I'm confused by what bulletproof means.

I was surprised to see some Legal Lapis ink that was dried for 1-2 days smears significantly with a Pentel "OXO Data Checker SL25" yellow highlighter as shown here. Is this dissolving the Legal Lapis ink because it is also waterproof? I can show scans of how it is smearing the LL, but maybe you already know about this?

An explanation could be: The pen lays down so much ink that some of Legal Lapis does not bind with the paper cellulose - "ink is sitting on ink". This extra ink that has not adhered chemically to the paper is then smeared by the highlighter.

Just my estimate, take it with a grain of salt.

/Tojusi

IMHO, Tojusi is spot on with his explanation. There is only so much of the ink that actually bonds to the paper chemically. The rest just sits atop the bonded ink and, hence, is still soluble. A drier writing pen would help.

So.... we need to refine our definition of "bulletproof" to say: despite the perils of sunlight, water, and chemical bleach, the writing will remain on the paper, but not all the ink will remain on the paper when exposed to water, highlighters, or other wetting agents.

I'm not disappointed. I never expected 100 percent of the bulletproof ink to bond with the paper.

The definition of "bulletproof" did not originate with FPN, and it is not up to us to refine it. It is a marketing term originated and defined by Nathan Tardif, the owner of Noodlers Inks. He has finessed his phrase a bit, with "near bulletproof" etc. I think all of this is documented on the Pendemonium site and elsewhere.

I have given up on highlighting over FP ink. I now underline stuff instead. If anyone is interested, a really sweet combo is Rorher & Klingner Verdigris, underlined by Noodler's Red Black in an Apica notebook. Very vintage and easy on the eyes.

I wonder if the Noodler's highlighter ink will do the same thing as the Pentel? I would like to highlight, I just haven't found a combo that doesn't smear.

Kath

FWIW, and if you're willing to use something that's not ink, you can use the dry highlighters that are sold as Bible highlighters. They're basically a colored pencil, with fluorescent (the usual highlighter colours) lead. The one by my desk right now is a Lyra fluoroliner, and works well over FP ink. I think Staedtler makes them too. They're very slightly opaque, but not enough to bother me. Or at least it doesn't bother me as much as smeared ink.

I'll give that a shot, thanks!

Interestingly, I also found yellow, green, and blue "Bic BriteLiner" highlighters in the house which are apparently water based. They do not smear either Legal Lapis, or Noodler's Black one bit.

So it now looks like the liquid used in the Pentel line of permanent highlighters dissolve the LL/Noodler's Black "permanent inks." The more I highlight with the Pentel, the more the bulletproof ink washes away. Do I win the $3,000 prize?

Maayyy-be -- keep going and see if you can get the rest off!

Brian