What Kind Of Ink Is The Best?

[Professor Zlatko]

Respected,

 

I would like to hear your opinions, what kind of ink is the best ink for daily writers? I use Pelikan and Reform inks, and some cheap inks which are not famous. My opinion is that Pelikan ink is the best, especially Pelikan brilliant black. It is very good, smooth and gently. Reform inks are good to, but they are with higher density and for that reason that ink produce little blots on the nib, if I use black ink the black blots are very marked on the nib. Please, recommend me some inks, if you have writing samples please you can attach them at this topic.

 

With special respect,

 

Zlatko

[Notgatherox]

Best is subjective - everyone has different needs.

 

Pelikan inks are dry - and will suit a wet pen.

 

I myself like Noodler's inks - Liberty Elysium is my choice of ink. I like Lexington Grey and 54th Massachusetts also.

 

The J Herbin 1670 series (Stormy Grey and Emerald of Chivor) is what I use if I want some flair in writing.

 

Diamine Ancient Copper and Pelikan Edelstein Amethyst are used to differentiate my notes and make it more colourful.

 

 

 

~Epic

[Professor Zlatko]

sound interesting, especially the ink described as Stormy Grey. If you have the sample, please, attach.

 

Zlatko

[Ergative]

Zlatko, there is an entire section of this forum called "Ink reviews." Browse through it to see the many, many inks that exist, and what people think of them. You will see far more samples and photographs, and get much more detailed information there, than you would on this thread.

[haruka337]

What kind of ink is the best? Well, what are the writer's needs and preferences?

 

I prefer Japanese inks, Sailor being a personal favorite with Pilot in at a close second.

 

On the whole, these inks perform well in most fountain pens, are not prone to clogging, staining, flow well and the range of color is spectacular.

[JefferyS]

My personal favorite ink manufacturer is Diamine. They have a lot of variety and none seem to be problematic in my pens.

[Kiaxa]

I've found that Pilot's Iroshizuku ink is one of the best inks out there (its my favorite ink series). The general consensus on how to describe the way it performs is "well behaved". It's an ink that just works. It's also useful as a tool for troubleshooting flow issues because the ink, again, well behaved. Only downside to Iroshizuku is the price but the ink is well worth it.

 

Since you seem interested in blacks I'll recommend Take Sumi. I personally don't have Take Sumi but I'll leave a writing sample from Brian Goulet

 

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-oyRR5Mry-tU/UQQBe6FcB0I/AAAAAAAAChs/51FBwbYzYzU/s1600/PN-TakeSumi.jpg

[PS104]

There is no 'best ink'

As they said in the 60s, "Different strokes for different folks"

Cliche but there's a smidgen of truth in it and that's why it's a cliche

[AlanO]

Respected,

 

I would like to hear your opinions, what kind of ink is the best ink for daily writers? I use Pelikan and Reform inks, and some cheap inks which are not famous. My opinion is that Pelikan ink is the best, especially Pelikan brilliant black. It is very good, smooth and gently. Reform inks are good to, but they are with higher density and for that reason that ink produce little blots on the nib, if I use black ink the black blots are very marked on the nib. Please, recommend me some inks, if you have writing samples please you can attach them at this topic.

 

With special respect,

 

Zlatko

 

Hi Zlatko,

 

I'm a newcomer here, but I've been having a look around the ink comparisons section at...

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/forum/86-ink-comparisons/

There are lots of comparison samples posted up there that will give you some good ideas of what a lot of inks look like.

 

Alan

[Namo]

As far as behavior is concerned, my heart goes to Sailor inks, with a special mention to the top Pilot line (Iroshizuku; pricey though).Diaminenoffer a big variety for a reasonnable price. The Amercian made Noodler's offers amazing, undiluted colors and manage to maintain low prices. I've tried only one onk from Private Reverse, but it's the most beautiful, beat behave blue I've ever tried since Parker does not make the Penman line anymore. Herbin offer s nice colors, very subtle, but often too feh for my tastes. I've yet to try the Edlestein line by Pelikan, but Pelikan does produce excellent ink for free flowing pens. Waterman is the least troublesome blue, blue black and black.

And so it goes. actually, the only ink I've ever tried that was disappointing, if you put the color factor aside, is Higgins Black. The rest is a matter of tastes and needs.

[Arkanabar]

Everyone does have their own preferences, and reasons for them.

I like my daily writers to have good contrast with my paper (usually white, but also manila and [shudder] some orange cardstock outguides), to dry fairly quickly, to not feather too much on the lousy paper I use, and to have good fade resistance. Water resistance is also a useful property, but nowhere as important as the others.

