Sailor Kiwa-Guro (Nano-Pigment Ink)

[IndigoBOB]

 

 

This is my favorite ink, and the one I would choose if I could have only one. I wouldn't hesitate to use it in any pen.

 

 

 

That says enough for me. This just went to the top of my list of samples. I use Aurora Black and Noodler's Heart of Darkness right now, but this ink comes up in so many discussions which such praise.

 

I feel like it's one of those inks I wish I had discovered sooner : P

[fuddmain]

I'm sure you'll you enjoy it!

 

I should point out that when they say waterproof, that is no exaggeration. Your words will not wash off the page or fade. Same goes for any of this ink that finds its way onto your clothing. I've lost a couple of shirts this way (worth it).

 

5+ years ago I jabbed the palm of my hand with the nib of a pen containing this ink. To this day, I have a small dot tattoo.

 

Cheers.

[IndigoBOB]

I'm sure you'll you enjoy it!

 

I should point out that when they say waterproof, that is no exaggeration. Your words will not wash off the page or fade. Same goes for any of this ink that finds its way onto your clothing. I've lost a couple of shirts this way (worth it).

 

5+ years ago I jabbed the palm of my hand with the nib of a pen containing this ink. To this day, I have a small dot tattoo.

 

Cheers.

 

 

Point taken. I'll definitely try to avoid this with alcohol and XF and needle point nibs lol.

 

I have been so impressed with the performance of the Jentle inks, that I have to try this one. I didn't prefer Sei-Boku because it was a little bright for me and I typically prefer a darker or more saturated ink that stands out, which is why I gravitate towards black inks or dark saturate ones like Doyou, and Miruai.

[IndigoBOB]

So I finally picked up a sample of the this ink and I have to say I am very impressed.

 

I don't have an ink that writes this velvety nor as well on any type of paper, especially cheap paper. It is very well behaved.

 

If I had to choose 1 EDC ink this would be that ink. I do understand why people say this is the ink they would choose if they had one ink.

 

The only pet peeve I have about it is the gray sheen which can take away from the rich blackness it has when not looking at it directly, but despite that it is one of the best inks I have ever tried.

[IndigoBOB]

After trying out the sample I finally picked up a bottle. How Kiwa Guro can transform the writing ability of my pens is quite unprecedented.

 

A new favorite ink. I've never had an ink that could upgrade a pen as well as this.

 

Finding this ink was like my experience when I found Tomoe River paper in the Nanami Seven seas notebooks. Nothing else I had experienced prior had such a direct effect on the writing experience.

[white_lotus]

Great!

[TheDutchGuy]

*bump*

 

Sadly I dropped one of my Sailor pens on a table and the nib got damaged. I worked on it and admitted defeat. Two nibmeisters worked on it but it lost its magic. Too much feedback and too wide a line. I was coming to terms with either sending it to Sailor and paying for a new nib, or retiring the pen. Then I found this ink. All of a sudden the lines are thin and precise again. It's lubrication characteristics are such that the pen's feedback improved a lot. I took some grit and gently worked on it some more. Hurray, I've got my pen back.

 

I find this to be a weird but addictive ink. Even though the nano particles cannot and should not be noticeable in any way, somehow this ink feels as if writing with some kind of... I dunno... gel. It feels different from dye-based inks. But it's good, real good. And expensive....

[Intensity]

*bump*

 

Sadly I dropped one of my Sailor pens on a table and the nib got damaged. I worked on it and admitted defeat. Two nibmeisters worked on it but it lost its magic. Too much feedback and too wide a line. I was coming to terms with either sending it to Sailor and paying for a new nib, or retiring the pen. Then I found this ink. All of a sudden the lines are thin and precise again. It's lubrication characteristics are such that the pen's feedback improved a lot. I took some grit and gently worked on it some more. Hurray, I've got my pen back.

 

I find this to be a weird but addictive ink. Even though the nano particles cannot and should not be noticeable in any way, somehow this ink feels as if writing with some kind of... I dunno... gel. It feels different from dye-based inks. But it's good, real good. And expensive....

 

I'm super intrigued with this ink. I have Sei Boku and don't quite feel the magic in terms of writing performance. I mean when on the paper, yes, the ink is excellent. But nothing transformative in terms of the writing experience. Anyone here with both of those inks and a few words about comparing them? Is Sei Boku lacking this "gel-like" feel of the black ink version?

