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...

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

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.


I recently obtained several of the Noodlers inks.

The blue is very similar to the Private Reserve American Blue. Perhaps a
smidge lighter in shade. Beautiful.

Noodlers Black makes Aurora Black look pale. It is a rich, dark, velvety
black that captures your eye and won't let it go.


Greg

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

of course "value" is subjective to some degree - if you dislike the ink and
won't use it.. than it's still wasted $.

OTOH - the nice thing about the pen community is if you buy the ink and
decide you hate it (regardless of the brand) then you could probably find
someone who will trade inks with you. Some people say they pour inks down
the drain after deciding they're worthless. It's not in my nature to do
this so I still have the darn Raven black sitting in an old skrip bottle as
if I'll ever use it.

KCat wrote:
of course "value" is subjective to some degree - if you dislike the
ink and won't use it.. than it's still wasted $. ...

Value is subjective, for sure, but price is not. The fact that Aurora's
retail price is 22¢ per ml and Quink's retail price is 10¢ per ml (at $6
per bottle... the IP was getting it for less at Staples) is not
subjective. That someone thinks Aurora black is somehow more attractive
than Quink black is subjective. That Quink has been around since 1931 is
not subjective. I just bought 20 4-oz bottles of cir. 1940 Quink (Perm.
Royal Blue and Perm. Blue-Black), and it's still perfectly useable. Some
folks might not think it's as pretty as some currently available
boutique inks (although others might think it's prettier); however, the
fact that it's still in perfect shape after 60+ years is, I think,
relevant to the IP's question Is there a better ink than Quink. (Bet
Dr. Seuss could have had fun with that one.) Quink's been around a
long time. You're not going to find stuff precipitating out of it or
slimy stuff floating around inside the bottle. It's not going to gunk up
your pens. There are many inks available without as long or as good a
track record. But, those other inks sell for good reasons to those who
buy them... shrug.
--- Bernadette

"BLandolf" wrote:

| KCat wrote:
| of course "value" is subjective to some degree - if you dislike the
| ink and won't use it.. than it's still wasted $. ...
|
| Value is subjective, for sure, but price is not. The fact that
Aurora's
| retail price is 22¢ per ml and Quink's retail price is 10¢ per ml (at
$6
| per bottle... the IP was getting it for less at Staples) is not
| subjective. That someone thinks Aurora black is somehow more
attractive
| than Quink black is subjective. That Quink has been around since 1931
is
| not subjective. I just bought 20 4-oz bottles of cir. 1940 Quink
(Perm.
| Royal Blue and Perm. Blue-Black), and it's still perfectly useable.
Some
| folks might not think it's as pretty as some currently available
| boutique inks (although others might think it's prettier); however,
the
| fact that it's still in perfect shape after 60+ years is, I think,
| relevant to the IP's question Is there a better ink than Quink.
(Bet
| Dr. Seuss could have had fun with that one.) Quink's been around
a
| long time. You're not going to find stuff precipitating out of it or
| slimy stuff floating around inside the bottle. It's not going to gunk
up
| your pens. There are many inks available without as long or as good a
| track record. But, those other inks sell for good reasons to those
who
| buy them... shrug.
| --- Bernadette

Somewhere, Frank Dubiel is smiling....

john cline ii, who admired Frank, but still prefers Aurora Black (but
loves his Quink Blue-Black as well...)

On Fri, 23 Apr 2004 15:49:32 GMT, "KCat" wrote:

of course "value" is subjective to some degree - if you dislike the ink and
won't use it.. than it's still wasted $.

OTOH - the nice thing about the pen community is if you buy the ink and
decide you hate it (regardless of the brand) then you could probably find
someone who will trade inks with you. Some people say they pour inks down
the drain after deciding they're worthless. It's not in my nature to do
this so I still have the darn Raven black sitting in an old skrip bottle as
if I'll ever use it.

How come it's so difficult to toss the Montblanc ink I have so I can
re-use the bottle?

Pat

"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
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