Jump to content

Noodler's Baystate Blue - comprehensive review


WhosYerBob

Recommended Posts

What a marvelous approach to reviewing inks. Thanks ever so much.

 

BSB sure is a good news-bad news ink. I ruined a linen summer sports coat when the pen's cap came unscrewed in the breast inside pocket; the dry cleaner said they'd never seen anything like it. Also made the mistake of letting my spouse fill her pen with it which then was dribbled over the maple flooring (and I tried alcohol, bleach, etc., and two years later, its still prominent). It feathers on papers where no other ink (out of maybe twenty) has caused a problem and does fine on some previously problematic papers.

 

As many have noted above, if you like the colour, and I do, nothing else is in its league. It seems worth living with the difficulties given how it sings on the right paper.

first fountain pen: student Sheaffer, 1956

next fountain pen: Montblanc 146 circa 1990

favourite ink: Noodler's Zhivago

favourite pen: Waterman No. 12

most beautiful pen: Conway Stewart 84 red with gold veins, oh goodness gracious

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 65
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

  • DaveBj

    6

  • WhosYerBob

    3

  • Strombomboli

    3

  • kiavonne

    2

Top Posters In This Topic

Posted Images

"As many have noted above, if you like the colour, and I do, nothing else is in its league. It seems worth living with the difficulties given how it sings on the right paper. "

I agree wholeheartedly. Anyone who really loves this ( and many who may be undecided ) should bite the bullet and sacrifice as inexpensive a pen as possible to do this dye justice. I have never come across a better blue in my humble view.

Just gotta always be careful about jackets and carpets etc.

Live Long and Prosper.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I love the color. I usually don't like blue, but this is my one exception.

 

I don't mind the staining. I always try to be careful, so the most I've done is splash a little on a cheap wooden TV tray. (My hands also looked like I slaughtered a smurf the first time I used an eyedropper with it.)

 

The two biggest faults I've seen are the feathering and the way it soaks through most papers. Even my expensive papers have some feathering and bleed-through. On the better papers, the bleed through is little enough on the good papers that I don't mind. On cheaper papers, it makes the second side useless.

 

As noted above: it makes a fun color for correcting papers.

Proud resident of the least visited state in the nation!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My long awaited and much anticipated bottle of BSB arrived - and I immediately inked a Noodler's Konrad flex. Pretty disappointing as the ink wouldn't and still won't flow well. Scratchy and railroading. So I inked up a Safari with a broad nib. Seemed better initially, and the colour far more vibrant than in the Konrad. After a few light test runs, it seems the flow is drying up and the railroading becoming apparent. I love the colour and would happily use it in a daily writer, but the flow is killing me. Does anyone have any tips on how to improve/resolve this? I've read as many of the reviews as I can find, but can't seem to get much help.

 

Thanks in advance

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I love the colour and would happily use it in a daily writer, but the flow is killing me. Does anyone have any tips on how to improve/resolve this?

 

I don't use this ink, but I have tried it. The standard advice is to add some distilled water.

I know my id is "mhosea", but you can call me Mike. It's an old Unix thing.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 year later...

I inked up the Levenger that my son gave me, using a brand new converter, wrote the pen dry, and then flushed it. Everything came out squeaky clean and crystal clear. However, I didn't care for the color. If I'm going to use a blue ink, I want it to be BLUE, and for me, BSB comes out too close to black. I may try diluting the remainder of the sample that I have and see how that works. But so far I've managed to not get it on anything, so no staining.

Until you ink a pen, it is merely a pretty stick. --UK Mike

 

My arsenal, in order of acquisition: Sailor 21 Pocket Pen M, Cross Solo M, Online Calligraphy, Monteverde Invincia F, Hero 359 M, Jinhao X450 M, Levenger True Writer M, Jinhao 159 M, Platinum Balance F, TWSBI Classic 1.1 stub, Platinum Preppy 0.3 F, 7 Pilot Varsity M disposables refillables, Speedball penholder, TWSBI 580 USA EF, Pilot MR, Noodler's Ahab 1.1 stub, another Preppy 0.3, Preppy EF 0.2, ASA Sniper F, Click Majestic F, Kaweco Sport M, Pilot Prera F, Baoer 79 M (fake Starwalker), Hero 616 M (fake Parker), Jinhao X750 Shimmering Sands M . . .

31 and counting :D

 

DaveBj

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I used BSB for the first time the other day with a medium nib Jinhao, and I really didn't see anything special about it. It also took a while to clean out the tip of my converter and bathroom sink, so I don't think I'll be using it again.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If I'm going to use a blue ink, I want it to be BLUE, and for me, BSB comes out too close to black.

 

This is most interesting. In my pens, BSB is as blue as blue can be, I mean, it is the bluest blue there is. That's why I like it so much.

 

Do you write with very fine nibs? Could you post an image of it? I'd really like to see how BSB can be anything else but blue.

