Did you have the same experience with Noodlers midnight blue or is it simply strange behaviour?
I had filled my Parker 51 medium nib (drier writer) with Noodlers midnight blue. The ink flow was very irregular. Some letters very wet, some letters very dry. I used it for some days but could not see any improvement. Yesterday evening I finally switched to Rohrer & Klingner verdisgris. Not exactly as dark as the Noodlers but also a dark greenish blue. Now I have a regular ink flow with some nice shading. My writing looks as it should and not as if the pen is causing problems.
Was it simply a bad combination, the Parker 51 with the Noodlers ink or is this ink known for ink flow issues?
Full Version: problems with Noodlers midnight blue?
More than likely it's the combination of a dry adjusted "51" and Noodler's. I have no troubles with Noodler's Black in several of my "51" (nor with Navajo turquoise). Not all pens are happy with all inks, and it's quite possible that your particular pen flows badly with that particular ink.
What did you have in it before? Some types of ink won't mix well, it's possible that the residue of whatever was in there before you filled it with the Noodler's causes the Noodler's to flow badly, while the change to R&K was fine.
Noodler's can be somewhat sluggish in dry pens, so if you want to use it in the "51" you may need to have it adjusted a bit wetter. "51"s can suffer from clogged ink slits and junk between the hood and the nib, both of which will cause trouble with higher viscosity inks while "thin" lower saturation inks work just fine.
The thick and thin effect can be from using more pressure than you think you are -- I have a 61 that does this, it acts almost like at flexible nib, writes thin and dry under very light pressure, but as the pressure goes up the ink suddenly pours out. More a matter of an overly dry nib, though, as I don't think there was ever anything resembling a flexible nib for the 61! The effect is dependent upon pressure and stroke direction, complicated by nib angle, so it may gush on some things and not others.
Peter
What did you have in it before? Some types of ink won't mix well, it's possible that the residue of whatever was in there before you filled it with the Noodler's causes the Noodler's to flow badly, while the change to R&K was fine.
Noodler's can be somewhat sluggish in dry pens, so if you want to use it in the "51" you may need to have it adjusted a bit wetter. "51"s can suffer from clogged ink slits and junk between the hood and the nib, both of which will cause trouble with higher viscosity inks while "thin" lower saturation inks work just fine.
The thick and thin effect can be from using more pressure than you think you are -- I have a 61 that does this, it acts almost like at flexible nib, writes thin and dry under very light pressure, but as the pressure goes up the ink suddenly pours out. More a matter of an overly dry nib, though, as I don't think there was ever anything resembling a flexible nib for the 61! The effect is dependent upon pressure and stroke direction, complicated by nib angle, so it may gush on some things and not others.
Peter
Maybe the pen simply does not like the ink 
The pen was flushed thoroughly before I filled it with Noodlers midnight blue and also when I switched to R&K verdisgris. There should have been no residue problem.
The nib of the 51 is extremely smooth so I can live with the dry ink flow. Only thing that annoid me was the irregular ink flow I had with the Noodlers ink.
I will give the Noodlers another try with a wet Pelikan 200. Might be a better pen-ink combination.
The pen was flushed thoroughly before I filled it with Noodlers midnight blue and also when I switched to R&K verdisgris. There should have been no residue problem.
The nib of the 51 is extremely smooth so I can live with the dry ink flow. Only thing that annoid me was the irregular ink flow I had with the Noodlers ink.
I will give the Noodlers another try with a wet Pelikan 200. Might be a better pen-ink combination.
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