Questions: what size nibs are you using? How many bottles of ink are you using in a year? Asking because I have yet to empty a bottle and still keep buying more ink. Oooops.

Diamine Oxford Blue is one of my favorite blues too. My Lamy 2000 is always inked up with it and the pairing is spectacular.

I purchased a Pilot 823 M recently and today got the Diamine Oxford Blue. Love love love the color. Thanks for saving me having to go on a hit and miss spending safari. It came as part of a set of 6 30mL bottles so I can check them all out. Your efforts are much appreciated.

Inks I would buy again... Noodler's Heart of Darkness. Really black, one that is water resistant and light resistant, and in my experience, one that is decently behaved from the brand. And my all-time favorite brown, so I'll be gutted if I can't get it anymore, 1940s Parker Quink washable brown, still currently widely available. Blue-blacks. I'm a big fan of iron gall blue-blacks. I have several currently, but for availability, I'd get more Diamine Registrar's Ink for my firehose Waterman's Taperite, or, for the same look, but not iron gall, I return to my roots, and use Sheaffer Skrip blue-black. Never been iron gall, one of the few to be able to claim that, looks like it on paper. Others, I'm still at an insane amount (I might have enough royal blue inks to float an aircraft carrier 😂, and that's the tip of the iceberg), but those are the only ones I think I'd keep buying. Right now. 😉

Diamine majestic blue, Sailor yonaga, and iroshizuku Kon peki are my top fav inks

Diamine Syrah to me, is perfect. A wine tone, that is so intoxicating. It is always in my Parker Sonnet.

Waterman Mysterious Blue, Diamine Blue Black, Aurora Blue Black and for black: Robert Oster Thunderstorm. However, as I transition from fine to broad nibs I’m going to explore lighter colors like oranges and pinks.

I have a few I use every day now: Diamine Oxford Blue is so good out of my Gravitas Ti pocket pen and it's the #8 nib that makes it even better for me; Diamine Writer's Blood is in my heki-taminuri Nakaya Dorsal Fin v2 and I've been using this ink since it's release, every other day and it's only now almost gone after over 2 years of writing. So this one ink in the same pen over 2 years; my Pilot Custom 823 'WA' nib gets Kon Peki and for a long time now has been using Pilot Blue ink. This is another bottle that is almost empty and has been used every day for almost 2 years as well. I won't buy it again yet as I still have Kon Peki to use up first; My Pilot VP Raden is filled with Tsuki Yo and this is my #1 ink of all time. I'm on the 4th bottle of this ink, however the nib of my VP is so fine I just love how the Tsuki Yo ink writes and looks on the paper; Kaweco Brass Sport 'B' gets Diamine Sherwood Green and the deep colour out of the broad nib is so good. This takes over the hold Montblanc Irish Green had on me for a very long time but the 'Crown' now goes to Sherwood Green; Gravitas Ultem with gold 'F' nib gets Diamine Ancient Copper. A nicely wet nib and the colour of ink is incredible on paper. What is the hold this ink has on me? It's wizardry, LOL. Also looks great in the Ultem material of the pen. Thanks Mick for another interesting look at inks 😄👍🏻

A few of my must have inks include GVFC Moss Green and Rohrer and Klingner Verdigris, Pilot blue black cartridges, Diamine’s Monaco Red, Blue Velvet and Oxford Blue

Diamine Turquoise is my everyday ink for work. It brings me joy to use it. I use Pelikan brilliant brown in my journal and diary. I would never be without either inks.

Just stumbled across this and I like the realistic way you put it, the inks you use enough to repurchase rather than "if you could only buy five inks FOREVER", you know how people do. My reliable ink that helps me tell how a pen is working is Pilot Iroshizuku Tsuki-Yo. It's really well behaved and I know how it should be flowing, so if it's NOT, something else is going on. Also it's blue, so your bank won't get mad at you, but it's still quite eye catching. One must have a red and mine WAS Parker Ruby and is now Robert Oster Muddy Dragon, both discontinued, because I'm batting a thousand. But I like the softer, mellow reds. Easier to read. I've already repurchased Diamine Seize the Night and it's only existed since 2021.

I love my Platinum Carbon Black, and TWSBI Blue Black - both being water resistant are a great plus.

Hi Mick I also like the Oxford Blue and it works very good with my Pilot 912 PO nib.

Pilot Iroshizuku Tsuki-Yo, Pure Pens Cadwaladr, Diamine Oxblood.

much to my surprise, have all your must have inks except tranquility which is difficult for me to get in UK: the closest I’ve got is Sailor yama-dori which I love too; my absolute favourite ink is Diamine imperial blue: if a pen won’t write well with this, the pen needs a new home as it’s not staying in my collection!:)

Just one so far... Noodler's Black. However, it smudges easily as it's pigment heavy. Handles poor and thin paper like a champ.

thanks for posting Mick

I love Oxford Blue!!! My go to black, though I hardly use black, is Aurora Black it is as dark as a black hole in space!