 

Edit: looks like I'm going to try Platinum Carbon Black instead. The two inks seem basically identical in appearance, and at least this review and comments seem to favor the Platinum version: tina-koyama.blogspot.com/2015/09/product-review-sailor-nano-kiwa-guro-ink.html

This lightfastness and water check also shows less smearing for Platinum Carbon Black vs. Kiwa Guro: hudsonvalleysketches.blogspot.com/2012/12/lightfastness-test-results-on-noodlers.html

I favor Platinum at the moment because it's significantly cheaper.

Edited May 10, 2018 by Intensity

[Almu]

 

I'm super intrigued with this ink. I have Sei Boku and don't quite feel the magic in terms of writing performance. I mean when on the paper, yes, the ink is excellent. But nothing transformative in terms of the writing experience. Anyone here with both of those inks and a few words about comparing them? Is Sei Boku lacking this "gel-like" feel of the black ink version?

 

Edit: looks like I'm going to try Platinum Carbon Black instead. The two inks seem basically identical in appearance, and at least this review and comments seem to favor the Platinum version: tina-koyama.blogspot.com/2015/09/product-review-sailor-nano-kiwa-guro-ink.html

This lightfastness and water check also shows less smearing for Platinum Carbon Black vs. Kiwa Guro: hudsonvalleysketches.blogspot.com/2012/12/lightfastness-test-results-on-noodlers.html

I favor Platinum at the moment because it's significantly cheaper.

 

I'm not 100% sure you should buy Carbon Black instead... I mean, I don't have Kiwa-Guro, but I do have Platinum Carbon Black and I hate it. It bleeds through everything and show through is quite bad too. Rhodia paper + extra fine Lamy Safari combo works ok, unless I write slowly (that's when I start getting a lot of show through and sometimes even bleed through). It's easily and by far my worst behaved ink. But hey, it is nice to write with and it's very water resistant!

 

Having said that, I know that some people like/love the ink and have had no problems with it. I'm not trying to bash the ink, I'm simply sharing my personal experience.

[displacermoose]

I have both of the Sailors as well as Carbon Black. It would make sense that Carbon Black and Kiwa-Guro would be the same, but they really aren't. There isn't really anything that feels like Kiwa-Guro, at least not that I'm aware of. I generally avoid black inks (life is too short for black ink outside the office), but Kiwa-Guro feels so nice to write with that it almost makes up for the lack of color. The shiny/silvery/sheeniness that it sometimes puts down is nice too.

 

Carbon Black is much more... pedestrian, and I've had trouble with it clogging. Sei-Boku does not have the gel-like feel either, but it is still my favorite durable blue.

[Almu]

 

I'm not 100% sure you should buy Carbon Black instead... I mean, I don't have Kiwa-Guro, but I do have Platinum Carbon Black and I hate it. It bleeds through everything and show through is quite bad too. Rhodia paper + extra fine Lamy Safari combo works ok, unless I write slowly (that's when I start getting a lot of show through and sometimes even bleed through). It's easily and by far my worst behaved ink. But hey, it is nice to write with and it's very water resistant!

 

Having said that, I know that some people like/love the ink and have had no problems with it. I'm not trying to bash the ink, I'm simply sharing my personal experience.

 

Wohoo, now I have Kiwa Guro. I've only had it for one day, but I've been very impressed so far. Using my Lamy Safari I cannot make this ink bleed through copy paper. It doesn't feather at all, either. A massive improvement over Platinum Carbon Black, which would bleed through Rhodia if I didn't write fast enough

 

Kiwa Guro does smudge a little bit if it gets wet, though. And I'm not sure how I feel about the silvery sheen it has... I noticed it sheens a little bit even on copy paper! Other than that, it's a very nice ink I wish I had bought earlier!

[TheDutchGuy]

Glad to hear you're enjoying it. I need to get a bottle of it. One of my pens is begging for that ink, but it's a piston filler and I have Kiwa Guro cartridges.

[Mongoosey]

Has anyone used this in a Pilot gold nibbed pen?

 

It wrote dry in my Pilot Metro and I'm curious how it would write in a Custom Heritage 91 I'd like to make my Daily Writer.

