Kung Te-Cheng Opinions?

[GOB Bluth]

I have read the reviews but am still curious about people's experience with Noodler's Kung Te-Cheng. How does the ink perform? I am a bit curious about the disclaimer regarding its use in the supplied pen only. What are people's experience with that?

 

Please note - I am not asking *safety* questions regarding the ink. I am merely wanting to know more about the ink and the disclaimer / suggestion that Mr. Tardiff himself puts on the box.

 

Thanks

[farseer911]

I use the ink, and find it very well behaved. I use it in a pilot 74 with little issues, other than if I tend to pause for long periods to think while writing and leave the pen uncapped it may take a moment to start up again. and a quick dip in water if I forget to cap it after an hour or so.

 

Other than that no issues.

 

K

[GoldenGirl]

I love this ink,

I am currently using it in my Pilot Prera and previously used in in both Pilot and Sailor desk pens.

It is the one ink that I have had no problems with personally.

My Pilot Prera was having flow troubles with other Noodler's inks but flows real smooth with Kung Te-cheng

[kiavonne]

My Kung Te Cheng is having issues with the pens I want it to be in. Makes me snarl a little bit, especially since I have a lot of this ink. I'm still working on it. It is performing ok in a pilot vanishing point, but it will dry a bit quickly on the nib so I keep an eye on it. I really love the color and I'm not giving up on the ink, but I find it a little surprising that the pen I really wanted it in coughed and spat with KTC, but readily took to my Bay State Blue. The little monster...

[Jimmy James]

My understanding is that this ink is being used in a lot of modern cheaper pens for a lot of people with mixed results. It seems like it's a higher clog risk than other inks, so just be aware of that and don't stick it in your prized whatever.

 

I have it in a Kuretake brush pen and a Preppy converted to rollerball. It likes those pens, and I like it in them. I'm not sure I have a strong desire to put it in many things, but I might try it in my purple Pelikano.

[psfred]

I used it in the included Preppie converted to an eyedropper and in a Pelikan 12 cartridge filler.

 

It is well behaved except that it clogs the nib badly if not used at least once a day. This may or may not be an issue for you. I have not yet tried it in a Parker "51" or Snorkel, I think it might work better there.

 

Lovely ink, though, and if I could restrict myself to one pen I would use it more.

 

Peter

[bridgettt]

I have it in a Vanishing Point and am not having problems with it. I decided to take a chance on putting it in a better pen because I despise the Preppy. I don't think there's anything fine about my fine Preppy nib.

[PJohnP]

I've been using Kung Te Cheng in a Pelikan M405 with a cursive italic nib for about a fortnight-plus, including travel on aircraft, and it's been performing quite well.

 

I left the pen for more than two days unused, and with the shortest hesitation, it started right up. Generally speaking, the ink has started without issue otherwise, and no clogging problems have evidenced as yet. I do find a goodly bit of nib creep with this now, which I hadn't for the first two fills, but it's addressable with the occasional wipe with a tissue or an ink rag at the desk. I do find the ink to be the very fastest drying Noodler's that I'm using, but that's all to the good insofar as I'm concerned.

 

I haven't always found Noodler's inks to run to my taste, but there are several that I consider highly successful, and KTC is most definitely one of those. With the humongous bottle that it came in, I'll probably be using this ink for a very long time to come.

 

 

 

John P.

[Sonnet]

I used a Kung Te-Cheung sample from Brian Goulet last week and liked it. There was some nib creep but I didn't notice any other problems like clogging. It's a nice, waterproof blue ink.

[Yoda4561]

When this ink (blue heron too) dries it's waterproof, even when not on paper. This can lead to clogging if the pen's cap isn't a perfect seal. It works well in a preppy as the caps are usually extremely good at sealing. After a few days in a pen with an inadequate cap seal it will display hard start issues, but it's fine once the ink is flowing again. When I had it in regular use in my safari it would take about a week for it to start misbehaving. It's not a problem in any pen I've tried from a function standpoint, you just need to make sure it stays liquid and doesn't dry up in the pen. If it does or you know you're going to use it in something fancy, make sure you have some ammonia on hand, since that will clean it up without a problem.

[Dark Side]

I just ordered some samples from Goulet Pens, including Kung Te-Cheng. I'm curious to know how many see more blue or more purple in this ink? The reviews I read seemed to be split down the middle, some saying they see more blue and others more purple.

[Rhincodon]

I've only dip-tested it in two pens so far, but I adore the color. I find it a little more purple than blue, with beautiful shading with the Brause nib. And nth-ing the waterproof abilities: when wiped with a damp finger, absolutely nothing moved (even Whaleman's Sepia and BSB had some undried ink smear).

