Diamine Jet Black

[DanielCoffey]

INK : DIAMINE JET BLACK

PAPER : RHODIA #16 A5 white lined

PEN : Onoto Magna 261 Medium nib tweaked for wet flow by John Sorowka (Oxonian).

Scanner : IT8-calibrated Epson V600 flatbed
Colour Space : Adobe RGB
Matte : 50% grey and 100% white
Post-process : Unsharp Mask

Colour Balance : Neutral

http://www.dcoffey.co.uk/images/fountainpennetwork/ReviewJetBlack.jpg

WATER RESISTANCE : I found that once dry, Diamine Jet Black is reasonably water-resistant. A fair amount of the colour lifts but what is left behind is clearly legible.

DRYING TIME : Fairly long, particularly since I use a nib and feed adjusted for very wet flow. I found that 30s was about right for copy paper and a little longer for Rhodia. This was from a well-cleaned pen with very high flow however.

BLEED THROUGH : I saw moderate bleed-through on Pukka 80gsm copy paper and even a little on Rhodia. It was just the odd tiny pinprick showing through but it was visible

LUBRICATION : It is worth noting that Diamine Jet Black, while flowing wetly, felt a little "scritchy" under the nib. There was more feedback than I expected despite the ink flowing well. This may be the cause of some of the hard starting problems that other reviewers have reported. In this pen which is well cleaned, I did not find any issues with starting. I would caution against using this ink in a pen with a large breather safety hole in the cap. It did also cling to the insides of the converter but no staining was observed and it rinsed out easily.

Here is a close-up of the swab.

http://www.dcoffey.co.uk/images/fountainpennetwork/ReviewJetBlackSwab.jpg

Diamine Jet Black is a moderately dark black and is one of Diamine's older colours. If you are looking for the "blackest" black, this is not it. It has a slightly warm tint. It is not a densely saturated ink and cleans up well.

And a close-up of the shading.

http://www.dcoffey.co.uk/images/fountainpennetwork/ReviewJetBlackShade.jpg

Apparently it can be persuaded to shade in the right pen but under high flow I did not see much of this. The water smudge visible here was a handling mishap after conducting the water tests. The ink does not smudge at all once dry.

Water tests were interesting...

http://www.dcoffey.co.uk/images/fountainpennetwork/ReviewJetBlackWater.jpg

The ink was fairly water-resistant and clung to the paper reasonably well. While a lot of the black did lift and run, a good residual grey remained behind.

[PDW]

Nice ink, nice review!

 

Is this the new or the old Jet Black?

[DanielCoffey]

It will be whatever Diamine are selling at the moment as the bottle is brand new.

[Nonsensical]

I have a bottle of this stuff. Can't say that I really like it. Too dry for my liking...and not black enough either. Definitely not the perfect ink for those who prefer EF nibs, as it does indeed seem to lack lubrication.

 

Thanks for the review.

[DanielCoffey]

I agree that EF nibs will need a better lubricated ink than this. I could feel the drag on the paper despite the ink flowing wetly from my pen.

 

Some folks do like the more restful black that is provided by "older" inks like Diamine Jet Black or Parker Black and given the price, I would say it does a fair job. If however a blacker black is wanted, they are available these days.

[Garrowp]

I fear my home work on a Noodler's Ahab might obscure the results here but I find the ink flows well.

[Livio]

Hello! I see that in your (amazingly well done) post you are referring to this ink as not being the blackest one. I happen to be looking for a very dark black: what ink would you suggest?

I found Noodler's X-Feather pretty dark, but the shipping cost from the US is quite high. Any inks easily found in Europe (better in the UK) that are as black as that?

 

Thank you

[fjoly79]

I really like your review; it would be useful if you could aslo share your appreciation of other black inks vs the Diamine Jet Black. Which one have you tested and liked better than this one?

[DanielCoffey]

Um, that was four years ago folks - I am not comparing inks at the moment as I am working my way through a monster bottle of ESS Registrars Ink at the moment.

 

Thanks for the comments but I suggest you have a look in the reviews forum for "black inks". Diamine is the main UK-made brand and folks in the States (and neighbours) have Noodlers of course. I have no idea if Diamine have added any new colours in the past few years.