Sailor Jentle Blue Black Ink Review

If it hasn't become clear by this point let me lay it out for you in no uncertain terms: I love blue black ink. I use it in every style of pen where it is available, especially fountain pens. Why? Anyone can use a basic blue or black ink. Using blue black shows that you put a little extra thought into your ink selection while still keeping it sane. I love wild, vivid colors as much as everyone else, but for daily use it is blue black all the way.

Sailor Jentle Blue Black is one of the recent additions to my ink collection and it has me perplexed. It is a well respected ink and is highly rated by many. For me, I think I am having a hard time coming to grips with where the color falls in respect to the other blue black inks I use regularly.

As I look at the pictures now I think the shade of blue black looks fantastic, but I distinctly recall more of a "meh" feeling when first inking the page. It is possible I didn't get the proper perspective by judging the ink immediately - there are often changes the longer ink sits. I want that initial satisfaction though, which I do get from other inks. Do you wait a certain amount of time before rating your inks?

I will be giving Sailor Jentle Blue Black a longer look in a wider variety of pens, especially finer nibs. That too makes a difference in how much I like a particular ink. I have been swayed by performance in an EF nib more than once and I look forward to seeing what else this ink can do.

(JetPens is an advertiser on The Pen Addict and I received this product at no charge.)

Ink Links

-- Noodler's Rome Burning (Inkdependence!)

-- Signo e Signo: RT Showdown (The Well-Appointed Desk)

-- Feathers And Pens (Goodwriterspens's Blog)

-- Landmade Cork Journals With Cork Paper and Covers (OfficeSupplyGeek)

-- First Impressions – TWSBI Notebook (inktronics)

-- Leuchtturm 1917 Notebook Review (Write to Me Often)

-- A Tale of Two Nibs: Lamy Safari Neon Yellow (2013 LE) (From the Pen Cup)

-- Word Lined Notebooks - Swedish Camo (Gourmet Pens: Review)

-- My Fountain Pen Evolution (Fountain Pen Quest)

-- Karas Kustoms - Render K White Delrin (The Clicky Post)

-- Review: Iroshizuku Asa Gao Ink (Comfortable Shoes Studio)

-- Pelikan M300 Black inked with Noodler’s The Blue Nose Bear (JustDaveyB)

-- Uni Mitsubishi Pure Color-F Double-Sided Sign Pen (A Penchant for Paper)

-- Mac Travelling – My Entire Setup In Overview (SimplicityBliss)

-- Daily survival kit (these beautiful pens)

-- Cue the Imperial March (Leigh Reyes)

-- Memorandum Card | World's Tiniest Notebook (Brian's Backpacking Blog)

-- Star Wars Pen Wrap (inktronics)

-- TWSBI Vac 700 Fountain Pen (Ed Jelley)

-- Pilot's Safety (Crónicas Estilográficas)

Field Notes and Doane Paper Fountain Pen Ink Testing

I finally got around to doing a little testing with my fountain pens in Field Notes and Doane Paper notebooks like I've been swearing to do for months. I can't say there were any real surprises, but here are a few takeaways:

Field Notes America The Beautiful Edition

The Spring 2013 COLORS subscription release from Field Notes is what got me interested in doing this test due to the thicker 70# Finch “Soft White” paper. As expected, it handled the sampling of inks I threw at it very well. There was little feathering, and virtually no bleed through the back of the page. This is a nice upgrade to the standard Field Notes paper.

Field Notes Red Blooded

Speaking of the standard Field Notes paper, the stock Red Blooded Edition uses Finch Paper Opaque Smooth 50# Bright White. I have good luck with my ultra fine nibs on this paper, but as the nib gets wider the feathering becomes more noticeable. There is also more bleed through to the back of the page, rendering it useless if you like to write on both sides. Others report using wide nibs with success but I'm not seeing the same results.

Doane Paper Utilty Journal

Being the genius that I am, I cleaned some of the fountain pens I had inked before testing them in the Doane Paper Utility Journal. I think the 80# Text Stock 100% recycled pages handled my pens wonderfully. Writing felt smooth and clean with no feathering and only slight bleed through to the back.

Conclusion

With the rare exception, notebook manufacturers don't put fountain pen friendly paper high on their spec list for pocket sized notebooks. Which is the best notebook for fountain pens? This test is far from exhaustive, but from these three popular models I prefer the Doane Utility Journal. I thought it had the cleanest overall writing performance. America The Beautiful is right there performance-wise if you prefer lines over grid + lines, with the Red Blooded (and other stock Field Notes) further down the list.

As manufacturers keep making them, I'll keep testing them. Stay tuned!