So my writing colors of preference are:

• Black: I will buy Heart of Darkness, and possibly Perle Noire, but I have at least 8 or 9 oz of black ink
• Blue-Black: I intend to buy Pilot
• Purple: I intend to buy DeAtramentis Aubergine
• Blue: Noodler's Blue, but I may add a more conventional royal blue, if I can find one with good characteristics
• Green: Diamine Sherwood
• Brown: I intend to buy Iroshizuku Yama-Guri

Then there are markup inks:

• Red: Noodler's Widow Maker
• Turquoise: Sheaffer Skrip Turquoise

I also have, and so use, the following:

• Waterman Purple (never for anything I want to keep, due to its poor lightfastness)
• Noodler's VMail Midway Blue
• Noodler's Red-Black (a workhorse for me for many years)
• Noodler's Borealis Black
• Parker Permanent Black Quink with Solv-X
• MontBlanc-Simplo Black with SuperCleaner SC21
• Noodler's Bad Black Mocassin (which was absurdly hard to get out of my wife's Ivory Darkness Nib Creaper once it had dried up, and so will only be used 1:1 or maybe 2:1 with water in my Noodler's Indian eyedropper, as I can clean out the barrel with a swab, and the feed with a toothbrush)
• Chesterfield Archival Vault (also only to use in said eyedropper, for the same reason)
• samples of Noodler's Purple Martin, Noodler's Violet, Diamine Damson, and De Atramentis Aubergine

Edited October 4, 2015 by Arkanabar

[Notgatherox]

sound interesting, especially the ink described as Stormy Grey. If you have the sample, please, attach.

 

Zlatko

 

I don't have a photo to it, so I'll point you to a review or two on the FPN site!

 

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/273379-jherbin-1670-stormy-grey-photos/

 

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/276495-j-herbin-1670-stormy-greya-handwritten-review/

 

 

They're beautiful. Both the ink and the reviews.

 

 

 

~Epic

[inkstainedruth]

There is no "best". It's very subjective. It all depends on what ink(s) work well in your pen(s). And even within the same brand of ink, or the same type of pen, there will be differences: some Diamine inks, for instance are very dry; some are cloggy after a couple of days; some have issues with crud build up on the nib; some are very saturated and others not.

I had Noodler's Walnut in a Platinum Plaisir with a medium (read, European fine) nib, and it was very dry and scratchy. I put the same ink in a Pelikan M400 with a very juicy F nib and the combination was amazing! I put Iroshihzuku Yama-guri in the same pen and it was almost *too* wet.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[Sandy1]

Hi,

 

Daily writer inks should be a good match to the pen/s used, perform well on papers that one has to deal with, and be sufficiently robust to be readable if exposed to the risk of potable liquids. For the most part the colour should range from Blue thru Blue-Black and perhaps Black.

 

My office daily writer ink for many years remains Parker Quink Blue-Black with SOLV-X. The current PQBlBk is not a best choice for a daily writer ink.

 

Sheaffer Blue-Black is an under estimated ink.

 

While I do not use Black FP inks, Noodler's Black is well regarded.

 

Pelikan Blue-Black is one of my favourite daily writer inks.

 

Montblanc Royal Blue remains on the top shelf.

 

Pilot Blue and Blue-Black are solid picks. They can be sourced in large bottles at reasonable cost from Vendors in Japan.

 

If one encounters truly nasty paper, then the iron-gall inks should be considered. They do require a bit more pen maintenance - a thorough flush every month or so - but that is very dependent on use/pen handling. R&K Salix and the more intriguing Ecclesiastic Stationery Supplies Registrars Ink are worthy of a look.

 

For a more convivial ink, consider Pelikan Edelstein Topaz

 

I've posted Ink Reviews of those inks, other than SSBlBk, in the Ink Review Forum, so that may give you a more on-the-level basis for comparison than random IRs, though those most certainly should not be ignored.

 

Hope that you sail with the wind on your inky adventure.

 

Bye,

S1

Edited October 5, 2015 by Sandy1

[bobje]

Namo, you've peaked my interest. What blue from Private Reserve do you use?

[Namo]

Namo, you've peaked my interest. What blue from Private Reserve do you use?

PR Super DC Show.

[Professor Zlatko]

Respected, thank you for your answers and comments. I found once some old books in the church, they were written by fountain pens and the samples of ink have been very good. The color was something between black and dark green and I have never found similar kind of ink.

[AlanO]

I found once some old books in the church, they were written by fountain pens and the samples of ink have been very good. The color was something between black and dark green and I have never found similar kind of ink.

 

They're almost certainly written using an iron gall ink, which most people don't recommend for modern fountain pens due to its corrosive nature.

 

Alan

[Professor Zlatko]

Dear Alan, I do not use modern fountain pens, because they are not good, just old fountain pen. I am using temporary Geha 790 from 1950-1960 and Pleikan 400, 400 NN from the same period. The nib of these pens is 14 K gold plated and I clean the nibs very often. I will try to find out something about an iron gall ink.

[Professor Zlatko]

Alan, you are aboslutely right, that is the ink. I will try to buy some amount...