Attached below is an image of a writing sample with Sheaffer Blue-Black, and below that, the review proper. Regarding the image, "lorem ipsum" is a nonsense language used by printers to showcase a font/color (ie: it takes focus away from content and puts it on aesthetics). The water test was performed by submerging and agitating a sample swatch of the given ink in reverse osmosis water for thirty seconds, then letting it drip dry.

A key has been added, written on Clairefontaine paper, with a number of different inks for reference.

Standard Disclaimer: Image provided only to give a general sense of the color. The vibrance and nuance are typically lost when an ink is digitized.



Review

When I write a review, I first focus on color, and award an ink 0 to 100 based upon that alone, separate from other considerations. I then deduct points from the color score for defects (ie: lack of flow, creep, etc), to arrive at an overall score.

Color

I like Skrip Blue-Black. It's total vintage, even more so than the Sailor B-B. A greyish-blue black, with perhaps the slightest touch of green. The shading is very good. In a dry writer like mine, though, it can look washed out, so I'd save this for larger gauges and/or wetter nibs.

At a glance, and when looking at very small excerpts, the Sailor and Sheaffer Blue-Blacks appear very similar. However, the Sailor is richer, and is decidedly blue-black, whereas the Sheaffer has that touch of green.

Color Score = 85

Deductions

During my recent tests, only two inks gave me any real problem with flow: Diamine B-B and Sheaffer B-B. The Diamine was more of an inconvenience than anything else, whereas the Sheaffer has a definite flow issue. If you look closely at the "lorem ipsum" passage in the above image, you can actually see the ink get lighter as the paragraph goes on.
-5

Overall Score = 80 out of 100

I've tried to like this ink, I really have, but I just can't seem to get into it. I've noticed the same thing you mentioned, that as I'm writing the ink gets lighter, and I wasn't sure if that was because some of the dyes had settled and so came out more concentrated when I first start writing, or if it was something else entirely. This ink dries pretty quickly, and for the initial (read: darker) writing I really like the color. But when it lightens up it really frustrates me.

Same here, it's in my work pen (VP) right now, but I have to use my back-up pen because it starts out nice and dark, then it get's too light for me to justify using it on my forms. Really nice color at the start though.

You guys see it too! I thought it might be my imagination.

I had assumed this effect, of the ink growing lighter over the course of the first paragraph or so, was due to evaporation increasing the concentration of the ink in the feed, with the result that the lighter, steady-state line therefore represented the true color of the ink. But now that I think about it, this change does seem more pronounced with Skrip than some other inks.

These fountain pens, they ain't an exact science, eh?

Michael

I can second your comments about flow. Tried the blue black a few weeks ago and ended up giving away the ink.

On the other hand, I have been very happy with the Sheaffer brown.

I assume this is the Slovenian Skrip B-B?

John

Yup, Slov.

I use more of this ink than any other besides black.

Nice color, easy to read, pretty good water resistance, works well in all my pens (I have never seen it go thin like your's does -- only start out rather dark when a pen has been sitting unused a while). I use this or Hero Blue to clear pens with ink in them when I get them, works well in Parker 61's for instance.

I've been using it on and off for 40 years or so....

Peter

Crappy image shack servers....

Hopefully this one will stay up a little longer.

I, too, have flow problems with Slovenian BB. As a matter of fact, I seem to be having flow problems with Sheaffer Blue and Black, as well. Anybody else?

skrip BB is the only ink i use in my p"61" and it flows fine, but i don't like the way it comes out on other pens... it has to do with color more than flow issues!!!

skripp black, in my experience, flows very well and i use it on cheap pens that tend to dry quickly!!!

I use Sheaffer Skrip Blue exclusively in my large collection of Legacy and Legacy Heritage pens and have never experienced flow problems. All of these pens have medium nibs.

I just do not care for Sheaffer Skrip blue-black. It is ok if I do not want to write anything lengthy. However, the more I write, the more washed out it looks. I tried it and will not use it again because it looks like it is watered down after any lengthy writing. If it stayed as dark as it was when I first started writing, I would like it.

This ink is too blah for me.

Not blue enough and not black enough.

The colour does not bother me. It looks fine to me. It is just not dark enough after a couple paragraphs worth of writing.

Have not had any problems with the ink in any pen I have tried.

OTOH, the first rule of the fountain pen, not every pen works with every ink on every paper.

I appreciate that it looks like a traditional ink, not a rollerball on the paper.

Note the amount of shading it shows when used with a conventional nib on regular papers. Very traditional "nibed pen" look.

If you're going to compare blue black inks you should put in a sample of the original blue-black, iron gall (as represented by Lamy, MB or Diamine) so we can see if these modern upstarts measure up...