PR Ultra Black Quick Drying

[Aperture]

Does anyone use the Private Reserve Ultra Black Quick Drying?

I can't find any reviews on it.

 

Thanks

 

A

[dracodoc]

I have a bottle of this and velvet black.

It's a little bit darker than velvet black, and the fast dry feature may cause skips in first letter when you beginning to write.

I purchased this ink in hope of less smear, but the difference with velvet black is not much.

 

Next time I'll try Noodler's, but my local store don't carry them.

[beluga]

A very thin ink, to the point of gushing that has a tendency to nib creep (unusual for Private Reserve inks) and dries in the nib if the pen is left uncapped when not in use.

The worst problem IMO is feathering, more extreme than about any other ink I've ever tried (and that was my experience with a recently purchased bottle labelled "reformulated").

 

I consider it a highly specialized ink with limited application and would never dream of using it unless on premium paper that resists feathering extremely well.

 

Definitely not an all-round ink that I will buy in the foreseeable future again.

 

 

 

 

 

 

B.

[dracodoc]

If only I can try the ink before I buy it, I think I'll not buy it.

My next ink should be Noodler's, but my local pen store don't carry them, so that will be another gamble.

 

I was dreaming in the other day that some people could provide "sample package" for all kinds of inks. So that people can buy 1ml package to try it first. My wife work in a biochemical lab, they have many tiny plastic container perfect for this task.

Edited May 8, 2010 by dracodoc

[JBat]

I have some. It's a pretty good black, but I don't find it particularly fast drying. I haven't used it since I got some Aurora black, which I like quite a bit.

[Aperture]

Thanks for all the replies.

I was trying to find the blackest ink I can to use as an every day ink.

I think I'll just stay with PR's Velvet Black, at least for now.

It's quite good and is very black too.

 

A

[stevlight]

I was trying to find the blackest ink I can to use as an every day ink.

 

Aurora black is very black and great everyday---smoooooth!

[psfred]

I have found it necessary to have different inks for different uses, even in black. Noodler's BB is one of my favorite inks, but bleeds so badly on my crummy log book at work that I've had to switch to X-Feather in order to finish it out (or use a ball point, which I refuse to do). However, using X-Feather on "normal" paper, even the cheap writing pads at work, results in excessive drying time, to the point that I have to use something else (either Noodler's Black or a blue-black). Nice for cheap paper, but I have to carry two pens. At the other job, I use Polar Blue for the ease of use in my Parker "51", and since I never write on the back of the paper and normally only fill in a few blanks and sign the forms anyway, the bleed and spread don't bother me any. The paper gets scanned and thrown out anyway, we are "paperless" -- which condition doesn't seem to prevent using six sheets of paper for a job sometimes when one would do....

 

So you are presented with a dilemma you will have to solve on your own. It's unlikely that any single FP ink will suit all papers, so you must either carry several pens or put up with annoying behavior from time to time. If fast drying and no smudging is more important to you, you must tolerate the feathering a spread or bleed through with fast dry inks, and if lack of feathering is more important, you will have to put up with smudging in some cases. The nature of the beast, and why blotters were ubiquitous in the days of iron gall inks, which do not penetrate the paper very quickly (and the vastly better sizing used, too).

 

An excuse to carry more pens, perhaps.

 

Peter

[Pfhorrest]

Be careful with this ink - it can break converters and piston fillers. Do not use it in a converter or piston pen.

Edited May 8, 2010 by Pfhorrest

[journeyman42]

I have used this ink and as others have stated it can be tricky. I mentioned it briefly in my recent short review of the Retro Double 8 It takes a certain type of pen to make it work right (not feather). But the color of it is quite good, a very solid black. You will experience nib creep with this ink. There is no getting around it. That said, it is a nice looking ink if you have a pen to use it in (no wet writers). The one thing I found is that it did not seem to be that much faster at drying than my other standard inks (Noodler's Ottoman Azure and Zhivago). I was planning on doing a review of this ink, but just havent gotten around to doing so. Maybe I'll get going on this as soon as I have it in my pen again.

Edited May 10, 2010 by journeyman42