Black Duel: Parker Quink Vs. Pelikan 4001

[The Good Captain]

Of the two you mention, the Pelikan 4001 one wins hands down, for me. However, Sheaffer Black has remarkable and surprising water-resistance, like the 4001.

[VivienR]

I have experiences only Parker Quink Black. That's a ink, which is really worthless. Faded within weeks, to some murky yellow. Even if someone would gave me a free bottle of Quink Black, I would say thanks, but not. Not even worth for collecting dust...

Probably Pelikan 4001 way much better. My absolute favorite black is Caran d'Ache Carbon. Well, that's an amazing black ink.

[ksm]

Parker Quink Black? Too pale for my taste. It has two redeeming qualities: Better flow than 4001, and price tag well below Sailor or MB.

I use it with wide italic nib for calligraphy practice.

[dan in montreal]

Quink black certainly has a bad reputation around here. I mainly use it to darken Quink Blue Black, but I also periodically fill wet pens with large nibs with it and it works well for me. I find it flows well. Yes, it is rather gray, not the blackest of blacks - it's not exciting, but it's fine, widely available and relatively cheap. I've been using it for more than 25 years and none of my writing has disappeared, turned yellow or brown. Perhaps there have been bad batches, but all the bottles I've used have been OK.

 

My main black is Noodler's standard bulletproof black. It's a very good ink, highly saturated, well behaved pretty much in every pen I've used it in. It's black black and the cost per ml, it you can get it locally, is very good.

 

The 4001 inks I find to be very dry - and in my neck of the woods their prices have increased in the last little while, making them less attractive to me.

 

No one has mentioned good old Waterman black. It's also a nice, well behaved ink, and is probably available in your part of the world, BatmanWalks.

[4lex]

I think Quink Black has a bad reputation because it is more dark grey then black.

It is IMO great ink, very practical, reliable, good flow, not too wet, dries fast, does not feather, works great on a bad quality paper. It is my work and study ink.

If you are using pens on a good quality paper, and drying time, smearing and bleed through are not an issue, and you like even, black black line and smooth writing you would probably prefer Aurora black or Iroshizuku take-sumi. Or just get a rollerball.

 

Pelikan4001 is a good reliable ink but I prefer Quink. My advice is to try both, and then some more. After years of different inks I settled on four inks and that is all I use. They cover all my needs for different writing situations and different pens. You may find something completely different that you will like most.

The four inks that I use are Parker Quink Black, Parker Quink Black Washable, Iroshizuku Take-sumi and J Herbin Violette Pensee.

[dcwaites]

Ok, here are some Parker Blacks, along with Pelikan 4001 Black

 

 

You can see that the purest, blackest black is the Parker Penman Ebony, closely followed by the Pelikan 4001, which is a nose ahead of modern Parker Quink Permanent Black.

Fourth is the older Parker Quink Permanent Black with Solv-X, trailed by Parker Quink Washable. This last is clearly a brownish colour.

 

All samples were written with a Medium #6 FP nib mounted in a pen holder.

Click on the image to see a larger version.

Edited January 10, 2016 by dcwaites

[4lex]

Ok, here are some Parker Blacks, along with Pelikan 4001 Black

 

 

You can see that the purest, blackest black is the Parker Penman Ebony, closely followed by the Pelikan 4001, which is a nose ahead of modern Parker Quink Permanent Black.

Fourth is the older Parker Quink Permanent Black with Solv-X, trailed by Parker Quink Washable. This last is clearly a brownish colour.

 

All samples were written with a Medium #6 FP nib mounted in a pen holder.

Click on the image to see a larger version.

 

Thank you for this excellent comparison. Picture is very accurate.

I read the OP post again and if I understand correctly he thinks that blackest black inks are better. In this case of more widely available inks he will be better off with Lamy black.

[carlos.q]

Ok, here are some Parker Blacks, along with Pelikan 4001 Black

 

 

You can see that the purest, blackest black is the Parker Penman Ebony, closely followed by the Pelikan 4001, which is a nose ahead of modern Parker Quink Permanent Black.

Thank you for this comparison! I think I'll have to check out my bottle of Penman Ebony that hasn't been used in ages.

[dcwaites]

Don't forget I haven't included any of the modern black, black, blackety blacks as Ms Ethernautrix would say. I only have a couple of those contenders - Noodler's Heart of Darkness, and Sailor Kiwaguro.

I just wanted to include the inks under discussion.

