Ink Review #269: Bungubox 4B

A while ago I did a sample swab with a pen friend, and Bungubox 4B was one of the samples I got in the swap. 4B stands for the four B's in BunguBox Blue Black. You can find this ink at Vanness Pens.

The color:

4B is a dark blue black.

In large swabs the ink has a beautiful coppery sheen.

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

Dry time: 15 seconds. This ink has a great dry time for how wet the flow is.

Water resistance: Medium-some of the ink washed away but you would probably still be able to read it.

Feathering: Low-the ink feathered a little bit in the flex nib on Rhodia, I think mainly because the ink is so wet.

Show through: Medium

Bleeding: Low-there was some bleeding in the flex nib on Rhodia.

Other properties: Low shading, high sheen, and no shimmer. The sheen was visible in all nib sizes on Tomoe River, 3 nib sizes on Leuchtturm, and none on Rhodia.

On 20 pound copy paper the ink behaved well, no issues that I noticed.

Ink swabs for comparison, left to right (top to bottom for mobile RSS): Rohrer & Klingner Verdigris, Bungubox 4B and Sailor Sei-boku. Click here to see the Bungubox inks together.

Monteverde Azure Noir, Aurora Blue/Black and Birmingham Pens Kier Refinery Petroleum. Click here to see the blue black inks together.

Longer writing: 

I used a Pilot 912 with an FA nib then switched to a medium Pelikan M800 Renaissance Brown on Tomoe River paper. The ink had a lovely wet flow.

I really like the flow of this ink, but the ink does have a slight chemical smell.

Overall, I really like this ink. It's an interesting color, dries fast, and has some interesting sheen. Give it a try, you might love it.

Disclaimer: I got this ink through a sample swap, and all photos and opinions are my own. There are no affiliate links on this page.