Lamy Blue-Black

[Sandy1]

S1, did you notice the ink color getting darker on page as time goes by? I'd love to see a scan if possible.

Hi,

 

I did not notice a huge difference.

 

All samples in this Review were scanned well after the samples were generated, so I consider the appearance to be 'stable'. Perhaps there is some longer-term change, (months or years), but as it is typical that oxidization potential is rapidly realised, IMHO subsequent change would be very minor and subtle; and may be highly depend on paper ingredients and storage conditions which may have nothing to do with oxidization.

 

I am presently half a world away from my ink array and scanner, so am unable to generate 'time lapse' scans. Perhaps another Member will contribute.

 

Bye,

S1

[Sandy1]

Nice Review! I found Lamy Blue-Black to be too gray for my tastes (I was expecting more of a true blue-black).

Hi,

 

Many thanks for the compliment!

 

I consider this ink to be amongst the 'true' Blue-Black inks. That said, Blue-Black can be tricky to define: I have seen more than a few inks labelled as BlBk that are Dark Blue. e.g. Sailor sei-boku. There are inks labelled as BlBk that are running very much into the Grey. e.g. Sheaffer Skrip BlBk (I often add an iota of Blue to that ink.) And those that are very Blue, but I still consider borderline/coin-toss BlBk inks. e.g. R&K Salix, Pilot BlBk.

 

Bye,

S1

[psrivats]

OK, after writing with both Lamy blue-black and Diamine registrar's ink for a few days (in two identical TWSBI 540s with medium nib), I definitely like the diamine ink better. It is a bit more dark than lamy, and it shades better with the TWSBI. I see more gray in the lamy than black. Both inks are almost equally wet (or dry?) in the TWSBI, with diamine having a very slight edge. Not sure if it just my perception due to liking diamine better, or due to minor nib differences. Both inks perform wonderfully well on almost all papers, no feathering, no bleedthrough and completely waterproof. Diamine RI is definitely a everyday ink for me. I think the TWSBI 540 (medium) is a great pen/nib for this ink.

[RBC]

Thanks, excellent review as always!

[Sandy1]

OK, after writing with both Lamy blue-black and Diamine registrar's ink for a few days (in two identical TWSBI 540s with medium nib), I definitely like the diamine ink better. It is a bit more dark than lamy, and it shades better with the TWSBI. I see more gray in the lamy than black. Both inks are almost equally wet (or dry?) in the TWSBI, with diamine having a very slight edge. Not sure if it just my perception due to liking diamine better, or due to minor nib differences. Both inks perform wonderfully well on almost all papers, no feathering, no bleedthrough and completely waterproof. Diamine RI is definitely a everyday ink for me. I think the TWSBI 540 (medium) is a great pen/nib for this ink.

Hi,

 

Many thanks for your time and effort to do a comparison of Lamy Blue-Black to Diamine Registrars, and letting us know your findings.

 

My experience with DR is limited to a sample from a friend who uses it in her calligraphy. I found it to be very much a near-Black, not a Blue-Black, so it was dropped with a resounding thud and no regret. After reading your description, perhaps I should give it another go - a fresh sample (?).

 

I think there is strong support for using Lamy BlBk from wetter writers to increase its density. I agree that the TWSBI 540+M may be just that bit wetter than most other writers, so may be a good pairing with this and other i-g inks. (I'm using a 530+M.)

 

Bye,

S1

[Sandy1]

Thanks, excellent review as always!

Hi,

You're welcome!

Bye,

S1

[psrivats]

Hi,

 

Many thanks for your time and effort to do a comparison of Lamy Blue-Black to Diamine Registrars, and letting us know your findings.

 

My experience with DR is limited to a sample from a friend who uses it in her calligraphy. I found it to be very much a near-Black, not a Blue-Black, so it was dropped with a resounding thud and no regret. After reading your description, perhaps I should give it another go - a fresh sample (?).

 

I think there is strong support for using Lamy BlBk from wetter writers to increase its density. I agree that the TWSBI 540+M may be just that bit wetter than most other writers, so may be a good pairing with this and other i-g inks. (I'm using a 530+M.)

 

Bye,

S1

 

S1, definitely give RI a try ... I also noticed that the color is kind of dependent on the paper you use for both inks. For examples, on the Ampad gold fiber computation notebook (which I gotta carry everyday for lab), both inks produce a dark color, with Lamy being tad lighter. On moleskine, the color with both inks is a lighter (compared to Ampad) with both inks. I like the Lamy blue black color very much on the moleskine (RI is too dark on this paper). The blue-grey-black is very pleasing to the eye (I carry a volant for everyday use). I do not like writing with either ink on Rhodia paper at all. Overall I'd definitely say that Diamine RI is darker and a tad wetter than the Lamy Blue-black. I am going to continue using both inks for a few more weeks and decide which I am going to keep. While I really love Tsuki-yo, it is amazing to see how much green there is in this ink when written on a page filled with writing from Lamy/Diamine.

 

I have to try the non iron-gall lamy blue-black cartridge next.

[araybanfan]

Very in depth review, thanks. I mix my own blue black with lamy inks since the local supplier seems to take forever to order it. 10ml blue + 3ml black seems to yield the best result for me.

Edited September 7, 2011 by araybanfan

[Sandy1]

Very in depth review, thanks. I mix my own blue black with lamy inks since the local supplier seems to take forever to order it. 10ml blue + 3ml black seems to yield the best result for me.

