Pelikan 4001 Brilliant Black

[DilettanteG]

Here's a short review of another very popular ink: Pelikan 4001 Brilliant Black

(I'll try to add more information as time allows.)

 

My Impressions: A really nice, dense, true black ink with no hint of gray or green. If you don't care about water spills or archiving it's a dependable performer. Sadly, it now gets ignored for its Noodler's bullet proof counterpart.

 

FPN Color Category: Black

Opacity: Very Good

Drying Speed: Fair

Waterproof Rating: Very Good*

Feathering: Good

pH: 8.2*

Sunlight Resistance: Very Good*

Saturation: Very Good

Shading:Good

Special Features: None

Flow: Good

Is it archival? (pH neutral & light fast): No

Avaliable in Bottles and International Size Short Cartridges

Quantity: 50 mL (1.69070 fl.oz. (US) ounces)

Bottle Shape: Old style short rectangular bottle with pen rest (similar to J. Herbin). This has since been discontinued. I think the part number was TG1. You can still buy it in the two ounce bottle.

Purchased from: Levenger

Paid: $11 (Higher because of the special edition bottle)

Price per Ounce: $6.51

Would I buy it again? No, but it's a very good option if you can't get Noodler's.

Similar Inks: Aurora Black is also a nice dense black, but with better flow qualities

Suggested Pen Pairing: My first really expensive fountain pen, a Pelikan M800 with an OB nib, lived quite happily on a regular diet of this stuff.

 

Note: This was the first bottled ink I ever bought, after years of Sheaffer cartridges. It's also the only bottle I've ever entirely used up. (This was before I went insane and collected over a hundred bottles of wide flung manufacturers and increasingly crazy colors.)

 

I'll have to get back to you on:

Does it seem to flow particularly fast or slow?

Does it tend to dry up in pens quickly if the cap is off for awhile?

How does it lubricate the nib? (sufficiently, or like "skating on the paper")

Bleed through?

Is there a phenomenal difference in appearance coming from different pens?

Is it particularly sensitive to hand oils?

Papers that it works especially well on?

Or doesn't work well on?

 

 

A note on my scans: the samples (unless otherwise noted) are done with a dip pen on cheap copy paper. Since I haven't quite mastered the art of not flooding or starving the reservoir, the feathering and smearing represent your worst case scenario. if you're using a paint brush on newsprint it might be even more appalling, but I haven't actually tried it.

 

Ratings:

Excellent: Top Performer

Very Good: Ahead of the rest of the pack, but not the winner.

Good: Average

Fair: Noticeably worse than average, but I wouldn't actually flush it.

Poor: Avoid it like it's radioactive!

 

 

*From Greg Clark's Ink Sampler, Final Edition

 

To convert mL to oz: http://www.metric-conversions.org/volume/m...o-us-ounces.htm

Edited October 29, 2007 by DilettanteG

[Inkling]

 

If that's the work of a dillettante I'd like to see how a pro would do it. Great review, thanks a lot!

[DilettanteG]

Thanks Inkling, of course you realize if you encourage me, I'll just do more reviews.

[CharlieB]

Thanks Inkling, of course you realize if you encourage me, I'll just do more reviews.

 

Yes, DilettanteG, please give us more reviews! You gave us a bunch of ink reviews about 8-10 months ago, and then you went silent. We miss you, and your ink reviews!

 

(If you do ink reviews, we'll even let you tell us a few stories about your horses.....)

 

:ltcapd:

[Ann Finley]

So glad to see a review on Pelikan 4001 Brilliant Black!

 

I used this ink for years in an Osmiroid 75 with an Osmiroid music nib for italic writing. This is a piston filling pen with an ink view window which has only barely greyed with long use of the ink. I carried this pen in my purse, so it was always filled. The ink was not only good and black, it flowed wonderfully and never clogged, so I only cleaned the pen about once every 6 or 8 months! The only reason that I seldom use it now is that I've become aware of a multitude of ink colors (and brands) that I didn't know were even made, until about 4 years ago...And I do like a lot of color when I'm writing.

 

This ink does have very good fade resistance, and as a lefty overwriter I never had to worry about smearing it, or any of the other Pelikan inks.

 

Thanks for reviewing this ink!

Ann

[DilettanteG]

Thanks Charlie and Ann, I 've got reviews of Sheaffer NOS Jet Black, Noodler's Black, and Swishmx Eternal Nile Ebony sitting on my desk at the moment. They'll be up somewhere as soon as I figure out how to best post them.

 

Charlie are you sure you want to get me going about my horses? I'll try to restrict myself to this nice head shot of my new four year old main stud book Hanoverian mare. She's by Weltmeyer out of a German MSB Wendekreis mare. (Are you sorry you mentioned it yet? :embarrassed_smile: )

 

 

[koppee1]

nice horse. nice review

[DilettanteG]

Here's a scan of a Pelikan 4001 Brilliant Black after 10 minutes in cold tap water:

 

Pelikan 4001 Brilliant Black Review

[Robert Hughes]

I just bought some Pelikan 4001 black at the local art materials store, mainly because it was the cheapest black there ($7 for 2 oz bottle - can't beat that!). It works wonderfully with my Esterbrook dip-less pen with fine and medium nibs.

[DilettanteG]

Sorry I had to move the scans to here:

 

Pelikan 4001 Black

 

(I'm running out of attachment space.)

[freznow]

I love pelikan black. I do have one question. You rate it as not archival quality, what's the reason why? I've done quite a few tests and except for a bit of smearsmudging in the water test, it's held up pretty nicely. I thought 8.2 fell in the range of pH neutral?

[haziz]

An absolutely superb ink. Highly recommended. I alternate between it and Aurora Black as my favorite black ink.

[pedrosousa83]

What about the ink smell of the Pelikan Black ink ? i have used parker quink and namiki black, but i can stand the chemical smell of both.

 

 

I´m not to demanding on the ink properties as long as its black, doesn´t feather on cheap work paper and doesn´t smell like chemical/phenol/plastics!

 

I was considering Pelikan 4001 brilant black, and lamy black.

 

What do you advise me?

 

thanks!