Ink Review #1090: Pilot Black

Now that I’ve made it through all of the Pilot Iroshizuku inks I want to get the Pilot standard inks reviewed too, starting with Pilot Black. Thanks to Vanness Pens for providing a sample for review.

The color:

Pilot Black is a classic, standard black ink.

Swabs:

In large swabs on Tomoe River paper the ink has some black sheen.

Writing samples:

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

Dry time: 20 seconds

Water resistance: Low

Feathering: Low-there was a bit of feathering on Rhodia and Leuchtturm in the larger nib sizes.

Show through: Medium

Bleeding: Low-there was a bit of bleeding on Leuchtturm.

Other properties: low shading, medium sheen, and no shimmer.

On Staples 24 lb copy paper there was some feathering and a few spots of bleeding.

Comparison Swabs:

Pilot Black is similar in color to Colorverse Sunspot. Click here to see the Pilot inks together, and click here to see the black inks together.

Longer writing:

I used a Pilot Custom 823 Smoke with a broad nib on a Yoseka A5 notebook. The ink had a slightly wet flow.

Overall, I enjoyed this ink, but it does have a bit more feathering and bleeding than I like on some papers. I would call it a good black ink but not a great one.

Disclaimer: A sample of this ink was provided by Vanness Pens. All photos and opinions are my own. This page does not contain affiliate links and this post is not sponsored in any way.