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Noodler's Rattler Red


ccajackson

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I am finally getting a chance to write a review of Rattler Red, in Noodler's American Eel line. I bought the Eel Blue, and liked it very much. I borrowed a sample of the Rattler Red from my father to give it a go during Christmas card season. While I liked the color, I found the drying properties troublesome for me; this is something I didn't notice in the Eel Blue. The two scans are the written review, the first on Clairefontaine Triomphe tablet paper and the second scan on cheap-o paper.

 

post-15683-1234836417_thumb.jpg

The "14 hour" mark in blue actually is 14 hours after writing. [Edit: in the written review, it should say "...without gushing...", not "with"]

 

post-15683-1234836434_thumb.jpg

 

The spots you see in the white space correspond to a phrase written on the back of the sheet ("Bleed-through example") to demonstrate the bleed-through. It may not come out as well in the scan. (Edit: I notice it well with adjusting the tilt of my lap-top monitor)

 

In the end, I truly like the color and the line properties, but I would only use the ink on very porous paper, because the long drying time on better paper is frustrating. I used the ink to address an envelope of 25% cotton bond, and even after an hour or so, I could not wax it (for water-resistance) without smearing. Meaning, it will likely not find a lot of use in my rotation.

Edited by ccajackson

Finally he said, "Well, the hours are good..."

..."So the hours are pretty good then?" [Ford] resumed.

The Vogon stared down at him as sluggish thoughts moiled around in the murky depths.

"Yeah," he said, "but now you come to mention it, most of the actual minutes are pretty lousy."

 

-- H2G2

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Thank you for the review -- the colour is great, but, like you, I would find the slow drying time bothersome.

Edited by Peter from Sherwood Park
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Very nice color. I would expect a longer drying time on Clairefontaine Triomphe, but this is ridiculous. Thanks for the review.

Regards,

 

Ray

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Very nice washable red, with the usual drying time issue & nib creep of the brand. As you mention, on regular paper bleeds through and on more dense one just doesn't dry. I received a sample that allowed an M to try it only once, though. Lovely handwriting!. Thanks for the review.

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Very nice washable red, with the usual drying time issue & nib creep of the brand. As you mention, on regular paper bleeds through and on more dense one just doesn't dry. I received a sample that allowed an M to try it only once, though. Lovely handwriting!. Thanks for the review.

 

Interesting, that you noticed much nib creep with this ink. Even with the pen sitting idle for a few days, I had little-to-none...maybe a bit of coloring on either tine. I have only tried the ink in one pen (the Retro51, broad nib), so I don't know if I would get more creeping with another pen. As compared to, say, Galileo Brown or Legal Lapis (which tend to coat my pen nibs), Rattler Red remained behaved for me. A classic case of YMMV!

 

Cheers,

C-C

Finally he said, "Well, the hours are good..."

..."So the hours are pretty good then?" [Ford] resumed.

The Vogon stared down at him as sluggish thoughts moiled around in the murky depths.

"Yeah," he said, "but now you come to mention it, most of the actual minutes are pretty lousy."

 

-- H2G2

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I don't use any ink that creeps long enough to compare, but, yes, they are some much worst than others. Makes me nervous, takes all the aesthetic pleasure out of seeing the nib perform its clean-cut dance against the paper and is just not what I think a product thought for using it in fountain pens should be. For me an ink is much more than just the color. However my sample was good enough just for a 3/4ths of a c/c, and the nib was a Reform M with what I would say is a 7 or 8 out of 10 in the wetness scale. When the ink took forever (literally) to dry on Oxford paper -like Clairefontaine- I test it on Miquel Ríus, which is excellent for slow drying inks as it takes the ink very well, and even there the bleeding and the drying were no good. But the color was very nice.....

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  • 5 months later...

Many thanks for the review!! I love the colour - it's grown on me. I like the shading, too. Could I use it for letters, though? So far it has served only as a means of correcting manuscripts. I'm using this ink to make marks on a PhD thesis at the moment, and I have to say that it dries for me in a few seconds. There is some bleedthrough, but that's only to be expected. I've also tried Rattler Red on Rhodia and, while it is just a fraction lighter than the review on drying, it still dries in seconds. I'm wondering if the drying time has something to do with relative levels of humidity. Here in Melbourne, which has typical humidity of 45-55%, Rattler Red dries very quickly. However, if I lived in Auckland (or Sydney or Brisbane, more particularly) with humidity at around 80-90%, I'd probably have to endure the same nightmarish drying times some of you guys are reporting.

 

That said, I notice that it takes my Aircorps and Noodlers Black a little while to dry here - even longer than the Rattler Red. :hmm1:

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  • 8 months later...

Nice review and a great looking red, thanks, shame about the drying time.

Edited by Ed Ronax

And how can this be, because he is the Kwisatz Haderach.

 

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  • 9 years later...

Not wanting to create a new thread. But I purchased this ink, and like others have stated, it does not dry!!!

 

Lovely color, but wow, it does not dry.

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Beautiful color, thank you for the review.

 

I heard Nathan Tardif say in one of his videos that he thought getting particularly "nice" paper shouldn't be a requirement for the use of fountain pens... You've demonstrated that very nicely :D

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I heard Nathan Tardif say in one of his videos that he thought getting particularly "nice" paper shouldn't be a requirement for the use of fountain pens...

Not Rattler Red related but I found out that the worst offenders re. feathering and line widening (Prime of the Commons, 54th MA and similar bulletproofs non-black) do not suffer from crappy paper as badly as do other inks. Example: Lamy Azurite is nice on nice paper and terrible on terrible paper, but Prime of the Commons is bad on nice paper and not so worse on terrible paper. I appreciate the Noodlers' ruggedness!

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Yes; after all I think one of the example Tardif gave as his inspiration for creating bulletproof inks was doing crosswords in a newspaper - the worst paper there is... As soon as my Noodler's ink arrive, I'll make sure I have always one pen inked with it so I can use in the different workplaces where paper always sucks (when they have paper at all...)

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Yes; after all I think one of the example Tardif gave as his inspiration for creating bulletproof inks was doing crosswords in a newspaper - the worst paper there is... As soon as my Noodler's ink arrive, I'll make sure I have always one pen inked with it so I can use in the different workplaces where paper always sucks (when they have paper at all...)

 

Make sure it is not Rattler Red. Since it will not dry on quality paper and feather and bleed on cheap paper.

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Very nice color. I would expect a longer drying time on Clairefontaine Triomphe, but this is ridiculous. Thanks for the review.

Great colour and review.

 

There is no max drying time on Clairefontaine, not fun for this lefty.

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