I need to express my appreciation for the Noodler's pen/ink combinations that have been marketed as of late - I've found a real appreciation for these little eyedropper pens...

What I like about them is that the pens give you a good excuse for using the actual ink in different colors without worrying about the task of flushing/refilling your 'nice' pens. I've found that I've used two of these things pretty regularly while reading.

- "Year of the Golden Pig" is a fantastic highlighting ink, and the included chisel tip pen actually gave me a clue with what to do with the ink itself. Of course, a highlighter pen uses the ink faster than a normal fountain pen, so I've ordered another bottle just to be on the safe side. ;-)

- Legal Lapis in the refillable fine-nibbed Platinum pen has turned out to be perfect for making side notes in books/articles. It writes fine and dry enough not to feather on newsprint-style paper. (I've been reading/marking up a copy of Allan Bloom's Closing of the American Mind with what have now become my reading sidekick pens.)

Now I've come back to work to find my bottles of "Nikita" and "Heart of Darkness" waiting for me. I've already used Nikita in a few applications this morning for marking up a few documents.

From my point of view (and my wallet's!) this is a pretty good marketing technique - I hope Nathan is making a bit of profit off of these sales. (Even though I still want a burgundy/red wine colored ink in a 4.5 oz. bottle labelled "Cask of Amontillado".)

(My pocket-pen is still loaded with FPN Galileo Manuscript Brown, though.)

I've been meaning to ask around here about folks' experience with those eye dropper pens. I suddenly have 3 of them! I've gotten the same inks, with pens included, that you've gotten lately.

I haven't tried mine out yet. So they're a fine point, you say? I'm not a big fan of fine points. I'm a bit leery of them because I've not used eye dropper pens before. I was wondering if they were made the way we get them with the ink bottles or if Nathan had modified a cartridge filler. An international cartridge fits right over the interior end of that feed.

They also have what I guess is silicone grease on the threads. I think I've seen some debates here, or somewhere, about whether or not some of that stuff is liable to get into the ink channel and cause problems. And one of the pens has some of that grease on the outside as well, makes it a bit sticky and I'm not sure what to use to clean it off.

And does anyone have any advice on how to store those pens with there's no ink in them? I don't know if I should screw on the barrel all the way and compress the O-ring or if I should only screw it on part way so as to avoid compressing the O-ring and maybe prolong its lifetime.


Oh, you can have it, just step over to this little alcove. Pay no attention to the little man with the trowel and bricks !

I believe the ED pens that come with the Noodler's in are Platinum Preppys, normally cartridge fillers, converted to eye-dropper fill. They're available (cartridge fill) from Pendemonium, five pens for $12. If you want a snowflake on the cap you'll have to pay more.

If an international cartridge fits over the interior end of the feed, the cartridge nipple has apparently been removed. The cartridges those pens use have a much wider opening than international cartridges.

The cartridges are fairly large; it's convenient to fill them with a syringe.

I've also converted a couple to syringe (not eyedropper) fill by simply gluing the barrel to the section. The nib and slender interior part of the feed can be pulled out with your fingers and the pen filled with a syringe and long dispensing needle.

If there's silicone grease on the outside of one of your Preppys, I think your cleaning options are limited to wiping it off. I think the usually recommended solvent is methyl-ethyl ketone (MEK); it's probably not compatible with the plastic of the pen.

So long as you don't store the pens in direct sunlight, the O-ring probably won't be adversely affected by being compressed for many years yet. It won't hurt it to be un-compressed either.

I have one filled with Legal Lapis. At first (after the first fill) there was some slight leakage to the cap. I don't know whether it leaked because I failed to tighten the O-ring enough or whether it leaked through the feed or nib. But it wiped off easily and since then I have seen no leakage.

The pen writes smoothly and makes me wonder why I keep all those more expensive pens! These pens are a good answer to the Pelikan Level V, which I like because of the large ink capacity, but wish I could fill with ink other than Pelikan Royal Blue. The eyedropper fills take care of this very well!

Yup - they're fine (and stiff) points. I don't know if I'd want to do a *lot* of writing with them, but they are perfect for jotting notes in book margins. I have better pens for actually writing. ;-)



I noted that too - but I think I also dripped a little ink on the threads when I filled the pen.

My guess is that Nathan may get these pens from Platinum as some sort of custom order. If not, the other obvious guess would be that he modifies them in-house.

I have only used it a little bit, but the one I got with my Legal Lapis is a good enough writer. I'd prefer a medium point, but free is free.

If the other attorneys in my office take an interest in my pens over the next few months, they'll be rewarded with 4.5 ounces of Noodler's and one of these pens if that deal is still running. I searched the board one night in boredom, and I think Nathan posted something about that continuing if the yen cooperates.

So how does one go about getting in on the free pen deal? I looked at a few retailers and no one seems to mention an ED pen except with the Firefly ink and it doesn't seem that Noodlers sells direct. I've been looking for an excuse to buy some Noodlers and as I've never seen an eyedropper, this would be a fun learning experience no matter how cheap the pen is.

Pendemonium has Legal Lapis and Polar Blue in the 4.5 oz. bottles with free ED pen.

Off the top of my head, I think you can get an eyedropper pen if you buy a 4.5 ounce bottle of Legal Lapis or Polar Blue at Pendemonium or of Heart of Darkness or Nikita at Swisher. You're only going to get one with a 4.5 ounce bottle of something other than bulletproof black if I understand things right. There may be other retailers who offer these deals -- I think the Pendemonium colors are both exclusives, but HoD and Nikita are not Swisher exclusives to my knowledge, but they are offering them at a good price.

Okay, thanks for that confirmation.


I think that's exactly what's been done. That feed-end is really long.


Yes, I'm looking at some of them on line and I see that they have a wider mouth than the international cartridges do, Not as much as a Pilot cartridge though.


Hey, it's convenient for me to fill any cartridge with a syringe!


Well, that sounds interesting. I may just try to yank one of those out of there just to see about that. I've pulled quite a number of nibs and feeds out of cartridge pens by now.


Wow! Yeah, I guess I'll just wipe the stuff off the barrel.


Okay, thanks for the information.

Pendemonium offers Legal Lapis as an exclusive, but Nikita, Heart of Darkness and Year of the Golden Pig (with eyedropper-fill highlighter) are available in nearly all of the usual places. (A quick check shows Swisher to have Nikita/HoD and Golden Pig, Pear Tree has Golden Pig, Pendemonium has 'em all.)

Where do you see Nikita and Heart of Darkness at Pendemonium?

Ooops - Pendemonium doesn't list them on their website. (Pendemonium has Legal Lapis, Polar Blue and YGOP.)

Sorry.

No problem. I just find that site slightly maze-like and wanted to make sure I wasn't missing it. I think somebody said Pendemonium would be getting those colors...

In case you guys are still curious (pardon this newb!):
I ordered Noodler's ink for the first time, and paid $30 for a 4.5 oz bottle of Polar Blue with the free pen, a 3 oz bottle of Red Black and shipping within the US...

Should be still on....

I ordered HOD and Polar Blue 4.5 oz with pens and a 3.0 oz bottle of Polar Black from Swishers.

Looking forward to getting some good ink on paper.