Ink Question
 

From a newbie - I moved up from a few cheap fountain pens to a
Waterman Phileas with a medium nib, which is terrific. I used one
cartridge, and then used the converter. I filled it with black Quink I
bought from Staples and am very satisfied with the results. While I'm
not looking to change inks, I was wondering if there are thoughts on
other good black inks for this pen, i.e., is Waterman ink better and
worth a separate purchase? How about other brands? Thanks

"eb" wrote in message
om...
From a newbie - I moved up from a few cheap fountain pens to a
Waterman Phileas with a medium nib, which is terrific. I used one
cartridge, and then used the converter. I filled it with black Quink I
bought from Staples and am very satisfied with the results. While I'm
not looking to change inks, I was wondering if there are thoughts on
other good black inks for this pen, i.e., is Waterman ink better and
worth a separate purchase? How about other brands? Thanks

depends largely on what you want from your ink. I find WM ink rather washed
out. Aurora Black is the most dense FP black ink I've seen other than
Levenger Raven. I used only Raven for a while but it tended to clog my
pens. Aurora Black is a great black ink. Excellent flow, dense, and
smoooooth.

Lamy black is more of a grey. at least the carts I had were - don't use it
anymore so...

eb wrote:
From a newbie - I moved up from a few cheap fountain pens to a
Waterman Phileas with a medium nib, which is terrific. I used one
cartridge, and then used the converter. I filled it with black Quink
I bought from Staples and am very satisfied with the results. While
I'm not looking to change inks, I was wondering if there are thoughts
on other good black inks for this pen, i.e., is Waterman ink better
and worth a separate purchase? How about other brands? Thanks

Hi eb:
There are many good black inks out there but none "better" than Quink,
and Quink is a *much* better value than most. Waterman also is a very
good ink, but it's a little more expensive and certainly no better than
Quink. Both are tried and true inks that have been around for many
decades. Ya never hear complaints about their quality (e.g., gunking up
pens, stuff precipitating out of them, creepy crawlers growing in them,
etc.). KCat mentioned Aurora... Aurora is a very nice, high-quality
black ink, but you'll pay more than twice the price of Quink for it.
You're probably getting Quink for around $5.50 per 57ml bottle at
Staples... something like that anyway. Aurora will cost you around $10
for a 45ml bottle. Doesn't hurt to experiment, but I don't think you'll
find a better black at any price and given that it's so inexpensive, I
could understand why you might want to make it your standard black. ---
Bernadette

KCat wrote:

Aurora Black is the most dense FP black ink I've seen other than
Levenger Raven. I used only Raven for a while but it tended to clog my
pens. Aurora Black is a great black ink. Excellent flow, dense, and
smoooooth.

KCat read my mind in everything she just wrote! Stop it! LOL

Yes Aurora is the best black. Levengers Raven is a great black, but
seemed to clog up a bit unless you have a heavy flowing pen. I'm
sticking with Aurora black.... till I see how Nathan's Noodlers flows.

Nancy

"eb" wrote in message
om...
From a newbie - I moved up from a few cheap fountain pens to a
Waterman Phileas with a medium nib, which is terrific. I used one
cartridge, and then used the converter. I filled it with black Quink I
bought from Staples and am very satisfied with the results. While I'm
not looking to change inks, I was wondering if there are thoughts on
other good black inks for this pen, i.e., is Waterman ink better and
worth a separate purchase? How about other brands? Thanks

After Quink and Sheaffer's Skrip, "better" is subjective. It stuck in my
mind when Frank posted that those two are the standards (Did he include
Waterman? I forget.) and when a pen got sent in for repair, the repairman
loaded it up with either black or blue Parker or Skrip (or Waterman?) and if
it worked fine, it was returned w/o further service and the owner advised to
simply change to another ink.

Personally, I think Skrip is a little blacker but at $5.50 for a 50 ml
bottle, it's also a few pennies more expensive. I've tried Private Reserve
(a warm black w/ brownish tone) and Pelikan (jury's still out) but go back
to Parker and Skrip.


--
~~Bluesea~~too cheap/chicken to try more expensive inks
Spam is great in musubi but not in email.
Please take out the trash before sending a direct reply.

Bluesea wrote:

After Quink and Sheaffer's Skrip, "better" is subjective. It stuck in my
mind when Frank posted that those two are the standards


We're talking about a few different ink questions he
1. Which ink looks best on paper and still flows well from a pen?
2. Which ink does the least damage to the pen?


For a great deep black ink that flows well, IMO the answer to question
#1 would be Aurora Black.

However the answer to question #2 would be Frank's favorites, Quink and
Skrip.

Nancy

Nancy Handy wrote:

We're talking about a few different ink questions he
1. Which ink looks best on paper and still flows well from a pen?
...

Hi Nancy,
I've used both inks (Quink and Aurora) and lots of other different
blacks, and I'd be hard pressed to tell the difference between text
written in Quink Black and text written in Aurora Black assuming the pen
isn't a terribly dry writer (in which case, both are going to look a bit
washed out). Quink produces a nice dark black line, and it flows
beautifully even in pens with stingy ink delivery systems, like 51s.

2. Which ink does the least damage to the pen?

Aurora Black has never damaged a pen of mine. Have you heard of it
damaging a pen? I don't think either of these inks is going to damage a
pen, but the Quink will do considerably less damage to one's wallet than
Aurora. :) But, the IP should try them and then decide if Aurora is
worth more than twice the price. --- Bernadette

siDetRaked wrote:

How about Pelikan 4001 black ink?

It's a nice dark black ink. It's relatively inexpensive. They had some
problems with gunk in their inks (their green and black inks I believe)
about a year or two ago, but they've probably resolved those issues by
now. Even with the latest price increase, Pelikan inks are a good
value... why not try their black and see how you like it? ---Bernadette

BLandolf wrote:
siDetRaked wrote:


How about Pelikan 4001 black ink?


It's a nice dark black ink. It's relatively inexpensive. They had some
problems with gunk in their inks (their green and black inks I believe)
about a year or two ago, but they've probably resolved those issues by
now. Even with the latest price increase, Pelikan inks are a good
value... why not try their black and see how you like it? ---Bernadette


Or, perhaps, Cross Black, if it's cheaper where you are? Cross
inks are made by Pelikan, though I don't know if the black is
the same formulation.
Michael

BLandolf wrote:

with snipping


Hi Nancy,
I've used both inks (Quink and Aurora) and lots of other different
blacks, and I'd be hard pressed to tell the difference between text
written in Quink Black and text written in Aurora Black assuming the pen
isn't a terribly dry writer (in which case, both are going to look a bit
washed out). Quink produces a nice dark black line, and it flows
beautifully even in pens with stingy ink delivery systems, like 51s.


I used Quink black exclusively for a couple of decades. It
always seemed to have a grayish tinge to me, a tinge that was
missing when I first tried Aurora black. This sent me down
that slippery slope to where my ink shelf now holds a rainbow
of ink, enough for a couple of generations. :0)

Mark Z.