Black ink is another main-stay for many pen users. The three blacks are very close in tone, basically offer the same writing experience in terms of ink performance.
Overall, Onyx Black is the one colour that I am currently using the most.
Not part of the regular line, the Diamine Registrar's Black has ferro-gallic content, that this gives this ink its permanent qualities, but that comes at a price. Ferro-gallic ink is corrosive so I am not sure I would be putting that in some of my upper lines of pens.
JET BLACK
I like this colour. It has good flow and a good dark tone. There is no under colour that comes out, even when writing with a very broad nib.
In testing this in with various pens it is a very good performing ink.
I gave the ink a water test and I was impressed, the ink held to the paper. There was some smearing, as to be expected, but all of the ink did not just lift off the paper.
I wrote a line of text, waited five seconds, and then dipped my finger into a cup of water and ran the wet finger across the text. Not bad.
Colour swatch from the Diamine Ink web site is faily consistent with the actual colour of the ink.
ONYX BLACK
This is another great black ink by Diamine.
It has a very dark colour tone with no undertones of other colours - even when writing with a broad nib where a very heavy line of ink is on the paper.
The ink is smooth flowing and dries relatively fast on the paper. I have tried this ink with various nib widths and it has very good performance.
The ink is not waterproof, but to see how this ink reacts with water I gave it a water test.
After writing, I waited about five seconds, dipped my finger into a cup of water water and then ran the finger across the text. I was impressed. Yes there is smearing, as to be expected, but the ink hung to the paper.
Colour swatch from Diamine Web Site shows a lighter colour.
QUARTZ BLACK
This is another tone in the black series from Diamine. It is dark and rich, no undertones.
I have been using this colour for some time and enjoy it very much. It is good flow as well as reasonable drying time.
Currently I must admit Ihave been using Onyx Black the most but I will spend more time with this ink soon.
Colour swatch from Diamine Web Site to the right:
GREY
This grey has good character. I find that I use this colour more for personal notes and cards as opposed to business purposes.
The colour looks very good on cream paper. It has a very distrinctive look.
This is one of the best grey inks that I have used because of tone and colour saturation.
I am using it in broad nib or stub nib pens, and I am a "heavy" writer in terms of the pressure on the nib. The ink flows and takes more than 10 seconds to dry. This is a little longer than some of the other Diamine colours.
Colour swatch from Diamine Web Site is fairly representative of the colour of the ink in actual use.