Standardgraph Kohlschwarz/coal Black

February 14, 2013

This is the first of several Standardgraph ink review I have coming up, and also my favourite!

Pen: Lamy AL-Star (M nib)

Paper: Oxford spiral pad

http://i.imgur.com/VBuswEF.jpg?2

(I'm adding a close-up of the shading as soon as I can catch a bit of sunlight. It's not really visible when writing with a normal fountain pen, but add a little flex and a nice, wet line and it's definitely there!)

So, bottom line:

Colour: 5/5.

Shading: 5/5 - enough to be interesting to look at, but not so much it gets distracting.

Flow/Lubrication: 5/5.

Feathering/Bleedthrough: 5/5 - the dots in the top right corner are actual DROPS OF INK I let dry on the page and there isn't a single feather or spot of ink on the other side of the page. Not bad!

Dry time: 5/5 - 5s on a paper where most other inks take up to 15s.

Water test: 3/5 - not great, but also not terribly important to me.

Price/Availability: 3/5 - on the cheap side, ca 4€ for 30ml. However, I'm deducting one point for being hard to find online and another for being potentially expensive when shipping costs are included.

Overall impression: 5/5.

I am very, very impressed with the behaviour of this ink, especially for the price. The colour is nice, too, and suitable for a wide variety of tasks. It has become pretty much my default workhorse ink for university, and I have a pen filled with it at practically all times.

If you like dark grey inks with shading, I can definitely recommend this one!

I hope this was helpful to some of you

Edited February 14, 2013 by Cubane

February 14, 2013

Excellent review, Cubane, thank you! I have more black inks now than I know what to do with, but I will give this a go another time.

I look forward to more reviews from you of these inks. This weekend I'll be getting the Fliederrosa and Kaffeebraun myself.

February 14, 2013

Wow, never heard of this brand. Where are they from?

Good review BTW.

February 14, 2013

Thanks

They're a German brand. TLab3000 mentioned in another thread that they're quite famous for their stencils, rulers and the like, but apparently, their inks aren't that well known (which is a shame because some of them are great).

wastelanded, be careful with the Fliederrosa. It seems I was a little too quick with my colour assessment over at the swabs thread - it does write lilac, but shifts to more of a pale lavender colour after a while. It looks nothing like the "official" swatches.

Will you show us how the Kaffeebraun turned out? (mmmh... ink and coffee... )

February 15, 2013

wastelanded, be careful with the Fliederrosa. It seems I was a little too quick with my colour assessment over at the swabs thread - it does write lilac, but shifts to more of a pale lavender colour after a while. It looks nothing like the "official" swatches.
Will you show us how the Kaffeebraun turned out? (mmmh... ink and coffee... )

Thanks for the notice! Maybe I will try another colour then. I will do something with the Kaffeebraun when I get it. I assume it will be a bit warmer than Feigenbraun, which is very grey to my eye.

Yes, ink and coffee, both indispensible!