Inky T O D - Black Inks - Which Ones Do You Own And Which Are Your Favorites?

[phonelady61]

I have two black inks one waterman intense black and shaefers jet black I like them both equally.

[TeaHive]

Noodler's Heart of Darkness is the only true black I have. (I have Diamine Graphite as of today, but to my eye it is a decidedly dark grey-green, no black at all whatever anyone selling it says.) HoD is the only black ink I need. It is the blackest of blacks. Opaque and 95% waterproof, as using a wet brush has made the area around the writing tinted a faint grey, but no loss whatsoever of solid line, legibility or color. It's also impervious to light. And as I like my writings to last, this is what I want and need. It's also forgery proof, not that that's a concern of mine. Just a little bonus.

 

As for how HoD performs, no problems whatsoever have arisen. It's smooth and wet.

 

I may get a bottle of Noodler's Dark Matter, because I just like the name and label design, lol. It tickles my nerdy fancy. I may also get Iroshizuku's Take-sumi, for making custom color blends with other Iroshizuku inks. Other than that, no other black ink has even come close to crossing my thoughts. I suppose you might count Diamine Eclipse, but to me, it's just a very dark purple nearing black that I would like to have one day.

[miwishi63]

Noodlers Black and Private Reserve Invincible Black are my favorites (in black pens of course!).

[A144]

I don't use black very often, almost never in fact.

 

I have a bottle of Noodler's Bulletproof Black. It's well behaved and quite dark.

 

I recently got a sample of Take-sumi, and although I don't usually use black inks, I think I will end up with a bottle of it. It's black, but it has some character to it that is lacking in the dark black inks like Bulletproof Black, Heart of Darkness, Aurora Black, etc. Two bottles of black ink should suffice.

[Runnin_Ute]

outside of some Waterman Intense Black cartridges, all I have currently is Noodler's Black. I have had in the past Levenger Raven Black. (which when I spilled some, dried thru red on the back side.)

[theolu]

The only black I own a bottle of is Sailor Kiwa Guro Nano Black. I love it, quite unique as far as black inks go.

[AllenG]

Take-sumi is my favorite, easiest to clean, darkest.

Mystery Black is a good black.

Akkerman black is really a dark grey to my eye. I like it when I want a black that will show some shading.

The Noodler's feels like it is starting to thicken and get a breath sticky. It's been relegated to a glass pen only ink.

Edited August 28, 2014 by AllenG

[Bookman]

Black inks I own:

• Aurora
• Noodler's
• Pelikan 4001
• Waterman (bottle and carts)

Favorites:

• Aurora (for all pens that can handle it)
• Pelikan 4001 (for wetter pens)

 

I always have one pen filled with either Aurora Black or Pelikan 4001 Black, depending on the pen. Formerly I always had one Pilot Plumix inked with Noodler's Old Manhattan Black; now I use ordinary Noodler's Black. It's handy for addressing envelopes and it can stay in a pen indefinitely. Occasionally I'll use Noodler's Black in a front-line pen, but 99% of the time it's either Aurora Black or Pelikan 4001 Black. I use Waterman Black carts in my Waterman pens; but the long cartridges hold twice the ink of a converter, and so I buy the cartridges for their storage capacities, not the ink. When I get a Waterman cartridge out of its box I'm more likely to rinse the ink straight down the drain so I can fill it with another ink. I bought the bottle of Waterman Black on a whim. I thought I wanted to go through a gray-black phase. I didn't. I kept it because I thought gray-black would make a nice change of pace. It does. But not often.

[carlos.q]

The Noodler's feels like it is starting to thicken and get a breath sticky. It's been relegated to a glass pen only ink.

Please consider diluting with distilled water.

[Millefleurs]

Black inks I own:

 

Levenger Raven Black

J. Herbin Perle Noire

Noodler's Bernanke Black

 

My favorite one is the Perle Noire.

 

I really don't need any more black ink, but I'm curious about the Take-sumi. I wonder how it compares to the Perle Noire.

