Here's a sheet of black inks, scanned and color corrected. The writing is done with a offset copperplate dip nib, rinsed and dried between different inks. The large strokes are done with a Q-tip.

The paper is Advantage brand ink jet paper 24 pound weight and 94 brightness.

The Noodlers Polar Black is the original formulation. The Rotring Black is from a cartridge.

Enjoy /:)

Beautiful job, Kate! Very timely, too. I was taking inventory of my inks just yesterday and I realized my only black ink is Noodlers Black. Looks like it's time to do something about that.

Don (whose fountain pen moratorium doesn't extend to ink -- yet)

My Pleasure, I've the water soaked sample sheets drying now. Once they're dry enough to scan I'll add those too.

The only problem is that I was going through my inks figuring out which ones I wanted to sell. Now, of course, I want to keep all of them!

Does anyone know if PR Ultra Black is considered waterproof?

Thanks

Here's the same sample sheet after 10 minutes in cold water.

The black printing at the top is in Noodler's Polar Black.

I think it is, but I don't have it myself.

Has anyone else noticed feathering of the old Noodler's Polar Black? Does the reformulated version have this issue?

Also, My Noodler’s Black is probably a few years old and it seems to smear more easily than I'd like. Anyone else have this problem?

I guess it's a good excuse to try the Swishmix Nile ebony. I really like the two other colors I have from that line.

OT: Love the bunny avatar! Since we've moved to the country, we have a whole slew of bunnies camped out on our lawns every afternoon. Occasionally we find tiny bunny babies that their moms have stashed under wheelbarrows, bushes we're about to clear, and other strange places. Thank goodness this species doesn't burrow!

1. Shake it first.
2. Water down if necessary.

Hi David,

If I have to shake an ink, doesn't that mean it will precipitate out in my pen?

Thanks,
Kate

In my experience, it does not cause any problem in the pen - but my experience is limited to my own pens and is not over a great period of time. It seems to be not a precipitate, but something suspended. I have put this question directly to the maker of the ink, and got no response at all.
(What I asked him was: is this supposed to happen, or is there just something wrong with this bottle.)

If Nathan would come out and say either "you have to shake it, that's OK", or "the formula has been improved, get another bottle", I would feel better about it.

It does seem to be a common issue (just with the black, as far as I know), and no one I've seen has reported gunking problems with precipitation.

Hi David,

I hesitate to say this because first: you're quite generously trying to help me solve my problem, and second: as soon as I do I'll find out you're the 2005 Nobel Laureate in Chemistry.

If it's a suspension, like milk for example, there should be no precipitate. To separate the suspended solid from the liquid you'll have to spin it down, add something to the mix, etc. If you have to shake it up, it will probably just fall right out of the solvent as soon as it settles. I'd be hesitant to put it into my good pens, but since you've had no problems, far be it for me to tell you to fix something that's not broken.

-Kate, girl chemist

Thanks Kate!

Yeah, that's Clyde. She's (?!) my 8-year old French Lop. At some point, I'll swap that avatar for Smokey, the <1 year old Netherland Dwarf. (She's named after the Levenger ink. Very similar coloring.)

Rabbits are fun pets, but they sure can be destructive! Wouldn't have 'em any other way, though. :bunny1:

Don (sorry, had to do the dancing bunny in a bunny-related post)

She's an adorable little bundle of fur! Though, the red eyes make her look a tad satanic.

I didn't realize that bunnies were destructive. What kind of stuff do they do?

I have four horses who periodically trash fences, bend steel bars, send me to the emergency room, etc. Still, they're my girls, what can you do?

Hey, Don. Don't mean to hijack the thread, but can't resist showing you our latest bunny, Hannah, a half-lop (one ear permanently up, one permanently down). We adopted her from the NJ House Rabbit Society in June. She's 4 and past the destructive phase -- a bit shy and timid, but very sweet. We lost our two elder bunnies, Lester, 7, and Foster, 8, earlier this year, so Hannah was a very welcome addition. :bunny1: :bunny1: :bunny1:

P.S. Foster, of happy memory, is faintly visible in the upper lefthand corner.

I had the same problem with a bottle of Noodler's Black. And I too shook the bottle a bit and it has been working fine ever since, and in different pens. I asked Nathan and he told me that his "bulletproof" black is a lattice ink. And if there is a few temperature changes, which happened to some batches, then the lattice structure is disturbed. Shaking the bottle reconstitutes the lattice structure. That is his explanation as he understands the chemistry at this time. If you don't trust the ink please return it to retailer you purchased it from for a new bottle. And let them know of your problem, so they can relay it to Nathan.

I find I need to shake my bottle of Noodlers Eternal Brown. It doesn't seem to have any problems in my pens, though.

The irritating problem is after I shake it, I open the bottle and the top is all bubbly. Sort of like a head on a glass of beer but not that thick or fine. I find I have to wait for the head to go down or I stir it around with the nib so I can find the right depth for the nib to suck up the ink. No big deal but just another little fountain pen irritation I've come to expect.

Andy

Instead of actually shaking it try turning it end over end a few times. It worked with my bottle of black.

First, Hannah is adorable!

Secondly, what exactly is a lattice structure? It sounds very cool and high tech, but my brain is having trouble with the structured liquid concept. Please explain in clear, easy, monosyllabic words.

