EFNIR: Rohrer & Klingner Leipziger Schwarz

[LizEF]

Extra Fine Nib Ink Review: Rohrer & Klingner Leipziger Schwarz

This is review #299 in my series. Here's the YouTube video:

Post-recording notes: This ink was gifted to me by a generous FPGeek.  While there's plenty of blue and green in this ink, and some have gotten that to show in writing, from this nib, it's just plain black. This black was cooler (color temperature wise) than any of my other blacks.  Few comments on the images, because mostly, they look black and my eyes see black...

Dry time was under 20 seconds in test.  Perhaps the feed was more saturated during the video.  I estimated dry time at 35 seconds.  Also, noticed after I started the video that the previous ink tried hard to bleed through, so dots of it may be visible in the video or images - sorry.

Cleaning was really quick and easy!

Squeaking courtesy of Smoke. Bangs and scratches courtesy of Klaw and Smoke.

Erratum: I wrote "Schwaz" when I meant to write "Schwarz".

Zoomed in photo

Screenshot

Scan of Completed Review

Absorbent Paper Close-up (top is puzzle paper like thick newsprint, bottom is old 20lb copy paper) (AP: Under bright light and magnification, the ink looks distinctly green.)

Line width (The "I" in "Ink:". Magnification is 100x. The grid is 100x100µm. The scale is 330µm, with eleven divisions of 30µm each. The line width for this ink is roughly 279µm. With 299 inks measured, the average line width is 297µm.) (It looked very green to my eye and I could see little bits of coppery sheen.)

Microscope image (100x. This ink's having a party with copper chips... Colors are fairly close to what I saw.)

Microscope image (100x. Just to show the green that doesn't really show up in the first smear. It's not quite the right shade of green, but fairly close.)

Previous Review: Pilot Mixable Colour Blue.

Images also available on Instagram: @zilxodarap.

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View a list of my inks, complete with review results in a google sheet.

Need to catch up on The Adventures of Quin and Makhabesh? Find the whole story here.

Hope you enjoy. Comments appreciated!

[I-am-not-really-here]

Very nice first microscope image. You could publish a book of ink images.

 

Not seeing anything to sway from ST Dupont as my Black ink.

 

Thanks for the review!

[Mercian]

Well, @LizEF, I’m just going to come straight out and ask you the question that I’m sure many of us here are thinking…

 

…in your experience, is Leipziger Schwarz as-black as is the velvety-fur of a certain black cat?

 

Inkquiring minds need to know!

😉

[Sailor Kenshin]

I have the Jinhao and Pilot blacks, and they're black all right.  So's this review ink, but at Eternal (for moi!) dry time, hmmm, not so sure.

 

Magical forest, or someone lobbed a cannonball into the vat of champagne?

 

Story's going great guns.  I can't wait for the next installment, @LizEF, and thanks as always for these ink-scursions.

Close by towns got ten inches of rain, a dam burst, roads destroyed, and we woke to a kitchen counter flood.  Good thing I remembered at last there was a Tuesday Treat waiting! 
 

I'll get back to you about 'trust'…. 😹

 

[LizEF]

1 hour ago, I-am-not-really-here said:

Very nice first microscope image. You could publish a book of ink images.

Thanks!  Sadly, the images would be good enough for print.

 

1 hour ago, I-am-not-really-here said:

Not seeing anything to sway from ST Dupont as my Black ink.

But is ST Dupont Black having a party in your pen?

 

1 hour ago, I-am-not-really-here said:

Thanks for the review!

You're welcome!

[LizEF]

11 minutes ago, Mercian said:

Well, @LizEF, I’m just going to come straight out and ask you the question that I’m sure many of us here are thinking…

 

…in your experience, is Leipziger Schwarz as-black as is the velvety-fur of a certain black cat?

 

Inkquiring minds need to know!

😉

  As you can see, Leipziger Schwarz is grey compared to my void kitty:

[Mercian]

Just now, LizEF said:

  As you can see, Leipziger Schwarz is grey compared to my void kitty:

❤️ this picture! 😊

[LizEF]

16 minutes ago, Sailor Kenshin said:

I have the Jinhao and Pilot blacks, and they're black all right.  So's this review ink, but at Eternal (for moi!) dry time, hmmm, not so sure.

Yeah, I still have mystery dry times once in a while.  In testing, also on the back of a sheet from the same Rhodia pad, it dried in less than 20 seconds.  I can only assume feed saturation had something to do with it...  (And the back side almost always takes longer to dry.)

 

17 minutes ago, Sailor Kenshin said:

Magical forest, or someone lobbed a cannonball into the vat of champagne?

 

17 minutes ago, Sailor Kenshin said:

Story's going great guns.  I can't wait for the next installment, @LizEF

Thanks!

 

18 minutes ago, Sailor Kenshin said:

and thanks as always for these ink-scursions.

You're most welcome!

 

18 minutes ago, Sailor Kenshin said:

Close by towns got ten inches of rain, a dam burst, roads destroyed, and we woke to a kitchen counter flood.  Good thing I remembered at last there was a Tuesday Treat waiting! 

Oh no!!    So sorry, Sailor.  Hope things return to normal quickly.  Would sure be happy to take that rain away from you and bring it out here where we can use it!