[mhm802]

I don't often use black ink, but my favorite is Iroshizuku Take-Sumi

I also have bottles of Levenger Raven, Waterman Black and Parker Quink Black

[mwpannell]

I use black probably 75% of the time, but unfortunately can't say I'm a black connoisseur. I pretty much stick to two basics:

 

1. Sheaffer's Skrip Black most commonly and

2. Noodler's Black (Bulletproof) when wanted or needed.

 

I've been on the verge of trying others--though I'm not tempted by something supposedly being the blackest or "prettier" black--but always seem to just pull the trigger on the two mentioned. They have performed flawlessly.

[Lou Erickson]

I think I only have one black, but it's one I've found really effective and like a lot. It seems to be the perfect ink for my Lamy 2000. It is the Pelikan 4001 Brilliant Black. I should have picked up Namiki black, but didn't think to.

[Art]

I like black ink and use it quite a bit. My current holdings:

 

• Cross Black (bottle & cartridges)
• Hero 234
• Mont Blanc (quite old but still flows beautifully)

[Tas]

I love my blacks.

A lot.

 

I own, and use and like

 

Pilot Black

Parker Quink Black

Lamy Black

Sheaffer Black

Noodler's Black

Sailor Jentle Black

Pelikan Black.

 

I wash over them with water to discover their hidden depths . . .

[amberleadavis]

Tas, can you show us some of your wonderful washes.

[Tas]

I'd love to.

 

I'll shoot and post swatches for you tomorrow.

[mhosea]

Aurora Black and Sailor Kiwa Guro are my favorites. I've had only a handful of others: Quink Black, Noodler's Black, Noodler's Heart of Darkness, Sailor Black, Pilot Black, Hero Carbon Black.

[SeeksAdvice]

I currently own the following:

- Take-Sumi

- Olde Manhattan Blackest Black

- X-Feather

- Borealis Black

- Kiwa-Guro

- Platinum Carbon Black

 

My rankings:

Easiest to clean: Take-Sumi

Darkest: Borealis Black (except in a chisel tipped marker). It's black, period, end of story.

Most "permanent": Kiwa-Guro / Carbon Black

Most disappointing: Olde Manhattan Blackest Black - Umm... the bottle ... it shades. That's not supposed to happen.

Most prone to feathering: Borealis Black / Olde Manhattan Blackest Black

Longest dry time: X-Feather

Shortest dry time: Kiwa-Guro - hands-down, the fastest drying not-a-"fast-dry" ink I've tried.

Overall rankings:

1) Carbon Black - dark and durable

2) Kiwa-Guro - more grey sheen but durable

3) Take-Sumi - easy to clean relatively "black" black

4) X-Feather - dark, slow dry times

5) Borealis Black - it's black, no water resistance, slow to dry at times, feathers/bleeds

6) Olde Manhattan Blackest Black - wondering if it's a bad bottle

[Tas]

I LOVE my blacks.

Sadly some of subtleties of colour splits are lost here.

 

Parker Quink Black splits into blues and browns beautifully when washed over.

The Sheaffer has magenta and blue in there too.
I would say Pelikan is the most neutral of my lot.

Pilot the warmest and the only ink I use in my Vanishing Point. (Mainly as it's the only ink I've found to behave in it!)

Noodler's is probably my darkest although the new to me De Atramentis gives it a good run for it's money especially when washed over. If totally dry, hardly anything budges with this ink.

Lamy, also new to me, is I think seriously underrated. It's dark, behaves really well and splits ever so subtly into yellow and magenta.

Sailor is gorgeous when washed over and spreads evenly into a coolish grey with no split in colour at all.

 

http://www.taskyprianou.com/fpn_parker_quink_black_swatch.jpghttp://www.taskyprianou.com/fpn_sheaffer_black_swatch.jpghttp://www.taskyprianou.com/fpn_pilot_black_swatch.jpghttp://www.taskyprianou.com/fpn_pelikan_black_swatch.jpghttp://www.taskyprianou.com/fpn_noodlers_black_swatch.jpghttp://www.taskyprianou.com/fpn_de_atrementis_document_black_swatch.jpghttp://www.taskyprianou.com/fpn_lamy_black_swatch.jpghttp://www.taskyprianou.com/fpn_sailor_jentle_black_swatch.jpg

Edited August 29, 2014 by Tas