EFNIR: Sailor Jentle Black

[A Smug Dill]

2 minutes ago, LizEF said:

It might be interesting for someone to do a graph showing cost of the pen vs. whether the included cartridge is used,

 

I almost never use any of the ink in the included cartridges, irrespective of the price (or my total cost of acquisition) of the pen. Once in an odd while I'd want to empty such cartridges out in order to use them as containers for potentially troublesome (e.g. with a reputation for being apt to stain and/or corrode) inks, and/or in pens into which I cannot fit a ‘standard’ converter for the brand (e.g. my wife's ‘vintage’ Platinum pocket pen which was probably made in the Seventies?) Most of the time I don't even bother keeping the untouched ink as I pop and empty a new cartridge; the single exception being the turquoise ink that came with Daiso Air-Seal fountain pens in ‘Sky’ colour, only because I emptied sixteen of those cartridges at once as preparatory work for a project, and it'd seem a shame to flush 13ml of ink down the drain.

 

For Platinum and Pilot pens, I have/had cartridges with yellow or red inks I'd never use (not that I don't have bottled inks that are in those colour families) that I could empty; but for Sailor, I only have black ink cartridges (and I think I gave my father-in-law more than a dozen of those when I gave him a Professional Gear some time ago). So this ink is literally the first and only time I've used a supplied ink cartridge, for the purpose it was intended, in the last decade or so.

 

(I may have used some cartridges some twenty or thirty years ago playing with Sheaffer calligraphy sets for beginners.)

 

 

[LizEF]

58 minutes ago, A Smug Dill said:

I almost never use any of the ink in the included cartridges, irrespective of the price (or my total cost of acquisition) of the pen.

Ditto.  Basically, I suspect the cartridge is used more by beginners than experienced users, who go straight for the bottle. ........ (Wait, that may not sound quite right.  Meh.  You know what I mean.)

 

[arcfide]

On 3/13/2021 at 4:27 PM, Sailor Kenshin said:

 

No, it performs just fine.  One hears that there are fprmula differences between ink cartridges and bottled.

 

The next time I have this in a pen I'll try doing a chroma.

 

I've used both the cartridges and the bottled ink for this ink and I didn't detect a noticeable difference in writing experience. 

[arcfide]

On 3/13/2021 at 10:00 AM, LizEF said:

Sailor may want to hire you...   There's a person over on reddit who only has this in cartridges - the ones that came with their pens - and claims it won't flow in any of their pens (purchased from various places and at various times).  It's hard to believe, but what they experience, they experience.  Makes me wonder about different papers and perhaps humidity or altitude.  I've only got the cartridges that came with my Pro Gear Slim, and as I said above, the combo of this ink and Sailor's pencil-like nib tuning feels velvety to me (best way I can describe it) - and that's a positive experience in my mind, in case that's not clear.  If a more interesting color (like say blue-black) did the same thing, I'd get a bottle in a heartbeat.

 

I haven't noticed any sheen from either the EF nib used in the review, or the Sailor F nib used for the rest of the cartridge.

 

I find it strange that someone would have trouble flowing with this ink, as "An Ink Guy" tested the viscosity of this ink and it's *very* wet. Just seems very strange, as this and the Sailor Blue both flow extremely well for me. Because they are so wet, though, they might not lubricate in the same way that a more viscous ink might. 

 

As for the sheen, I doubt it would be easy to note from an EF or F nib. In a Broad nib on ink resistant paper, it affects the color tone of the black on the page relative to other black inks that are more matte, such as Perle Noire. 

[LizEF]

9 hours ago, arcfide said:

Just seems very strange

Agreed.

 

9 hours ago, arcfide said:

As for the sheen, I doubt it would be easy to note from an EF or F nib. In a Broad nib on ink resistant paper, it affects the color tone of the black on the page relative to other black inks that are more matte, such as Perle Noire.

Maybe when I decide to use the next cartridge, I'll suck some out and put it in a broad, wet nib.

[Intensity]

This is a really nice black ink.  I had a bottle recently.  Super lubricating, smooth flow, fairly dark and non-shading.  The only thing I didn't like about it is the faint warm-toned sheen over otherwise cool-toned black base.  I like black ink to be either very neutral or tending to a cool tone--not warm.  This one is more of a warm black on low absorbency paper, like Tomoe River.  I've pretty much entirely switched to Sailor nano Kiwa-Guro as my default black ink, because I just can't get enough of its luxurious silver sheen.

[LizEF]

41 minutes ago, Intensity said:

This is a really nice black ink.  I had a bottle recently.  Super lubricating, smooth flow, fairly dark and non-shading.  The only thing I didn't like about it is the faint warm-toned sheen over otherwise cool-toned black base.  I like black ink to be either very neutral or tending to a cool tone--not warm.  This one is more of a warm black on low absorbency paper, like Tomoe River.  I've pretty much entirely switched to Sailor nano Kiwa-Guro as my default black ink, because I just can't get enough of its luxurious silver sheen.

Apparently my nibs are too fine or dry, or my eyes too poor, to see the sheen.  But then, I don't gaze lovingly at black ink on the paper they way I do at blue-black...  Maybe one day I'll sample Kiwa-Guro to see this silver sheen.

 

ETA: Thanks for your addition to the descriptions of this ink - it's great having so many.

[arcfide]

3 hours ago, LizEF said:

Apparently my nibs are too fine or dry, or my eyes too poor, to see the sheen.  But then, I don't gaze lovingly at black ink on the paper they way I do at blue-black...  Maybe one day I'll sample Kiwa-Guro to see this silver sheen.