Iris

My avatar is a painting by Ilya Mashkov (1881-1944): Self-Portrait; 1911, which I photographed in the New Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

This is most interesting. In my pens, BSB is as blue as blue can be, I mean, it is the bluest blue there is. That's why I like it so much.

 

Do you write with very fine nibs? Could you post an image of it? I'd really like to see how BSB can be anything else but blue.

Yes, I do use fine-to-medium nibs. I'll poke around and see if I can find something. I've written the pen dry and have flushed it out because I have more inks coming.

Until you ink a pen, it is merely a pretty stick. --UK Mike

 

My arsenal, in order of acquisition: Sailor 21 Pocket Pen M, Cross Solo M, Online Calligraphy, Monteverde Invincia F, Hero 359 M, Jinhao X450 M, Levenger True Writer M, Jinhao 159 M, Platinum Balance F, TWSBI Classic 1.1 stub, Platinum Preppy 0.3 F, 7 Pilot Varsity M disposables refillables, Speedball penholder, TWSBI 580 USA EF, Pilot MR, Noodler's Ahab 1.1 stub, another Preppy 0.3, Preppy EF 0.2, ASA Sniper F, Click Majestic F, Kaweco Sport M, Pilot Prera F, Baoer 79 M (fake Starwalker), Hero 616 M (fake Parker), Jinhao X750 Shimmering Sands M . . .

31 and counting :D

 

DaveBj

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have used BSB in nibs ranging from gnats eyelash extra fine to 1.5 italic

Always blue blue (maybe a hint of purple) if you are getting black, there is an issue, but it may not be the ink.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have used BSB in nibs ranging from gnats eyelash extra fine to 1.5 italic

Always blue blue (maybe a hint of purple) if you are getting black, there is an issue, but it may not be the ink.

I dunno. It was a brand new converter, and I had thoroughly flushed the feed and nib. It was very dark through the whole converter-full.

Until you ink a pen, it is merely a pretty stick. --UK Mike

 

My arsenal, in order of acquisition: Sailor 21 Pocket Pen M, Cross Solo M, Online Calligraphy, Monteverde Invincia F, Hero 359 M, Jinhao X450 M, Levenger True Writer M, Jinhao 159 M, Platinum Balance F, TWSBI Classic 1.1 stub, Platinum Preppy 0.3 F, 7 Pilot Varsity M disposables refillables, Speedball penholder, TWSBI 580 USA EF, Pilot MR, Noodler's Ahab 1.1 stub, another Preppy 0.3, Preppy EF 0.2, ASA Sniper F, Click Majestic F, Kaweco Sport M, Pilot Prera F, Baoer 79 M (fake Starwalker), Hero 616 M (fake Parker), Jinhao X750 Shimmering Sands M . . .

31 and counting :D

 

DaveBj

Link to comment
Share on other sites

@DaveBj, I have to agree with the other posters - BSB is so garishly blue it borders on purple. I've never seen it write dark enough to border on black - unless your sample has been mislabelled, is contaminated, or has somehow gone off???

Link to comment
Share on other sites

@DaveBj, I have to agree with the other posters - BSB is so garishly blue it borders on purple. I've never seen it write dark enough to border on black - unless your sample has been mislabelled, is contaminated, or has somehow gone off???

I'm going to try it again, and I'm going to flush the pen until . . . I was about to say something naughty, but never mind. The important thing about my comment a few spaces up was that I had thought that it might stain the inside of the converter, but it didn't, not at all.

Until you ink a pen, it is merely a pretty stick. --UK Mike

 

My arsenal, in order of acquisition: Sailor 21 Pocket Pen M, Cross Solo M, Online Calligraphy, Monteverde Invincia F, Hero 359 M, Jinhao X450 M, Levenger True Writer M, Jinhao 159 M, Platinum Balance F, TWSBI Classic 1.1 stub, Platinum Preppy 0.3 F, 7 Pilot Varsity M disposables refillables, Speedball penholder, TWSBI 580 USA EF, Pilot MR, Noodler's Ahab 1.1 stub, another Preppy 0.3, Preppy EF 0.2, ASA Sniper F, Click Majestic F, Kaweco Sport M, Pilot Prera F, Baoer 79 M (fake Starwalker), Hero 616 M (fake Parker), Jinhao X750 Shimmering Sands M . . .

31 and counting :D

 

DaveBj

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I inked up the Levenger that my son gave me, using a brand new converter, wrote the pen dry, and then flushed it. Everything came out squeaky clean and crystal clear. However, I didn't care for the color. If I'm going to use a blue ink, I want it to be BLUE, and for me, BSB comes out too close to black. I may try diluting the remainder of the sample that I have and see how that works. But so far I've managed to not get it on anything, so no staining.

 

I just got a letter from you and noticed how dark your writing is. My Baystate Blue is nothing like this, so I wonder what happened?

Proud resident of the least visited state in the nation!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well I would have loved to own this ink but I am disgusted to find that it is not for sale anywhere in the UK.

