The Worst Question. Find Me A Blue Black

[inkstainedruth]

Another vote here for Edelstein Tanzanite. A lot of blue-blacks tend to lean teal, and that one doesn't.

If you're willing to deal with the slightly higher maintenance of an iron gall, also have a look at R&K Salix, and some of the KWZI IG inks (I particularly like IG Blue-black and IG Blue #3).

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[Darth_Roo]

J. Herbin Bleu des Profoundeurs - beautiful and sophisticated very dark blue, well-saturated, low maintenance. My new favorite blue-black.

I was looking at this. It's a gorgeous, rich, dark blue

[chromantic]

Stipula Notturno Giannutri (Dark Blue).

 

This little hand-written review/sample I found perfectly captures it -

https://inksnibs.com/en/category/inks-by-brand/stipula-en/

 

Beautiful, dark, true blue-black color

Nicely saturated without being over-saturated

Dry, for wet writers like your L2K

Stays wet in nib while uncapped

Reasonable priced, ~15 EU/70 ml

(however, our European friends do say the s/h to outside Italy is expensive)

[mke]

The ideal blue-black looks like a business suits - without the stripes.😁

 

Montblanc Midnight Blue comes very close. But I have to admit I never tried many of the inks you mentioned in this thread.

Edited April 23, 2019 by mke

[displacermoose]

I was looking at this. It's a gorgeous, rich, dark blue

I’ve got it inked up for the first time right now. It’s lovely. Very dark blue that does not lean at all grey. None. And no green, either. It behaves like a Herbin ink, too—which is to say very very well.

[markofp]

If you are looking for a rich and VERY dark blue-black, the one you want is Diamine 1864, just a beautiful ink. Noodler's Starry Night, which is a FPN exclusive and not always available, is also close, try looking in the "store" tab above.

[bugsydog55]

A small shout out to Birmingham Pens Rachel Carson Silent Spring. An outstanding blue black with enough darkness to be professional with a bluish cast to make it different yet elegant. Very affordable.

[Frank_70]

Aurora blue-black has become my go-to blue-black. Excellent, deep color and good flow characteristics. Iroshizuku shin kai is another favorite.

[DrDebG]

https://nickstewart.ink/2018/07/19/nick-stewarts-randall-a-blue-black-chameleon/

[tinta]

I now have some Akkerman Ijzen-Galnoten #10 blauw/zwart in one of my Kaweco special FPs. It's a medium blue iron-gall ink that darkens a bit after the ink has had time to oxydize on the paper & has a bold shading potential. This 60 ml. bottle was found at Vanness.

 

Pelikan 4001 blue/black (in a short cart.) is always in my Lilliput. AFAIK, the latest version of this ink does not have an IG component. It's somewhat water resistant.

[Darth_Roo]

I ordered three samples of inks I hadn't tried.

 

I was not excited by Caran D'ache Magnetic Blue.

It wasn't any better than lamy blue black but 4 times the price.

I currently have GvFC midnight blue loaded. This is more impressive and has great physical properties.

I also ordered Aurora BB, but some posts have put me off, saying it's a PITA.

 

I need to try Nick's Randall, Herbin profoundeurs and MontBlanc MB before making a decision.

 

Right now, the best all rounder I've tried is 1864 BB

[Shaggy]

I am a big fan of pilot blue-black. Well-behaved, and after 24 hours it is quite water resistant. No green to speak of. Not too Gray. And very cheap.

[welch]

- Diamine Midnight Blue

 

- Diamine Oxford Blue

[Darth_Roo]

- Diamine Midnight Blue

 

- Diamine Oxford Blue

Got both.

They're what I would class as dark blue, not blue black

[GreenMountain]

Since getting back into fountain pens almost a decade ago, I have transitioned from plain, black ink (Parker Quink Permanent Black) and rich, saturated blues (Levenger Cobalt Blue) to the more muted tones of traditional blue black inks. My primary criteria for an ink to be used in one of my pens is that it must perform well on a variety of papers, especially the sorts of papers one runs into out and about. My favorites include:

 

Sheaffer Skrip Blue Black: A very traditional, nostalgic blue black that tends to write slightly on the dry side but offers great performance on a variety of papers with some decent water resistance. I have a 1949 Parker 51 that seems to really like this ink.

 

Sailor Jentle Blue Black: Another more traditional-looking blue black ink that seems to do well on most papers and will have faint shimmers of red or violet on less absorbent papers when delivered by a wetter-writing pen. Nice lubrication, too, in my opinion.

 

Hero 232 Blue Black: Once available just about anywhere (especially on Ebay) for under $5.00 a bottle, Hero 232 Blue Black is an exceptional ink. Apparently, it is an iron gall ink with blue/black dye elements included in its forumaltion giving it an immediate, dark blue to black color that darkens slightly over the next few days. This ink does very well even on the cheapest of papers, does not feather, and does not bleed through to the reverse side. The only problem with this ink is its availability. For all intents and purposes it is gone...outside of China.

 

KWZ I.G. Blue #1: This ink is relatively new to me. It is a true iron gall ink that goes on a medium, dusty blue (powder blue?) and then, over the next few days darkens to a traditional, blue black that is 100% waterproof. Captain Nemo I'm not but I will be using this ink in our log book this summer. If a stray dollop of seawater makes it down the hatch and onto the logbook, this ink will not notice.

 

I intend to post this as a new thread shortly but simply want to mention that I recently purchased three New, Old Stock bottles of vintage Parker Quink Blue Black with the "magic ingredient" Solv-X. The date code on my three bottles is "7" and, based on the packaging, vintage ads, and the like, I am confident in saying this ink is late 1940s (1947-48) in manufacture. I intend to methodically (well, as methodically as my time and inclination permits) compare some of today's blue black inks to this vintage standard. This is going to take some time but my objective is to learn what, if anything, has changed in the past 70 years in the way inks perform in the pen, on the nib, and on paper.

 

Cliff

So, Cliff, how are your studies going?

[mke]

> my objective is to learn what, if anything, has changed in the past 70 years in the way inks perform in the pen, on the nib, and on paper.

 

This is simply not possible.

Problem: You are assuming that the ink has not changed during standing. There are very few inks from which such a stability could be expected.

[txomsy]

Since you are in UK, why not give a try to ESSR ink?

[sciumbasci]

[Karmachanic]

I recently "discovered" Octopus Schwarz

[NumberSix]

 

That's the current product? I have a bottle of vintage Skrip that has a lot of green to it. Maybe it's not supposed to! LOL