I figure we need something to get the conversation going.
We hear a lot about popular inks like Iroshizuku Kon-Peki, Noodler’s Black, and Waterman Serenity Blue all the time. Let’s start talking some inks that sadly don’t get as much attention as they actually deserve.
What’s your favourite underrated ink?
I think workhorse type inks are some of my favourite underrated inks. Aurora Black doesn’t get as much love as it actually deserves. It’s a great workhorse ink. Nothing really fancy, but it just works. I like Pelikan 4001 Royal Blue way more than I thought I would. It’s very dry and does a great job of controlling some of the firehose pens in my collection.
After emptying my Serenity Blue bottle I tried a sample of Diamine Sargasso Sea which is praised as a good ink for Flex. It wasn’t that much different from Serenity Blue but bleeds through all my paper, even a tiny bit through the expensive one (Clair Fontaine). Now I went for a Pelikan 4001 Blau Schwarz bottle and it is very well behaved like Waterman. I really like the rich near black colour with a flex nib. It is pretty water resistant too. Looking at my own experience and the comments here, good workhorse inks are usually Waterman, Pelikan, Parker, etc. All of these are old pen brands. For me price is important too. As you say people praise Iroshizuku but where I live it’s like 30 eur per 50ml. Waterman is 11 eur per 50ml, Parker is 9 eur per 57ml and Pelikan 4001 is 6 eur per 30 ml. I feel that good inks that are cheap are kinda underrated. Sometimes while watching pen videos I feel that everyone is all over expensive inks with wild shimmer and sheen.