Hi,

 

You're welcome!

 

Thanks for letting us know about your preferred mix to get a good Blue-Black.

 

Bye,

S1

[araybanfan]

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y36/rayshader/lamyblka.jpg

 

Not sure if this helps, this is a rough impression of the mixture as i had mentioned earlier. Please forgive my ugly handwriting.

 

 

Very in depth review, thanks. I mix my own blue black with lamy inks since the local supplier seems to take forever to order it. 10ml blue + 3ml black seems to yield the best result for me.

Hi,

 

You're welcome!

 

Thanks for letting us know about your preferred mix to get a good Blue-Black.

 

Bye,

S1

.

Edited September 7, 2011 by araybanfan

[psrivats]

araybanfan, thanks for that scan! The color does look quite nice.

[fenriz]

Had to chime in with my opinion on this fluid- I can't stand it! For me, it writes super dry. My Lamy 2000 loved Mont Blanc Blue Black, but Lamy BB does not flow in it! It's too dry and too light in color for my liking. And I special ordered it, too.

[fourseamer]

Had to chime in with my opinion on this fluid- I can't stand it! For me, it writes super dry. My Lamy 2000 loved Mont Blanc Blue Black, but Lamy BB does not flow in it! It's too dry and too light in color for my liking. And I special ordered it, too.

I love the ink, but I concur that it is dry. I like to mate it with a wet flowing and/or wider nibbed pen. My favorite pairing is with a blue Pelikan M805. Excellent combination. Also nice from a Bexley Corona with a medium or bold nib.

 

That said, it's too dry from a XF or F Lamy Safari or most other finer nibbed pens.

[fenriz]

I just did this crazy thing with a Pilot FA nib and a Skyline feed/body, and its funky wet flow may warrant this dry ink. The only thing that worries me is whether or not it will flow as needed to keep up with the swells. Ok- I'll try it!

[spiv]

 

 

Does anyone else see a zombie face in the torn off section of absorbant paper?

[Sandy1]

✃ snip ✁

Does anyone else see a zombie face in the torn off section of absorbant paper?

Hi,

 

You've only just noticed?

 

Perhaps the influence of Friday the 13^th . . .

 

Bye,

S1

[bwnewton]

This is probably my most used ink and in my top 3 favorite inks. Great ink.

 

It acts like all of the other iron-gall inks I've used, yet according to some folks it contains no iron-gall. Puzzles me because both sides of the debate have reliable sources to defend them.

[ThirdeYe]

I tried this in my normally wet Pilot Vanishing Point (with a medium nib) and at first it seemed great. I loved how rich and dark it looked, and watching the color change was really entertaining. However, after I had the pen inked for about a week (and using it every day) it clogged up. I had to re-prime the feed with the converter to get it going again. I've never had to do that with Pilot Blue-Black, Diamine Marine, Montblanc Midnight Blue, Pilot Blue, or any of the other colors I've used in the pen. Before that, it was writing extremely dry. Now it's back to the way it looked when I first inked it, nice and dark and a joy to look at. Has anyone else encountered this issue? It looks like at least one other poster in this thread had to re-prime their pen as well.

[professionaldilettante]

I tried this in my normally wet Pilot Vanishing Point (with a medium nib) and at first it seemed great. I loved how rich and dark it looked, and watching the color change was really entertaining. However, after I had the pen inked for about a week (and using it every day) it clogged up. I had to re-prime the feed with the converter to get it going again. I've never had to do that with Pilot Blue-Black, Diamine Marine, Montblanc Midnight Blue, Pilot Blue, or any of the other colors I've used in the pen. Before that, it was writing extremely dry. Now it's back to the way it looked when I first inked it, nice and dark and a joy to look at. Has anyone else encountered this issue? It looks like at least one other poster in this thread had to re-prime their pen as well.

Using it everyday doesn't say much. Do you fill at least once every day? I have used it heavy duty-ly, and needed to refill everyday. If you don't use it enough, it may just be concentrating itself in the feed, leading to the problems you describe. I never ran into that problem.

[ThirdeYe]

I tried this in my normally wet Pilot Vanishing Point (with a medium nib) and at first it seemed great. I loved how rich and dark it looked, and watching the color change was really entertaining. However, after I had the pen inked for about a week (and using it every day) it clogged up. I had to re-prime the feed with the converter to get it going again. I've never had to do that with Pilot Blue-Black, Diamine Marine, Montblanc Midnight Blue, Pilot Blue, or any of the other colors I've used in the pen. Before that, it was writing extremely dry. Now it's back to the way it looked when I first inked it, nice and dark and a joy to look at. Has anyone else encountered this issue? It looks like at least one other poster in this thread had to re-prime their pen as well.

Using it everyday doesn't say much. Do you fill at least once every day? I have used it heavy duty-ly, and needed to refill everyday. If you don't use it enough, it may just be concentrating itself in the feed, leading to the problems you describe. I never ran into that problem.

 

I usually fill it once every few weeks. When I had to re-prime it today, there was still plenty of ink left in the converter. I'm wondering if perhaps the pen isn't quite as air-tight as it would need to be to take full advantage of the Lamy Blue-Black. Strange how the Montblanc Midnight Blue seems to work fine in it, and that is an iron gall ink as well.