The decision of Sheaffer to discontinue the Skrip line left me scrambling to find replacements. I use all kinds of black inks in my pens, from Kaweco, Pilot, Sailor (I quite love Gentle Black), Platinum (carbon black is another favorite), Monteverde . et al..But Sheaffer had a very special place on my shelf. It was THE black ink that i used in any pen, regardless of vintage or how long i was planning on leaving it in there. I knew it would flow easily, wash out easily and give me a dark black line. I’ve used it since i was a boy in old Sheaffer pens, from the mid90s flat top range (which were the first such pens i used), to Parkers, Vintage pens of all kinds. I’ve just never had trouble with this ink.I never was easily able to find a replacement. Parker Quink Black is a very easy ink to clean but is not terribly dark, even as it is very wet. Herbin Perle is gorgeous but i find it tends to dry out very quickly and it is so saturated, i try to use it very quickly in vintage pens. Pelikan, i initially bought to use in pens that have noticeable nib creep, but it is such a phenomenal ink, I’ve just switched bit by bit, to using it in everything. It isn’t as dry an ink as i assumed it would be; nevertheless, in pens with very light flow, i find this ink actually shades up a bit. It’s super dark, matte-black normally. It writes smoothly in every pen i’ve tried. Funnily, Pelikan Blue-Black has taken Skrip Blue-Black’s place on my shelf as well. It’s every bit as good (if not better).I should mention waterfastness, or “bulletproofness” is not something i typically look for in an ink. I don’t care in the slightest for such properties – I actively seek inks that don’t have these properties – i just use these inks as daily writers, and so weigh my opinions accordingly. For anyone with a vintage pen collection trying to avoid more alkaline Japanese inks and looking for a nice dark black which won’t dry out in a sac or aerometric convertor, this is really the first (and maybe only) ink you should need.