 

It stuck to both nibs a little bit when I rinsed them with water, but all it took was a quick scrub with a paper towel and they were good as new.

 

My only problem is the smell. It's stronger than the other eternal/bulletproof inks I have.

Edited March 14, 2011 by Rhincodon

[GoldenGirl]

I just ordered some samples from Goulet Pens, including Kung Te-Cheng. I'm curious to know how many see more blue or more purple in this ink? The reviews I read seemed to be split down the middle, some saying they see more blue and others more purple.

 

Which shade you see depends on the paper and the lighting

I have seen it both more blue and more purple, either way I love it!

 

 

Edited for spelling...

Edited March 14, 2011 by GoldenGirl

[dcpritch]

I have had KTC in a Platinum Preppy fine nib pen since February 15, when I filled the Preppy as an eyedropper, per the instructions. The pen sits on my desk horizontally, in a holder, sometimes for days in between uses. I have not used it since Thursday, and tonight (Sunday), I uncapped it and it started up immediately and wrote perfectly, nice flow, no skipping or other problems.

 

I am really tempted to use it in a nicer pen with a wide nib, as I'd like to try it for shading, but I'm reluctant to jump from Preppy to MB 149 or the like. Has anyone tried this in a $200 plus pen, and what was their experience? Judging from the Preppy, I would think the experience would be good so long as the pen's cap seals tightly, as per a previous post.

[79spitfire]

I've used this in a couple of pens, a Cross Aventura, and a Noodler's Ebonite, permanently converted to eyedroper use. If I sky it and leave the pen un-used for 2-3 days it can be a bugger to get started, but otherwise it's a very well behaved ink, no clogging. Great blue-purple color!

[TWRDO]

So far I've only used it in my TWSBI. I thought it wrote nicely, and was generally well-behaved. It will dry quickly in the nib, though, so it can be hard starting if you go very long without writing while the pen is uncapped.

 

Also, although it didn't stain the TWSBI, it was impossible to completely flush all the ink residue out of the nib with plain water, but it came off easily after removing the nib and feed from the pen. Therefore, I DON'T recommend using KTC in a pen you can't disassemble COMPLETELY.

 

The ink has its quirks, but overall I do recommend it.

[gregamckinney]

I have the ink (also from the Ink Drop sampler) in my Bexley 2008 Owner's Club pen.

Only in use for three days so far, but working well.

There is a lot of ink creep, but no other issues. This pen has a great cap seal, so I think that is part of the formula.

 

Regards, greg

[MicheleB]

Put it in my always reliable, med wet, Decimo Pink Champagne. I found it chalky and not very vibrant at all. Also got the nib creep. I also found it more blue than purple. I considered it fast drying considering it was fairly wet going on. Overall I found it too dull to keep compared to MB Violet and Tanzanite and too chalky to overcome the benefits of the waterproof. I really wanted to like it seeing all the great reviews. I had two sample bottles and tried both with no joy. YMMV.

[Thornton]

I bought a sample of Kung Te-Cheng from the Goulets and was underwhelmed by it. It wrote fine in my Noodler's Flex Pen (Dollar Demonstrator version), but it completely dried up when I went to use it again later in the day. I'd never had that problem with any other ink I'd tried in that pen. Even after 15 minutes between use (pen was capped) ink took about 20 seconds to start flowing again. Perhaps in a different pen I would have better results, but I don't even like the color itself well enough to do more experimenting.

[GouletPens]

This is interesting feedback everyone, thank you. I haven't been using this extensively myself yet, but Rachel has inked hers up in a Pelikan Script 1.0. That's what she used to sign everyone's Ink Drop inserts She adores the ink...actually went to another color after it to 'change it up', and ended up going back to it! She did comment to me how she wished it shaded more. I told her she could go for J. Herbin Poussiere de Lune or Diamine Damson and she scoffed at me saying the colors were nothing like KTC

 

In the script, we've found the ink to almost be hard to tame. It's so free flowing it's almost gushing sometimes, especially when the pen's been sitting a while. And that cap doesn't really seal that well. Who knows? YMMV indeed!

 

I totally agree with the smell, it's one of the strongest Noodler's ink smells that there is, in my opinion. Rachel just asked me earlier today if I thought it was weird that she actually likes the smell of Noodler's now.... Honestly, we've smelled so much of it we hardly notice it! At least we hardly notice any of the regular colors. KTC and Whaleman's Sepia we definitely still notice, but we don't mind it.