Hi all:

I currently use a Pelikan M400 medium nib loaded with black Pelikan 4001 brand ink, w/c writes beautifully. Yesterday I loaded a new FP with a fine nib with the same black ink and after using it i notice that the color isnt as "black" as how my other pen writes. So i'm starting to think maybe i need a different brand of black ink, the blackest in the market so that the result with the fine nib wont be 'grayish'. Or could it be a problem with the nib--maybe it is too dry (is that the correct terminology?) Anyway thanks for your suggestions!

Aurora Black

Swisher Pens black
Noodler's black
Aurora black
...in that order...

but Pelikan black is one of the best also, so it may just be the fine nib. If you want it to write wetter, that is an easy adjustment for those who do pen work (but I'm not one of those).

Aurora or Herbin

Martin

Richard has also mentioned a Chinese brand called Doctor Black, which Hero makes, though the ink is no longer available stateside.

I've also found Levenger's Raven Black to be pretty dark.

About as dark as Cricket here in my Avatar

Good Luck!

Tom Scott

Aurora

Hero Carbonic Black is available where I live however, (but I hear Hero doesn't make Hero inks; Hero makes Doctor inks, so who makes Hero ink?)

Hero Carbonic Black is VERY BLACK but it's a serious pen clogger, so only use it on your cheapie pens.

I'm such a fan of the deep black of dip pens so much that I avoid it completely in fountain pens. I hate seeing gray. For me, the "proper" color of a FP ink is some form of blue. Just me, my opinion, and my $.02...

Doug

P.S. On the other hand, I might try out some of the inks mentioned above! You say those blacks are actually black? As in black black?

yup - they're actually black. Raven and Aurora are the ones I've used but Raven got mucky. Aurora was the best.

in a dry writing pen - any ink can look lighter so even a thoroughly black ink can look grey-ish. it may be necessary in KiwiJack's case to slightly adjust the flow of his fine pen such that he gets a good wet line that is black, not grey.

But since I don't know Pelikan black, i can't compare it's behavior to Aurora other than I've found some Pelikan inks to be a bit stingy.

I was going to try the Auroura Black (allot of folks told me it's a very nice black) until I found the Noodler's Black which is probably my favorite ink.

Also, Winsor & Newton have a new line of pigmented Calligraphy inks that are labled as safe for fountain pens. The Black is serious business Black.

I only use it in my best gusher a Rotring Core XL, but I probably would not want to put it in my fancier pens or my vintage pens.

If it is truly pigmented, I would never put it in a fountain pen. No matter what the maker says. You're asking for trouble, and you take the risk. Not the mfg.

I've used Pelikan and Aurora Black, and in my recollection the Pelikan is a pretty good black, so it's most likely to be an ink-flow issue, as people have suggested. For which the cure is to increase the ink flow, but it also needs pointing out that this may make the line a bit broader.

There is a pigmented black that I'd trust in FPs -- it's Pelikan Fountindia, and since they ought to know what they're talking about I've used it, but I've also flushed out pens very conscientiously after using it. OTOH, it's *not* the deepest black I've seen -- there's a tendency for it to have an attractive, but slightly greyish, sheen.

Aurora's my choice of a deep black, and I happen to prefer it over Noodler's Permanent Black, but there are plenty I haven't tried.

Best

Michael

For some reason all I can think about is Spinal Tap:

I think he's right, there is something about this, that's ... that's so black, it's like; "How much more black could this be?" and the answer is: "None, none... more black."

Anyway - I've tried Quink, Raven black and now Noodlers and prefer the Noodler's but Raven black is probably equally so. Quink, on the other hand, is a nice color but not so black.

For me, my quest has ended. I've tried Aurora, Platinum carbon, Pelikan 4001, Private Reserve, Levengers, Omas, Doctor, Shaeffer's, Parker Penman, Quink, Waterman and Noodlers (among others) The winner for me is Noodler's "Swishmix" Nile Ebony. It is the black that "goes to 11" and has the best balance of drying time, blackness, smear-resistance and non-bleed through.

The blackest inks I have used include Aurora, Pelikan, and Noodlers eternal black. The pelikan 4001 black is actually very black in my experience and competes well with both the Aurora and Noodlers. My favorite ink currently is the Aurora Black.

Several other FPNners have said what ediamond just said.

Noodler's Swishmix inks, including Nile Ebony, do need "better" paper to prevent feathering and bleeding (carefully explained on the Swisher website, with helpful recommendations for brands and labels of paper, some inexpensive), while the Noodler's-own-label inks neither feather nor bleed on just about any paper, and I've tried them on many (shadowing can happen with some colors on really-loose-fiber papers).

Noodler's-own-label Black is not the blackest ink on the market, but that hasn't prompted me to get rid of my two bottles . A wet-writing, fine-point pen (the only one of those I have is my Hero 329) makes N's Black look its best. The drier the pen, the more brown-gray becomes noticeable.

(Edit: the following sentences changed a bit after a look at Greg Clark's 2006 Sampler under residential fluorescent-coil-through-frosted-glass lighting. Since the Sampler is hand-marked, and by swabs not by pens, different copies might have different results.)

From what I've read here on the FPN, and from what I see in the Sampler, Noodler's Swishmix Nile Ebony is the blackest .

In this Sampler, the black inks from Aladine, Artist Line (Abraxas), Aurora, Calligrafico, Caran d'Ache, Conway Stewart, Fahrney, J. Herbin, Levenger, Panache/Hunt, Pelikan/Cross, Platignum, Platinum, Private Reserve/Bexley, Rotring, Sailor and Swisher's own label all seem to step about the same distance (but different directions) away from the unquestionable blackness of Noodler's Swishmix Nile Ebony.