Noodler's Kung Te-cheng

[carpedavid]

Dude, seriously, can you make your reviews not so awesome please?!?! Every time I see one, I end up buying the ink you review. NOT useful for maintaining a positive bank balance.

 

great job, in all seriousness

 

Sorry about that! I'll have to start reviewing inks that I hate. :-)

[bluemagister]

I love this ink and I am really glad I was able to score a bottle from JetPens. I use it mostly in the supplied Preppy, but I also really like it in the Noodler's pen with a little water to thin it out. A perfect ink, all around!!

[ailleurs]

Dude, seriously, can you make your reviews not so awesome please?!?! Every time I see one, I end up buying the ink you review. NOT useful for maintaining a positive bank balance.

 

great job, in all seriousness

 

Sorry about that! I'll have to start reviewing inks that I hate. :-)

 

:roflmho:

 

Much appreciated.

[Pentech42]

Thanks for the review. I was also lucky enough to visit the Jiangnan Gongyuan Examination Institute ( est. 1168) in NanJing and if my Mandarin was up to snuff be able to take modified version of the multi-day exam. I didn't check to see what type of ink the people were using.

[psfred]

I use this in a Pelikan 12 cartridge filler pen, works great. It will clog if left uncapped for any great length of time, but so does Quink in that pen.

 

A nice alternative to Polar Blue at work.

 

Peter

[lapis]

Thanks for the nice review! Must get it. My very most favourite ink colour (I think), a dark blue with a touch of purple.

 

Mike

[Promethean]

Thanks for the informative and comprehensive review. I've used it a few times in the Preppy that was supplied with it and the sign marker as well, nice stuff. Wondering if anybody has been brave enough to try using it in other than a Preppy ; I'm thinking about a risking a Pelikano JR with a converter full and take my chances.

 

I've had this in a fine-point Rotring Initial for the last 2 months with no issues and almost non-existent nib creep; very very happy with this ink!

Edited August 4, 2010 by Promethean

[debraji]

I've been using Kung te-Cheng in my TWSBI for the past month.

 

I chose the TWSBI because it's a wet writer that starts up every time from the first stroke on paper; and because I could disassemble and thoroughly clean it. As expected, Kung te-Cheng gradually stained the barrel. However, with a little bit of ammonia and a lot of cool water, it cleaned up easily.

 

I love this ink.

[JimB]

Actually if I remember right in another post someone comment that Nathan put that warning in the label because the China market wont let him commercialize this ink if didn't have a warning, so It should be safe to use in any other pen, but like you write, good pen hygiene should be a concern #1 with "problematics" inks.

I believe he fessed up that the warning was a joke, aimed at those at FPN (yup, us!) who kept complaining about his inks.

[Gobblecup]

Actually if I remember right in another post someone comment that Nathan put that warning in the label because the China market wont let him commercialize this ink if didn't have a warning, so It should be safe to use in any other pen, but like you write, good pen hygiene should be a concern #1 with "problematics" inks.

I believe he fessed up that the warning was a joke, aimed at those at FPN (yup, us!) who kept complaining about his inks.

 

Yep, he mentioned this on a video chat on the Goulet's blog. He has said it is safe for all fountain pens. I think the need for usual routine hygiene goes without saying, but it is safe and friendly for FPs. I think the joke was aimed at those who bemoaned BSB a while back, and that was all before I came into FPs myself. After I heard this news, I promptly got a bottle of this stuff, I always wanted a bulletproof La Couleur Royale!

Edited October 17, 2011 by Gobblecup

[ravantra]

Hahaha. I had my Visconti Rembrandt loaded with KTC for a week and then I read THE WARNING! Panic set in cleaned the pen and then realized my fear was probably unfounded. I will start treating it like any other ink. :roflmho: What can possibly go wrong.

[ravantra]

I just loaded a TWSBI 530 with KTC as a test. I will use it for a few weeks and report back with it's performance.

[Inka]

I've been using Kung te-Cheng in a Lamy Vista for several months now, no issues whatsoever!

EDIT: My review is seen by clicking here.

It's my favorite ink for hand-written labels and envelopes, a lovely ink to use when using a wide italic nib too.

It's a little trickier than many inks to clean from pens, tends to stick to nibs at times when using a plain water rinse, yet after a friend suggested I try using the 10:1 water:ammonia solution flush it's never been a problem.

So far I've tried it in several different pens, from the less-expensive Lamy Vista/ Safari line to my Old Style Pelikan M800, this ink works almost flawlessly in all of them.

I said almost only due to a few dry-starts I'd run into, nothing a quick wipe with a tiny piece of dampened PT run down the nib slot didn't cure, then a dab or two on the same dampened PT to get it flowing to the tips and I was off and running again with it.

Edited October 19, 2011 by Inka

[magnus919]

I'll bet some of the Goulet Ink Drop subscribers are coming back to this review now... as they should, because it's an excellent review. Bumping just to make sure it comes back to the top since so many people will be getting their first exposure to Kung Te-Ching this month.

I'm using it in a Jinhao X750. If I'd read this review and the comments first, I may have reached for a wetter pen. This ink does indeed dry very rapidly, so much so that it can be a bit surreal to watch the letters dry and lighten in color almost just as the nib is only moving on to the next letter.

If this ink came with any warnings, by the way, it should probably lead with: Only use this ink in well-ventilated areas. The fumes are pretty significant.

[FLZapped]

I have a bottle of KTC and use it in all my pens. It has some interesting properties.

 

I like to use 17 lb paper vellum for correspondence, which has a hard surface. I noticed that if you accidentally get skin oil on the paper most inks will bead up. KTC seems to not care and bonds to the surface anyway.

[KBeezie]

In the last 10 years have you emptied out the bottle yet and found the hidden passage inside that shows up when held up to a light?

 

With the first sentence being : "Any stroke is a unit of meaning, virtually a work of art; and that the inked image can be as much a manifestation of the tao as nature itself."

[inkstainedruth]

That's cool. Unfortunately, the only bottle I got that far through is the one I knocked off my bathroom counter after my first fill of a pen with it (the bottle landed on the floor and the bottom of the bottle sheared off and even though it was MOSTLY just two pieces there were still glass shards (and most of the remaining ink from a four ounce bottle) EVERYWHERE....

And then it took something like six weeks for the ink to be back in stock anywhere (figures, right? ).

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[ENewton]

In the last 10 years have you emptied out the bottle yet and found the hidden passage inside that shows up when held up to a light?

 

 

With the first sentence being : "Any stroke is a unit of meaning, virtually a work of art; and that the inked image can be as much a manifestation of the tao as nature itself."

 

So much nicer than the square bottle. Is the source of the quote provided?

 

I wanted to love KTC, but my sample was more royal blue than the between-blue-and-purple color in the swatch. The only reason I am pretty sure Goulet sent me the correct ink was that it stained the Dollar 717i pen in which I used it.