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Aurora Black

MountBlank

By MountBlank
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MountBlank

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I've been using fountain pens for many years, but I've never had a black ink!  Blue-black (MB) and brown-black (Iroshizuku Yama-guri) are the closest I've gone.  So, I'm thinking a black ink might be nice, and I've read good things about Aurora Black.  Is Aurora still a recommended, go-to, black ink?  I wouldn't mind something with different undertones/sheens, if there are other recommendations. 

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Kalessin Collectors Item

Kalessin

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It's very well recommended, and I just tried it for the first time in a pen I usually fill with another great black ink, J. Herbin's "Perle Noire".  

 

My finding Aurora black is well-behaved and a good, dark black, there aren't any undertones or sheens when writing.  It does show the tiniest bit of feathering on my preferred cheap note-taking paper, Mead 5-Star notebooks, but it dries marvelously quick in the absorbent paper (important for a lefty like me), even with a BB nib.

 

-- Joel -- "I collect expensive and time-consuming hobbies."

 

INK (noun): A villainous compound of tannogallate of iron, gum-arabic and water,

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(from The Devil's Dictionary, by Ambrose Bierce)

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chromantic Antique

chromantic

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Sorry, no experience with Aurora Black but if you like Yama-guri you might consider the equally well-behaved Take-sumi.

It's hard work to tell which is Old Harry when everybody's got boots on.

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nibtip Extremely Rare

nibtip

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Give Colorverse office series (non-permanent) black a try. Significantly more water resistance and more neutral black than Aurora. Not necessarily better. Otherwise similar behaviour. Black black, free flowing.

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A Smug Dill Museum Piece

A Smug Dill

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20 hours ago, MountBlank said:

Is Aurora still a recommended, go-to, black ink?

 

I won't dispute that Aurora Black ink is often recommended, but it certainly isn't my go-to black ink. I have it, I occasionally use it in this Aurora pen or that one, but while it's a decent and perfectly serviceable, I don't see any stand-out feature or special appeal in it.

 

20 hours ago, MountBlank said:

I wouldn't mind something with different undertones/sheens, if there are other recommendations. 

 

Platinum Carbon Black exhibits some graphite-like sheen, and is as close as I've seen to being totally waterproof. Sailor Kiwaguro sheens even more readily, is better behaved than PCB, and has a reputation for taming the line widths coming out of a nib but without being a dry-flowing ink; the trade-off is that, while it is highly water-resistant, it isn't nearly waterproof. Both of them are pigment inks and not dyestuff inks. 

 

Noodler's Ink X-Feather black ink has its good points, but its drying time is long.

 

Among other black dyestuff inks, Pelikan 4001 Brilliant Black is my go-to ink - it's cheap, I have a one-litre bottle of it and then some, and I love that it smells like Chinese calligraphy ink. Jacques Herbin Noir Abyssal, which I understand is very close to Herbin Perle Noire, is pretty good too.

I endeavour to be frank and truthful in what I write, show or otherwise present, when I relate my first-hand experiences that are not independently verifiable; and link to third-party content where I can, when I make a claim or refute a statement of fact in a thread. If there is something you can verify for yourself, I entreat you to do so, and judge for yourself what is right, correct, and valid. I may be wrong, and my position or say-so is no more authoritative and carries no more weight than anyone else's here.

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TSherbs Donor Pen

TSherbs

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I have tried many blacks. Aurora Black is my favorite: dark, rich, smooth, fairly quick to dry. Perle Noire is a bit more velvety in my experience, but they are both excellent black inks. 

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Ron Z Museum Piece

Ron Z

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Aurora black is THE black ink that I recommend when asked by my clients.  A good, dense black, well behaved ink.  We've never had problems with any Aurora inks in any pens.

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PPPR Mint

PPPR

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I agree with Ron Z wholeheartedly. In the days before the cornucopia of today's inks, it was considered one of the best. It's still the darkest of my go-to, problem-free inks.

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MissCellany Mint

MissCellany

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Aurora Black is a very good one indeed! I'd also suggest peeking at KWZ Warsaw Dreaming; it's a quite cool dark with a real pretty silver sheen to it, it performs well on cheaper papers, and is easy to clean.

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Mark from Yorkshire Vintage

Mark from Yorkshire

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My current favourite black ink is Diamine Onyx Black. It is a really nice dark black ink and well behaved even in my wetter pens. It is quite a wet ink and can take a while to dry especially on papers like the Oxford Optik. Nothing a roller blotter or sheet of blotting paper / kitchen roll between the pages cannot deal with

Mark from the Latin Marcus follower of mars, the god of war.

 

Yorkshire Born, Yorkshire Bred. 
 

my current favourite author is Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

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Loke Mint

Loke

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I always have a pen inked with Aurora Black. My favorite black ink. I also like to use Platinum Carbon Black. Two of the best black inks if you ask me, and very complementary 🙂

Check out my website about Photography and Ink-making: WWW.LOKE.BE

 

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Karmachanic Donor Pen

Karmachanic

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18 hours ago, Ron Z said:

Aurora black is THE black ink

 

Oh NO!!  I bought a 500ml bottle of Perle Noir.

Add lightness and simplicate.

 

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