Parker Penman Black

[dcwaites]

This ink is a re-issue of Parker Penman Ebony, the ink that, in my opinion, brought down the Penman inks. The problem with P P Ebony is that it was a saturated ink, at a time when most Parker ink users were accustomed to Parker Quink, one of the more innocuous series of inks. A pen with Ebony in it needed to be used regularly, otherwise it would clog up, especially if the ink was one of those early model Sonnets with the faulty inner caps.

 

P P Black is designed to reduce the problems that Ebony demonstrated. Simple kitchen-bench chromatography shows it has the same dye mix as the original Ebony, but the ink is less saturated and more 'runny' (i.e. less viscous). I believe that this is what was done to the formulation to make it less troublesome.

 

From Reviews

 

I bought this ink from Melpens about 3 1/2 years ago, and have been ignoring it ever since. However my recent exploration of iron-gall Blue-Black inks has re-kindled my interest in black inks.

 

The ink came in the new, oval-shaped Penman bottle, with the little plastic inkwell in the neck. Since I bought it, I haven't seen any more of this ink available from anyone, so it may have been a short-run experiment.

 

Ok, so what is this ink like to use? First, it is a nice, dark, matt black. On an absorbent paper, it looks a little thin, with a tendency towards grey shading, especially if your pen doesn't have a very wet nib. On a hard, smooth paper like Mondi Color Copy it very closely matches Pelikan Fount India, but is not waterproof like the Pelikan ink is. However, it is somewhat water resistant to spills once it has dried, so long as the water is mopped up quickly.

 

I have been using it now for over a week, mostly in a Platinum Preppy. I have found that P P Black still has a mild tendency to dry out in the nib, especially if the tips of the tines just touch. It is only a minor problem and doesn't happen if there is a gap between the tines. You need that gap anyway if the pen is to be wet enough to get the proper blackness from this ink.

 

From Reviews

 

Of the other inks I have, P P Black is most similar to Pelikan Fount India

 

From Reviews

 

It also performed surprisingly well under the tap. This is what happened with 30 seconds under warm water from the tap --

 

From Reviews

All in all, this is a nice, well-behaved black ink to write with. It works better with good, hard paper (Mondi Color Copy, Rhodia) but is nice enough on lesser paper (old stock Reflex, Writersblok). If you want a solid, deep, black, put it in a pen with a wet nib. If you like some grey shading, then use a pen with a nib that is slightly dry.

[WOBentley]

Nice review and an interesting ink with some decent water resistance....thanks!

[Ondina]

I only have experience with the old original version, and it's a nice, well behaved black. A couple bottles aren't enough for definitive conclusions but I had not problems. Thank you for the review.