrister Black is now available at JustWrite in Australia and will soon be available at Anderson Pens in the US and at Appelboom in Europe. http://justwrite.com.au/image/cache/catalog/products/Blackstone%20Ink/barrister-black-waterproof-fountain-pen-ink-1100x619.jpg

I use Rapidographs a lot in my art, and the old bottle of Koh-i-noor ink that I've been using with them is close to running out. It's not the greatest ink for my purposes--the shellac that makes it waterproof also makes everything shiny, which shows up on scanned images. It's also not as water-resistant as I'd like, mostly due to a layer of ink sitting on top of the surface of the paper and running all over the place if I try to use some watercolors over it. The solution to that, and to a certain extent to the sheen as well, has been to erase over everything really well to rub off any extra ink. I could just buy a new bottle, keep erasing over everything, and deal with the residual shinyness. However, I've also recently bought some very thin-tipped technical pens that I don't want to get clogged (which almost always spells death for the hair-masquerading-as-a-wire inside finer rapidographs,) so I've been thinking about buying a fountain pen ink anyhow. Platinum Carbon Black seems to be the recommended ink for anyone doing watercolor washes over drawings, but I'm also intrigued by the almost-perfect performance of Noodler's Black, which seems to have the same issue as the ink I'm currently using (ink left on the surface of the paper runs with water.) Noodler's is also cheaper, so I have a couple unanswered questions before I go off buying anything. How does Platinum Carbon Black/Noodler's Black perform on watercolor paper? Most of the reviews I can find about water resistance are on printer or notebook paper, which don't have as much sizing as a sheet of hot press watercolor paper. I suspect Noodler's will do worse than normal because it binds to cellulose, but I'm particularly interested in what, if anything, changes with the Platinum Carbon. If you erase over Noodler's, does the residual surface ink just smear around, or does any of it come off with erasing? If you erase over Noodler's, is there any difference in water resistance? Does either ink perform poorly in technical pens? Is there any water-resistant ink I'm completely looking over? Preferably black, but if there's some incredibly waterproof red I'm missing I might as well add it to the list. These are pretty specific to my situation and I might just have to get some samples to test things myself, but I figured I might as well ask around here first.

Hello, I use the black Platinum cartridge ink right now but it's running out fast (and expensive!). I'm also not really a fan of how light the color is and would like to try a different ink out. Works well with extra-fine nibs, need to be able to write kanji and small math notationsDeep black, the darker the betterDries fast enough for general note takingBonus points if water-resistant, but not necessaryI've heard good things about Noodler inks, but reading the reviews the bulletproof black dries really slowly. Would that affect how it works on EF nibs, or would another ink work better? prodo123

Hi! I just purchased my first fountain pen (a Vanishing-Point), and am wondering about inks to fill it with. The Iroshizuku Take-sumi and the Aurora black both seem to be great inks, and I am wondering about differences between them? As far as I can tell (with my inexperienced...ness), they seem to look and perform almost the same, but the Iroshizuku is about twice the cost. Is there something I am missing, that makes it worth the extra expense? Thanks!

For the first fp that I've held in my hands since I was 15 - I'm 61 - I've chosen a vintage Parker 51. Parker Pen Company recommends that I use only their Parker Quink ink. Some reviewers declare that this Quink is a magnificent rich velvety black (and contains lubricant) and other reviewers declare that Quink's dry state is a watery dark gray. It's this latter quality that I abhor - I seek an awe-inspiring memorable velvety deeply-saturated permanent black that will not cause problems with my 51's mechanism. One reviewer recommended Diamine Onyx Black but this too lacks the sine qua non pizzazz. I solicit your recommendations.

i have five choices thus far recommended: Platinum Carbon Black; Pelikan Fount India; Sailor Nano Black; Pilot Iroshizuko Take-Sumi; Noodler's Manhattan Black. using online comparisons appears to me to be Sisyphean labor. so then what kind of answers am i seeking? - i can only answer that i'll know it when i see it. It's important that it not harm my vintage Parker 51 ... and herein lies one of the rubs because some members posit that a named ink harms and others ragefully refute the claim. Does FPN have a beginner's glossary. bulletproof; wet/dry nib; ... ?

Chelpark is one of the oldest brand of Ink in India. And the company is staring the closure at the moment and it is difficult to get stock of the inks easily now. My earlier Ink reviews are listed as below: BRIL ROYAL BLUE CAMLIN SCARLET RED Chelpark is currently manufactured by PG Stationary in Bangalore and as per local availability following inks can be found in market: Black Blue Black Washable Blue Turquoise Blue Crimson Violet (Old stock available only) Ruby Red Emerald Green (Not available anymore) Sapphire Blue (Not available anymore) The Chelpark Black Ink which i will be reviewing today comes at price of Rs. 20 for 60 ml glass bottle. However this bottle was gifted to me by my friend Prithwijit. Chelpark Black - 60 ml Glass Bottle Its a dye based ink and comes with so called Cleen-X technology which prevents clogging. Chelpark inks used to be most widely used ink in the India but lately the production is on and off and the supply is not regular. Even their are speculation that company is getting closed. This ink is actually not black at all rather the faded black and is very diluted. One can easily say it is more of a grey rather than black. INK SPLASH Chelpark Black - Ink Splash on Bilt Matrix paper - 70 gsm I am pretty much disappointed with the color of this ink. It is no where near black rather it is grey. If one is intending to use the ink as grey one might be pleased. But i am not. DROP ON PAPER NAPKIN Chelpark Black - Ink drop on paper napkin COLOR MATCH Chelpark Black - Color Match WRITING SAMPLES On Century Copy Paper Chelpark Black - Writing sample on Century Copy Paper - 70 gsm Chelpark Black - Writing sample on Century Copy Paper - 70 gsm Chelpark Black - Writing sample on Century Copy Paper - 70 gsm On BILT Matrix Paper Chelpark Black - Writing sample on BILT Matrix Paper - 70 gsm Chelpark Black - Writing sample on BILT Matrix Paper - 70 gsm Chelpark Black - Writing sample on BILT Matrix Paper - 70 gsm On Camlin Kokuyo School Notebook Chelpark Black - Writing sample on Camlin Kokuyo School Notebook Chelpark Black - Writing sample on Camlin Kokuyo School Notebook Chelpark Black - Writing sample on Camlin Kokuyo School Notebook The handwritten samples clearly shows the darkness of color. It is a light grey ink and perform substantially okay with wet medium nib like Jinhao X750.Also we can see a bit of shading on a very lighter side. INK SWABS Chelpark Black - on Camlin Kokuyo Notebook (from top to bottom , 1 Swab, 2 Swabs, & 3 Swabs) Chelpark Black - on BILT Matrix - 70 gsm (from top to bottom , 1 Swab, 2 Swabs, & 3 Swabs) Chelpark Black - on Century Copy Paper (from top to bottom , 1 Swab, 2 Swabs, & 3 Swabs) WATERPROOF TEST Chelpark Black - Waterproof Test It is clear that ink is not completely washed out. The paper directly was run through tap water for 60 seconds. BLOW UP WRITING SAMPLE Chelpark Black - Zoomed in Writing Sample on Century Copy Paper Chelpark Black - Zoomed in Writing Sample on BILT Matrix Paper For more details and review kindly visit my blog : LINK CONCLUSION: The ink is not what you expect from a black ink.Its very faded and not light in color more towards grey. I beleive Camlin Black is far better than Chelpark Black, I beleive this ink can be avoided totally if you are looking for Black Ink but at the same time if you are game for grey ink at cheap price this is for you.