Best School Ink?

[Donald2]

I know lots of people are going to glare at me for wasting their time: Aurora Black it is. I'll be going to the town center next week, which has Bert's Inkwell, so I'll bring along my Parker and try out an ink or two to buy there.

I'm not going to glare at you. I love Aurora Black. I own both Aurora Black and also Aurora Blue. Even though I haven't used them yet, I own Aurora Black and Aurora Blue and am excited to use them in my fountain pens.

[Torrilin]

FWIW, fourteen years ago, I was in the same situation as you. Schoolkid with a vintage pen (Parker Super 21 in my case) looking for a daily ink. My parents were not as strict on the "ONLY ONE" rule, so I ended up with a revolving roster of Pelikan 4001 Royal Blue, Waterman Blue (it wasn't yet called Serenity Blue at the time), and later 4001 Turquoise (because I discovered my teachers had a really liberal interpretation of what "blue" meant...). Those three got me through high school and proved fuss-free and dependable. And that Super 21 is still working the same as it ever did today.

I can explain the turquoise one. It was apparently a very popular blue for fancy ink in the days when fountain pens were common. My teachers in school, especially the older nuns, loved it when they saw me using such a nice color (their phrasing, not mine). This was in the 1990s, so I doubt most of those nuns are still alive (the oldest was in her late 80s at the time). Im not sure which ink brand would have first introduced a cyan/turquoise ink, but it was definitely a thing.

 

Technically one of my pens was vintage in school, but Sheaffer no nonsense is almost as bomb proof as a Parker 45 or Lamy Safari.

[TSherbs]

I'm not going to glare at you. I love Aurora Black. I own both Aurora Black and also Aurora Blue. Even though I haven't used them yet, I own Aurora Black and Aurora Blue and am excited to use them in my fountain pens.

 

My favorite black too. Velvety.

[ParkerDuofold]

My favorite black too. Velvety.

+1.

 

The best black ink going, IMHO... if you don't need bulletproof.

 

 

- Anthony

[marlinspike]

When I was in high school (18 years ago and I was the only one using a fountain pen then, you must be the first one in years) and also considered price and quantity of bottles, my preferred black was Aurora and my preferred blue was Visconti (though it is just out of budget), though I used plenty of Pelikan and bought a bottle of Lamy blue at one point just to have the bottle when I was done (did not care for the ink).

[Cruzan80]

As a teacher, the two I have kept in my classroom (homeroom kids get a pen for their birthday, current year's ink is on me) is Parker Quink black, and Noodler's Bernanke Black (swapped over summer). Other content teachers have been much happier with the drying time of the Bernanke black. Seems to write well enough on cheap paper, may not be BLACK, but definitely DARK GREY to black.

[overwriter]

Any of the Pelikan, Waterman, or Lamy inks work well. They don’t tend to feather, they dry quickly, thye clean up easily, they have some nice colours available and they are cheap. I have spent a lot of my life in Europe where choosing an