Blackest Black

[Mike-S]

Happy new year everyone.

 

Which in your opinion is the blackest black that can be safely used in FP's ?

 

Mike-S

[tamiya]

There's some nanoparticle Carbon blacks around, like from Sailor & Platinum.

 

Historically I had Parker Penman Ebony as my blackhole ink. Today I have blacks from Quink, Skrip, Pelikan 4001, ConwayStewart & Herlitz and none come anywhere near as black.

 

On the budget end of spectrum, I bought a pack of cartridges by "Manuscript" an artsy calligraphy brand, they dry surprisingly dark & opaque black with no sheen.

 

Lamy black is pretty saturated too.

[dompred]

Noodler's X-Feather is the blackest black I've seen. I would not recommend it though, I found that it would feather and take a long time to dry.

 

Second blackest ink I've tried, really close to X-Feather, is Noodler's Bulletproof Black. Awesome performance in every situation I've put it.

 

Other black inks I've tried: Lamy Black (not so black after some time and not as black), Diamine Onyx (red base), Conway Steward Bodmin Black/Diamine Jet Black (nice black, maybe less dark), Pelikan 4001 Brilliant Black (can look like gray in drier pens, very nice on wet pens), Sailor Kiwa Guro (too shiny for me, not as dark as I would like - based on dip pen writing sample), Noodler's Heart of Darkness (almost identical to Bulletproof Black).

 

Also I would like to mention Sailor Doyou, it is a very very dark brown ink but so far it is black in every paper I've put it on. It looks blacker than many of my black inks.

[ParkerDuofold]

Hi Mike,

 

I like Aurora Black a lot; very silky and very black and it's never clogged one of my pens, even when it sits for a couple of weeks.

 

Lamy black is my second favorite; VG, just not quite as black as Aurora.

 

- Anthony

Edited January 2, 2017 by ParkerDuofold

[Jimmy James]

Isn't Old Manhattan Black supposedly the blackest of the Noodler's lot?

[aderoy]

Sailor or Platinum nano particle carbon black are the blackhole of fp inks. Stand the test of time with water resistance to boot.

[Manalto]

Hi Mike,

 

I like Aurora Black a lot; very silky and very black and it's never clogged one of my pens, even when it sits for a couple of weeks.

 

 

- Anthony

 

I second Anthony's recommendation. Aurora really makes my pens skate across the paper, and it's deep, rich black.

[Runnin_Ute]

Levenger Raven Black is pretty opaque and semi permanent (website language) . I have not used it in a while so I haven't had an opportunity to compare it to say Noodler's Black. There are reviews in the Ink Review section however.

[lapis]

Kiwa-guro. Check my chromatogram. (Sorry, I don't remember where it is).

 

Mike

[Orpilorp]

+1 for Aurora black.

[tinta]

Used to be Aurora black (sadly not water resistant), but now it's Sailor Kiwa-Guro in carts only.

I do not own a bottled black ink. For the extremely rare occasions when I think that black ink is appropriate, I just pop in a Kiwa-Guro cart. Has decent water resistance too.

[Manalto]

For the extremely rare occasions when I think that black ink is appropriate...

 

I could understand, "For the extremely rare occasions when I think that fuschia ink is appropriate" but black? It's black.

[Arkanabar]

My blackest black is Noodler's Borealis Black, which is meant to emulate Aurora Black. It does feather a bit.

Other candidates for blackest blacks include Noodler's Heart of Darkness, Old Manhattan Blackest Black, and original Black, as well as Aurora, Levenger Raven Black, and J. Herbin Perle Noire.

[inkstainedruth]

Isn't Old Manhattan Black supposedly the blackest of the Noodler's lot?

 

If it isn't, it certainly is pretty close. I have a bottle of it, and I've tried Noodler's Black but didn't like it as well. My favorite black ink of that brand is Noodler's Heart of Darkness, which is fairly black, and also faster drying and a bit more water resistant (and a little better behaved than Old Manhattan on poor quality paper). But I'm also wondering if part of the reason Old Manhattan is so black on the page is that it's got some spreading (although not much in the way of feathering or bleed through -- OTOH, HoD seems to have almost no spread).

Both OM and HoD are supposedly eternal inks, according to my notes.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[Pentulant]

I've been so happy with Bungbox Armor Black.

 

Super dark.

Writes beautifully.

Not at all dry.

 

Got mine from Vanness. Here's a link.

https://vanness1938.com/collections/bung-box-inks/products/bung-box-armor-black

[eharriett]

I asked this question of myself and did some searching here, because I wanted to journal in black ink. It's what lead me to FPM about a year ago, actually. I wound up getting Platinum Carbon Black (it's permanence is what won me). I also got a sample of Noodler's Heart of Darkness which is a great comparison -- I can't tell the difference on my paper with my pen. And for vintage pens, I got a bottle of Aurora black when I need a black for an older pen. All three of them are as black as I can see after letting it dry on a page overnight.

 

This, of course, is all subjective based on your pen, paper, writing style, eyesight, etc. But for me, Platinum Carbon black for easily cleaned pens, Aurora black for older pens that are hard to clean. HOD didn't bring me anything to the table. And I say that as a regular daily user of other Noodlers inks.

[torstar]

no such thing as the blackest of black, not even for la gata in the avatar

 

Aurora is a great FP ink, the best black for me

[Witsius]

Aurora and Pelikan both make excellent black inks. Aurora is wetter than Pelikan. Noodler's Old Manhattan Blackest Black is the darkest black Noodler's ink that I've tried (I found Noodler's black to be quite grey), but it's pretty wet and will write a wider line than most other inks because it's so runny. The nib creep is also pretty noticable. If you want a good, dark black ink, go with Aurora or Pelikan.

[Budzynski]

In my opinion, J Herbin's Perle Noire is one of the blackest inks I've come across. However, it's too wet for my pens... I switched to Aurora which is also wet but not overly wet. Pelikan is quite black as well unless you have a dry writing pen with a fine nib.

[FLZapped]

My blackest black is Noodler's Borealis Black, which is meant to emulate Aurora Black. It does feather a bit.

 

 

I've been using this at work, it's pretty black!