Really helpful, thank you for doing this and posting.
Not much difference I can see from this video. I would have like to see a swab test in place of this many paper tests.
I was gonna say How can you afford 7 Visconti pens just for reviewing black inks? How can you justify that or better yet explain that to your wife/ GF lol
LMAO WHEN HE SAID HE BOUGHT 7 HOMO SAPIENS I ALMOST GAGGED FROM LAUGHING
how was the bleedthrough on the other side? it would be really great if you did that too, because for things like writing in journals where you want to utilise both sides of the paper actually being able to read what you've written is super helpful! Thanks for this aside from seeing the backs this was really useful! I'm swaying towards dyamine - i've heard that noodlers is thicker and clogs the pens up. plus i'm a geek and love that dyamine have been going since the 1860s.
Excellent video but feel a medium nib would have been more representative...just say'in!
I could only afford to buy seven Platinum Preppys or some kind of $2 Chinese pen although I would like seven HSs lol
I like blacks and grey blacks.My favourite is the Diamine for black and Schaeffer Skrip black for a really good shading grey-black.
Great reviews thanks
Very nice and comprehensive job. Yeah. Amazing penmanship. Likely aided by having to write under the camera, a common challenge. I think that doing a very solid crosshatch on the left, so those stacked up on top of each other would make the comparison more effective. Further: the pens are not identical as each feed and nib will perform differently. Anyone that is into pens much would agree to that. Close...but in no way identical. At this level of presentation I doubt it makes much difference though. Again...very good presentation. One major ink reviewer does her writing samples beforehand which allows her to focus on her descriptions and comparisons. That would have cut the time of this thing in half, or more, which would have been good.
The Aurora Black seemed to be the best flowing although that could also be a slight difference in the pen and i wonder if this had an affect on the appearance. All that being said though if you factor in value for money then you gotta go noodler's or Diamine there is not enough difference in the more expensive inks to make them worth the extra base on these tests at least, would you agree with that?
So poor hand writing like mine
That was helpful. Thank you!
Which are waterproof or permanent?
I went out and bought 7 Visconti Homo Sapiens pens ... jaw drops :)
Excellent job. I prefer Aurora Black overall, followed by Perle Noire and Old Manhattan .
Excellent video. Keep it up!!
note: j. herbin can be had much cheaper on a per ml basis by buying the 100ml bottle instead of the 30ml bottle.
Try jinhao black 3001.. I have found it as darkest black and really wet
Sailor Kiwa Guro is the only black I will ever need...so good. (Pigmented, so not vintage safe, but amazing for modern pens.)
Aurora black seems to be my reliable black. See @aag24 & others also suggested.
I have only two black inks, both of which I really like- Aurora black and J. Herbin Perle Noir. Excellent inks in their own right, very saturated and black.
Thanks for the good review. I am considering either the Parker Quink Black or the Watermans Black. I assume these will be good on the pen in terms of low or no corrosion and easy to clean? I have seen cartridges with Pilot Namiki Black ink, but I think that may be more on the permanent inks and more damaging to a pen. Grateful for your views please, I dont want to damage my expensive Alfred Dunhill fountain pen.
I thought that Diamine Jet Black was the darkest they made, partly because it's no. 001 in their catalogue. Now I see comments about Onyx Black. Is it blacker?
None of these are black enough for me. I only have one black ink: noodlers Dark Matter which is the same formula used by the scientists who created the atomic bomb! Im curious to see Aurora black as Ive heard good things about that ink.
You definitely need to increase your black ink population. LoL. I like very dark contrast and saturation. I need permanent ink for addressing envelopes and for documents. My first black ink was Noodlers black, then switched to Noodlers Black Eel, which flows nicely. Aurora Black is beautiful and intense. Lamy onyx when diluted slightly is reminiscent of Lamy special edition Petrol, which is discontinued. Most recently I recommend Platinum Carbon Ink. I also enjoy Some lighter blackish grays that have some permanent qualities - like Diamine Earl Gray, And Monte Verde Smoke Noir.
Sailor Kiwa-guro, Aurora black, and Montblanc permanent black are some of my favourite black inks.
really appreciate the video! need a black for official documents so will avoid these 6. Hopefully you have an Iroshizuku Take-Sumi to sell me on... appreciate your work!
Brings to mind the old song "Black is Black". Variance is difficult to get in black.
