I got my bottle of Borealis in the mailbox today. I've been looking forward to checking it out. In particular, I'm curious how this ink, a non-bulletproof but purportedly waterproof ink designed to be super-black, compares with both Old Manhattan, a blackety-black bulletproof, and Aurora Black, which is the ink Borealis is supposed to be an improvement on.

As far as blackness is concerned, it soaks up the light real well. It's ever so slightly on the green side, but you won't see that under regular use. Borealis is definitely darker than Aurora, which is a very blacky black in its own right. Compared to Old Manhattan, it's a bit of a closer call. At first glance they look the same, but in the Borealis there's a very slight hint of shading, while the areas I filled with Old Manhattan look completely flat and even; no shading, just blackness.

So far it sounds as though Old Manhattan is the hands-down winner here, but hold on. The difference in blackness is very slight and there are other characteristics to compare. All three inks are pretty well-behaved as far as spidering and feathering goes. Borealis doesn't appear to be feathering at all on my Moleskine paper, and that by itself speaks highly of it.

What I find remarkable in Borealis is that it dries faster than either Aurora or Old Manhattan. Old Manhattan needs 12-15 seconds of sitting to prevent smudging. Aurora is safe to run your finger over it after six seconds. Borealis doesn't smudge after only three. Three seconds! That's a pretty quick dry in my book.

Sorry, no scans, but I'm not really confident in my ability to convey the character of a black ink in a scan.

Thanks for the detailed review.

All the noodler black inks I have tried work pretty well(Borealis is one I have not tried yet), you can't really go wrong with any of them. The differences between them are pretty subtle. But it's nice to know what those subtle differences are.

Hearts of Darkness seems to lubricate a little better than Old Manhattan black, but feathers a tiny bit more than OMB and is only really noticeably on really bad paper.
EDIT: after looking at some samples today. OMB is a little bit more black than HOD black.

It's nice to know there is faster drying option available in the Borealis black. Will be yet another black I will have to try.

I've posted a water test of Borealis Black here, for those that are interested. It isn't bulletproof, but the writing was still visible and legible following a 4 hour soak and a minute of boiling in the microwave. I had to post the scans as black and white. There is a very faint greenish cast to the writing in the running water test and the soak & boil test, but I couldn't get the scan to match the actual appearance of the test paper. It is truly very very very faint. In fact, when I first looked at the test sheet, I thought I was looking at some shade of gray.

My scanner promptly died after making that scan, so I haven't been able to do the follow-up tests I wanted to do (staining an old t-shirt with Borealis Black, letting it dry, and then washing it a time or two) to establish whether Borealis Black is "washable". I also want to do a sun exposure fade test, but there's no point doing it until I get a new scanner. If anybody else wants to do these tests in the meantime, be my guest.

I concur about the fast drying and the lack of feathering. Borealis Black also does not soak through the pages of my Allan's Journal. Neither does it exhibit any nib creep.

It was very surprising, and I am quite pleased with Borealis Black all around. I think Nathan has another winner here, right along with his Bulletproof Black.

oh no!!!! I was just about to order a bottle of Aurora Black and now you've confused me!!

"oh no!!!! I was just about to order a bottle of Aurora Black and now you've confused me!!"
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Are you trying to say, "Don't confuse me with the facts?"

Seriously, can the ink minutiae in this thread rule out such a highly regarded ink as Aurora black?

Yes. Especially if price is important.

Hmm... your review tempts me... I may have to acquire some Borealis Black, at the least to add it to my survey of black inks.

But Richard Binder rates Aurora Black! It's enough for me, it will be in my next shipment of ink as I need a black.

Matt.

Rule it out? I hope not. Aurora is one of my all-time favorites and I'll keep using it and buying it. If my first impressions here don't change after some time with Borealis, I might well start using Borealis more often than Aurora, but I don't see myself ever not having Aurora around.

I'm confused about this ink as listed on the Swisher Pens website - first it says that the ink is waterproof, then that it is easily rinsed out with water. Huh?

"Easily rinsed out" refers to flushing it out of a pen.

Look at my water tests of Borealis Black and make your own determination as to whether it is "waterproof" or merely "highly water resistant". For myself, I won't worry about addressing envelopes with it. I will continue to use Noodler's Bulletproof Black to write checks and to sign important documents, though.

It's also supposed to be easily washed out of clothes while still remaining waterproof on paper. (Mine's on its way to me, so I'll test it when it arrives.)

I love having a selection of good black inks, so will always have Noodler's BP Black as well as Aurora's Black, too. Each has its own 'perfect' pen.

You know, the more I use Borealis Black, the better I like it. Extremely well-behaved ink in all pens, including vintage Esties, and on sometimes-troublesome papers including Moleskine and Levenger 3x5 cards.

I think Aurora Black has serious competition here, for both quality and price.

We've discussed the need to shake Noodler's bulletproof and near-bulletproof inks before filling, to resuspend the cellulose-reactive dye particles they contain. I suppose this helps keep the non-particulate dyes in solution, too. Does shaking seem to be needed for Borealis Black (or other non-bulletproof Noodler's)?

Just thought I'd throw my two cents in!

I just got a bottle of Borealis black and put it in my fine/medium-nibbed 51 Special. Although it's been a while since I've inked this one up, I remember it being a smooth writer - however, this combination is bringing smooth to a whole new level. As far as the color is concerned, when I did a quick swab test, Borealis was significantly darker than Noodler's Eel Black and Aurora Black; it completely blacked out the paper without feathering or bleeding through. You couldn't see paper anymore, only delightfully black blackness!!

Although I don't have Heart of Darkness to compare this with, I'm confident in saying that it's 100%, positively, absolutely, the blackest ink I've ever used. And, so far at least, it flows beautifully, lubricates nicely, dries quickly, and refuses to feather even on dodgy office copy paper. I'll keep using my other black inks, but this one is a very welcome addition to the collection.

All the best,
Mike

Not that I've noticed.

I was going to make this inquiry in the water-test thread, but it belongs here:

You know how people say Noodler's and PR and Levenger (among others) are in a separate class of inks because they are quite loaded with dye, as opposed to the "safer" inks like Waterman, Quink, Herbin, and Diamine? Certainly the latter category gets its laud because of their superior all-around operability, whereas the first category occasionally meets a problem with a pen here and there. So... would you put Borealis in the latter category, or is it still one of those "modern" inks, or is it somewhere in between?

It sounds like this is probably one of the best black inks to give to a first-time FP-user (like my dad, who just got his first pen at the NJ Pen Show!)

I think all Noodlers would go in the loaded dye category. That is what they are known for relatively cheap ink that is very saturated. They do say its a old style ink but I still would not put it in the 2nd category you have, then again I would not say that the ink will damage pens as there are many people using Noodlers in there older pens. d