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I hope this review is helpful. If you have any questions, please feel free to post them.

Actually, Baystate Blue isn't a bulletproof ink.

Baystate is only waterproof, it can easily be removed by various chemical means.

OK dadgumit you convinced me, I'll see if Sam has any and order a bottle. I'm back saved by the out of stock sign. I guess I better wait on other new inks since I will hopefully get my 6 bottles of FPN inks soon!! But I can't resist for ever!

Just bought a bottle of this stuff.. GREAT COLOR. And it's sooo smooth and rich. I love it! However, it hsa stained my sink and fingers and my white prera =( I had dried ink on my fingers, and just touching the plastic transfered the ink to the pen. Very fussy stuff!

how quickly does it dry....can you give me a time frame?

With my fine-tip Lamy, when writing a longer word, the first few letters are dried by the time the word is finished. Whole words don't smear after about two or three seconds. Be aware that this is a fine tip pen though, and it also depends on the paper.

If anyone else has comments about its dry time, feel free to post them.

This has been my experience as well. A very fast-drying ink!

Seems to dry quickly and puts down a nice wet line with a Safari F nib. Love the colour too.

I think that everybody should be aware of the following thread:

http://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/in...showtopic=60498

I am a member of the group whose lamy pens have fallen victim to the Baystate Blue Ink attack. My nib curled up like a toenail midsentence, and, according to this thread, it may be because of baystate blue. A replacement nib is on its way to me, but I do not plan on putting Baystate Blue in it.

Has anyone else on the board had the baystate blue attack their Lamy nib?

To clarify, it was the plastic feed that crumbled, correct? The metal nib did not actually get bent.

5 or 6 people had this happen while using BSB in a Safari. Strange and concerning.

This scan looks rather dark - comparable to DCSS Electric Blue. The other scans seemed to be lighter. Is it a darker shade like Electric Blue? If so, I must get it.

Nice show of the ink. On my monitor it looks about right, maybe a tad brighter blue in actual use.

On Baystate and Safaris: My personal take on this is that the two just are not compatible in a relationship and should go their separate ways. That's me, though. I got rid of all my Safaris, save for my green Al-Star. And I use Eternal Hunter Green in that pen.

My Baystate works wonderfully in other pens. I've had it in a Pelikan M200 (cleaning/flushing does take longer, but no staining or damages), and now I have it in a DaniTrio $33 pen from winedoc. Both these pens have medium nibs. It is doing very well in the $33 pen and matches the intense blue stripes of the pen. It is a very vibrant color. It does dry very quickly, and on all papers I've tried from cheap recycled office paper to check blanks. And it absolutely loves Apica notebooks. It doesn't care for thermal paper, though, with the paper around the ink discoloring quickly - sort of like a little oil slick. Doesn't hurt anything beyond the discoloration and the signature won't be going away.

The quick drying of the ink could lead to some hard starting or nib clogging, perhaps, if one is not careful. A lot of quick-dry inks seem to have that tendency. Swishmix Burgundy certainly does. I wouldn't leave the Baystate pen uncapped for any period of time. I haven't experienced any problems as yet, though, and it starts right up when I put the nib to paper. I also flush out my pen every 2 to 3 fills, too. I'm going through the ink rapidly. I'm on bottle #2 of my stash.

Glad to see the M200 works well with the ink. let me know if anything goes wrong with it. What about a Lamy 2000...im reluctant to get this ink because half of my fountain pens are Safaris.

I don't have a Lamy 2000, so I'm not sure how it would work. I have a Lamy Studio, but it's not in use as it proved to be a poor writer, and I don't like the tapered chrome section.

Though some have used Baystate successfully in their Safaris, I would steer clear for that particular pen.

My M200 has been cleaned and put away for now. The Baystate was in it from the day of release up until a week ago. It takes a considerable bit of time longer for flushing/cleaning, but the pen appears no worse for wear. The time cleaning might deter me from putting Baystate in another piston fill pen, but that would be my only deterant at this time. The $33 pen is my Baystate pen for now. The ink matches those stripes so well. The $33 pen actually writes a little more smoothly than the M200 did, both medium nibs.

I guess I would hesitate to put Baystate in any pen made of the type of plastic as the Safari; most of the "school" pens seem to have this plastic - color more bright and vibrant for grabbing attention in a material that warms to the hand and meant to make learning fun with an inexpensive pen - pens that are made replaceable and inexpensive for the mishaps of youth. That's my own catagorization, anyway. Never mind that non-students and adults find them appealing, as well.

