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No nonsense, daily ink

Well, I've decided on a Blue Black rather than getting a blue and a black. I'm now trying to figure out if I want to go with Pilot or Noodler's. The pilot looks a little washed out from the pictures I can see. This may not be the case when you are writing with it. Noodler's just has so many darn options it's hard to narrow it down to just one. Maybe someone can be of some assistance. The main thing I'm wanting is a well behaved ink. It seems like some of noodler's inks have better "behavior" than others. I was recommended Noodler's X-feather but as I looked into it is seemed like a ruined shirt waiting to happen. It takes forever to dry and I don't want a piece of paper that has wet ink on it for 2 or 3 minutes nor do I want something that will be high maintenance in my pen. I'm considering:
Pilot blue Black
Noodler's 54th Massachusetts
Noodler's Midnight Blue
Noodler's Navy
Noodler's Blue Black

Honestly these all seem like slight variations of the same ink to me (the Noodler's inks). All of these colors would be fine, I'm just focusing on the properties. I don't really want a ton of shading in the ink. Shading is nice when you are meaning your writing to be beautiful art but I need business function. I want a consistent saturation throughout. Fast drying, waterproof I guess, but it doesn't have to be bulletproof.
 
[MENTION=93623]Mr Daniel[/MENTION] although it wasn't on your list, I'd throw in a mention for Waterman's Blue/Black, which was renamed to Mysterious Blue. It can dry a little green depending on paper, but it's not a complex shading ink and should meet your consistent saturation requirement. I really like it for use at the office, and it gets almost equal usage as Florida Blue for me. The price is right too, as is the case with all Waterman inks. If you want an extremely detailed analysis of daily blue writers, do a Google search for 'A Daily Blue' blog post by the Peaceable Writer. It's probably more detail and pictures than anyone could ever want or need in trying to determine a daily carry blue ink.

[MENTION=21099]nemo[/MENTION] of course I had a few minutes of down time time morning at work and now have 2 bottles of the Throntons blue en route. At less than $3 per bottle shipped, how could I not? Thinking about throwing in a bottle with my Mr. Bingle package :santa:
 
If you want "well-behaved" from Noodler's, avoid 54th Mass. at all costs. It's terrible. The nib creep makes the pen look like it's leaking, it tends to dry out on the nib, and it's a royal pain to clean out of your pen. Quite honestly, I would go with Pilot blue black before any of the Noodler's colors.
 
I'm going to suggest one that no one has mentioned yet. Hero 232 Blue-Black. It's a Chinese ink, very inexpensive, but I think it's excellent. It may or may not be an iron gall ink (there seems to be some debate in the pen world) since it goes on blue, but quickly darkens to a navy blue/almost black color. It's waterproof, flows smoothly, dries quickly, and cleans up nicely. You'll probably have to hunt it down on eBay, but for a few dollars, it's well worth trying.
 

nemo

Lunatic Fringe
Staff member
I'm going to suggest one that no one has mentioned yet. Hero 232 Blue-Black. It's a Chinese ink, very inexpensive, but I think it's excellent. It may or may not be an iron gall ink (there seems to be some debate in the pen world) since it goes on blue, but quickly darkens to a navy blue/almost black color. It's waterproof, flows smoothly, dries quickly, and cleans up nicely. You'll probably have to hunt it down on eBay, but for a few dollars, it's well worth trying.

Another of my favorite everyday budget inks! Thanks for the great suggestion, Larry.
 
If you want "well-behaved" from Noodler's, avoid 54th Mass. at all costs. It's terrible. The nib creep makes the pen look like it's leaking, it tends to dry out on the nib, and it's a royal pain to clean out of your pen. Quite honestly, I would go with Pilot blue black before any of the Noodler's colors.

I agree with this statement. I have been using Noodlers 54th Mass. for the past month or so and am not pleased with how badly it bleeds and spiders on most lower grade paper. It's gorgeous, but it is best used only on high quality paper and when the pen it is inked in receives quite regular maintenance IME, of course. I have been suggested to try Rohrer & Klingner - Salix as an excellent daily workhorse; it is said to be a very low maintenance ink that performs exceptionally well on all types and qualities of paper. You may want to look into this as an option.
 
