For me it would be PR Chocolat. If you had asked about brown a few months ago I'd have said it was the most boring of colours. But Chocolat's deep, saturated yumminess has redeemed the colour for me.

And Chocolat shades wonderfully with my Densho's flex nib.

can't do it.

I guess Penman Emerald.

OTOH, if I go with an ink in production: Diamine Umber

I can't do it. I have favourite inks for individual pens. For instance, my Nakaya Koi loves Bexley Mountain Violet, which is discontinued, but is close to PR Plum.

If I were to choose just one general ink, it might be DC Supershow Blue. Or maybe not...

Nah, can't narrow it down, too many choices out there.

I have a colour for each pen... but I had to choose one colour it has to be Diamine Umber !!!

It would vary from week to week with me, I simply can't tie it down to one ink. A couple of all time favourites are Diamine Sepia and Prussian Blue. At the moment I'm absolutely hooked on PR Tanzanite.

As with everyone else, one ink just won't do. And while I am really enjoying Private Reserve's Chocolat (to the immense pleasure of my 2 chocolate labradors who are pictured to the left), I would have to select PR American Blue as the one that does best in all pens, all writing conditions.

Noodler's Black. An inherently uninteresting colour, but for me it always works and always looks good. I can't choose which of the coloured inks is the prettiest - different opinion on any given day.

Noodler's Golden Brown. Lovely shading, unusual but not outlandish, and very beautiful.

..

Noodler's black

I never get tired of Noodlers Legal Lapis.

PR Tanzanite is gorgeous.

Boring Sheaffer Blue (Slovenia) would be my choice for its wonderful flow and writing qualities. In some of my wettish fine point pens, it produces a beautiful bright shiny blue. Runner-up and my previous favorite is Aurora blue.

Noodler's Black.

Noodlers Zhivago - all the awesome properties of Nooders Black (maybe a bit less fraud-proof but certainly good enough) with just enough color to make it a really interesting ink.

I find it interesting to see how many of the responses here are naming "favorite" inks, as opposed to "best" inks. When I think "best," I think of the ink that performs the best, not the ink or inks whose color(s) I like the most. It happens that the ink that I think performs the best also happens to be among the inks whose colors I most enjoy, but it's not my "favorite" color. Ihat ink is Waterman Blue-Black. It flows well, it lubricates well, it stains very little, it doesn't clog pens, and (as i said) I like the color. I especially like the color when I'm using the ink with a wet stub or cursive italic; it puddles and pools unevenly on the paper, and as it dries the edges of the puddles develop a lovely iridescence.

Fave color other than Waterman B-B? There are a bunch of them. Diamine Crimson and Imperial Purple. 1:1 Waterman Florida Blue/Violet. All of the standard Waterman colors except Red, which is too orange.

At this point, my "One Ink" is Pelikan Brilliant Braun. But if I was stuck on an island, my "One Ink" would be Noodler's Bulletproof Black (because I'd want something to leave behind in case I bit it).

OK, maybe I'll cry uncle and and give this ink another try. I swore it off a couple of years ago after my travel diary for a trip to London turned a pale and sickly blue-green shortly after I got home. (The pen, BTW, was a you-ized Phileas stub. ) Those were carts, though, and maybe it was a bad bunch. The bottled stuff is good, eh?

Waterman B-B does change hue as it dries, losing the saturation of the blue somewhat. And I have found that the paper you write on can have a significant effect on the final color -- those who have received pens I've adjusted or customized in the past year or so will note a distinctly greenish hue that began appearing after I switched papers in the custom pads I use. You mayt not like this greenish cast, but I've grown rather fond of it. And in a way it's a game: will this paper that I'm using here, now, today, make the ink go green, or will the writing stay to the blue side? If it isn't obvious, I'm more interested in finding fun where it pops up than in worrying about the things I can't change.

My single favourite is Penman Sapphire for colour (lots of second place choices), but the best in terms of all-round performance on balance has to be Diamine Prussian Blue (with the same second choices).

Chris

WBB isn't dark enough for my taste, though I keep trying it. But then my favorite blue-black is Aircorps, which is pretty close to black-black with a hint of turquoise.

Waterman Blue Black or Havana.

Noodler's Zhivago. Very interesting color.

Omas Sepia

Aurora black ink, the most perfect black ink for me!

For me there is only ONE ink:

Private Reserve American Blue

Although it could be better if it did not smear so much.

I love the deepness and brightness of its blue colour.
It really does 'speak' to you when you read it when written.

At the moment I have lots of inks (> 50) but I always have one ore more FPs filled with PR AB.

The Legend

Parker Penman Sapphire....

Waterman Havana!

Until very recently, I would have said Waterman Blue Black, as best ink, for the reasons Richard stated so eloquently. It is my ink of choice for a first fill of any fountain pen. It is ideal for priming new feeds.

However, very recently I found another ink, which may even be better. I still have to try it for a longer duration to give a final verdict, and with a few more pens, but I reckon it may make WM BB take second place. So far, I primed two new pens with it, no problem, and both known to be difficult, one for not using WM inks, and the other because I found these pens always need priming...

