The darkest black ink?

[PaulT00]

Another vote for Sailor Kiwaguro. It's very black and dense, and also flows beautifully. The only thing to be careful of is that it seems to have a tendency to dry out very quickly on the nib - I have it in a fine-point PFM, and if I leave the cap off for more than about half a minute the nib dries out and starts a little hard the next time. With the cap on it's fine, starts immediately every time.

 

Unfortunately I don't have a source for it in N.America, but it's available in the UK from www.thewritingdesk.co.uk .

 

 

[Neill78]

Get a bottle of this stuff:

 

http://www.reuters.com/article/scienceNews...0080115?sp=true

 

Or get almost there with a bottle of Sailor Kiwaguro Ultra Black. It's made of the same stuff, but is guaranteed safe for fountain pens.

 

Neill

[Ondina]

I've got a bottle of J Herbin Perle Noire and I quite like it. It seems so black that it sucks light out of the room.

 

I like some of their inks but don't see them mentioned too much around here.

 

I agree, is black-black, very well behaved and quite resistant.

[1000km]

It doesn't get blacker than Sailor Kiwaguro Black. Can vouch for Ebay seller 'Engeika'. Great price, rapid delivery.

[Chris H]

I just got a bottle of Sailor Kiwaguro. The ink is so silky it won't even coat a Esterbrook dip pen. I inked up an Esterbrook J with a 1554 fine nib and the nib came out of the bottle with only a tiny speck of ink on it.

 

And the ink is BLACK!!! I have yet to do a side by side comparison, but off hand I'd say it beats hands down the new Sheaffer, Noodler's Bulletproof Black, PR Velvet Black, and Pelikan 4001 Brilliant Black.

 

I got mine through redfingerprint.com. About $30 for the bottle including shipping. Very pricey.

 

According to Sailor, this ink was designed for fountain pens -- but it is on the high maintenance side. Don't let it dry out in the pen and keep the nib capped when not in use.

 

Chris

Edited November 18, 2008 by Chris H

[Chris H]

1000Km, I looked on her eBay site and she didn't have the ink listed. Does she periodically list it or did you special request it?

 

Chris

 

 

It doesn't get blacker than Sailor Kiwaguro Black. Can vouch for Ebay seller 'Engeika'. Great price, rapid delivery.

 

[Jared]

I was surprised to see that Delta is the darkest black, according to this 2001 chart of inks from the Ink Sampler. Of course, there are many new blacks that aren't listed, but I wouldn't have guessed Delta.

 

Jared

[ethernautrix]

I'm telling you--Old Manhattan is the blackest black.

Ha ha ha! This sounds like me!

 

I love -- LOVE! -- OMB.

 

But soon I'll be trying Sailor Black, Platinum Black (not the carbon-based), and J. Herbin Perle Noire.

 

But I love my OMB.

[sasdrtx]

I'm telling you--Old Manhattan is the blackest black.

Ha ha ha! This sounds like me!

 

I love -- LOVE! -- OMB.

 

But soon I'll be trying Sailor Black, Platinum Black (not the carbon-based), and J. Herbin Perle Noire.

 

But I love my OMB.

 

Still, I think you have to admit that Le Cœur des Ténèbres is the coolest name for any ink. My bet is there's only a subtle difference in the formulae between the two anyway.

[OboeJuan]

Black ink is my favourite. Borealis Black is darker than Old Manhattan and Heart of Darkness, but not by much. They are all fabulous inks, but my main writer (Tame Midori Mikado) is in love with Borealis. My other slightly less used pen, Omas Emotica prefers Old Manhattan. Sigh. I love black ink.