Well an interesting turn of events happened. I was searching on Google for a pen supply store near me that may sell pens, stationary, ink etc. I live in Chattanooga Tn and I came across an article from another forum in my search. The article was a very nice write up on a store in Cleveland TN. (about 20 miles north of Chattanooga) called Joe Rodgers Office Supply. The author of the article went on to say he was pleased to come across this store on a family vacation he had taken. Joe Rodger's Office Supply is a one of a kind store; I'm sure there were many like it 30 years ago but it is a type of store that you don't see a lot of today. He sold office furniture, stationary, clocks of all kinds, office decor and he also had lots and lots of pens and ink. When I say lots I mean hundreds in cases that covered about a 20' by 20' area. It was impressive! He had Pelikan, Lamy, Pilot, Montblanc, Waterman, Aurora, Bexley, Conklin, Delta, Taccia, Waterford, Yard-O led, Parker, Cross and a few more I'm forgetting I'm sure. He had displays like the ones you would see in a jewelry store.

The owner did say that he has a lot less than he used to before 2008 due to these companies going away from having sales reps. He said sales reps used to come along with cases of new pens, inks, paper and sell them. Now it's all done online and they have completely cut out sales people that know the product and try to sell it. Kinda sad I think. This store really is part of a dying breed but it was mighty impressive.

The best part was the prices. I bought a 45ml bottle of Aurora black ink for $10. I also picked up a bottle of Waterman Florida Blue for $9, Sheaffer Skrip red for $5.50, and some Private Reserve Black Magic blue for $8.80. I didn't mean to get this many bottles of ink but I have enough pens to load each one up with a different ink and use them on different occasions.

Also a few days later I was telling my boss about it and he was very surprised that I use fountain pens and handed me a bottle of Montblanc ink. Not sure the name of it because it isn't marked with a name as far as I can tell but it's like a blue black or a really dark blue. I set out for a good daily ink and ended up with 5 bottles but I'm glad I have it all because it'll all be used regularly (except the Private reserve Black magic blue, it's purple which I won't use regularly).

At any rate, I'm glad I got my inks and thanks for all the suggestions; it really helped me look into a few inks I probably wouldn't have otherwise.
 

Claudel Xerxes

Staff member
Great to hear, Mr Daniel! It'd be hard for me not to make monthly, or even weekly, stops to a place like that. Great price for the Aurora and Skrip inks. I just ordered Aurora Black yesterday and paid more than $10 for it.
 
I think the Pelikan 4001 inks are reliable and well proven inks and if you can get it I recommend the Pelikan 4001 blue black ink. Also the Parker Quink blue black ink is excellent too and mentioned earlier the Hero blue black ink is excellent inexpensive ink that's been around for ages too.
 
Well an interesting turn of events happened. I was searching on Google for a pen supply store near me that may sell pens, stationary, ink etc. I live in Chattanooga Tn and I came across an article from another forum in my search. The article was a very nice write up on a store in Cleveland TN. (about 20 miles north of Chattanooga) called Joe Rodgers Office Supply. The author of the article went on to say he was pleased to come across this store on a family vacation he had taken. Joe Rodger's Office Supply is a one of a kind store; I'm sure there were many like it 30 years ago but it is a type of store that you don't see a lot of today. He sold office furniture, stationary, clocks of all kinds, office decor and he also had lots and lots of pens and ink. When I say lots I mean hundreds in cases that covered about a 20' by 20' area. It was impressive! He had Pelikan, Lamy, Pilot, Montblanc, Waterman, Aurora, Bexley, Conklin, Delta, Taccia, Waterford, Yard-O led, Parker, Cross and a few more I'm forgetting I'm sure. He had displays like the ones you would see in a jewelry store.

The owner did say that he has a lot less than he used to before 2008 due to these companies going away from having sales reps. He said sales reps used to come along with cases of new pens, inks, paper and sell them. Now it's all done online and they have completely cut out sales people that know the product and try to sell it. Kinda sad I think. This store really is part of a dying breed but it was mighty impressive.

