OpenTube

I Was Wrong About The Blackest Fountain Pen Ink

The Ink Well Studio

15,355 views

The King is dead. In my last black fountain pen ink comparison, I declared Platinum Carbon Black the winner—but thousands of you told me I was wrong. You recommended I test darker, richer, and wetter inks, so today we find the true champion.
We are pitting the reigning King against the most expensive challenger (Platinum Chou Kuro) and a surprisingly affordable underdog to find the scientifically blackest fountain pen ink on the market.
Is the £50 Platinum Chou Kuro actually worth 4x the price of the competition?

THE CONTENDERS (Price per ml):
Platinum Chou Kuro (The Challenger) - 75p/ml (🔗 https://amzn.to/4bjD9uu)
Platinum Carbon Black (The Previous King) - 32p/ml (🔗 https://amzn.to/49kTWuE)
Octopus Fluids Elephant Black (The Underdog) - 29p/ml (🔗 https://amzn.to/4qGgVHt)
Lamy Obsidian - 33p/ml (🔗 https://amzn.to/3N0kfPt)
Diamine Forever Raven - 28p/ml (🔗 https://amzn.to/49NfMr9)
De Atramentis Document Black - 31p/ml
Pilot Take-Sumi - 70p/ml

Affiliate links 🔗 help to support the channel. Thank you for your support 🖤

I tested these on Clairefontaine and Midori MD paper to test shading, sheen, chroma, and pure blackness.
Will the new champion be the most expensive, or can we save money with a cheaper alternative?

👇 Which ink is your daily driver? Let me know in the comments!

⏱️ TIMESTAMPS:
00:00 - The King is Dead (Intro)
01:03 - My Scientific Swatching Process
01:31 - Lamy Obsidian Review
02:43 - Octopus Fluids Elephant Black (Hidden Gem?)
04:06 - Diamine Forever Raven
05:33 - De Atramentis Document Black (Waterproof Test)
07:07 - Platinum Chou Kuro (The £50 Ink)
08:40 - Bonus: Pilot Take-Sumi
10:29 - Platinum Carbon Black (Re-Test)
11:49 - Comparison: All Inks Dry
19:40 - Conclusion: The New Blackest Ink

📸 CONNECT WITH THE INKWELL STUDIO:
Instagram: @theinkwellstudio
Email: theinkwellstudio.yt@gmail.com

#fountainpen #fountainpenink #platinumchoukuro #blackink #stationery #writingcommunity #bestblackink #inkreview

20 Comments

@TheInkWellStudio Creator 9 months ago Pinned

Which ink should I challenge this one against next?

@sterkriger2572 5 months ago

Octopus has a shine to it. Chou Kuro is made to absorb light. Nothing in the market (as of now) can beat Chou Kuro in blackness but Elephant black is a cheaper alternative

@DexxBlue 4 hours ago

Having worked and qualified as a Lab Technician in the (boring/fascinating) Packaging Industry, there is a VERY simple, non-destructive test to ascertain how "bright is white" and conversely "how dark is dark".
The test is known as "Reflectance".
It simply consists of measuring the light reflected from a standard area sample from a standard illumination source. (I did warn....).
Alone this would only measure the full amount of reflected light.
But....
Coupled with a "Colour Temperature Test" these would indicate not only the amount of light absorbed but from which aspect of the spectrum.....
And I fully anticipate that ink manufacturers already employ these, or similar QC and QA measures.
I am not anticipating an endless stream of 👍 for this response.
So, now, I'm advising Matron to set one fewer places for supper, to load Fathers revolver for Me and not to wait up as I'll be taking an extended evening stroll in the woods.

@EverGreenElephant 9 months ago

The person who said Lamy Obsidian meant Lamy Black. Lamy Black is wayyyy darker than Lamy Obsidian, and even cheaper.

@harveytattersall363 6 months ago

When it comes to these comparisons, I feel that the blackness and of the initial swipe, the sheen, and the absence of obvious blues, greens, browns, and reds are most important.

@schawo2 9 months ago

Octopus Fluids Write and Draw inks are just fantastic. All of them. My favourite brand.

@knownaigm 9 months ago

Platinum Carbon Black is still the GOAT in my opinion. The blackest ink that still plays well in every single pen I've ever run it through, is very well behaved on almost all papers, is surprisingly easy to clean out of a pen and is low-maintenance, dries quick, is dead waterproof when dry, and doesn't smudge later like Chou Kuro can. I've gone through 15 bottles of PCB and tried many many others and, for my money and my uses, PCB is the unbeatable king.

@inevitablecraftslab 3 months ago

I water down octopus elephant black with distilled water to make it flow better in my pens. sometimes up to 50% and it still is pitch black and waterproof 😊

@MaeBeeKnot 9 months ago

Chou Kuro is the blackest of blacks that I own. I enjoy Platinum Carbon Black also. It's also water resistant but more economical. I've also found Monteverde Midnight Black, TWSBI Black and Lamy Black to be really great contenders. Midnight Black does have some grey shading but I've been really enjoying it in a fine nib.

@davevick1775 8 hours ago

TWSBI black. A tiny touch lighter than Chou Kuro, but an order of magnitude cheaper.

@paulmchugh1430 9 months ago

Choi Kuro is the darkest black for sure.

I use Diamine Onyx Black and Jinhao Black. Both equally black. I used to use Aurora Black but these other two are darker by far

@FotoFarmPFE 9 months ago

Good comparison. I stick with the permanent-type inks, myself. So you can probably guess which ones top my list.

@pensane 9 months ago

I think it’s important to differentiate between pigmented and dyed inks. Theoretically, a dyed ink should never be as black as a pigmented one. Yet, my own favorite, TWSBI Black, is dye-based. It rivals the blackest of blacks you have there. And it has the benefit of being even more fountain pen-friendly and easier to clean. Great video. I enjoyed it a lot!

@echovich 9 months ago

surprised that there's no R&K sketch ink Lotto in the analysis, probably not the blackest to be honest, but a very reliable and available waterproof fountain pen ink that I use with watercolors.

@rsh8057 9 months ago

not exciting but J Herbin Perle noir is fairly permanent, decent dark, and safe to use in vintage pens as well. The 30cc bottles suck; otherwise my favorite black ink.

@AniVaroni 1 month ago

Thank you!

@vermis8344 8 months ago

Pleasantly surprised that there are more pigmented FP inks than I thought. I've been using Rohrer&Klingner sketchink, but I wouldn't mind giving Octopus Fluids and Diamine Forever a whirl, too.

@dysver 7 months ago

Carbon and octopus fluid are my favourite for both writing and drawing with watercolour wash.

@richardsimms-v4n 8 months ago

Great talk

@MatthewTowns509 3 weeks ago

It's interesting to me that you were going for the blackest, which in my humble opining would have been the Plat. Chou Kuro but then you brought in the pricing which didn't seem to be a condition of the demonstration.