Platinum Forest Black (Classic Ink #11)

[caleb]

Platinum Classic Ink #11 Forest Black Review

So far, I have had the pleasure of using half of the Platinum Classic Iron Gall inks, and, with two of them (Cassis Black, and Citrus Black), I have been quite impressed; however, one has proven to be a little less spectacular than the others: Forest Black.

 

Forest Black is a interestingly-colored green ink—it is what I call a ‘Safari-green’ color—halfway between a light green and a yellow shade. (It looks very similar to a lighter Diamine Evergreen). To be honest, Forest Black is not really my color—it is not dark enough to be professional, and has barely any saturation in color. Additionally, the ink doesn’t really look like it can decide if it wants to be a yellow or a green. Part of this is due to the Iron Gall properties; when first on a page, the ink appears like a very bright green (this lasts for about a minute—see this video for the color shift in action); however, in a period of about twenty minutes after the original color-shift, the ink changes shade the half-yellow half-green color that is on the scan. Although some people may really like the shade, I must admit that it really is not my cup of tea.

 

Forest Black—being an iron gall—also has its fair share of maintenance problems: it is definitely one of the more corrosive inks I’ve used. (It was seemingly more corrosive than the Cassis and Citrus Black inks as Forest managed to create a film on a stainless steel nib that took a decent amount of cleaning to remove.) And, while it may just be an extremely corrosive bad batch, I am now somewhat wary of using this in any pen where any exposed component is not plastic or gold.

 

However, on the bright side, the ink is relatively water resistant and will dry decently fast. It is also very good on cheap papers and can be used on newsprint without feathering and only barely bleeding through. It also shades just as well as its other iron-gall cousins, however, it does not have much in the way of sheen.

 

The ink comes in pleasant packaging, with a nicely decorated green box and a well made bottle—if you would like to see my opinion of the packaging and bottle, see one of my other Platinum ink reviews here.

 

Although this ink was certainly not pleasant for me, I can see how some people may enjoy it, so if barely saturated green safari inks are your thing, this ink may be the color for you. However—it certainly isn’t the color for me. Nevertheless, if you would like to purchase it, it is available in 2mL samples and 60 mL bottles from Goulet.

 

 

 

I hope you enjoyed this review. If you have, please consider taking a look at some of my other reviews at my blog PensOnPark.com.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[inkstainedruth]

Thanks for the review. I'm not normally a fan of murky greens, but this one looks interesting.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[MsRedpen]

caleb, thank you for reviewing this ink, I was hoping to see more darker green color, and was not expecting bad behaviour... you certainly helped my decision to skip this one.

[tinta]

Thank you for the review of this unusual Platinum colour.

Colour wise, not quite my cup of tea, either before oxidization or after.

 

To date I've used two Platinum IG inks, one extensively. The Blue/Black for close to three years (their original IG ink) & now the Classic Cassis/Black.

 

These two inks did not cause any problems with my Sailor's 14K nibs, their feeds or their converters. You do have to clean your pens a little more thoroughly than with conventional inks, but that's just the way it is with IG inks.

[Kevan]

Hmm, thanks for this review. This was one of the shades of the new Platinum Classic inks I was looking at buying, but since I have no real experience with iron gall inks, I was on the fence. People always say that modern IG inks aren't corrosive....seems this one is. I guess high-maintenance inks aren't for me.

 

And considering how many of Platinum's pens have metal hardware on and around the section, it makes me wonder why they'd make an ink that acts like this, as well as being high-maintenance. A lot of their pens have hard-to-clean inner caps. An ink that clings to places would be a nightmare to clean unless you dedicate a certain pen to it.

[tinta]

People always say that modern IG inks aren't corrosive....seems this one is. I guess high-maintenance inks aren't for me.

 

 

I wouldn't discount all ferrogallic inks because of their potential for high maintenance or for corrosion.

 

I'm not a fan of this particular ink because of its muddy green colour. Other Platinum IG inks such as their old standard Blue/Black or their new Classic Cassis/Black or Lavender/Black do not seem to be harmful to fountain pens. Unless the iron-gall ink is allowed to dry up inside your pen.

For almost three years I've had Platinum's Blue/Black in constant use in a number of my Sailors. I had no corrosion issues with this Platinum IG ink. Just followed routine pen hygiene, something I would do anyways, when using conventional dye-based inks.

Edited May 6, 2017 by tinta

[sidthecat]

I've been using this ink in a gold-nibbed dip pen, and it comes up as much bluer and darker than the batch tested above. I like the way it handles and I even like the color, although I normally don't care for green inks. It has a viscosity that I probably wouldn't like in a fountain pen, but the dip pen loves it.

 

The takeaway: great ink; won't get anywhere near my fountain pens.

[Honeybadgers]

I quite like that color. I might get a bottle. I love my bottle of citrus black.