Baystate is a great, fun ink. It just requires a little more care in its use and an understanding that it isn't for everyone or all pens. It's still too new to know all the pens that should/shouldn't be used with Baystate. If you really want to try it, do so. Start with a pen that you wouldn't be upset over if it was stained. If you decide you don't like the ink, you'll be able to turn it around to someone else. If you do like the ink, you can continue with that first pen or start putting it in others, knowing it is high maintenance and used at your own risk. Me, I just went for it. As has been said by others, my pens are beautiful and fun, but they are the means of putting the words to paper which is what is really all about anyway. YMMV, as they say. I buy my pens for me, I don't think they'll end up in anyone's collections after I'm gone. I've yet to sell off any of my pens, regardless of whether I like them.

Hm, maybe I'll take that first and most expensive pen I purchased that does not now, nor ever has written worth a darn (my ruby red Parker Sonnet - engraved), and I'll send it in to one of our wonderful nibmeisters and have the nib ground into an Italic and the flow adjusted and then load IT up with Baystate. Learning cursive Italic with a ruby red Sonnet and vivid Baystate Blue just plain sounds like fun. Yeah, I think I might just do that!

Works fine in my 2000s.

This is an evil ink. I love the color, but I've just spent a half hour trying to remove it completely from a Conklin Nozac. Constant flushing with water, soap, a little ammonia, soaking the nib and it's still dribbling out some blue. I tried in a Pelikan 200 that wouldn't kill me to lose, but BSB turned it into a skipping pen. At this point I plan to toss the entire bottle.

Any ink that requires this much maintenance is just not worth the hassle.

If you're seriously going to toss it (and haven't done so yet or someone else hasn't claimed it already), I'd love to have what's left of your bottle. I've been wanting to try this ink for a while! I'll gladly pay for postage if you're willing to ship it to me (if you're in the USA). Please PM me to let me know! Thanks!

Seriously, I am going to toss it. I've now tried it in three pens. While initially very happy with the color saturation, it's been misery since. I would also add that I had an email earlier today from a well-known nibmeister who told me that he doesn't recommend Noodler's inks in general because of several problems that he sees with pens not working well with them. (I was seeking advice about several sub-standard nibs and whether they needed professional intervention.) While I'm not quite ready to jettison all of my Noodler's bottles, Bay State Blue has to go.

I have to admit that I'm having some trepidation about sending a bottle of this to somebody else. It doesn't feel right to give somebody something that could seriously screw up a pen.

No problems in the pens I've uesd it in: Platinum 3776 with gold nib, Parker Jotter with steel nib, and Waterman Phileas with steel nib. All three are converter fillers. Yes the converter now has a lovely blue tinge to it but the pens work just fine. The Phileas must be a freak of nature as I left it (on purpose as a test) with BSB in it for a month and it put down a nice line the minute it touched paper. I was surprised given all the issues and concerns from others. I rinsed and flushed the pen with the ammonia and water mix and it still works just fine. I must admit the 3776 doesn't love the ink as much as the Waterman. But I do love the combination of blue 3776 and blue ink.

Some of us love Baystate blue and have no troubles with it... It'd be a terrible waste to throw it away when someone else would be thrilled to have it.

I have yet to experience any of the "issues" assigned to BSB... I suspect the hardness and pH of the local tapwater has a lot to do with the problems people have with Noodler's in in general and BSB in particular. My tap water pH is about the same as the pH of BSB.

Ditto. I'm keeping it away from my Safaris for now, but I love this ink.

I quite agree. BB clogged three of my pens. Two I was finally able to clean out, but I'm still working on the third. It also stained everything I let it get in contact with. Ink-Nix and Lava soap wouldn't get it off my hands and it took a lot of Bartender's Friend to get it off my steel sink. As I said in an earlier post, I buried the bottle and put a clove on garlic on top of the ground.

It was the plastic part of the tip of the pen that secures the metal nib that crumbles. Next to where the ink flows there are two plastic "wings" where the metal nib slides over to secure itself, and one of those "wings" broke.

Mine washes off my steel sink with dish soap and water. No scrubbing necessary.

I spray it with a little kitchen cleaner containing bleach and it washes right off.

No worries--I wouldn't want you to do something that makes you feel uncomfortable! Another FPN'er is sending me a sample in an ink trade. I'm going to try it in a cheap Platinum Preppy FP.

Glad to hear your pens recovered!

I really like the color.

I just got a bottle of BSB and spilled a few drops on the counter. I finally got it off but is still on my fingers and towel. It stains much much worsen than any other Noodler's that I have used. For now it will be reserved for the Preppy that came with the bottle or the eyedropper Kaweco.

The color is great though.

