The Perfect Black Ink

[tinta]

Sailor's Kiwa-Guro is the one one I reach for if I want a water resistant, saturated, nano-pigment ink. Be aware of a longer drying time for this ink. Regular flushing of pens are also recommended when using this or any other nano particle ink.

 

I don't own bottle of black ink, of any brand, but I do keep some fresh Kiwa-Guro Cartridges on hand when black coloured ink is required. These cartridges only fit my Sailor pens & hold more ink than regular international short carts.

 

Failing that, I have some dry Pelikan 4001 Brilliant Black, also in short carts, to use with my modern Kawecos.

 

Not a great fan of black ink, but sometimes it's the only colour that's appropriate.

Edited November 19, 2018 by tinta

[carlos.q]

If there was a "perfect" black ink there would be no other. Everyone would buy the perfect black ink and all others would stay on the seller's shelves. In short order only one black ink would be produced and sold.

 

There is only a perfect ink for YOU. For cheap paper Pelikan 4001 Brilliant Black is excellent. Other low dye-load blacks like Sheaffer Skrip and Parker Quink are also good for all but the absolute cheapest paper. If you write on the cheapest paper take a look at Noodler's black, but you should consider a bit of dilution with distilled water to prevent smudging.

 

I love Aurora black but in my experience it doesn't play well with cheap paper.

[lapis]

This might give you a hink of what I see in a few blacks. Sure, there are a lot more blacks out there these days, some older, some newer, but these have all been discussed a lot for years now. Also, these chromatographs may in fact provide some inclination of the homogeneity, but not all of it, and there is no way to envisage here the type and amount of any surfactants/tensides/detergents present like tritons, lubrols etc. and/or any anti-contaminant reagents such as azides or phenol.

 

This shot below was taken from a review on MB's Ultra Black, here, where there are also pen-written lines of each of those and more.

 

 

1. Aurora

2. Herbin Perle Noire

3. Montblanc Mystery Black

4. Noodler's Black

5. Noodler's Heart of Darkness

6. Noodler's Old Manhattan

7. Pelikan Black 4001

8. Private Reserve Invincible Black

9. Sailor Kiwa-Guro

10. Visconti

11. Montblanc Ultra Black

12. Montblanc Permanent Black

[grainweevil]

Well, don't believe anyone's mentioned Platinum Carbon Black, so I will.

 

There. I did.

[sakib]

How water resistant/waterproof do you need the ink to be? Haven't tried Perle Noir, but other J Herbin inks have very little water resistance (although Eclat de Saphir is safe enough for me to put in a capillary fill Parker 61). Like sakib, I was underwhelmed by Noodler's Black, and much prefer Noodler's Heart of Darkness (dries faster and is less smudge-y). I haven't tried some of the other recommendations. Pelikan 4001 Brilliant Black has more water resistance than I expected; my only experience with Sailor Kiwa-Guro was in a Preppy set up with the rollerball head (and it didn't work at ALL well in that pen; I have another sample to try in a fountain pen but don't use black ink a lot.

I've also tried some vintage inks: vintage Quink Microfilm Black (which -- at least in the bottles I've tried -- blue-ish undertones, but is pretty water resistant and generally well behaved) and vintage Skrip V-Black, which, IIRC, is also water resistant; but is not as black (more of a greyish-black).

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

I loveeee the velvety darkness of HOD, but it isn't the best on the cheap papers. But it is miles better in my opinion than Noodlers BB

[Honeybadgers]

For me it's noodlers heart of darkness. Though I do quite prefer noodlers dark matter, it's not quite as waterproof.

[sansenri]

This might give you a hink of what I see in a few blacks. Sure, there are a lot more blacks out there these days, some older, some newer, but these have all been discussed a lot for years now. Also, these chromatographs may in fact provide some inclination of the homogeneity, but not all of it, and there is no way to envisage here the type and amount of any surfactants/tensides/detergents present like tritons, lubrols etc. and/or any anti-contaminant reagents such as azides or phenol.

 

This shot below was taken from a review on MB's Ultra Black, here, where there are also pen-written lines of each of those and more.

 

 

1. Aurora

2. Herbin Perle Noire

3. Montblanc Mystery Black

4. Noodler's Black

5. Noodler's Heart of Darkness

6. Noodler's Old Manhattan

7. Pelikan Black 4001

8. Private Reserve Invincible Black

9. Sailor Kiwa-Guro

10. Visconti

11. Montblanc Ultra Black

12. Montblanc Permanent Black

 

Very revealing, thanks

 

I have Visconti black and it does have a typical purple hue to it

[Lloyd]

I'm a Noodlers Bulletproof Black fan

[SchaumburgSwan]

Hi,

 

+1 for J. Herbin Perle Noir

 

I wouldn't say its dry more medium to wet.