 

20 minutes ago, Sailor Kenshin said:

I'll get back to you about 'trust'…. 😹

[inkstainedruth]

Thanks as usual for the comprehensive review.  

I had considered trying this ink early on, but don't use black enough to warrant it.  And given that when I usually DO use black ink, it's Noodler's Heart of Darkness, which is pretty permanent and also dries a lot faster (faster than the regular Noodler's Black).  It's also super black (although I do occasionally use Pelikan 4001 Brilliant Black, and if I don't need "super black" but well behaved in pens, I like Iroshizuku Take-sumi, which has this sort of almost tactile look to it, especially on crummy paper, that calls to mind velveteen.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[LizEF]

23 minutes ago, inkstainedruth said:

Thanks as usual for the comprehensive review.

You're welcome!

 

23 minutes ago, inkstainedruth said:

I had considered trying this ink early on, but don't use black enough to warrant it.  And given that when I usually DO use black ink, it's Noodler's Heart of Darkness, which is pretty permanent and also dries a lot faster (faster than the regular Noodler's Black).  It's also super black (although I do occasionally use Pelikan 4001 Brilliant Black, and if I don't need "super black" but well behaved in pens, I like Iroshizuku Take-sumi, which has this sort of almost tactile look to it, especially on crummy paper, that calls to mind velveteen.

Understandable.  Of course, if you do need "super black", you're out of luck - he's mine and you can't have him!

[inkstainedruth]

No worries on that account -- sadly, I'm now allergic to cat pelt and cat dander (amongst other things).  So I'll have to content myself with going "Ooh, cute!" over peoples' cat photos....

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[yazeh]

Thanks for such a detailed, fun and furry/ purr-y review @LizEF  

That's the best ink comparison, I've ever seen. Though, I see a blue-black instead of a grey.  

Now I would like a Klaw Black Efnir and a Smoke Grey Efnir 

 

I had to check the cool/ warm black images to see what it meant. It seems I really like cool black, cool  

 

So, the squirrel is the good guy? The mystery deepens. Wondering where are we going with all these trust issues. 

 

Thanks for making Tuesdays, so special 🙏

 

 

 

 

 

[LizEF]

9 minutes ago, yazeh said:

Thanks for such a detailed, fun and furry/ purr-y review @LizEF  

You're most welcome!

 

10 minutes ago, yazeh said:

That's the best ink comparison, I've ever seen. Though, I see a blue-black instead of a grey.  

Monitor differences, perhaps...

 

10 minutes ago, yazeh said:

Now I would like a Klaw Black Efnir and a Smoke Grey Efnir 

  Over on Instagram I tagged R&K and suggested their next limited edition ink should be Klawpziger Schwarz.  We'll see if they respond...  Smoke Grey would have to be rather complex, what with his stripes and the almost tan color on his belly.

 

12 minutes ago, yazeh said:

I had to check the cool/ warm black images to see what it meant. It seems I really like cool black, cool  

 

13 minutes ago, yazeh said:

So, the squirrel is the good guy? The mystery deepens. Wondering where are we going with all these trust issues. 

 

13 minutes ago, yazeh said:

Thanks for making Tuesdays, so special 🙏

Gladly!

[InesF]

I know that you know that I know that you know that I have some reservations about black inks - and it doesn't help to compare them with a black cat (Oh @Mercian, what hast thou done?)  

 

Thank you, @LizEF, for testing Leipziger Schwarz, for opening the mind game in the story part (without falling for The Killer Squirrel trap ) and for the microscopy image! 👍

It is a black ink - not much more to tell (as usual). The microscopy image, however, reveals some strange insights. I was pleasantly surprised!  

 

Looking forward to which kind of surprise the squirrel is hiding under its fur.  🤫

[LizEF]

6 hours ago, InesF said:

I know that you know that I know that you know that I have some reservations about black inks - and it doesn't help to compare them with a black cat (Oh @Mercian, what hast thou done?)  

He's almost guaranteed that every black ink I review from this time forth will be compared to the void.

 

6 hours ago, InesF said:

Thank you, @LizEF, for testing Leipziger Schwarz, for opening the mind game in the story part (without falling for The Killer Squirrel trap ) and for the microscopy image! 👍

You're most welcome!

 

6 hours ago, InesF said:

It is a black ink - not much more to tell (as usual). The microscopy image, however, reveals some strange insights. I was pleasantly surprised!  

Me too - was not expecting that first slide!

 

6 hours ago, InesF said:

Looking forward to which kind of surprise the squirrel is hiding under its fur.  🤫

Thanks!

[namrehsnoom]

Thanks for doing a black ink review @LizEF - often what’s labelled a black ink happens to be a nicely complex grey, but not with this one. Just a solid black. 
Not an ink for me, I already have enough blacks that get almost no usage. Good to know I don’t need this one.

[LizEF]

13 minutes ago, namrehsnoom said:

Thanks for doing a black ink review @LizEF - often what’s labelled a black ink happens to be a nicely complex grey, but not with this one. Just a solid black. 
Not an ink for me, I already have enough blacks that get almost no usage. Good to know I don’t need this one.

You're very welcome!  This one does have a little hidden color to it - but not from this fine a nib - you'll need something much larger to see any subtlety.  (Is it me, or does "subtlety" look really strange? )  Either way, I don't think it's so unique as to warrant adding to one's existing collection of black inks - only if one is looking to start such a collection, maybe.