Best blue-black ink for truly awful copy paper

[75-FP]

Long time lurker, first time poster. I am looking for some recommendations on the best blue-black fountain pen ink for some truly awful copy paper we have at work. I use a collection of fine nib fountain pens for daily writing. I have been using Waterman's Mysterious Blue for the past year or so. Obviously not the most exciting ink but I know it is about the gold standard for inks and can be used safely in all my pens. About 6-7 months ago whoever supplies our copy paper must have switched suppliers because suddenly I felt like I was writing with a medium sized Sharpie feathering like crazy. This was across the board with all of my pens. I tried Parker Quink blue-black as well and had the same issues. Interestingly I have not experienced similar feathering with my gel or rollerball pens on this paper but really-really want to get back to using my fountain pens. I am an experienced fountain pen user and am fanatical about cleaning out my pens so I'm not too concerned about some of the more exotic inks.

[dhanks]

Pelikan 4001 Blue-Black ink may be as good as you are going to get for awful paper.  But it still may not be good enough.  For any kind of halfway decent paper, it is a great blue-black, with just a touch of iron gall for water resistance but not enough to pose any danger to your pens nor require any special precautions.

 

Rumpole

[Prof Drew]

@75-FP As someone who has to contend with working on miserable laser/photocopier paper I don't have any ink suggestions, but just a reminder that EF nibs have less issues often. The very inexpensive Jinhao 911 is a good EDC at about $2, so you won't worry if the paper gets in the tines over time. Of course you can get a classic Parker 51 or something too, but my point is that it depends on the pairing of the nib as much as the ink and paper.

Sorry if too basic lesson. Don't mean to mansplain

[75-FP]

Quote

As someone who has to contend with working on miserable laser/photocopier paper I don't have any ink suggestions, but just a reminder that EF nibs have less issues often. The very inexpensive Jinhao 911 is a good EDC at about $2, so you won't worry if the paper gets in the tines over time. Of course you can get a classic Parker 51 or something too, but my point is that it depends on the pairing of the nib as much as the ink and paper.

Sorry if too basic lesson. Don't mean to mansplain 

No worries I was thinking the same. I had actually started off my fountain pen collecting days using extra fine pens but gradually migrated up to fine. 

[Mercian]

I too recommend Pelikan 4001 Blue-Black.

 

If that isn’t ‘dry’ enough, try either ESSRI, Diamine Registrars, or one of the German ‘Urkundentinte’ inks. Beware though; all of those last ones are ‘heavy iron-gall’ inks, and will require you to exercise a lot of discipline in keeping the pens clear of potential precipitates.

 

If you are wary of i-g inks, have a look at the reviews of Sailor Sou-Boku and Sei-Boku. Sou-Boku is a ‘classic’ blue-black, whereas Sei-Boku has a hint of teal/green in its colour.
They are pigmented inks.
 

According to this review…

 

…does not feather, even on cheapo copier paper 😊

 

 Good luck! 

[OCArt]

Hero 232 is another very nice IG blue-black ink and may be very inexpensive depending on your location.

[arcfide]

The short answer is that Iron Gall blue-blacks are going to be your best bet overall. The ones I like are Platinum Blue Black and Pelikan Blue Black. If you don't want to deal with iron gall, Lamy's Blue Black might do the trick, but it is probably going to feather a little more than the iron gall versions. Additionally, Pelikan inks as a whole tend to be quite dry and work well with poor paper. Platinum's inks are all advertised with an eye towards shading and quick drying, which in these terms means that they are very dry, and my experience is that the standard dye-based inks tend to work *really* well for bad paper. I've had Platinum's dye-stuff black and blue black work on some of the worst paper around with very little issue, so I can recommend them. 

 

You may still have to deal with some increase in writing width because of the paper, but at least, you shouldn't have to deal with too much feathering. 

 

Outside of iron gall inks, some of the pigmented inks can be good, but often, the pigmented inks will feather less, but might still be susceptible to bleedthrough, if that matters to you. Platinum's Chou Kuro or whatever it is called is supposed to be quite good in this regard, but is probably among the most high maintenance of these options. Sailor's Blue Black pigmented line is easier to maintain in this regard, and might serve. If you can stand to use Blue ink, Platinum's Pigmented Blue ink might work well, because my experience with it suggests that it is not too wet. You can mix a tiny drop of Platinum Carbon Ink with Platinum's PIgmented Blue ink to make your own blue black if you're so inclined, but don't use too much, because Carbon ink will bleed more than others, though probably not feather.

