Thinking about purchasing Noodlers Heart of Darkness for my 'GO TO' Black Ink, any users out there? Read a few reviews online from various Blogs/Forums an a lot of folks say if your want the blackest of black, this ink is for you (paraphrasing).
Your thoughts please...
- Thread starter David John
- Start date
I have never used it or seem a sample to try but I have heard the same thing.
I am not a big noodler's guy. I prefer to use only ink that is made by old standard companies. I own Aurora Black and love it (it's pretty black as well!)
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I honestly never use black ink in my pens mostly just stick with blue or blue black. The two noodlers inks that I have used is Liberties Elisium, and 54th Mass. Both of them gave me hard starting issues with the samples that I purchased when I first got into fountain pens, but in all fairness I have never used HOD
I use a lot of black ink. My two standard colors are black and blue black. My go to black ink is Noodler’s Dark Matter. I’ve used Noodler’s Black and Borealis Black, but not Heart of Darkness.
I was drawn to Dark Matter because of the back story. It seems Nathan was sent an old Boston Round of dried ink with a request to determine if he could reproduce it. The bottle was not labeled as such but did have an identification tape consistent with government issue inks during WWII. The ID on the tape led Nathan to conclude this was a proprietary ink for use at the Manhattan Project labs at Los Alomos. Whether true or not, the ink is quite well behaved and reminiscent of vintage inks from the same time period. One of my favorite blue black inks is Parker Quink from the 1940’s and Dark Matter behaves much the same. I don’t know about HOD, but Dark Matter dries quickly, doesn’t feather or bleed through on most paper.
I was drawn to Dark Matter because of the back story. It seems Nathan was sent an old Boston Round of dried ink with a request to determine if he could reproduce it. The bottle was not labeled as such but did have an identification tape consistent with government issue inks during WWII. The ID on the tape led Nathan to conclude this was a proprietary ink for use at the Manhattan Project labs at Los Alomos. Whether true or not, the ink is quite well behaved and reminiscent of vintage inks from the same time period. One of my favorite blue black inks is Parker Quink from the 1940’s and Dark Matter behaves much the same. I don’t know about HOD, but Dark Matter dries quickly, doesn’t feather or bleed through on most paper.
HoD is a good solid black ink. It's black... and it's ink. I use it as my normal black because I have a giant bottle of it.
I rarely have any issues with it regarding hard starts or anything. If I do its usually some paper pulp in the nib, or air in the converter and not the actual ink. Feathering is rarely an issue, but sometimes on super cheap government notebooks there is some when using a really wet nib.
I have no reason to really go searching for black inks until my large bottle is gone, but that will be a long time.
I rarely have any issues with it regarding hard starts or anything. If I do its usually some paper pulp in the nib, or air in the converter and not the actual ink. Feathering is rarely an issue, but sometimes on super cheap government notebooks there is some when using a really wet nib.
I have no reason to really go searching for black inks until my large bottle is gone, but that will be a long time.
I use HOD and love it. It performs well and holds up to water, methanol, alcohol, etc...
When I read that HoD is people's blackest black ink, I'm always mystified, as my bottle is not the blackest. Not by far. I understand that there are often variations between batches of the same ink, and that may be the case with my Heart of Darkness. And depending on the pen, I get more feathering than I care for with HoD.
My go-to blackest black ink is plain old Noodler's Black.
My go-to blackest black ink is plain old Noodler's Black.
I have used a number of Noodler's inks, including HOD.
Some of their inks are "quirky" in their performance and are more about pushing the envelope of ink technology for one particular quality, making the ink harder to use otherwise. But IMHO Heart of Darkness is not one of "those" inks ... instead, it's a good quality, well performing ink.
You should not be disappointed.
Some of their inks are "quirky" in their performance and are more about pushing the envelope of ink technology for one particular quality, making the ink harder to use otherwise. But IMHO Heart of Darkness is not one of "those" inks ... instead, it's a good quality, well performing ink.
You should not be disappointed.
- Thread starter
- #10
Thanks for your reply.
I ended up ordering , just a few minutes ago,Noodlers Black. Either one would have sufficed. I was looking for a Dark Black that is water resistant.
Enjoy! That is an ink which certainly IS water resistant.
- Thread starter
- #13
I based my selection on this handy link that compares various ( a lot ) black inks and their characteristics. Aurora Black while considered a very black ink it does lack in the characteristics that I was looking for. But yes, it is a very black ink.
Black Fountain Pen Ink Comparison - JetPens.com
Black Fountain Pen Ink Comparison - JetPens.com
