Efnir: De Atramentis Document Black

[Intensity]

I've been pretty impressed with the standard Sailor [Jentle] Black. It has respectable water resistance once it's been fully dried for a day or two, considering that it's not marketed as waterproof. It has fantastic lubrication, and it gives a nice solid line with practically no shading. It's not as close to absolute black-hole black as Aurora Black, but on its own it's still very dark and convincingly black. For those who don't want their black ink to sheen, Sailor Black is great too: there's a faint coppery sheen, but one really needs something like Tomoe River to see it, and even then it's faint. And finally, Sailor Black is a very neutral black. If I use a water brush over it, gentle shades of gray are what's seen. Chromatography shows vague, murky hues of dark teal and dark purple that end up canceling each other out in the sum total of the ink.

Edited September 1, 2020 by Intensity

[LizEF]

I've been pretty impressed with the standard Sailor [Jentle] Black. It has respectable water resistance once it's been fully dried for a day or two, considering that it's not marketed as waterproof. It has fantastic lubrication, and it gives a nice solid line with practically no shading. It's not as close to absolute black-hole black as Aurora Black, but on its own it's still very dark and convincingly black. For those who don't want their black ink to sheen, Sailor Black is great too: there's a faint coppery sheen, but one really needs something like Tomoe River to see it, and even then it's faint. And finally, Sailor Black is a very neutral black. If I use a water brush over it, gentle shades of gray are what's seen. Chromatography shows vague, murky hues of dark teal and dark purple that end up canceling each other out in the sum total of the ink.

Thanks for offering an easier alternative for those who like black ink! I have no real experience here, so I can't make recommendations myself.

[LizEF]

Here's the line width measurement. The line is one of those used for dry time.  Magnification is 100x.  The grid is 100x100µm.  The scale is 330µm, with eleven divisions of 30µm each.  The line width for this ink is roughly 210µm.  NOTE: I checked several lines, and while this ink sometimes wrote considerably wider, there were many places this narrow.  I think it's because this ink would dry on my nib almost instantly, thus preventing the ink from flowing onto the paper.  (And yeah, that's the smear from the dry time test - this ink didn't want to dry, at all.)

 

[InkyColors]

Just wanted to say “thank you” for all your wonderful reviews. I spent quite a bit of time last night reading them.  I was surprised to hear about the problems with DeAtramentis Document Black.  I have the Archive Black and it’s great. I haven’t had any problems with it in fine, medium or extra-fine nibs. The only DeAtramentis inks I’ve had trouble with are the crazy wet Document Blue and Document Cyan.  

[LizEF]

56 minutes ago, InkyColors said:

Just wanted to say “thank you” for all your wonderful reviews. I spent quite a bit of time last night reading them.

You're very welcome!   And thank you.

 

57 minutes ago, InkyColors said:

I was surprised to hear about the problems with DeAtramentis Document Black.  I have the Archive Black and it’s great. I haven’t had any problems with it in fine, medium or extra-fine nibs. The only DeAtramentis inks I’ve had trouble with are the crazy wet Document Blue and Document Cyan.

I just got De Atramentis Archive Ink with my Goulet Pens sample order today, so I may be reviewing it before too long.  It'll be interesting to see if it's different from Document Black.