Inks I would buy again: Pilot Iroshizuku Ku-Jaku, Yama-Budo, Organics Studio Walden Pond, Diamine Writers Blood, Majestic Blue, Bormingham Pen Co Heron, Prickly Pear, Emerald Fusion. I'm sure there are others. Blacks include Aurora Black, Sailor Kiwaguro, Platimun Carbon Black.

Thanks Mick L! Serious inkage. Oxford Bleu is my "must have" encre. It's the only ink of which I bought a back-up bottle. Well,I did buy a huge bottle of Herbin Bleu Nuit to keep a smaller bottle topped off;it's a little boring but I love it! So delicate. Now I need to try some R.Oster Tranquility;looks great! Ditto "Thunderstorm". My black ink is Iro. take-sumi;seems to make very fine nibs write a bit wider. Diamine Eclipse is a nice almost-black...to my eye. Recently fell in love with Ancient Copper. I would feel safe trying any Diamine ink. Autumn Oak looks wonderful. Thanks to everyone who suggested their favorite inks!

Great video, and some good inks for me to look into.

Diamine Oxford Blue, Iroshizuku Yama-Budo, Waterman Mysterious Blue would buy again

Mick, thanks for this review. I'll have to try Robert Oster Tranquility. I love Robert Oster Deep Sea. How does tranquility compare to Deep Sea in terms of the colour properties? 1864 Blue-Black and Oxford Blue are favourites of mine in the Diamine line. I've never tried Syrah, but I love Oxblood.

Waterman Serenity Blue is an absolute must for any fountain pen user. Trouble shooting, testing, writing; it does whatever you need it to do. I run Serenity Blue through every new pen I get to learn about the nib and how it writes. It's my baseline observation, because like you, I know what I am dealing with, with this ink. I also like Diamine Oxfor Blue. I like the darker, navyish blues, but I am trying to figure out the difference between Oxford and Midnight Blue? I am still trying to find that signature blue, but Oxford is on the shortlist. I think Diamine Earl Grey and Ancient Copper will also make that forever ink list.

The Diamine 1864 is a nice ink. I still enjoy the Robert Oster Thunderstorm. I also like the Diamine Regency Blue, though, Visconti Blue is such a pure color.

I'm loving the Diamine Imperial Purple, I think you'd like it too. I'll be buying the 80ml bottle once I've used up this 30ml. I'm getting some Diamine Oxblood tomorrow, to use as my 'red' ink. The Diamine inks are very affordable and their colour range is outstanding. I don't really use blacks except where they are required, so I've also got some Platinum Carbon Black on the way as well.

The black ink I always keep inked for water resistance is DeAtramentis Document Black. I also use a lot of Aurora Black, although I just started trying Cross Black and now have a 62 ml bottle of that to get through. Other inks I would replace over and over are Rohrer and Klingner Verdigris (probably my number one ink), Pilot Iroshizuku Syo-ro, Diamine Dark Forest, DeAtramentis Aubergine, Kobe 32 Tamon Purple Grey, and Taccia Ebi Purple Red for my near-red contrast color. My favorite Robert Oster ink is Deep Sea, although I have many RO bottles in my collection.

I just ordered my first bottled ink, J. Herbin Calanque Blue along with the aqua colored Pilot Metropolitan that has a CM nib, will be trying it for writing and for drawing along with a bit of wet brush stuff. If what I've seen of the properties and color it will probably become an ink I can't live without.😊 Will also have to check out the Herbin black ink in the same line as I hear they are all VERY PEN SAFE and are the oldest ink brand in the western world.

Neat video topic, Mick. I also have more ink than I can possibly hope to finish in a lifetime. After some thought, I reckon that the five inks I would surely buy over again and again are the following: Aurora Black Sailor Souboku Sailor Okuyama Diamine Dark Forest J. Herbin Lie de The Another ink that I would buy all the time is Montegrappa Bordeaux. Sadly discontinued. But I think I saw it at Cult Pens recently. I must go check right now.

One of my favorite inks that I would buy again is KWZ Turquoise. The beautiful color plus the vanilla smell just soothes me. I would have to look through my inks to see what I love, but a lot has to do with what pen I’m using and what nib it has on it. I think I need to try Robert Oster Tranquility. I love his inks! Have you tried Robert Oster Grun Gilt? I love that one only all I presently have is a sample of it. I usually don’t go for shimmering inks, but this one just makes me think that it adds something special to a card or letter. Robert Oster inks are now selling for $28 per bottle here in the States.

For me that would be Noodlers Ex Feather Blue. It works superbly in my notary journal which has absorbent paper. I dont have any colors that i wouldn't buy again. So far i enjoy them all

I am yet to run out of an ink, but if I do it’ll probably be Kon-Peki.

Its sad that after listening and seeing how good and beautiful these inks are, I still do not know which of these are wet, viscous, and dry inks.

Some of these blues are fine, but….blue ad nauseam is meh. I’m into shading, and enjoy browns, orange and gray. The current preoccupation with shimmer annoys me, as does chrome-like sheen.

Are you excited about Platinum's chuo-kuro?

Sailor KiwaGuro, Namiki Black, J.Herbin Perle Noire

I'm waiting for my first inks (samples) to come in the mail. So excited to try them all.

I reckon your biased. Haha