Yet Another Diamine Oxblood Review

[smiorgan]

Another Oxblood review...

http://lh5.ggpht.com/-6Qomou8mdjQ/Uf4YR1LHGXI/AAAAAAAABFk/-yMMqQ6qe6U/Oxblood1.jpg?imgmax=800

Subjective

Why I like Oxblood:

• The sheer depth of bloody colour when laid on thick
• A dark red that works for markup but also notes and is fairly easy on the eye (if you can stand the sight of blood)
• Clean up isn't too onerous, unlike a lot of red ink
• Another ink that flows and lubricates well

Objective

Pens

Lamy Safari and Vista with OM, OB and 1.5mm italic nibs.
Sheaffer 300 medium.
The OM and OB were used in my Evergreen review. The Vista is relatively wet and the Sheaffer is probably the wettest pen I own.

Paper

Rhodia Bloc No. 16, 5x5 grid. Also a scrap of generic copier paper for showing bleed through.

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_r_UhdypLXc/UiMwj97JveI/AAAAAAAABLA/9fjyqRYSmEo/s400/oxblood.jpg

Like any ink the wetness of a pen will affect how this ink looks; unlike Evergreen I don't really like the product of a dry writer. The line from the OM nib is an insipid pink rust colour. It really needs a wet nib to do the ink justice.

Feathering and Bleeding

It more or less holds itself together even from a wet pen on copier paper, and doesn't bleed through badly.

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-05ypNYoqloc/UiMwsCVs9NI/AAAAAAAABLI/8McC_jyeUyc/s320/oxblood_copier.jpg

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-0qY71LvVIgA/UiMwyYIFG0I/AAAAAAAABLQ/tqQ5vpSOE8M/s320/oxblood_bleed.jpg

Flow and Lubrication

Superb, with lubrication just a hair less than Evergreen. Very nice.

Water Resistance

Well...

http://lh3.ggpht.com/-uT3nfVt0jGU/UiMwOia97JI/AAAAAAAABKo/6a5RbS3QGSs/Oxblood-rinse1.jpg?imgmax=800

http://lh6.ggpht.com/-gYIUv_Y7zFk/UiMwPG5aDuI/AAAAAAAABKw/b0mJcngQNVM/Oxblood-rinse2.jpg?imgmax=800

http://lh5.ggpht.com/-erLo9zpieCY/UiMwP3KaUUI/AAAAAAAABK4/CVgRDK9iNAE/Oxblood-water.jpg?imgmax=800

Only the wettest lines have any residue. This was after about a minute of running water. Dry lines stand no chance...

Cleaning

Despite the poor water resistance the ink took a while to flush out completely, but it didn't stain. Generally OK.

Summary

Everyone seems to love Oxblood. I think it's a great colour but it's not as versatile as Evergreen owing to the performance in dry nibs. For a drier pen I'd choose Red Dragon which is similarly dark but has more character when thinly laid on. But that's just my preference.

As Evergreen is my benchmark, here's how Oxblood compares:

• Flow and Lubrication: as good
• Versatility: slightly less due to unremarkable colour in dry pens
• Clean up: slightly harder to remove, but not bad
• Water Resistance: slightly improved, but still very poor

Verdict: a very appealing colour that will get regular use in a limited number of pens.

 

Also on my blog.

[leomitch]

Yet another review of Diamine Ox Blood ink, but an excellent one. In fact I think I liked your review better than most...even some comedy relief! I love this ink too and don't hesitate to use it anytime or anywhere except for legal stuff.

Well done!

 

Cheers

Leo

Edited September 2, 2013 by leomitch

[althanis]

This is definitely on my list, but can't find it in Toronto though.

[JimB]

Hadn't filled up with Oxblood in over year. When my newly fixed Arnold pen arrived back from TheWritePen, I filled 'er up and remembered why I had ordered this in the first place. A wonderful switch from my usual blue or black or blue-black. However, when I used a paper towel as a pen wipe and mopped up some spilled ink that had dropped on my desk at the office and then went to the men's room to try to get the ink off my hands, there was sudden concern that something awful had happened to me when I got back. I guess it had looked as if I'd sliced of a finger or something...

[athenian]

Wow, great pictures. It's my favorite ink for grading papers.

[chromantic]

This is a very strange ink for me (now that I've finally gotten it). I've tried it in several pens and, while I'm writing with it, I'm thinking 'meh'. Then I go do something else and when I come back after awhile and look at it again, I think, "now, that's kind of interesting." Not sure if it's interesting enough to include in my rotation but I can see why people like it.

Edited March 31, 2016 by chromantic

[bobje]

Excellent photographs that tell the story of this ink's performance. Your Rhodia sheet with tests using four different pens must have required a lot of time to create. Thank you, smiorgan. It's interesting how dark the ink gets with the Sheaffer 300 medium nib.