We tested EVERY black ink in our store! 

It was a busy day for us here as we took on the task of testing every black ink we sell in store. It was an elaborate operation with lots of muddles, dip pens, and timers involved, and the finished swatch page revealed a lot about qualities of black inks that go unnoticed when they stand solo. 

The swatch page

We created this page with 27 spots for the 27 black inks we tested. Each ink got a cell with space for a swatch, and below that had spaces labeled with 30 seconds, 60 seconds, and 90 seconds for a dry test. Below that there are lines for the ink brand, collection, and name for easy identification. We used a Sailor Hocoro M Nib Dip Pen for this test. 

View the chart and individual swatches in higher quality here.

Why did we test those factors?

The swatch section is a great way to see if the ink has any shading or sheening qualities to it. You can also see a better depth of color on the swatch, and get a gauge on how dark it is if you were using a larger nib size than we used for writing. The dry test is great for seeing how quickly an ink will smudge, which is also indicative of how wet or dry an ink is. Inks with more smudginess are wetter, meaning that they are smoother and pool more ink when you write. Inks that dry quickly after 30 seconds are drier, and can be a bit scratchy depending on your pen and its ink flow. 

Conclusions

• The darkest inks were Platinum - Carbon Black and Kaweco - Pearl Black
• The driest inks were Diamine Forever Ink - Raven and Sailor - Kiwaguro
• The wettest inks were Sailor Manyo - Chigaya, Kakimori - Koton, and Robert Oster - Grün Schwarz
• A surprising amount of the inks revealed sheening qualities
• Sailor Shikiori - Kazakiribane was more of a purple black
• Robert Oster Graphite and Robert Oster Grün Schwarz have a green quality to them
• Lennon ToolBar - Silkie was on the cooler side and writes more like a dark gray

What we recommend 

Diamine - Onyx Black was smooth to write with and has a nice purple undertone. 

Pilot Iroshizuku - Take-Sumi is an all-time favorite among the stationery community for its smooth feel and consistent high quality. 

TWSBI - Black was very smooth and a nice balance of wet and dry. (available in-store only)