Noodler's Ink Refills Borealis Black 3oz Bottled Ink - ND-19051

Creator of these inks is quite a guy. Had fun talking with him, and we were sharing technology with the products we produced. Inks worked well, as I had several colors in seven pens I own. If you use the pen often, they will write reliably. If they dry out at the tip, it's not hard to get them going again. I find a small mister bottle works better than dipping the tips in water. Either will work, though. Your challenge will be getting the ink out of the bottle once you draw the ink down below an easy dipping point. Keep some tissues handy, and suggest wearing latex surgical gloves until you get it all done.

Noodler's Borealis Black is a black-as-pitch ink... but only when used with a fine nib. When using medium nibs or on poorly matched paper it does tend to come out grayer and feather more than you would expect.Comparison:-Lamy Safari Medium nib w/ Noodler's Borealis Black-Pilot Metropolitan Fine nib w/ Namiki (Pilot-brand black) ink-Pilot Metropolitan Fine nib w/ Noodler's Borealis Black...in all tests, I was writing in a Moleskine cahier journal which I think is a fair test of quality daily writing paper.I first put the Borealis in my Lamy Safari since it had run dry between uses. Washed it out, filled it up, and it went on like liquid magic was spilling out of the pen. The ink remained wet for long enough that you need to air it out for perhaps 20 seconds before shutting your notebook. I got quite a bit of gray especially at low pressure. I therefore ejected the Namiki cartridge out of my Pilot Metro, washed it, and went to work with a finer nib. Now this is ink! The pilot went from its Namiki state of sputtering and scrawling like a cheap Bic, to fluid-smooth perfection with the Borealis. The Metro + fine nib + Borealis is an absolute dream. Goes on wet as crude oil, dries dark as night, butter smooth writing, and reliable as your favorite boots.Results:-Lamy Safari Medium nib w/ Noodler's Borealis Black: Grays quite a bit at the edges, even in a Moleskine notebook. Still goes on smooth and writes like a dream, but the results don't justify the brand reputation. Acceptable for daily writing.-Pilot Metropolitan Fine nib w/ Namiki (Pilot-brand black) ink: Scratchy, fits and starts, looks cheap due to poor flow, but writes reliably enough once it's in the groove and dries to a decent gray-black. Makes you question why Metro pens have such a reputation. Fine for note-taking and as a backup, but doesn't impress.-Pilot Metropolitan Fine nib w/ Noodler's Borealis Black: The stuff of fantasy. Now you understand what a Pilot Metro can do. Put this back-to-back with most high-end fountain pens and the casual observer will be hard-pressed to tell why you should pay more. Perfection. Dries rapidly, and looks marvelous.Overall:Borealis is absolutely the perfect daily ink for most people who want a deep, black ink when writing with fine nibs. As for additional features: Borealis is a "water-resistant", meaning it will resist a casual splash and remain readable. That's it. Just a good, basic ink for fine nibs and nothing more. I really love it, and only wish it dealt with broad nibs a little better. I'll have to find another ink for my medium nib.

Noodler's inks are a long time favorite of mine and they make even the cheapest nibs write like butter. In this photo I'm writing with a nib that cost me 10 cents, seriously. It's not an absolutely -pitch-black shade writing in such large letters, but the finer the nib the darker the ink will look. Can't wait to try it with my fine nibs.

Price per milliliter is crazy low. One of the best values in fountain pen inks right now. Typical stuff with any ink, fountain pen hygiene is important, feathers on non-fountain pen friendly papers, for me larger nib = larger line size = larger punch of color. Nice black but darn it, just not the black that I was looking for. For the $ per milliliter so low and the color, would recommend.

First, a warning: like others have written, Noodlers filled this bottle almost to the very top, so care should be taken the first time you remove the cap of any of their inks.I filled my TWSBI Eco fine-nib pen with the Borealis Black ink and found it does indeed write with a good flow and dry quickly. I wrote a line with it on a sheet of copier paper and found no smearing when I slid my hand over it within a few seconds after writing it.As for the color, the ink is so black, it threatened to suck this solar system and several others into it when I was done writing. If you want a good black, you can't go wrong with this one save for its potential cosmic consequences. Highly recommended.

Noodler's inks are wonderful and this is no exception. I hesitated to buy it, thinking it would look like a washed-out black. How exciting could that be? So I was pleasantly surprised when it arrived. This is grey, truly like battleship grey. It's not a faded black, but a color in its own right. Using it is a pleasure. It flows freely and, though I'm usually opposed to inks with shading (in other words, when an ink stroke shows both light and dark areas in the stroke) but in this color, the shading looks great. It's like a special effect built into the ink. I love it.Grey may not be everyone's cup of tea, but if it appeals to you, this is a fine ink.

Remember to shake it! This is a deep black, blacker than gel or ballpoint black. It sheens like the violet boundary between the atmosphere and outer space. It takes forever to dry; either use a blotter or give it half an hour to dry. This is one of the few inks I dedicate a pen to.

This is a poor ad by Amazon. The picture is for Noodler's Lexington Gray. The description is for Borealis Black. Hard to tell what you would get with an order.I have the Lexington gray. As will all the other Noodler's inks I own, the performance is fantastic. It is just the gray I expected but I have found it a bit hard to read on anything but white paper. It also copies, faxes & scans poorly. Because of this, I unfortunately rarely ever use it.