Ink Review #446: Sailor Kiwa-guro

Today’s ink is Sailor Nano Kiwa-guro, aka Sailor Pigmented Black. I’m a big fan of Sailor inks, I love the wet flow. Thanks to Pen Chalet for sending a sample over for review.

The color:

Kiwa-guro is a very shiny black.

Swabs:

In large swabs the ink has a ton of shine. It’s not sheen, just really shiny.

Writing samples:

Let's take a look at how the ink behaves on fountain pen friendly papers: Rhodia, Tomoe River, and Leuchtturm.

Dry time: I would almost say this ink has two dry times, it’s pretty dry at 40 seconds, but you can still smear the shine finish until 100 seconds.

Water resistance: High-the ink did not budge.

Feathering: None

Show through: Medium

Bleeding: Very Low

Other properties: no shading, no sheen, and no shimmer. The ink is very shiny, but doesn’t have any sheen.

On Staples 24 lb copy paper there was just a tiny bit of feathering, but no bleeding. The ink did have a shine finish even on copy paper.

Comparison Swabs:

Ink swabs for comparison, left to right (top to bottom for mobile RSS): Colorverse 1 Sunspot, Sailor Nano Kiwa-guro, and Sailor Jentle Black. Click here to see the Sailor inks together.

Diamine Onyx Black, Pilot Iroshizuku Take-sumi, and Pelikan Edelstein Onyx. Click here to see the black inks together.

Longer writing:

I used a broad Pelikan M600 Turquoise on an ivory Hippo Noto Notebook. The ink had a great wet flow.

Overall, the ink has a very shiny finish that can be smeared up to 100 seconds after writing, which is a long time. The ink did not budge with water though, so if you are looking for a water-resistant black, give this one a shot. The ink does perform pretty well on copy paper too. I really like this ink, I just have to be more careful about smearing when I use it.

Disclaimer: A sample of this ink was provided by Pen Chalet for the purpose of this review. All photos and opinions are my own. This page does contain an affiliate link, but is not sponsored in any way.