Thanks,
Kate

Kate,
I'm no chemist, but a sort of biochemist. So this is a little out of my field. However, I don't think "lattice" is the right term. To me, a lattice refers to something crystalline. Of course, there are things called "liquid crystals" (in LCDs, for example), but somehow I can't quite grasp how a liquid ink could be the same as that.

Maybe it's something similar to a suspension of two or more somewhat immiscible components. Maybe not quite as immiscible as oil and water? There need be no precipitate, but the mixture would tend to separate into layers over a very long time. Remixing would then restore the original suspension, like shaking a salad dressing. The key is a very long time required for separation, unlike salad dressing.

Don

On second thought, maybe Nathan's inks really do have a microcrystalline structure. The crystals would be very small and somewhat unstable, so they're always balanced between growing and shrinking. Over time, you might get some stratification depending on different sizes of these microcrystals that might have slightly different densities. So instead of a hard interface between two layers (oil and vinegar) if the ink is undisturbed for a very long time, you would have a smooth gradient of densities. It would be very easy to remix such a gradient.

Just thought I'd mention that I've started a "Bunny Love" thread under chatter for ongoing rabbit discussions.

On black ink; I've ordered up some Aurora Black and PR Ultra Black. I'll see if I can speak definitively to the water-fastness of the Ultra Black very soon. Maybe a mini-black ink comparison.

Don

Okay folks, here's the first pass at my black ink mini-comparison. I wrote a few words using Noodler's Eternal Black, Private Reserve Ultra Black, and Aurora Black. I tried out each using a Sensa Meridian fine point (which always writes for me more like a medium), flushing and drying the pen completely between trials.

The paper is the 32-pound HP LaserJet paper that folks have been endorsing in another thread.

I've just scanned the image in and posted it. I don't know anything about any high-falutin' color correction.

I have the paper soaking in cold water for ten minutes, attempting to be as consistent as possible with Kate's method. I'll post the results after the page dries out.

I have a full-size (2548x3300) scanned image if anybody wants to take a closer look, but I'm posting a much smaller (450x583) version to make life easier for the broadband-challenged.

Don

Thanks for the comparison! Never came around to checking what I have always thought: that Rotring Brilliant Black is the "best" black around for me.

Alas, it is not available in bottles...

Do you bunny people have your bunnies in the house? Are they caged or running free? Just curious. My vet told me in all seriousness that she once had a very neat bunny who was trained to do its business in the toilet. Do you think she was pulling my leg???

Judybug

Judybug -

My rabbits run free, for the most part. In general, it seems that rabbits pretty much pick one place to do their thing and you can work around that. I've had good success letting rabbits pick their spots, putting a litter box (with aspen chips) there, then gradually moving it to where I wanted it to be.

I'm not sure the toilet thing would work out. I'd mostly be afraid that the little rabbit would fall in!

Don

Most likely Black Tailed Jack Rabbit (not a rabbit, a hare), long rangy things that weigh in from three to seven pounds with long ears. If they have short ears and are rounded and compact they might be Desert Cotton Tails or Bush Rabbits. They are all pests and carry rabbit feaver and are best not handled. The big jacks will eat up to a pound and a half of any vegetation they can get too. Easiest way to control them these days (California's loonies have put all kinds of restrictions on pest management) is too have a good sized dog or large cats outside the house.

Okay, here's the black ink mini-comparison after the 10-minute soak in cold water.

The Noodler's is almost competely unfazed. The PR Ultra Black got fairly smudgey, but it's still quite readable. The Aurora black also survived pretty well, with a bit of smudging and fading, but again very readable.

Again, I have a full-sized image available for anybody who's interested, but here's a small version.

Don

Thanks to both of you for the tests. It has helped me decide which ink I should use in my check writting pens.

Ryan

Hi.

Thank you for you test. I have a few questions about the Noodler black ink.

1 - Does this ink dry fast.
2- Where can I buy it.
3- Is it very expensive compared to other black inks. I write about 100 pages every month with my fountain pen.
4 - Can I use it with my Waterman Carene fountain pen. Is it compatible? (Maybe this is a stupid question ink is ink you may say but I am a new to FP's so better ask than to be sorry).

thanks.

1. Yes (in my opinion, although it does depend somewhat on the paper and how much ink your pen puts out -- as with all inks)
2. Online at Pendemonium and at Swisher Pens, as well as other vendors on the Web.
3. About the same per ounce as other black inks, although it does come in a 3 oz bottle, so the per bottle price is higher. Well worth it, in my opinion, for its waterproof and bulletproof qualities.
4. Yes

How about bleeding or does bleeding more to do with the paper quality?

Thanks for posting this comparsion, very helpful. I was amazed in the water soaking portion how much the MB ink disappeared.

Noodler's Black was designed to perform well on newsprint (originally formulated, so the story goes, for an attorney who wanted to do the newspaper crossword in fountain pen). I've had no trouble with it feathering on most paper, although there are always exceptions.

You can always take advantage of James' offer at Pear Tree Pens -- samples of four inks for four bucks. Make one of the samples Noodler's Black. Offer is posted at http://shop.peartreepens.com/product.sc?pr...mp;categoryId=5

Sorry Folks, I'm way over my attachment limit. You can still see the scans here:

Black Inks