This ink is Noodler's FPN Galileo Manuscript Brown. And this is not a joke, or a plug for this ink. It is just what I found out using it, so far.

Warm regards, Wim

I'd say the best is likely to be Noodler's Polar Black. Freezes at -20 F (-29 C), has their American Eel lubricants, and is bulletproof eternal.

But I know only what I've read about it. Maybe it would be the ultimate performer once a drop of Tryphon Ink-Safe has been added.

Another vote for Noodlers Polar Black (2006 edition).

Peter

PS - I think this ink has all the lubricants required; wouldn't personally add anything alse, such as Tryphon Inksafe

Private Reserve American Blue. Love it.

A greenish hue, I have no problem with. I don't even mind a sickly greenish hue (I like the "vintage" look ). But pale and washed out -- that's where I draw the line. The color of my ill-fated travelogue was beyond (the) pale. Pic attached. This is not, by any stretch, what I would call "blue-black"! (Paper, BTW, was not a factor; this is a FP-friendly journal made by Antioch.)

But never mind. At lunch time tomorrow will make my way to FPH and pick up a bottle of W's B-B. (Anyone care to join me?) I'm going to load it into the same Phileas and write a few lines in the same journal. Will post the result. Stay tuned.

For myself personally, I've very much enjoyed the bottle of Pelikan 4001 Royal Blue. However, I have reasonably fond memories of an old boot of Montblanc blue-black that I used from time to time.

I'm also looking forward to trying out this new bottle of Private Reserve Velvet Black. First bottle of Private Reserve ever!

Since I have tried Waterman Florida Blue and Purple 1:1 mix (per Richard's recipe), I must say it is a very nice rich blue, and it has excellent flow properties. Maybe the best of the inks I have tried...

Nenad

viseguy, WBB looks the same for me. If it was called Waterman Blue-Gray I would probably like it better.

Because it's so well-loved, I'd like to learn to appreciate it, so I am still experimenting. I'm going to try it in a wetter writer and see if that improves it for me.

I've tried it in my Pelikano, my wettest writer and it's a respectable blue-green now. No longer faded green. It does still fade overnight but at least now I don't have the feeling half my ink has dissapeared overnight.

You may think me crazy but I like Skrip turquois. I'm new at this ink game and I just got a bottle of Private Reserve Midnight Blue and I like it too.

Noodler's Red-Black.

Do you have a picture of this mixture? How does this look like?

Best wishes,
diogenes

Waterman Florida Blue with no doubt.

It was with me in primary, middle and hight school, college, training school, at the time all essays had to be written by hand and the erasable quality of Florida Blue was a life saver.

It performed well in 5 euro or 200 euro pens, I was in France.


Now, in the U.S, it stays in all my dark blue pens, is used to test each pen and is at home in my inkrollers.

Demonstrators, white, silver and of course blue pens I plan to buy in the future will be loaded with Waterman Florida Blue.

That's also my signature ink.

Diamine Prussian Blue, with PR Sherwood Green a distant second.
Gerry

No one wanted to join me!

But I went anyway. Picked up the vaunted (and wanted) bottle of W B-B, along with Noodler's Purple Wampum, Sequoia, and Omas Sepia; and a flimsy red Parker Vector (which actually puts down a nice, medium-wet M/B line). That bottle of Waterman Blue-Black cost me 64 bucks!

As promised, I filled the Binderized Phileas stub with B-B and tried it on a page of the Antioch journal. Don't know if you can tell from the scan below, but there is a BIG difference from the earlier sample. Very blue, no hint of green, not washed out (although, of course, not saturated either, but you wouldn't expect it to be), with subtle shading. All in all, quite pleasant and acceptable -- though I still don't see how they get away with calling this ink blue-black! I don't see no black! :ph34r: Be that as it may, there was definitely something wrong with the carts I took to London two years ago.

P.S. If I had to recommend one ink, it would be Noodler's Black.

Edits: To achieve something approximating English.

Hi s_s,

I hear ya. But see my other post. The bottle I bought today writes MUCH better than those cartridges I had. They were off.


Good idea. A wet writer would probably bring out the best in W B-B. One of these days I'll try it in my firehose Paragon. Maybe then I'll see some hint of black in this ink.

Failing that, we can get out the watercolor brushes, or perhaps a nice sponge.

Maybe those cartridges weren't "off", after all. After it sat on my desk for a couple of days, the sample of Waterman B-B that I posted the other day -- fresh from the newly-purchased bottle -- is veering toward the all-too-familiar pale green. Compare the picture below to the one I posted on Thursday. Another sample that I left on the car dashboard yesterday turned green after a couple of hours. I do believe W B-B has UV radiation issues.

Ah, that would make sense!

Mine fades in my journal that is kept in the dark....
Actually mine doesn't exist anymore. I've put some black ink in the bottle with it. Much better now