I have a bottle of Noodler's "Heart of Darkness". it is bulletproof and has always performed extremely well. My Parker's Quink black ink is also excellent, but it can be washed out.
Can recommend Platinum Carbon, not very pen-safe at it dries out quickly, but a very deep black unlike any of the ones shown
What pen are you using? Does it hold multiple inks? Or do you have 6 of the same pen?
Dave I also struggle to use black ink in my pens because there are so many fun colors out there for fountain pens! I think Im keeping my black collection to just 3: Pelikan Edelstein Onyx to go in my birds, Platinum Carbon Black when I need pigment ink properties, and Aurora Black for best color. That will leave me room for all of the other fantastic colors you inspire me to buy!
fortunately, unfortunately, im a primary black ink user, (APOLOGIES COLOURS ONLY USERS). I would suggest a gander at 'Noodlers black.' (I ditto the sentiments) "a very blaaaaaaack black" thats well behaved along with 'Heart of darkness' and 'Black eel' > (which is a lubricant type of ink for piston fillers like pelikan and reluctantly homo sapiens if youre using the lava rock style bronze, dark, steel age could stain the grip section if you dont wipe it off fast enough COURSE YOU ALREADY KNOW THIS....) Noodlers black inks ; the ones I suggested are great ones to go to for that rich darkness.Aurora and Platinum are by "word of mouth" are great dark rick blacks as well; (Platinum 'Carbon' black is pigmented> giving it a dry fast property yet is really dark. aurora may be a basic but really a great quality black as well).just to note im currently using parker quink right now...... since I first stated my journey..... and NEVER KNEW IT HAD ANY SHEENING PROPERTIES WHAT SO EVER.... THAT BLOWS ME AWAY...... GUESS I CAN DISPEL MY CONCERN FOR WHAT DOES WHAT.P.S. Apologies for the long comments..... talking about these things are fun to discuss...... (am I WRITE?)
I only have two black inks, quink black and heart of darkness. The quink was my first ever ink, but now that I have heart of darkness I never use quink anymore, it's just not black enough! I have also wondered about my aversion to some colours in relation to school and I remember being very hesitant to try blue inks. But what I've found is that I love blue inks, as long as they don't look anything like royal blue. Royal blue is my archnemesis of ink colours.
Hero234 is my blackest black, Quink is my go to black.
I tend to like grey inks better for some reason. But I do have one bottle of black ink: Noodler's Heart of Darkness. I really like how Lamy Black looked. But I still have 1/2 a bottle of HOD ink. Another reason I don't write as much with black ink these days is because I now really like blue-black inks!!!
I love black ink, but it has to be blaaaaaaack! I was put off blue, and particularly Quink blue from school. Current favourite is Diamine Onyx Black, but I am saving up for a Take-Sumi.BTW, I came to this video on the recommendation of WaskiSquirrel.
To voncider the iron-gall ink. few extra to compare: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL6AmkAhpxASohVUzjtR6oi4buxX8LOJoq.....enjoyhttps://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL6AmkAhpxASohVUzjtR6oi4buxX8LOJoq
Cant thank you enough for this great comparison. So helpful!
Brilliant review!!! Thanks so much!!!
What did extremely poorly was the silly test you did. You really should learn how inks work before doing a review. Seriously, this is so wrong it isn't even worth trying to straighten you out.
Which ink is the most lubricated?
"Finding the best waterproof ink"*does water test 20 sec after writing*So, you literally didn't even let the Noodler's inks fully dry before testing if they're waterproof. In what universe are you planning to drop your notebook in a puddle of water after 20 seconds? Heart of Darkness is praised for being one of the most waterproof inks out there, it just needs to dry first, my dude. Those Noodler's inks are slow-drying because that is how you prevent feathering on cheap paper. The faster your dry time, the faster it soaks into the paper and feathers out.
I prefer noddlers.All the document/carbon/etc inks are safe for pens, but MUST have very regular cleanings or can ruin the pens.
I am new to Fountain Pens and I keep getting inks that feather when I write with them. I do a lot of Journaling. What do you think the best Ink is for writing that does the least amount of Feathering?
I'm using Noodler's Black and not happy about dry time. :(
I appreciate your review! I bought my first noodler's ink in Luxury Blue... I think I should try the De AtramentisDocument inks :)
Can I use these with a Fountain pen?