Rush

I can relate to your experience. I loved the color, and wore it proudly on my fingertip rather than displaying a red fingertip that would be due to the scrubbing needed to remove the dye.

I also love the look of this ink, but I've decided no longer to use it. It left the most stubborn ink stain I've ever seen in my bathroom sink, and the ink wouldn't budge even while it was still wet. Several hours' soaking with undiluted bleach did absolutely nothing, and it took some hard scrubbing with nail varnish remover finally to get rid of it. (I've used many Noodler's bulletproof inks in the past, and none has been quite like this.) Beyond that, the Aurora Talentum in which I'd been using it is now prone to skipping for the first time in its life with Herbin Poussière de Lune ink. I know that a thorough rinse is recommended when switching to or from BSB, so I gave the Talentum a good clean before refilling it with the Herbin. I'm fully prepared to devote hours of my life to ink-related rituals, but this colour just feels a little too demanding even for me.

Neil

I am a happy Baystate Blue user with two 51's, a broad nibbed 75 and a Pelikan M605 (blue of course) inked up with it. Yes more care has to be taken and I flush my pens after every second fill but I have no performance issues other people claim to get. I love the colour and Vim cleaner gets the stains off the sink just nicely.

Bill

Anybody who doesn't want their Baystate Blue, feel free to donate to me!

I like BSB except for its tendency to feather in Moleskine notebooks, which are the primary places I write. This has made me start casting about for other options again, especially when I compare the nice solid lines of Waterman Florida Blue to the sometimes jagged BSB.

-Jake

If you're looking for another blue specifically, I don't know for sure. But Noodler's black handles that type of paper the best of any ink I've tried, much better than any of the blues.

I had the same experience today.

I also soaked my pen in a cheap plastic cup to clean the last ink out of it and the highly diluted BSB severely stained the plastic cup.

Beautiful color but I won't use it in any "good" pens anymore.
Its just not worth the risk.

I stained a plastic cup and was all set to be paranoid. Then, using the eyedropper to fill my Preppy that came in the big bottle I got from Nathan at the NE Pen Show, I accidentally dripped BSB on the counter in my bathroom. Certain I would never get it off, I rubbed some Amodex on it in a 'what the hell' gesture of hopelessness. The ink come off when I wiped with a bit of toilet paper. Imagine my surprise! Of course, I did it as soon as I noticed the drip. Amodex won't take it off my old twill pants though. Nothing will. So they are now my pen filling pants. If I get ink on my hand, I will just wipe it on those twill pants from now on.

I ordered a bottle of Noodler's black yesterday, so I'll be sure to post a review of that in the near future. I also bought a Lamy 2000 with it, which I definitely will NOT risk filling with bay state blue.

...oooh, I can't wait till I get my 2 Bottles of BSB... they should arrive tomorrow!

And if it stains some of my FP's I can still use it with my dip pens! =)

I know I'm a bit late to this thread ...

Anyway, I bought a bottle of BSB and I love the colour but I have found that it stains more than most but I have found that a domestic bleach based cleaner or domestic bleach sorts it rapidly on pretty much any surface that I have managed to get it on ..... fingers.... kitchen sink .... kitchen counter top ....

Hope this helps

Take care

HK

Anyone tried this in a Sonnet? I'm considering converting my Sonnet to be my BSB pen.

oh that's great idea

I have a lovely blue Sonnet ... with BSB...

So has anyone tried it yet ?

Take care

HK

I recently purchased a bottle of Baystate Blue. I am using it in a Visconti Van Gogh broad. It is incredible! It is the best color of ink I have ever seen. It is a little harder to clean off of your hands and other places it may land, but the color is worth it. By the way, when I received my bottle the other day I tried to be soooo careful as to not spill any on me or my counters, etc. However, as soon as I opened the top of the bottle, it fizzed like a can of Coke instantly oozing ink all over my hand and floor. That was not fun to clean up, but I successfully did so. The moral of this story is to take extra precautions when you first open your new bottle of this great ink. Maybe Noodler's fills up their inks too far to the top? I don't know.

Up until a couple days ago bleach cleaned up pretty much all of the drips/splashes/spills. My mom just bought me a plastic desk liner, ostensibly to stop my many inks from dirtying my desk (even though I've never had a staining problem on my it). I accidently dripped a little BSB on the desk liner and no amount of bleach, scrubbing or windex (preferably not with the bleach) will take it out. I wouldn't mind, except that I have papers underneath the liner that really accentuate the stains. Oh well, it is a beautiful color to have permanently on my desk



Ooh, that spill doesn't sound fun. Noodlers is notorious for completely filling up their bottles. I've never had a complaint about this, but apparently some people don't like it because of the increased likelihood of spills.