Best Blue-Black Ink?

[estie1948]

+1 on both the Sailor. The Noodlers Legal Lapis is a nice looking ink, but Noodler's inks don't work well in many pens.

 

The Diamine ble blck is also very nice.

I am sorry to hear that you have had some bad experiences with Noodler's inks. My experience is admittedly limited to Noodler's Old Manhattan Black, Legal Lapis, and #41 Brown, but I've never had the slightest problems. Each of these Noodler's inks works well in all my pens and are very quick drying. If I have just been lucky for the last few years since starting to use these Noodler's inks, I hope my luck continues. Again, I am sorry that you have had bad luck with Noodler's inks.

 

-David.

[JimCouch]

I am sorry to hear that you have had some bad experiences with Noodler's inks. My experience is admittedly limited to Noodler's Old Manhattan Black, Legal Lapis, and #41 Brown, but I've never had the slightest problems. Each of these Noodler's inks works well in all my pens and are very quick drying. If I have just been lucky for the last few years since starting to use these Noodler's inks, I hope my luck continues. Again, I am sorry that you have had bad luck with Noodler's inks.

 

-David.

 

No worries David. I may have overstated it a bit. I love the Noolder's inks, but I have a couple of pens that don't seem to get along with the inks. I also have plenty of pens that work just fine with the Noodler's inks. Fun inks and lots of unique colors. The Noodler's (or maybe it is the pens) are just a little more finiky than my other inks.

[PS104]

All good suggestions and paths to follow. You might want to look at Sandy1's reviews of any of them as her secondary nom d'FPN is Ms Blue-black in her reviews (always thorough and exhaustive)

[hbdk]

I have lately been using Hero 232 and it is a very nice Blue-Black with good saturation and very well behaved.

 

As Blue-Black is my preferred ink for journaling, I have been experimenting a lot. My experiences so far:

 

Pelikan 4001 has been my choice for Blue-Black, but it is too dry for most of my pens and also a bit too gray.

Quink is more like a teal as is Noodler's Air Corp Blue - though the latter is quite a lot darker - both are very well behaved in most any pen.

Sheaffer Skrip is much like 4001 in colour (a bit more blue) but wetter and with better lubrication than 4001

Diamine Blue-Black is a very nice BB colour but very wet and with a tendency to feather

Diamine Denim/CS Tavy is a real BB - a little lighter and more well behaved than Diamine BB

Edited December 25, 2014 by hbdk

[Davis19942003]

Definitely Sailor Sei-Boku. But only with a good flowing pen.

The shading is nice for a blue black ink, not too much for every day writing and school work and most importantly, it works well on cheap paper.
It has no problem in my Sailor Profit 14K

But there is a flow issue with my Pilor MR

[Abner C. Kemp]

Pilot Blue Black leans very much towards blue and is also water resistant.

[Tas]

Just been mucking about with mixing and I have to shout eureka . . .

 

2 parts Diamine Eclipse

6 parts Private Reserve Gray Flannel (it's green bias used to counteract the slight purple in the Eclipse)

1 part Noodler's Lexington Grey (to add permanency)

 

I'll post a photo after breakfast and clearing up my mess.

 

I LOVE IT !!

[Tas]

http://www.taskyprianou.com/fpn_eclipse_gray_lex_swatch.jpg

[Lou Erickson]

I'll put in another +1 (there's several now) for Pilot Blue-Black. It's a well-behaved bluish blue-black ink, with some water resistance.

 

If you want something fancy, I've spent the last month with Iroshizuku Shin-kai, which is also a blue-black. More towards black, and also somewhat water resistant, so the test said. A very well-behaved ink, with the pretty Iroshizuku bottle.

[amberleadavis]

I just thought I'd post a few quick pics of an informal test of blue and blue-black inks, not comprehensive, just the inks I happened to have on hand.

 

I apologize in advance for the image quality, they we're taken with my iPhone under mixed fluorescent and colour corrected incandescent lights. My scanner is in storage till I get my office space organized again;)

 

In each photo I present, from left to right, a test strip which was kept in an envelope, a strip which was placed in a South facing double glazed window in Detroit Michigan from approx. 27 September till today 1 November of 2014. A water resistance test strip in which water was, again L to R: dropped and allowed to dry naturally (room temp, no forced air, etc.) , three up and down paces with a damp sabeline watercolor brush.

 

Photo A.

image.jpg

 

Photo B.

image.jpg

 

Photo C.

image.jpg

 

 

NED, these are WONDERFUL! Please post larger pictures when you get a chance because these are great.

[amberleadavis]

Okay, if you are in Europe, then you should acquire this ink:

 

http://sheismylawyer.com/She_Thinks_In_Ink/Colors/Blue-Black/2014-Ink_100.jpg

[amberleadavis]

If you like DRY inks....

 

http://sheismylawyer.com/She_Thinks_In_Ink/Colors/Blue-Black/2014-Ink_223.jpg

[amberleadavis]

http://sheismylawyer.com/She_Thinks_In_Ink/Inklings/slides/2013-Ink_695.jpg

[amberleadavis]

This one is my EDC Blue-black because it is FUSS FREE, FADE RESISTANT and WATER RESISTANT.

 

This ink is my best performer.

 

http://sheismylawyer.com/She_Thinks_In_Ink/Inklings/slides/2013-Ink_747b.jpg

 

Even if you are not a Noodler's fan, this ink is truly terrific. You can only buy it from Dromgoole's - 2515 Rice Boulevard | Houston, Texas 77005 | 713.526.4651.

 

No, I'm not on the Dromgoole's payroll, but I am a real fan of this ink and the Dromgoole family.

[Tanzanite]

Okay, if you are in Europe, then you should acquire this ink:

 

http://sheismylawyer.com/She_Thinks_In_Ink/Colors/Blue-Black/2014-Ink_100.jpg

Oh, why can not my 4001 Blue Black look that beautiful. It is a pale slightly blueish grey... I think I must find a very wet pen for it. Edited December 29, 2014 by Tanzanite

[amberleadavis]

Yes, that is a very wet nib.

[ac12]

 

Oh, why can not my 4001 Blue Black look that beautiful. It is a pale slightly blueish grey... I think I must find a very wet pen for it.

 

The Pelikan blue is similar.

You need a WET pen to put enough ink down to make the color dark, otherwise it fades to a washed out blue.