 

As others have mentioned, Diamine Registrar's and its ilk are really dry and will probably work quite well, but they do have a tendency to have a pretty serious shelf life both in and out of the pen, so you'll need to be quite attentive. 

[Arkanabar]

Iron gall inks are clear solutions of ferrous tannate, which will oxidize into a water-insoluble dark grey solid precipitate, ferric tannate, when exposed to oxygen.  Traditionally, they have a blue colorant so you can see what you're writing while waiting for the precipitate to form.  This happens quickly on paper, more slowly in the bottle or pen if you keep them tightly shut, and if it's your only ink in your only pen, it's usually not a problem.  But if a pen filled with an IG ink dries out, it can be harder to get going, because the IG will have precipitated into the insoluble solid.  Flushing with distilled white vinegar or another mild acid (vitamin C is acetic acid, and tablets can be dissolved in water) may be indicated.

 

Mild IG inks are recommended for bad paper.  In addition to the previously mentioned Pelikan 4001 Blue-Black and Hero 232, there's Rohrer & Klingner Salix (blue-grey) and Scabiosa (purple-grey).  Platinum's Blue-Black is also an IG ink, as are all the inks in their Classic line.  Diamine Registrar's ink, Ecclesiastical Stationery Supplies Registrar's Ink (ESSRI), and various German Urkundentinte inks have a lot of ferrous tannate.  They will necessarily have more precipitate in the bottle and pen, and sooner.

 

There are plenty of threads full of opinions regarding proper care and maintenance when using IG inks.  I've had one bottle of IG ink, and I had to toss it long before I used even a quarter of it, and haven't had any more since.  So I don't have an opinion on the matter.

[Bo Bo Olson]

On 2/16/2024 at 9:40 PM, Mercian said:

ESSRI

I don't think that's as heavy an IG ink.

I have a lot of vintage pens and they survived higher IG content than is in major brand IG inks.

 

ESSR a decade ago had the perhaps longest thread of any ink.

Our passed Ink guru Sandy1 called it mischievous, I called it sneaky. It was then rated higher than Diamine document ink.

I tested in on 17 papers with 17 pens of various widths and flexes, ...unfortunately lost on Ransombucket.

A good blue-black turns fully from blue to black in about a day (Per Richard Binder) .....sometimes ESSR turned faster, sometimes needing three days to make the full change.....depending on the paper.

 

ESSR is only good for about 3 years, in it lacks chemicals....very affordable. 110ml plastic bottle.

 

ESSR was once Stephen's blue black ink. Once the largest English ink company.

It was bought up by a consortium,and for that year's bonus gutted-closed down and the land under it sold....quite a while ago.

One of the managers got as part of his settlement, the huge wooden tun they made the blue black ink in, and it's recipe. Which is where ESSR is still made, by a man (passed by now) who loved ink.

[chromantic]

You might try Stipula Dark Blue. It's a beautiful color (my favorite b/b) and all the Stipulas I have, with the exception of Fading Grey which has a tendency to feather, are well-behaved on copy paper.

[txomsy]

Another possibility, for the adventurous, may be to make your own mix of Noodler's X-feather black (or maybe even plain Noodler's black) and Noodler's X-feather blue.

 

[LizEF]

Because I'm self-destructive and obsessive, I decided to look up my "absorbent paper" images for the inks mentioned herein that are actually blue-black (plus Noodler's X-Feathers).  My "absorbent paper" is paper from a puzzle book - it's at least as bad as newspaper.  The images also include a writing sample on 20lb copy paper (mostly).

