What I Ink, Episode 15: Black Ink Comparison

[@ahumphr]

I went out and bought 7 Visconti Homo Sapiens pens ... jaw drops :)

[@Hexsyn]

Yeah he played that line so straight that I believed it and my blood pressure spiked in envy lol

[@meshzzizk]

I can’t imagine being able to afford that and not buying a variety of pens in that price range instead but 🤷‍♂️

[@boerenkool]

note: j. herbin can be had much cheaper on a per ml basis by buying the 100ml bottle instead of the 30ml bottle.

[@delkott]

I am currently researching for my next pen and ink purchase, and came across your channel. Thanks a lot for doing the extra work of dedicating a fountain pen for each ink; that is very considerate for your audience.

[@ImTash]

how was the bleedthrough on the other side? it would be really great if you did that too, because for things like writing in journals where you want to utilise both sides of the paper actually being able to read what you've written is super helpful! Thanks for this aside from seeing the backs this was really useful! I'm swaying towards dyamine - i've heard that noodlers is thicker and clogs the pens up. plus i'm a geek and love that dyamine have been going since the 1860s.

[@WhatIInk]

I don't think any of them had any bleed through problems. in terms of Noodlers, I've never had any flow or clogging problems with any of them. Frankly the only inks I've ever had any clogging problems with, are some red and green inks that crystalize on the nib when they dry out (Akkerman #28 does this quite a bit, but it's worth it because it's such a great color).

[@alia-ps6xz]

You should put Faber Castell graf Von carbone black in comparison.

[@willwetherington]

I like that Casio Duro. I've got three of them. Great watch for the money!

[@dariusus9870]

haven't found a black ink more satisfying than Take Sumi. All my pens write with take sumi like a dream.... that ink is both dark and lubed to perfection

[@tmwtpbrent14]

Take sumi is very smooth and dark, but it does have red sheen, so that is something to consider.

[@edkirkpatrick1231]

Thanks for this comparison. Several years ago our pen club did a similar test comparison using many of the ones you used. Aurora got the most votes from about eight people as the 'blackest'. Bleed through is also important.

[@MrAndrew1953]

Ive just ordered some Noodlers Heart of Darkness so I'm glad to see that it comes across as one of the darkest inks you tested. I did see some black carbon ink today which I was going to put in my Boston Safety Pen but they were all out of bottles. I can get some Diamine Jet Black. Thanks for a very interesting video. Other one I use a lot is Monteverde Midnight Black.

[@sjuvanet]

LMAO WHEN HE SAID HE BOUGHT 7 HOMO SAPIENS I ALMOST GAGGED FROM LAUGHING

[@unknowncrash1]

Bless you for the video. Was looking up comparison for x feather vs heart of darkness. Thanks a ton my dude Also, nice, you make Chinese pen reviews, subbed

[@mauriciolacruz]

From what I understand, Parker Quink Black lightens over time (on paper), which makes it even less attractive. Normally I have not used black inks. I only used them, and still use them, to mix (darken other colored inks)... Until now. One of my latest acquisitions of fountain pens has been the Cross Century II that came with black ink cartridges of the same brand (Cross) and this ink caught my attention so much, I liked it so much for being so dark, for giving such a saturation and contrast to the writing, and last but not least for being so serious and looking so good with that pen, that I decided to buy several bottles and, since then, it is one of my favorite inks. Also, it's a fairly wash-resistant ink on paper (it's fairly permanent and is advertised as such: "archive"), even though it washes out of pens very well (they wipe off easily). Not slimy or tedious to remove like other saturated inks (Noodler's, Private Reserve, etc.) I love this ink because it does not have any grayish shade, but it is a deep and pure black. There must be even darker blacks out there for sure, but this one does already look pretty BLACK to me and one of the darkest I've ever seen so far.

[@DrawingBase]

Thank you

[@foxxx040]

Excellent job. I prefer Aurora Black overall, followed by Perle Noire and Old Manhattan .

[@salmorreale7900]

Really helpful, thank you for doing this and posting.

[@neilpiper9889]

I like blacks and grey blacks. My favourite is the Diamine for black and Schaeffer Skrip black for a really good shading grey-black.

[@speedbird8987]

I could only afford to buy seven Platinum Preppy’s or some kind of $2 Chinese pen - although I would like seven HS’s - lol

[@MrAndrew1953]

Inks look much darker on the Tamoa River paper. Better colour saturation.

[@squaredtony]

That was helpful. Thank you!

[@jatrophacathartica1889]

thank you so much

[@JennyEverywhere]

Nice comparisons!

[@geezerider1]

Which are waterproof or permanent?

[@chrislj2890]

I was wondering the same thing. That's why I like Noodler's Black; it's not the blackest, but it doesn't wash out or bleed under water.

[@Shaiy007]

@@chrislj2890 Same here!

[@njc9911]

Heart of Darkness is about as permanent as you can ask for. Not sure about the rest.

[@dianasaur2131]

Great reviews thanks

[@matthewbeddow3278]

The Aurora Black seemed to be the best flowing although that could also be a slight difference in the pen and i wonder if this had an affect on the appearance. All that being said though if you factor in value for money then you gotta go noodler's or Diamine there is not enough difference in the more expensive inks to make them worth the extra base on these tests at least, would you agree with that?

[@WhatIInk]

Agree basically. The only exception to that is that I would recommend a "premium-priced" ink for vintage sac fillers or expensive piston fillers. Most of my vintage pens I use either Waterman or Montblanc ink. (Waterman Intense Black is a great ink for vintage pens...I forgot to include it in the video).

[@matthewbeddow3278]

@@WhatIInk Yes for vintage and some modern sac fillers especially i stick to waterman or Parker Quink , agree totally waterman is a decent black Quink is a little grey but not too bad

[@magnoliamike]

I was gonna say How can you afford 7 Visconti pens just for reviewing black inks? How can you justify that or better yet explain that to your wife/ GF lol 😆

[@davidproost3444]

Not much difference I can see from this video. I would have like to see a swab test in place of this many paper tests.

[@davidmathews2124]

Very nice and comprehensive job. Yeah. Amazing penmanship. Likely aided by having to write under the camera, a common challenge. I think that doing a very solid crosshatch on the left, so those stacked up on top of each other would make the comparison more effective. Further: the pens are not identical as each feed and nib will perform differently. Anyone that is into pens much would agree to that. Close...but in no way “identical”. At this level of presentation I doubt it makes much difference though. Again...very good presentation. One major ink reviewer does her writing samples beforehand which allows her to focus on her descriptions and comparisons. That would have cut the time of this thing in half, or more, which would have been good.

[@techstudios4211]

So poor hand writing like mine 😂😂😂

[@gabrielparrino1280]

Excellent video. Keep it up!!