Back to Basics?

[USG]

I'm with the majority here.  For any serious writing I like a very dark blue, blue-black, or black.  For years my go to black was Aurora Black.

 

As far as waterproof goes Mrs. Stewart's Concentrated Laundry Bluing is pretty good.  If I remember correctly I held it under running water and then gave it a 25 min. soak test and it was very waterproof.  No smearing or smudging or running or anything.  When I took it out of the water, I blotted it between two pieces of paper towel to get it started drying. Nothing came off on the paper towel.

 

 

 

[Baka1969]

58 minutes ago, USG said:

I'm with the majority here.  For any serious writing I like a very dark blue, blue-black, or black.  For years my go to black was Aurora Black.

 

As far as waterproof goes Mrs. Stewart's Concentrated Laundry Bluing is pretty good.  If I remember correctly I held it under running water and then gave it a 25 min. soak test and it was very waterproof.  No smearing or smudging or running or anything.  When I took it out of the water, I blotted it between two pieces of paper towel to get it started drying. Nothing came off on the paper towel.

 

 

 

Nice test.

[USG]

1 hour ago, Baka1969 said:

Nice test.

I heard it was waterproof and I wanted to see for myself....

[Baka1969]

30 minutes ago, USG said:

I heard it was waterproof and I wanted to see for myself....

 

It looks like it qualifies. 

[txomsy]

I am settling around a few inks, but this is a slow process.

 

By far, my preferred ink has for a long time been Montblanc Permanent Blue.

 

For black, I love Noodler's X-feather, but given the costs I finally settled on a J.Herbin Perle Noire half-litre bottle.

 

I'm still trying to settle on a blue black, either ESSRI or likely Rohrer and Klingner Salix.

 

Besides, I continue using lots of other inks, but for me the basics, currently, are these. Maybe later other inks will come to fill in gaps.

[XYZZY]

40 minutes ago, txomsy said:

 

I'm still trying to settle on a blue black, either ESSRI or likely Rohrer and Klingner Salix.

 

If you’re looking for a European IG blue black then don’t forget KWZ.  Nothing against ESSRI or R&K, though. 

[RJS]

47 minutes ago, XYZZY said:

If you’re looking for a European IG blue black then don’t forget KWZ.  Nothing against ESSRI or R&K, though. 

I really like some of the KWZ iron gall inks- much more so than Salix (though I love some of R&K's non iron gall inks).

[txomsy]

Yeah, you are right. The problem -for me- is that about ten years ago I was looking for a permanent BB and then KWZ was -for me, at the time- difficult to get by, whereas R&K and ESSRI were easy to get and cheap, so I have a good stock of R&K Salix (and Scabiosa), and of ESSRI. And I've decided to start consuming my loads of ink before trying new ones.

 

Not that I am too successful, but still trying not to let consumerism creep (too much) in.

[Arkanabar]

A desire to be practical about my ink purchases has been part of how I participate in the hobby for over ten years.  I really synthesized and shared my thoughts with the "Oh, the Places You'll Go" thread linked to in my signature, but that was hardly the start of my thinking about the Essential Inks.

 

Because paper is still part of the medical record, I always have a pen filled with black, a Jinhao 51A loaded with Noodler's Heart of Darkness.  Because I always use the combo for billets-doux to my wife, I always have my F Pelikan M205 Aqua filled with Iroshizuku Ku-Jaku (both the pen and the ink are gifts from her).  But I nearly always have some other pen filled with some other color.  Astonishingly, right now there are three -- a red Jinhao 82 filled from my last sample vial of SuSeMai Cashmere Red 8%, my trusty emerald FPR Himalaya stub almost emptied of Noodler's Brown, and my Pilot Prera Iro-Ai orange CM filled with Pilot Blue-Black.

 

As far as European IG blue-blacks go, bear in mind that it would appear that Pelikan 4001 IG Blue-Black is readily available on US Amazon, and Atlas Stationers in Chicago has 30mL bottles in stock, AFAICT.  Here's a link to help explain:  https://thepelikansperch.com/2023/08/10/pelikan-4001-blue-black-is-back/

[Runnin_Ute]

Right now I have 9 pens inked with the following inks

 

Pelikan 4001 Blue Black - been in this pen since August 2017 continuously. Rarely needs a cleaning. I think the last one was something between 6-12 months ago.   (I have gone through at least four 62.5 ml bottles of this since I started using it)

Lamy Petrol

Diamine Merlot - mostly in this pen, very few others in it.

J. Herbin Lie de The'

KWZI El Dorado -this and Edelstein Olivine spend the most time in this pen. Another pen that is almost always inked (#3) I'm on my second bottle of both

Akkerman Vorhout Violet

KWZI 150 Confederation Brown (from 2017 Scriptus Toronto Pen Show)

Birmingham Emerald Fusion - a big sheening ink

KWZI Pine Green I'm on my second bottle of this.

 

So three of these are inks that are almost always in a pen. It isn't uncommon to have at least one green, a purple, a blue or turquoise in a pen.  I have a pen scheduled to arrive tomorrow, and am thinking about putting Diamine Silver Fox in it.  (8-12 is pretty typical for me)