 

ETA: Thanks for your addition to the descriptions of this ink - it's great having so many.

 

Maybe you just need to appreciate your Shadow more. 🙂

 

 

[LizEF]

6 hours ago, arcfide said:

Maybe you just need to appreciate your Shadow more. 🙂

 

I'm confuzzled.    Is "Shadow" a pop-culture reference?  Cuz I know pretty much nothing modern about pop-culture (famous people, memes, shows, movies, games, whatever).

[Dimy]

Thanks for the review.

 

This ink came with my recent sailor pen (first sailor pen for me) and it really is great ink. Flows nice and behaves very well, plus the water resistance of sorts. All in all its a great everyday ink. I personally like the quick dry time (which seems not the case for some reason....hmm is my paper working extra hard I wonder) and the general matte colour, different from usual gloss in many. Simplicity seems to resonate quite well here.

 

Sadly my assortment of black has completely shifted to either kiwaguro or platinum carbon black for permanent needs and such. So may not really get a bottle........maybe.....I do like blacks after all.

[LizEF]

7 minutes ago, Dimy said:

Thanks for the review.

 

This ink came with my recent sailor pen (first sailor pen for me) and it really is great ink. Flows nice and behaves very well, plus the water resistance of sorts. All in all its a great everyday ink. I personally like the quick dry time (which seems not the case for some reason....hmm is my paper working extra hard I wonder) and the general matte colour, different from usual gloss in many. Simplicity seems to resonate quite well here.

 

Sadly my assortment of black has completely shifted to either kiwaguro or platinum carbon black for permanent needs and such. So may not really get a bottle........maybe.....I do like blacks after all.

  Thanks for the comment.  I'm still enjoying the remnant of this in my Pro Gear Slim (F nib, inks last forever).  Enough that if I were getting a black, I might get this, but not enough to add it to a wishlist.   So I know what you mean.

[arcfide]

50 minutes ago, LizEF said:

 

I'm confuzzled.    Is "Shadow" a pop-culture reference?  Cuz I know pretty much nothing modern about pop-culture (famous people, memes, shows, movies, games, whatever).

 

Sorry, Jungian psychology reference.

[LizEF]

36 minutes ago, arcfide said:

Sorry, Jungian psychology reference.

Ah.  Sorry it was lost on me.

[Dimy]

3 hours ago, LizEF said:

  Thanks for the comment.  I'm still enjoying the remnant of this in my Pro Gear Slim (F nib, inks last forever).  Enough that if I were getting a black, I might get this, but not enough to add it to a wishlist.   So I know what you mean.

No kidding, in F nibs of sailor (pretty much EF if one asks me) it lasts long. In my case I will run out of 2 carts in a week and thats pretty long for normal writing in my case.

 

I do like the ink, its very different on paper compare to kiwa and carbon which sheens (kiwa sheens even on Indian and western fine nib just fine on right paper) while this one is matte black...lets see what happens by end of 2nd cart. Will I fire the shot on bottle or keep it pass (most likely pass but why not anticipate anyway)

[LizEF]

1 hour ago, Dimy said:

lets see what happens by end of 2nd cart.

[Intensity]

This is what I meant:

https://macchiatoman.com/blog/2017/12/11/ink-comparison-32-black-inks

 

Borrowing images from that comparison article, here is Jentle Black sheen:

 

It's quite warm, and the ink sheens pretty readily--not SHINES or Glares, but there's a veiling warm toned sheen.

 

Here's the pure silvery sheen of Kiwa-Guro that I adore:

 

 

Overexposed photograph showing Sailor Jentle Black (bottom row, 2nd from the right)

 

Because much of my frequently used paper is good to great at showing sheen, Sailor Jentle Black just too warm for my preference.  Its base ink color is not at all warm, but the fine satiny warm-toned sheen takes over.

 

[LizEF]

39 minutes ago, Intensity said:

This is what I meant...

Fascinating!  Thanks for the detailed pictures.

[inkstainedruth]

On 3/13/2021 at 7:49 PM, A Smug Dill said:

Pretty good black ink as far as that goes, and I can certain appreciate one that is just black instead of being a mishmash of hues all hiding under the sum of them all, and its water resistance is decent; although I still can't think why I wouldn't use Sailor Kiwaguro instead, when both will bleed colour when dried ink marks are re-wetted.

Thanks for that information.  But for me, between your impressions and LizEF's description of the ink being lubricated, it might be a good ink for my Pro Gear Slim with the zoom nib.  I haven't found the ideal ink for it yet (it seems to write a little dry) and black would be good for drawing with (and I'm not sure that I want to run a pigmented ink through that nib).  

It wouldn't be my favorite black ink, but I'm thinking that it definitely have its uses.  Plus, there are those two 1911S pens with the "ion-coated" nibs. 

This is why I love this website. 

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[LizEF]

1 hour ago, inkstainedruth said:

Thanks for that information.  But for me, between your impressions and LizEF's description of the ink being lubricated, it might be a good ink for my Pro Gear Slim with the zoom nib.  I haven't found the ideal ink for it yet (it seems to write a little dry) and black would be good for drawing with (and I'm not sure that I want to run a pigmented ink through that nib).  

It wouldn't be my favorite black ink, but I'm thinking that it definitely have its uses.  Plus, there are those two 1911S pens with the "ion-coated" nibs. 

This is why I love this website. 

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

I'd be interested to hear how it goes, if you decide to get it.  A sample will at least let you try it without committing to the price of a full bottle.

[Intensity]

Thankfully this ink is quite cheap.  Can be had for as low as $10 for a 50ml bottle in the US.