Shootout Between 4 Noodler's Black Inks

[lsignore]

Here is my comparison of 4 Noodler's Inks: Bulletproof Black, Heart of Darkness, Borealis Black, and X-Feather. I used 2 pens, a Parker 21 and a Pilot Metropolitan. The comparison was done on 3 different papers. Enjoy and let me know what you think!

 

Album in link below.

 

http://imgur.com/a/jcnWa

Edited February 15, 2014 by lsignore

[thesunshine]

Interesting! I've been using Bulletproof Black as my regular ink, but perhaps I should try out Heart of Darkness some time, given it seems to dry so much faster...

 

Also, great first post! Very helpful.

[DrPhilth]

Love noodlers Bulletproof Black. Heart of Darkness, not so much. Feathers waaay too much for me. And on better papers, it makes my pens line about a half a size thicker.

[doggonecarl]

It was postive reviews like this for Heart of Darkness that led me to purchase it. But like Dr. Philth, I found it feathered way too much to be used on over half my paper/journals/notebooks.

 

Still waiting to see if there is a pen that it works better in, of if I can figure out the dilution ratio that works the best. I might have gotten a bad batch but I won't be trying another to find out. More than happy enough with Noodler's Black.

[DrPhilth]

It was postive reviews like this for Heart of Darkness that led me to purchase it. But like Dr. Philth, I found it feathered way too much to be used on over half my paper/journals/notebooks.

 

Still waiting to see if there is a pen that it works better in, of if I can figure out the dilution ratio that works the best. I might have gotten a bad batch but I won't be trying another to find out. More than happy enough with Noodler's Black.

Just got some Old Manhattan Black from FPH. Great ink. VERY BLACK. But I still think Noodlers standard black is the best. Nothing I've gotten so far beats the standard blacks performance.

[mirosc]

Just got some Old Manhattan Black from FPH. Great ink. VERY BLACK. But I still think Noodlers standard black is the best. Nothing I've gotten so far beats the standard blacks performance.

My experience, too. The other black are more specialized, but the best overall/general performance is the basic black (in the Noodler's range).

[dcwaites]

For me, Noodler's Black and HOD are a matched pair of inks. I use the former in wetter nibs and HOD in drier nibs.

 

I also find that Noodler's Black in a fine nib (i.e. Platinum Preppy 0.3) is ideal for those notebooks that will bleed and feather with any other ink.

As well, it makes an excellent ink for use with dip pens.

[bob_hayden]

When I first bought a bottle of X-Feather it seemed to feather more than the other black inks I had been using, so it went to the back of the shelf. Lately I have been doing paper tests of feathering and bleed through so I dug out the X-Feather and it performed quite well in an XXF Sheaffer, though in that pen it came out medium grey. On some papers, that combo was the only thing that worked. The second best ink in my tests was a surprise: Slovenian Sheaffer Red. It may even have been first, as I used it is a wider nib.