Hello,

This is not so much a review of an ink as it is a report on the result of some tests of tenacity.

[Please note -- I will be posting and editing for a few minutes while I get all the images and markup squared away. If you see this while it is incomplete, please check back after a short while. . . . It's finished now.]

The Players

The following were tested on an index card, in the order of appearance:
Noodler's Bulletproof Black. This was used for labeling. -- Lamy Safari EF
Noodler's Polar Blue -- Lamy Safari EF
Noodler's Zhivago -- Lamy Safari F
Noodler's Firefly -- Lamy Safari F
Noodler's Legal Lapis -- Waterman Phileas M
Fisher Space ballpoint, black -- Fisher Space Millenium Mars
Cross ballpoint, red -- Cross ATX (?)
Mechanical Pencil: 0.5mm, HB hardness -- Pentel P205
Mechanical Pencil: 0.9 mm red -- Pentel P209
Cross rollerball (gel), blue -- Cross Townsend Selectip
Sharpie Ultra Fine Point, black -- Sharpie 37000 Permanent Marker
Cross ballpoint, black -- Cross ATX (?)
Cross ballpoint, blue -- Cross Century II
Unknown Staples ballpoint, blue -- looks like a rebranded Bic (?)
Cross rollerball (gel), black -- Cross Townsend Selectip
Noodler's Eternal Brown -- cotton swab
Noodler's Hunter Green -- cotton swab
Noodler's Walnut -- cotton swab



The Methods

I placed the index card in a cleaned out peanut butter jar, ink side in. Then I filled the jar with water and agitated lightly for about 20 minutes. The card was removed, dried to slightly damp, and scanned. These steps were then repeated with 90-something-percent denatured alcohol, household bleach mixed 50-50 with water (i.e., 2% sodium hypochlorite plus whatever effects there were from bleach aging in the bottle and being mixed with my well water), and the last remains of a gallon of white vinegar. Then it was soaked overnight (8 hrs) in alcohol, rubbed with a polymer eraser, and surface sprayed with Tilex.

Water Torture

After 20 minutes being lightly agitated in water:


Firefly is gone. No surprise there.

Bad Moonshine'll Make Ya Blind

Next was 20 minutes in denatured alcohol:


The ballpoints were starting to go. Red ballpoint is gone.

Bubble-Headed Bleach Blonde

After a soak in the bleach:


At this point things diverge from the useful to the academic. Most of us will have some of our writings exposed to water, a few to alcohol, but almost none of our words will suffer bleach. Not being a forger, I am not the best one to test against such methods. However, it is nice to see how inks used for checks, etc. hold up to readily available chemicals.

A Night in the Bottle

After a hard night of sitting in alcohol:


Most ballpoints were gone. I was surprised at the Fisher Space ink's persistence.

Final Torture

Last was a half dozen soakings with Tilex followed by rinsing with water and then alcohol. The Tilex removed some of the Hunter Green. There was a mysterious red bleeding that appeared during the water rinse. I think that was the red pencil lead. A hypothesis is that the "lead" material had dissolved and was clear in the Tilex solution, but became red again in plain water. Here is the final scan:


Discussion

I would imagine that the persistence of any ink in a series of tests like this would be sensitive to both the paper and the order of chemical applications. The results might have been different under different circumstances.

I was at first adverse to the use of gel ink in my "loaner" Townsend, since I might find myself signing something with it if I am without my FP. But it really does about as well as a ballpoint, so I am more comfortable with it now.

The changes after vinegar were very slight, so were not included. Similarly, the eraser results were nothing special. Colored pencil leads of any flavor tend to be difficult or impossible to erase. It is good to know that red pencil fares so much better than red ballpoint. Corrections which must remain permament will get the pencil now, not the pen.

The Noodler's Near Bulletproofs tested (Zhivago and Walnut) lost their color right away. I was caught in a brief rain shower yesterday while writing in a notebook with Zhivago. The drops smeared the green in the ink. This was helped by the fact that my Pelikan 805 is very wet and lays down more ink than can soak into the paper. Some ink did get on my hands and it was a little messy. I'll be switching to black for this use.

Summary

Noodler's Bulletproof Black and Legal Lapis were very impressive, as was Fisher Space ballpoint ink. Noodler's Walnut and Zhivago persisted very well, but lost their color. Polar Blue got a little paler, but held up well.

Noodler's Eternal Brown and Hunter Green persisted, but changed color to "Eternal Sludge" and "Hunter Sky Blue."

I don't think I'll be using ballpoints for check writing anymore.

Scott

Thanks to ImageShack for Free Image Hosting

Astonishing. Thanks, I enjoyed reading this post. (I'm so glad no one's peering over my shoulder right now. A couple years ago, I never thought I'd be writing that I really enjoyed reading an "ink torture test" account.)

It did get a little ridiculous.

After finishing what I was interested in (water and alcohol), my eyes began to dart about looking for something else to use. Curiosity won out over reason.

Scott

Interesting, too, that the printed lines on the index card have disappeared as well.

Umm, did you have to file an Environmental Impact Statement when you disposed of the PBJOUH?

Not only useful, but pretty entertaining as well. Excellent post. Thanks!

Fascinating experiment, beezaur! Very informative. It's no surprise, but amazing nonetheless, how well Noodler's Black holds up under this kind of rough treatment -- look at the Black writing on that card! Also, the eternal inks with Black components, Zhivago and Walnut, hold up beautifully, even if they do lose their color.

It's great fun to watch the various inks drop out as you applied additional forms of "torture". I've PDFed this thread for posterity -- it's a keeper!

Mad scientist at work!

I did enjoy your torture post. Hooray for Nooder's Black!

Great and very complete test! Thanks for taking the time to share it.

Great test!! I think the differentiation between "eternal" and "bulletproof" becomes apparent here: eternal might fade/lose color and even come completely off, but the paper would be destroyed long before then. Bulletproof won't budge.