[Karmachanic]

Works as advertised (above) in my Pilot 912 MS

[Mongoosey]

Works as advertised (above) in my Pilot 912 MS

 

Sounds good. : )

 

My 91- Soft Medium's on the way. I love the Pilot soft nibs.

 

And I need a smooth permanent ink that's lower maintenance and easily legible.

 

I don't like Sei-Boku's color.

 

...thought about Souboku, but it can be a little too light and it can shade too much and to the point where it's harder to read. Looks good, but I prefer less shading and even none.

 

Among the Noodler's colors I prefer I don't find them smooth nor feel as good to write with except for possibly Heart of Darkness, but it writes too wide. Plus, I don't like the sediment they leave behind and feel uncomfortable using them in a better pen, especially if I may change and use other inks in it.

 

So I was hoping Kiwa-Guro would work out. It fits the bill, but it's drier performance and patchy lines in some of my other pens had me concerned.

 

Thank you for the feedback : )

[A Smug Dill]

Has anyone used this in a Pilot gold nibbed pen?

 

 

It's been a staple used in my Pilot Capless Vanishing Point with 18K gold Fine nib for most of the last five years. The gold standard for Pilot pens with gold nibs (the CVP, that is, and not the ink), in my opinion.

[Mongoosey]

 

 

It's been a staple used in my Pilot Capless Vanishing Point with 18K gold Fine nib for most of the last five years. The gold standard for Pilot pens with gold nibs (the CVP, that is, and not the ink), in my opinion.

 

That's good to hear. I plan to use my incoming 91-SM as my Main writer, and I need a good dark permanent ink for it, preferably black like Kiwa-Guro : )

 

I do want to use Souboku, though more as a secondary ink. It is well behaved in a pen, very permanent, and writes smooth,

 

and though I find Souboku does flow better than Kiwa-Guro in my pens, it is not close to as dark. IMO, they made Souboku a little too light/faded,

 

but maybe I'll change my mind when I get a wetter pen to put it in. I have a Custom 74-M in queue for Mike Masuyama who may bring out the necessary potential I need.

Edited March 2, 2019 by Mongoosey

[Mongoosey]

Before I finally got the tight tines on my new Pilot 91-SM adjusted just right (the soft nib proved a challenge), I tried the pen with Souboku....

 

And I actually fell in love with that ink. It flowed much easier than Kiwa-Guro, especially for that nib at that time, the color and shading quickly grew on me, and the fact that it was permanent and so smooth won me over.

 

But alas, my perfectionism adjusted the tines just right, somehow, and Souboku became too smooth with the Soft Medium Pilot nib lol...

 

...So inked the 91-SM with Kiwa-Guro and it's just right: The more tamed flow of Kiwa-guro provides that optimal balance of lubricated velvety smoothness and feedback making this my Go-To/Daily Carry.

 

But I must say, Souboku has impressed me completely and I will use it in my next pen.

 

I love these Sailor Nano inks. I've tried going back to other inks in my collection, but they're just not Sailor Nano's, you know? lol. It's Desert Island Ink Syndrome Related to Sailor Nano Inks: Once you go Nano, it's hard to go back, yo lol.

[akrohn2010]

I've been using Noodler's Black for years as my go-to black ink. I love its properties but it can end up washed out or "grey" in fatter nibs or if I forget to agitate before filling. May need to look at this ink and Platinum Carbon a second time...

Edited March 23, 2019 by flyingpenman

[Mongoosey]

I've been using Noodler's Black for years as my go-to black ink. I love its properties but it can end up washed out or "grey" in fatter nibs or if I forget to agitate before filling. May need to look at this ink and Platinum Carbon a second time...

 

I do like Noodler's Black. I think it's one of the smoother Noodler's inks and with easier maintenance. I keep a bottle for the purpose of using on cheaper paper for a "just in case" scenario because, similar to you, I've found:

 

• I don't prefer the color, especially when it gets grayish,
• but also it smears unless I use it on cheap paper, but I use Nanami Seven Seas Notebooks for much of my Fountain Pen use.

I prefer black inks. I like their legibility, I like the neutral effect they have on my emotions (I'm color sensitive lol), but I'm a stickler for a good shade of black. My favorites are Take-Sumi, Heart of Darkness, and Kiwa-Guro,

 

But Platinum Carbon Black has been on my mind, too. I like it's deep matte black color.

 

I've always come close to getting Carbon Black if my present lineup of permanent inks don't work in a pen.