Digital BW, The Print

I\ufffdve been using MIS Xtone inks for more then 2 years
first in refillable cartridges latter, on my Epson
1280 with CIS. The original quadtones I thought were
great inks but when I installed the CIS I was
recommended the FS inks. The only problem with FS was
that I had to spend time daily unclogging the black so
when it was time to buy a new set of inks I asked for
a more fluid mixture and was recommended (highly I
would add) the UltraTones.
It never made sense to me why people chose to colorize
(curves) B&W images before printing specially that
Photoshop allows for curves adjustments just before
printing (transfer functions) but I thought I should
try UT since i didn\ufffdt have a lot of choice anyway. At
the end of about 40 sheets of paper+ink and many hours
of testing I decided I\ufffdd rather run a cleaning cycle
on the printer daily and go back to FS inks. Of all
those 40 sheets of paper I got only one blueish (not
\ufffdcool\ufffd) fairly close to an acceptable print on Epson
Archival Matte. I tried all curves including the
dedicated one with Moab Fine Art Natural and the
results were from bad to worse.
It may sound as if I\ufffdm not being grateful to mr. Roark
for all the work he has put into creating this inkset
and curves for people to use without asking a penny in
return, not the case, I would admire such work even if
I wasn\ufffdt fully aware of what\ufffds involved. Could be a
bad set of inks or the paper or something.
What I don\ufffdt understand is why there isn\ufffdt a plain
Eboni based set of inks even if on the worm side
(change the paper and it could be on the green side).
Apparently the Ebony pigment/emulsion is superior to
the one used in FS. Why start the hard way with a new
ink specially that cool and worm shades can be so
subjective and depend on other factors besides the
ink. Does it make more sense trying to make a worm ink
look cool then perfecting a technique so that we get
best results with what is available?
I know the \ufffdone size fits all\ufffd sounds convenient and
despite my better judgment I went for it but given the
constant flow of new inks and papers and printers that
size can grow out of control. Somehow I feel the
constant state of experimenting (including the
expenses) is the goal, print making a byproduct.

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