The best part was the prices. I bought a 45ml bottle of Aurora black ink for $10. I also picked up a bottle of Waterman Florida Blue for $9, Sheaffer Skrip red for $5.50, and some Private Reserve Black Magic blue for $8.80. I didn't mean to get this many bottles of ink but I have enough pens to load each one up with a different ink and use them on different occasions.

Also a few days later I was telling my boss about it and he was very surprised that I use fountain pens and handed me a bottle of Montblanc ink. Not sure the name of it because it isn't marked with a name as far as I can tell but it's like a blue black or a really dark blue. I set out for a good daily ink and ended up with 5 bottles but I'm glad I have it all because it'll all be used regularly (except the Private reserve Black magic blue, it's purple which I won't use regularly).

At any rate, I'm glad I got my inks and thanks for all the suggestions; it really helped me look into a few inks I probably wouldn't have otherwise.

Where is it located? I'm down that way from time to time. I haven't even stumbled across a store like that in Knoxville or Nashville.
 
It's in Cleveland TN in their downtown area. It was actually my first trip to downtown Cleveland and it's quite a cute little town. I was born and raised in Knoxville and moved to Chattanooga 5 years ago. I've never seen another store quite like this. Very old school, very well stocked
 
Here's another endorsement of Pelikan 4001 Brilliant Black for daily use. Blue Black, too, if you can find old stock.
 
Here's another endorsement of Pelikan 4001 Brilliant Black for daily use. Blue Black, too, if you can find old stock.
Pelikan 4001 Blue-Black is still around and being manufactured. It's just not available in the United States (not sure aboot Canada.) Every time I go to Europe, I bring back a couple of bottles.
 
I have a package of Pelikan 4001 black cartridges coming in for a pen I have without a converter. I wish I would've ordered blue black too
 
Here's another endorsement of Pelikan 4001 Brilliant Black for daily use. Blue Black, too, if you can find old stock.
+ 2 or 3 on the Pelikan blue black...I love the stuff. I just purchased mine from Amazon and it was shipped with no problem to my house in Illinois.
 
Joe Rodger's Office Supply is a one of a kind store; I'm sure there were many like it 30 years ago but it is a type of store that you don't see a lot of today. He sold office furniture, stationary, clocks of all kinds, office decor and he also had lots and lots of pens and ink.

Good of you to find and support that business. I'm lucky in my area (Southeast Hampton Roads, Virginia) to have a couple of brick and mortar stationary stores. When word got out that Montblanc Midnight Blue was being discontinued, I went to all my local stores and managed to score three additional bottles for reserve. I think MB Midnight Blue is the best, no-nonsense daily ink I own. Permanent (iron gall), not feathering on most cheap paper, minimal bleed-thru. If you are lucky, that's the ink your boss gave you.
 
My favorite blue black is Pelikan 4001 Blue Black. One drawback for those of us in the US is availability. Pelikan doesn't bring it in anymore. However, you can get from UK vendors (among others) and have it shipped. My most recent purchase was from a penpal who tracked down a stateside bottle for me.

Other blue blacks I like - Diamine blue black (never had a problem with ANY Diamine ink I have tried, and I have even tried samples of the Shimmertastic inks) and Noodler's 54th Massachusetts. The latter is a "bulletproof" ink if you need something more permanent.

Monteverde Blue Black is nice as well, but after trying a couple of samples it wasn't as good a fit for my needs as others. Blackstone Sydney Harbour Blue is an interesting ink that in some pens could be considered blue black.
 
I think MB Midnight Blue is the best, no-nonsense daily ink I own. Permanent (iron gall), not feathering on most cheap paper, minimal bleed-thru. If you are lucky, that's the ink your boss gave you.

This is the bottle my boss gave me; it seems unused. I am waiting on a new Nemosine Fission to come in that I'm going to use the ink in but I did use a paper clip to dip into the ink bottle and write on a page with it to look at the color. I'm very excited about it.

full
 
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