Bulletproof Blacks And Cheep Paper

[Arkanabar]

I'm going to ask for people's advice on selecting from between various Noodler's bulletproof/ water resistant blacks. I use pretty much three kinds of paper, which are all cheap: Georgia Pacific 20lb 88 brightness copy paper from Walmart; generic 20lb 92 brightness copy paper from FSI Office Supply, and Norcom broad-ruled, laser perf 8"x10.5" 70 sheet spiral notebooks (also from Walmart). The broad-ruled paper is noticeably better than the college-ruled -- more weight, more opaque, generally better behavior.

Here are my weighted priorities:

quick drying: 2.7
limited feathering/spreading: 2.0 ... in truth, if it spreads & feathers less than Borealis Black, I'll be ok with it.

Flow: 1.0

 

I have to be blacker than cheap generic ballpoints. I want to be blacker than black Pilot G2 gel pens and Sharpie (writing) pens. I don't want it to have the appearance of any color other than black, so don't suggest Zhivago, Red-Black, or Black Swan in Australian Roses. But I'm not particularly concerned about the density and saturation of the ink, since we're talking Noodler's here.

I am considering: Black, Black American Eel, Bad Black Mocassin, Bernanke Black, Heart of Darkness, X-Feather, Polar black, and even Dark Matter. How do each of these perform on cheap and nasty paper? In what pens (if any) have you experienced bad behavior? Do y'all have any other suggestions?

Edited September 29, 2014 by Arkanabar

[Bronze]

Noodler's Black (the standard Bulletproof Black) is fantastic on cheap paper. Crisp lines, no feathering or bleed through. A whole lot better than Borealis Black in that regard (which I also own). I also have Dark Matter and 4-5 black inks from other manufacturers. Overall I prefer the standard Noodler's Black. It's just about the perfect ink. No bad behaviour in any pen I've tried, from a japanese fine nib to a Pilot Parallel 6 mm and pretty much everything in between.

 

Dry time will depend greatly on the pen/nib being used, but it's not the fastest drying ink out there.

 

I haven't tried X-Feather, but probably will at some point. Right now I just don't see the need as the standard Noodler's Black is so resistant to feathering.

[carlos.q]

+1 for standard Noodler's bulletproof black.

[Randal6393]

+1 on Black. Best for cheap paper of all the Noodler inks. However, whichever black you pick from the list, it should give pretty decent performance.

 

The only problem worthy of note is that Noodler inks thicken a bit and eventually may "stand" on the paper. Easily recognized because the ink smears readily and doesn't dry the way it should. But, dilute the ink with a bit of water and everything goes back to normal.

 

Enjoy,

[Arkanabar]

I surmise from reading bunches of reviews that XFeather has higher surface tension than original Noodler's Black, which is what keeps it from feathering by slowing absorption, but which also increases drying time.