Edited January 10, 2016 by dcwaites

[Jerome Tarshis]

Something worth bearing in mind: Different people who give opinions of Parker Quink Black are not necessarily using the same ink. In much of the world outside the United States, it seems to be possible to choose in the shop between inks called Parker Quink Black and Washable Black. The former seems to be a darker black, more long-lasting, altogether a different ink.

 

In the United States I believe (here I may be mistaken) that the Quink labeled Black is in fact Washable Black. Americans complain that Parker Quink Black is grayish, inclined to fade rapidly, and in all respects a less satisfactory ink. But they are not necessarily using the same ink other people find to be a good, long-lasting black.

[dan in montreal]

Something worth bearing in mind: Different people who give opinions of Parker Quink Black are not necessarily using the same ink. In much of the world outside the United States, it seems to be possible to choose in the shop between inks called Parker Quink Black and Washable Black. The former seems to be a darker black, more long-lasting, altogether a different ink.

 

In the United States I believe (here I may be mistaken) that the Quink labeled Black is in fact Washable Black. Americans complain that Parker Quink Black is grayish, inclined to fade rapidly, and in all respects a less satisfactory ink. But they are not necessarily using the same ink other people find to be a good, long-lasting black.

Thanks for this comment Jerome and thanks for the scan, dcwaites. I agree I've always been a little puzzled by the references to Washable black. I've only seen it in cartridge form and the Quink black I was referring to was the bottled stuff which is just labeled as black - and is the only bottled Parker black I've seen in my neck of the woods for years. I had always assumed it was not the washable stuff.

[dcwaites]

Ok, this is what happens when you take the earlier comparison scan of some blacks, and rinse it under the cool tap for about (guesstimate) 30 seconds --

 

 

As you can see, the Washable Black is almost all gone. The two 'Permanent' blacks are still readable, but much has gone. The Penman Ebony fared better, and the Pelikan 4001 the best, however, I wouldn't call any of them waterproof, just, except for the Washable Black, water resistant to various degrees.

[Tas]

Almost Deja vu . . .

[carlos.q]

 

 

The Penman Ebony fared better, and the Pelikan 4001 the best...

I expected good water resistance from the 4001 but the Penman Ebony is surprising!

[Arkanabar]

In Claudiu's position, I would almost certainly do the same thing, which is use Pelikan 4001 Brilliant Black. It was my first black ink, and it always treated me well. I loved its water resistance, and unlike Waterman Havana Brown, I never noticed it fading.

In fact, if it wasn't for Noodler's Heart of Darkness (and the glowing reviews of Perle Noire), it would still be my black ink of choice. But as it's about as wet as the Quink Black with Solv-X that my Dad used in his "51" for years (my chosen pen for black), I may not need to consider Perle Noire any more.

[Safari_Camo]

One thing that I don't like about Black Lamy is that turns yellowish with the time.

 

Pelikan 4001 Brilliant Black+ Lamy Safari F nib is a perfect combo for me.

[Bristol24]

My very first ink was Parker Quink Permanent Black. I used it in a very cheap Hero 329 (my first fountain pen since Junior High School in the 1960's) and have continued to use it in a Hero 616 and, most recently, a Parker 51 or Parker 21 Super. I can always depend on Parker Quink Permanent Black to start right up and to wash completely from the pen. It does bleed through, even on the cheapest of papers and is consistent in performance from one pen to another. I have found that Parker Quink Permanent Black from India is ever so slightly lighter in color, however.

[Bluey]

I really like Pelikan's ink especially the drier 4001 range, whereas Parker black seems drab to me. Pelikan 4001 black is perhaps my fave black as it has a touch of shading to make it interesting and it performs very well in my Falcon and others that I've tried it with.

 

So Pelikan 40001 black >>>>>> Parker quink black

[Ron Z]

I wasn't paying attention when this was posted back in December, but I'll throw my 2 cents in now.

 

Both Richard Binder and I have found that many pens have flow issues with black Parker Quink. Not all, but enough that we recommend avoiding the black Parker ink. We've had pens (as have many of our clients) that were balky and wouldn write well if at all with the Parker, and changing to any other ink will cure the problem. I've never had any problems, nor have I heard of any, with Pelikan 4001 black.

[sciumbasci]

Is it possible that Quink sold in Europe is different than Quink sold outside Europe?

I am asking because the bottle I have (Permanent, an old stock from 2003) is far darker than the photos shown.