 

Vale

Jens

Edited November 21, 2018 by SchaumburgSwan

[mcshiny]

I am still looking for the perfect black ink. As I write mostly on cheap paper, behavior is very important.

I was willing to try out Blackstone barrister Black.

Has anyone used it recently. I want to know how it behaves in cheap paper especially.

I've used Blackstone barrister, it's a very dry writer (it won't flow in my wet pens) - I wrote on cheap copy paper for a while and it performed just fine.

[sakib]

I've used Blackstone barrister, it's a very dry writer (it won't flow in my wet pens) - I wrote on cheap copy paper for a while and it performed just fine.

Have u used kiwa guro. Can u compare between the two.

[Mongoosey]

+1 for HOD (my favorite ink). It works pretty good on cheaper paper, but not great on the cheapest paper.

 

I think Noodler's Black is better for cheaper paper. But Noodler's black can smear on better quality paper if you don't use a blotting paper.

 

I tried a sample of Barrister Black and it feathered on cheaper paper. It was wetter than Kiwa-Guro, but Barrister Black is made in batches and I don't know if that's generalizable.

 

I think if you have a wet enough pen: Kiwa-Guro is one of those Desert Island Inks that works on any kind of paper, but I've found it's flow dry and doesn't write a solid line in my pens that aren't wet.

[sakib]

+1 for HOD (my favorite ink). It works pretty good on cheaper paper, but not great on the cheapest paper.

 

I think Noodler's Black is better for cheaper paper. But Noodler's black can smear on better quality paper if you don't use a blotting paper.

 

I tried a sample of Barrister Black and it feathered on cheaper paper. It was wetter than Kiwa-Guro, but Barrister Black is made in batches and I don't know if that's generalizable.

 

I think if you have a wet enough pen: Kiwa-Guro is one of those Desert Island Inks that works on any kind of paper, but I've found it's flow dry and doesn't write a solid line in my pens that aren't wet.

I agree, HOD is an awesome black. I reserve it for finer paper. I REALLY love kiwa guro, just don't like the shine.

Have ordered a barrister Black. Let's see how it goes

[Mongoosey]

I agree, HOD is an awesome black. I reserve it for finer paper. I REALLY love kiwa guro, just don't like the shine.

Have ordered a barrister Black. Let's see how it goes

 

Same here. HOD's what I use with my Tomoe River Paper. The vibrancy and richness practically reads the words for you lol.

 

Barrister Black IME the blackest black I've ever used, more so than OMB, IMO.

 

I'm still looking for a wet enough pen for Kiwa-Guro. I do have a pilot 78g on the way as well as an fpr himalaya on the way for the wet ebonite feed.

[sakib]

 

Same here. HOD's what I use with my Tomoe River Paper. The vibrancy and richness practically reads the words for you lol.

 

Barrister Black IME the blackest black I've ever used, more so than OMB, IMO.

 

I'm still looking for a wet enough pen for Kiwa-Guro. I do have a pilot 78g on the way as well as an fpr himalaya on the way for the wet ebonite feed.

How would you rate Barrister

Black in comparison to kiwa guro.

[Fuzzy_Bear]

When I first started, I only used Aurora black. Wrote on everything with it.

 

But this is almost as loaded a question as "There Perfect Blue"

[Karmachanic]

So.

There is only one perfect black ink. The winner is:

 

Aurora

Kiwa Guro

Perle Noir

 

I'm going with Nurebairo. Because shiney. And craptacular. And Tas.

Edited November 21, 2018 by Karmachanic

[Mech-for-i]

Any decent carbon ink would be my say for perfect black ink, by nature the need binder and that together with the fine carbon particle pretty much mean it work on any type of paper and come out .. well .. black, the down side of course is that they are almost all of high maintenance type and demand the pen be used always

[TSherbs]

Aurora

[Mongoosey]

How would you rate Barrister

Black in comparison to kiwa guro.

 

Based on the Sample of Barrister Black I tried (since they are made in batches and I know they try to improve upon the formula) and my Bottle of Kiwa-Guro:

 

Barrister Black was basically the wetter, even blacker, less behaved version of Kiwa Guro, and I don't recall any silver sheen.