 

• Noodler's X-Feather Blue is quite bad.
• X-Feather Black is better, but worse than Noodler's Black (which is the best-behaved-on-aborbent-paper ink I've tested, out of 278 inks - though I didn't test all of them on absorbent paper; I started that later - it's perfect, and the only one that is).
• Platinum Blue Black is pretty good.  Sailor Souboku is about as good, but I don't have an image for this.
• Lamy Blue Black would be my recommendation for an affordable non-IG, non-pigment ink
• Pelikan 4001 Blue Black did awful.
• Hero 232 Blue-Black is not so heroic against feathers.
• Diamine Registrars Ink isn't so hot.
• ESSRI isn't either.
• Büroservice Bergmann Blaufliessende Eisengallustinte isn't too bad.
• Unfortunately, I didn't test R&K Salix on absorbent paper

 

Each of my reviews (perhaps after a point) includes a link to my inks spreadsheet, complete with links to the FPN reviews.  I don't include an evaluation of performance on absorbent paper because I don't know how to quantify or rate it easily.  But you could filter for inks you have or are interested in and then click the link to look at the absorbent paper image (if any).

 

Best wishes!  If you can, please get ink samples to see how they do on your specific paper.  Once you find the best one for you, then get a bottle.

 

Also, note that Noodler's inks and pigmented inks like Sailor Souboku should be shaken before filling the pen whereas iron gall inks should not.

[RJS]

+1 for Platinum Blue Black. As I get older, I remain perplexed at how poor most of my inks are with lousy paper. Depending on what I have inked, I often resort to pencil or biro on crappy paper. I only even have one biro in/on my desk (a cheapo Bic multi pen that used to live in my daily commute backpack, back when commuting was still a thing for me).

 

Edit: Biro = ballpoint pen. I can't remember if 'biro' is used outside of Europe.

[Bo Bo Olson]

23 hours ago, LizEF said:

• Lamy Blue Black would be my recommendation for an affordable non-IG, non-pigment ink
• I don't have that ink and wouldn't have thought to bought it.
• Pelikan 4001 Blue Black did awful.
•  
• Diamine Registrars Ink isn't so hot...Having had ESSR had no need for it.
• ESSRI isn't either.

The odd things that happen when one chases the good to better papers.

 

Considering I never use BB, I have 5-6 of them....at least.

[RJS]

I love blue blacks, and enjoy reading these threads to see if anything new and interesting pops up. It strikes me as curious that some think that "proper" IG blue blacks should turn black after a day- they'd be unhappy with Platinum! 
 

I didn't buy 4001 until last year, despite knowing about it forever...I was pleasantly surprised. With most I just compare them unfavourably to Pilot BB and then shove them back in my drawer for all eternity.

 
Neither of those two are good on terrible paper, however. Though I suppose we can't lump all terrible copy paper in a single category, as some terrible copy paper will respond differently to others.

[LizEF]

33 minutes ago, Bo Bo Olson said:

The odd things that happen when one chases the good to better papers.

I got rid of all my bad papers except my puzzle books, of course.  Life is too short to write on bad paper!

[Chris1]

I bought some Pelikan blue-black to eke out my dwindling supply of Montblanc permanent blue-black and am surprised how well the Pelikan ink behaves on newsprint when doing the crossword and other puzzles; little or no feathering. Almost all my other inks feather to some extent, even feathering like crazy on that paper.

 

Weirdly, the Pelikan 4001 blue-black stays wishy-washy blue on newsprint (well, the 'i' newsprint anyway) though darkens on every other paper I've used it on. The Montblanc works fine too, but is irreplaceable so doesn't get used on throwaway crosswords.

 

Don't really like the colour of the Pelikan ink though!

 

I might get some Platinum blue-black to try next.

[Bo Bo Olson]

A problem is when what was hoped to be good to better paper is only fair.

One paid for more for the good that didn't make it out the starting gate.

 

When one buys a paper for the hoped for fun of different ink and nib width scribbling to find out one has to tear each sheet off the pad, to feed a printer, in it's not worth fountain pen ink.

Or being a member of the Sigh Club, of Vain Hopes.

[txomsy]

15 hours ago, Chris1 said:

Weirdly, the Pelikan 4001 blue-black stays wishy-washy blue on newsprint

I find that the same happens with R&K Salix on toilet paper, kitchen paper or Kleenex when I use them to clean a pen after refilling: it remains blue and never darkens.

 

Likely it has something to do with their reactivity with IG and the blue component.

[AndyYNWA]

Sailor Sei-boku is performing really well on any paper I've tried it on. Almost never feathers or spreads.