Can Anyone Recommend A Good Black Ink For School?

[casualmerlinconstant]

Noodlers black, pelikan lack, aurora black, lamy black, noodlers Borealis black.All are good. All are black. ..black is boring..have you considered blues? XD

[OcalaFlGuy]

I am nearly universally a Blue user but I think everyone needs a good black ink that performs as it should with most all pens.

 

That being said, I always liked Noodler's Midnight Blue. It's nearly black with just a hint of blue. I had FP people say it was a nice Black.

 

[EDIT] Oh, and I'm really not a big Noodler's fan. Almost all the ink I use is PR.

 

Bruce in Ocala, Fl

Edited April 2, 2014 by OcalaFlGuy

[Tom Traubert]

I'm a Diamine fanboy. I love Onyx Black - it's about as black as you can get, is very forgiving on the worst sorts of paper and is silky smooth on decent stuff.

[zachary]

recomendations of noodlers have come through to me a lot, ive heard fantastic things about noodlers black but of course there has to be a problem- ive heard the drying time is terrible on good paper and the paper i use is 90gsm, i cant really afford to be waiting for the ink to dry for the minute plus some people have quoted. Is it really that bad anyone who has recomended it?

[zachary]

Oh and the reason it has to be black ink is because we are only allowed to use black ink for exams etc, given the choice i wouldn't write with it!

[sandy101]

Noodlers is not readily available in the UK/EU - it will cost you more in postage from the US and a bulk order may be subject to custom charges which will push your ink costs well above your price limit.

 

A bag with a pocket to keep your water bottle separate from your notebook would be a far better, and more permanent solution.

 

Then you can use any ink you like.

[Oranges and Apples]

Noodler's Bulletproof Black hits all of your points except for that it is a fast drying ink. It would probably take 15 seconds for the ink to dry. I would recommend Pilot Black. It is very quick drying, it is dark, not prone to fading (light fast?), I do not live in the UK but I assume it is readily available in the UK, has very good water resistance, and again I do not live in the UK but I am again going to assume it is well under £20 a bottle, and is dye based not pigment based.

[Ink Sandwich]

I suggest trying Lamy Black. I find it's a nice dark black, and even a bit lubricating.

[Mafia Geek]

J.Herbin Perle Noire is a very nice ink too.

Not the blackest (not a must for me), but has great flow, and some water resistance as well.

I have the Diamine Onyx, but I only use it for some sketching. For writing, I much prefer the Perle Noire.

 

 

This is the best black ink that I have come across to date (and I have tried A LOT of black inks). I have posted a number of reviews of black inks and J Herbin Perle Noire performs the best. It dries quite quickly, doesn't smear with a highlighter or finger, and has reasonable water resistance. It also does very well in almost all pens and is very safe to use and easily gotten, it also comes in various sized bottles (small, medium, and large) and cartridges.

 

The next would be Waterman or Parker Black, I'm sure Sheaffer Black is very similar.

 

Bureaue Direct has small bottles of J Herbin for sale so you can give it a try there for a fairly low price.

[mirosc]

Like expected every major black ink has been named.

 

After having tried almost every contender in the field my vote goes to Perle Noire. It fulfills all your wishes - it's not the blackest black, but black enough (at least for me) to not be mistaken as grey. Dry time in my Pilot Myu is about 5 sec on medium quality paper.

Edited April 2, 2014 by mirosc

[Stu L]

Noodler's Bulletproof Black ......... I do not live in the UK but I assume it is readily available in the UK

 

Sadly not. There is very, very limited availability in the UK.

 

Bruce, I wasn't trying to say that it isn't worth shipping Noodlers to the UK - it probably is, given the good reviews it gets, just that it probably wasn't popular in the list due to the requirement of 'widely available in the UK'

 

Shipping is an awful killer though. A 3oz bottle of BSB from Goulets is $16.24 delivered to Florida, or $28.89 to the UK. That's £9.77 to £17.38. Ouch

[casualmerlinconstant]

I know that pain ^ . Living in aus makes both american AND European brands expensive

[zachary]

okay, i just received my bottle of waterman black as recommended, is it just me or is it exactly the same as parker quink?

[OcalaFlGuy]

http://www.purepens.co.uk/acatalog/Black_Inks.html

 

Bruce in Ocala, Fl

[akafridi3]

Iroshizuko Take-sumi I have heard behaves very well, even on cheap paper. And relatively fast drying time. I have not used it myself, so i cant say from experience.

[The Good Captain]

I quite like Pelikan 4001 Brilliant Black but was really surprised by the water-resistance of Sheaffer Skrip Black; the modern version. Although I don't use black inks at all if possible (just a personal thing) these two would probably be the first I would consider. And of course, they are good value and available here.

[Montblanc owner and lover]

Aurora black is nice.

[zachary]

http://www.purepens.co.uk/acatalog/Black_Inks.html

 

Bruce in Ocala, Fl

Ah thats excellent, thank you very much Bruce, ill be sure to order some Noodlers inks asap.

[zachary]

Iroshizuko Take-sumi I have heard behaves very well, even on cheap paper. And relatively fast drying time. I have not used it myself, so i cant say from experience.

is it not quite expensive? or are there cheap ways of getting it?

[mrcharlie]

As someone who has used a lot of different blacks (but not all of them mentioned in this thread) and has a bottle of Noodler's Black and has used or tried to use it quite a lot, I would like to offer a dissenting opionion. I think Noodler's Black is the least good all-around black I have used. It does not completely soak in on most papers. It is horrible on any sort of coated paper and I'm talking papers that Skrip, Pilot, Pelikan, Montblanc, and Waterman all work on.

 

The way Noodler's Black does not completely soak in means that when you turn a paper over and write on the back side, every place where your writing crosses the path of a written line on the front side will re-wet and transfer to the paper below. So the paper below is sort of speckled with transfer. People who never write on both sides of paper do not care or notice this, but it makes Noodler's close to un-usable for me, and this happens on most different paper I've used.

 

It works well on some types of paper especially if you are only writing on one side, but it is not a great "all around" black ink. I have a 70 or 80% full bottle I am going to literally give away, as I am never going to use it again; that is how much I don't like it.

 

I am not a "Noodler's hater"; I am quite enthusiastic about some of their inks. Just not Black (and the other flavors of Noodler's Black I've tried have the same issues; they are Black Eel and Borealis Black).

 

Of the blacks I listed above, Pilot is the most fade resistant. They all fade but it takes the longest (in my personal testing). I like Waterman best for the way it flows and handles all sorts of paper and looks on the page, but it fades the quickest. I don't think you will be unhappy with any of the pen maker brand blacks I listed. I'm personally interested in Aurora Black but haven't tried it yet, nor the J. Herbin, both of which are recommended by many people in many threads.

Edited April 4, 2014 by mrcharlie