I am very satisfied with platinum carbon ink and pens for sketching people on moleskin. I rarely have had smears and the ink dries sufficiently.
You have to realise that not everybody wants to use archival ink, because it can clog up fountain pens or even damage them when not cleaned often
This was an excellent review - thank you! Its very hard to beat your top two candidates.
Aurora Black is the best and clearly my favourite black ink. That ink should have been on this list for review.
Too many Noodler's.Try some others please
Great video! I have X-feather from Noodlers, and even the next day the water test failed. I was really disappointed.
Ohhhh you sound different in a video(). Thank you!
I absolutely adore Baystate Blue but cannot find any paper other than the old Tomoe River that it won't feather on or bleed through. :C
Thank you. Very helpful.
Black is more than fifty shades of grey?(. ) very interested in your comments on the Waterman black. It is the only black I have, and it feels so good on the paper, I wondered if it was just my imagination, but your comments matched mine. Thanks.
Very interesting. I have never been a fan of black ink, but now that I am officially retired, which means I'm working harder than ever, some of the sideline work I do requires a permanent black ink of archival quality paper. I chose Noodler's Heart of Darkness because, well, it meets all the specs, and I'm a fan of the novel.I also use black ink for much of the tinker, tinker writing I still do when I get snowed in on long winter days.But a few weeks ago I realized two things. 1. I no longer have need of using black ink for my own writing. 2. I had roughly two liters of Heart of Darkness cluttering my office. So I gave all of it away except one 4.5 ounce bottle, one three ounce bottle, and a nearly empty bottle that certainly has no more than enough to fill three or four pens.Aside from this, I kept two boxes of Pilot black ink cartridges, this for a quick ink transfusion when I'm out and about, and for taking notes that I'll inevitably throw away shortly after writing.Essentuially, I'm firmly resolved to using black ink only when absolutely required to do so, or when nothing else makes economic sense. No More Black.I feel even stronger about gray, even if you spell it grey. I love gray fountain pens. I love gray clothing. I hate gray fountaoin pen ink more than any other color. To me, it just looks like black that didn't try hard enough.Anyway, I have thoroughly enjoyed this series. And found a few inks I really do want to try. Thank you very much for the effort.
Ive seen a lot of ink reviews and yours are the best for me. Nice job
Thanks. I really like Graf von Faber Castell carbon black.
Nicely done Michael - you make what might otherwise be quite mundane, both informative and entertaining, thank you!
i know you said the onyx black came out thinner - you also seem to be using quite a thick nib - i'm just ordering an extra fine nib for my Lamy - do you reckon that would pose any sort of problem? Thanks!
I was hoping you would flip the page on your Baystate Blue writing. That stuff is gorgeous but it can bleed though sheet steel, plus you have to clean your pen with a bleach solution using any of the Baystate inks.
New to your channel and found you because of your inky reviews . Bay State Blue best used in an inexpensive Chinese pen, or a pen you don't value . Will have to check your books out, as I've never heard of them . I'm an avid reader and I love mysteries, so don't why I've not come across them before!
Aurora Black is possibly my all-time favourite black, and I have several black inks in my collection. Waterman Intense Black and Noodlers Eternal Heart of Darkness are two of my firm favourites, as well. Id love to see you to do a similar video on excellent blue and blue-black inks.
Thanks for all these, Michael.
PS reading the comments I think I'd dispose of that Noodlers somehow so the hound doesn't become a blue one for ever..................
Finally some down time for inks......... that Diamine Midnight is rather a treat. Surprise myself with that but you never know with inks do you?
Another brilliant video Michael. Your recommendation of Diamine Grape was absolutely spot-on. I'm going to try Diamine Twighlight next. Death Ship of Dartmouth was superb as well. Cheers,Steve
Platinum Carbon Black is waterproof and great with watercolour. Haven't seen any of your paintings for a while?
The black inks give me respect in case I don't get a good flow with them ... I prefer the blue-black ones. By the way, what are your favorite blue-blacks (not permanent)? Thanks!
The Journal Shop seems to be selling the Iroshizuku for about 5 less than Amazon, and with free delivery to boot. It's still waaaay more expensive than a Diamine equivalent (especially by volume) but at under 20 comes much closer to Edelstein Onyx...
The Baystate blue is known to stain converters, etc, so don't use in a pen you love - it is bulletproof