I am considering getting some bullet proof ink for some of the many many legal documents I need to sign everyday.

I often photocopy documents and need to differentiate between copies and originals and so a colour other than black would be good, I do not really like the idea of iron gall inks due to corrosion etc. So saying I intend to use this in a cheaper c/c pen rather than a good piston fill, so even if permanent ink is nasty I will not kill a good pen.

So for those of you who are users of permanent inks, and in particular coloured permanent inks, who can reccomend a good one, what colour is it, and why do you like it/reccomend it?

Cheers

If you're not going to go iron gall, Noodler's really is your best bet.

Any of the darker Noodler's colors should be fine. In particular, Legal Lapis (available from Pendemonium) is a good color.

I use Noodler's Legal Lapis in a Binder-ized Lamy 2000.

In a wet pen Legal Lapis makes a dark grey-blue. A dry pen produces a teal/denim sort of a color. It doesn't feather very badly, but you do have to use decent paper. I would say it is neither slow nor fast to dry. In black-and-white scans and copies it looks like a black Sharpie. The ink is a nib-creeper though.

My policy for Noodler's is to only use it in pens that can be disassembled for cleaning. I have used Noodler's bulletproofs exclusively in a Pelikan 805 for about 18 months with frequent periods of non-use. It has had no issues.

I would not worry about getting a special cheap pen for Noodler's. But I would not use a pen like a Mont Blanc that cannot be cleaned by the user (although many people have with no problems).

Scott

Legal Lapis is excellent. A good bulletproof for any document allowing/demanding blue. I like it just because the color is so good. Different. And bulletproof.

Heart of Darkness is my bulletproof black of choice. It seems to flow best in a variety of my pens.

Both these photocopy very well.

I use FPN's Galileo Manuscript Brown on the buff colored records we have. It works perfectly. Fortunately, no one has said that we must be just a blue/black world in my office. It doesn't photocopy dark, but does photocopy. I like the color because I like the look on ivory/buff colored papers. It stands out without being too bold. And it looks "vintage," or even medieval. Like a scribe's ink of old.

I own and also use Polar Blue, Luxury Blue, regular Black and Polar Black.

All are Noodler's bulletproofs. Polar Blue and Luxury Blue I like because they both work well and look good on my check blanks.

I haven't had many problems with these inks in my pens. In my current work lineup is a mixture of Pelikans, VP's, preppy eyedroppers and a hand-turned wooden pen.

If you need only water resistance, Namiki-Pilot Blue for fountain pens is very water-resistant and light enough to be distinguishable in b/w photocopies. It is not bulletproof because stain removers can take it out of clothing and sustained sunlight can fade it.

If you need bulletproofness in fountain pen ink, Noodler's is the source.

Luxury Blue (in a dry writer because wet writers make it a dark cobalt; most Noodler's retailers)

Polar Blue (most Noodler's retailers; a little darker than Luxury Blue and Upper Ganges Blue? Use a dry writer?)

Navy (most Noodler's retailers; not as gray as Legal Lapis; not as dark as LL? use a dry writer? It has some of the permanent black that remains as a darn-near-bulletproof and legible gray after the non-water-resistant blue is washed away)

Upper Ganges Blue (in a dry writer; similar to Luxury Blue; from Pendemonium in the USA, I don't know from whom in India)

Britannia's Blue Waves (in a wet writer, not a dry one; Pendemonium, I don't know from whom in the UK or elsewhere in the Commonwealth)

Dostoevsky (too green for legal purposes? Pendemonium; I don't know from whom in Russia)

Pasternak (too purple for legal purposes? Pendemonium; I don't know from whom in Russia)

Outside of fountain pens, the other bulletproof blue is in the Sanford brand Uni-Ball rollerball (not gel) line.

I was having a love-hate relationship with SWISHMIX BURGUNDY for a while, but now that I found a pen that it behaves well in, I really love it. (The pen is an unidentified Waterman brushed steel pen...) The Swishmixes are neat because they're quick-drying and semi-bulletproof, but sometimes the quick-drying causes it to be a dry starter, so that's why finding the right pen (presumably with a tight cap-seal and/or unexposed feed) is important. It's a mature brick-burgundy red. Not really brownish, not too purple.

A page of LEXINGTON GREY is very distinctive, but it won't suit well for your legal purposes (too close to black). Nevertheless, it is wonderful for mixing (tinting, rather). It feathers on some papers, though, and suffers in the wrong pen (but I found it to behave splendidly in my Caran d'Ache Ecridor!)

I do second the LEGAL LAPIS if you're looking for something, well, legal. It is perhaps the most well-behaved (and least "powdery") of the colored bulletproofs. But I don't like Blues. I don't own Swisher's GULF STREAM BLUE, but I've seen samples, and it looks really great. Viseguy, I believe, has said it's one of his favorites.

I do like Swisher's VERDUN for a green, it was my go-to ink for a while. It's got a bluish cast to it, but is not teal or anything. It's a soft green, not harsh. But still, it might be a bit weird for business purposes. Flow has always been really great in all pens, even if left sitting, but it has bad nib creep, worse than Legal Lapis.

ETERNAL BROWN has very little nib creep, but I've found it occasionally to have bad flow in a dry pen. But you don't want to use it in a dry pen anyway, because then it looks tan. Eternal Brown is easily tintable, too, to make just the brown you want, although it looks great in a wet pen. It's kind of a greyish medium brown.

And of course, FPN GALILEO. Got to love it. It looks a bit like a rust color, sometimes even reddish. It'll stand out on a document in a weird way, so I don't know if you would really want that. It feathers sometimes, but usually has good properties. Smells weird, sometimes even off the nib.