I can buy it from the states but it would end up costing $20 more than it should and for that money I could get 250 ml of Diamine.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

@DaveBJ: Maybe you could produce a sample for us with a little strip of paper which you would put into the bottle and then unto paper. (Sorry for my clumsy description, I can't remember the English word right now.) Thus, we could see, if the ink looks like Baystate Blue and so decide if the problem has got to do with your bottle or with the pen.

Edited by Strombomboli

Iris

My avatar is a painting by Ilya Mashkov (1881-1944): Self-Portrait; 1911, which I photographed in the New Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I don't use this ink, but I have tried it. The standard advice is to add some distilled water.

 

I recommend an EF nib. I just used one this morning [Nemosine Singularity/EF] to test BSB on eleven paper samples: Clairefontaine, Rhodia, Fabriano Ecoqua, 32lb HP Premium Choice, 24lb HP Laserjet, Tomoe River, Black N' Red, Staples Double Pad [yellow][Egypt], Costco/Tops yellow pad [uSA], Staples Filler [brazil], and Up&Up Reinforced Filler [Argentina]. (By the way, these are abbreviated tests: four lines of writing per pen-ink combo; but they tell me what I need to know when I'm trying to match pen to ink to paper.) Except for the severe show-through and/or partial bleed-through on all but one [staples Filler!] of the cheap papers, I found BSB to be surprisingly well behaved. Only one paper suffered feathering [up&Up, Target's brand], and it was so slight I had to squint to see it.

I love the smell of fountain pen ink in the morning.

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

post-112166-0-75256800-1407171184_thumb.jpg

Until you ink a pen, it is merely a pretty stick. --UK Mike

 

My arsenal, in order of acquisition: Sailor 21 Pocket Pen M, Cross Solo M, Online Calligraphy, Monteverde Invincia F, Hero 359 M, Jinhao X450 M, Levenger True Writer M, Jinhao 159 M, Platinum Balance F, TWSBI Classic 1.1 stub, Platinum Preppy 0.3 F, 7 Pilot Varsity M disposables refillables, Speedball penholder, TWSBI 580 USA EF, Pilot MR, Noodler's Ahab 1.1 stub, another Preppy 0.3, Preppy EF 0.2, ASA Sniper F, Click Majestic F, Kaweco Sport M, Pilot Prera F, Baoer 79 M (fake Starwalker), Hero 616 M (fake Parker), Jinhao X750 Shimmering Sands M . . .

31 and counting :D

 

DaveBj

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Oh, what a relief! Now you know, what BSB is all about, and it's good to hear that you like it.

Iris

My avatar is a painting by Ilya Mashkov (1881-1944): Self-Portrait; 1911, which I photographed in the New Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The sample posted above looks about the same blue as mine but the face-slapping brightness seems to have gotten lost in translation.

 

Tim

Tim

 timsvintagepens.com and @timsvintagepens

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now


  • Most Contributions

    1. amberleadavis
      amberleadavis
      43844
    2. PAKMAN
      PAKMAN
      33474
    3. Ghost Plane
      Ghost Plane
      28220
    4. inkstainedruth
      inkstainedruth
      26573
    5. jar
      jar
      26101
  • Upcoming Events

  • Blog Comments

    • Shanghai Knife Dude
      I have the Sailor Naginata and some fancy blade nibs coming after 2022 by a number of new workshop from China.  With all my respect, IMHO, they are all (bleep) in doing chinese characters.  Go use a bush, or at least a bush pen. 
    • A Smug Dill
      It is the reason why I'm so keen on the idea of a personal library — of pens, nibs, inks, paper products, etc. — and spent so much money, as well as time and effort, to “build” it for myself (because I can't simply remember everything, especially as I'm getting older fast) and my wife, so that we can “know”; and, instead of just disposing of what displeased us, or even just not good enough to be “given the time of day” against competition from >500 other pens and >500 other inks for our at
    • adamselene
      Agreed.  And I think it’s good to be aware of this early on and think about at the point of buying rather than rationalizing a purchase..
    • A Smug Dill
      Alas, one cannot know “good” without some idea of “bad” against which to contrast; and, as one of my former bosses (back when I was in my twenties) used to say, “on the scale of good to bad…”, it's a spectrum, not a dichotomy. Whereas subjectively acceptable (or tolerable) and unacceptable may well be a dichotomy to someone, and finding whether the threshold or cusp between them lies takes experiencing many degrees of less-than-ideal, especially if the decision is somehow influenced by factors o
    • adamselene
      I got my first real fountain pen on my 60th birthday and many hundreds of pens later I’ve often thought of what I should’ve known in the beginning. I have many pens, the majority of which have some objectionable feature. If they are too delicate, or can’t be posted, or they are too precious to face losing , still they are users, but only in very limited environments..  I have a big disliking for pens that have the cap jump into the air and fly off. I object to Pens that dry out, or leave blobs o
  • Chatbox

    You don't have permission to chat.
    Load More
  • Files






×
×
  • Create New...