Noodler's Black vs. PR Velvet Black

After a week of writing with nothing but Noodler's Black, I decided to
slap a bottle o' Private Reserve Velvet Black into the vise and run a
comparison. The ink delivery system (a/k/a pen) was a wet-writing
Omas Paragon.

Both inks are well-saturated and black-as-all-get-out, with no
discernible red, green or blue undertones. In terms of the depth and
neutrality of "blackness", the two inks are virtually
indistinguishable. I couldn't tell the difference between notes I'd
taken last week with Noodler's and add-ons to those notes made with PR
today.

The PR dries a tad quicker than the Noodler's, but just a tad. On the
other hand, the Noodler's was more resistant to feathering on the
government-issue recycled paper I use.

On balance, I'd give Noodler's Black a slight edge for
feather-resistance and total waterproofness. But I will happily use
up the entire bottle of PR Velvet Black (tilting it with total
confidence in my portable desktop vise to suck up the last few
drops!). Both Noodler's and PR's bottles are vise-friendly, BTW.

Can't wait to slap a bottle o' Chuck Swisher's soon-to-be-released
Midnight Black into the ol' vise and take it for a test spin.

--
Viseguy

"Viseguy" wrote in message
om...
After a week of writing with nothing but Noodler's Black, I decided to
slap a bottle o' Private Reserve Velvet Black into the vise and run a
comparison. The ink delivery system (a/k/a pen) was a wet-writing
Omas Paragon.

Both inks are well-saturated and black-as-all-get-out, with no
discernible red, green or blue undertones. In terms of the depth and
neutrality of "blackness", the two inks are virtually
indistinguishable. I couldn't tell the difference between notes I'd
taken last week with Noodler's and add-ons to those notes made with PR
today.

Interesting.

I bought my first bottle of Velvet Black the summer of '02 and hated it for
being a soft, brown-tinted black instead of a jet black. It was also drier
than Parker, Pelikan, or Pilot, and made for a rougher ride in my fine
Namiki Falcon which also took well to Noodler's.

I gave the VB away.


--
~~Bluesea~~
Spam is great in musubi but not in email.
Please take out the trash before sending a direct reply.

I understand that PR revised their VB formula a year or two ago. I
bought a bottle about a year ago and found the same result as the post
above - it's a jet-black-as-solid-as-you-get black in the pens I've
used the ink with. No noticeable tones to it and very good flow. When
I'm in the mood for black ink (which isn't all that often), this one
is very near the top of the list. It might be worth another look...


Interesting.

I bought my first bottle of Velvet Black the summer of '02 and hated it for
being a soft, brown-tinted black instead of a jet black. It was also drier
than Parker, Pelikan, or Pilot, and made for a rougher ride in my fine
Namiki Falcon which also took well to Noodler's.

I gave the VB away.

"Bluesea" wrote...

I bought my first bottle of Velvet Black the summer of '02 and hated it for
being a soft, brown-tinted black instead of a jet black.

I suspect they've improved the formula since then. However, I just
dripped a few drops of VB onto a piece of wet paper towel, and another
couple of drops into some running water, and under those conditions,
both red and blue undertones *are* visible! Very slight, very
distant, but unmistakable. As opposed to the Noodler's, which, even
diluted, doesn't exhibit any color at all. Obviously these are not
real-life writing conditions, and my experience with a wet-writing M
nib is excellent. But YMMV with a drier-writing F or EF nib.

Your Mileage May Vary - the motto, anthem and mantra of Usenet news!

--
Viseguy

Thanks - that's good to know.

--
~~Bluesea~~
Spam is great in musubi but not in email.
Please take out the trash before sending a direct reply.

"Joe" wrote in message
om...
I understand that PR revised their VB formula a year or two ago. I
bought a bottle about a year ago and found the same result as the post
above - it's a jet-black-as-solid-as-you-get black in the pens I've
used the ink with. No noticeable tones to it and very good flow. When
I'm in the mood for black ink (which isn't all that often), this one
is very near the top of the list. It might be worth another look...


Interesting.

I bought my first bottle of Velvet Black the summer of '02 and hated it
for
being a soft, brown-tinted black instead of a jet black. It was also
drier
than Parker, Pelikan, or Pilot, and made for a rougher ride in my fine
Namiki Falcon which also took well to Noodler's.

I gave the VB away.

"Viseguy" wrote in message
m...
"Bluesea" wrote...

I bought my first bottle of Velvet Black the summer of '02 and hated it
for
being a soft, brown-tinted black instead of a jet black.

I suspect they've improved the formula since then. However, I just
dripped a few drops of VB onto a piece of wet paper towel, and another
couple of drops into some running water, and under those conditions,
both red and blue undertones *are* visible! Very slight, very
distant, but unmistakable. As opposed to the Noodler's, which, even
diluted, doesn't exhibit any color at all.

I'm happy with Noodler's, but it's good to know that VB isn't what it used
to be.

--
~~Bluesea~~
Spam is great in musubi but not in email.
Please take out the trash before sending a direct reply.