Is Noodler's Ink Good For Sonnet?

[william2001]

I did use Noodler's ink for a very short time.

Therefore, I'm not an expert on it.

I heard that Noodler's inks are very good since I heard about it everywhere.

Is it OK if I use Noodler's ink (maybe I'll buy blue) on a Parker Sonnet?

If yes, which blue do you recommend (which do you like the best)?

-William S. Park

[untroubledheart]

Noodler's inks are very intense. From what I've read, Nathan designed them to be diluted to your specifications. Most are very vivid with little shading. Baystate Blue has a reputation for staining clear plastic, so you might avoid or heavily dilute it. I absolutely love Liberty's Elysium, though, and haven't had any issues that a little soap and water didn't fix. I'm drooling over Noodler's Navy and the reformulation of Black Swan in Australian Roses too!

 

Edited to add: Liberty's Elysium is a very bright cobalt blue sort of color. And Noodler's Navy shades wonderfully!

Edited August 26, 2014 by untroubledheart

[tonybelding]

From what I've read, Nathan designed them to be diluted to your specifications.

 

That's a new one on me. I've never really needed to dilute Noodler's. I've had to dilute a lot of Private Reserve, though, as a fresh bottle is often so concentrated it won't even flow right in some pens.

 

 

Plain "Noodler's Blue" is hard to beat, it's a classic. I find Liberty's Elysium very pretty, but almost too vivid for my taste, especially when I'm writing whole pages at a time on white paper.

[Icywolfe]

I only had to dilute LE a bit because it wouldn't even start on one of my pens. (VP F)

 

Liberty Elysium is such a beautiful color. It seems to have some sort of shading.

[mhosea]

I used Noodler's Blue for a long time, also Liberty's Elysium, but I have moved on to other blues (Diamine, Sailor, Visconti, and just one Private Reserve). I've recently started using Baystate Blue, but because of the staining issue, it will be confined to some few pens. Other than that, the closest to blue that I use in Noodler line would be Navy and La Couleur Royale, the former being more like a very dark teal, and the latter being a blue-leaning purple. La Couleur Royale is an excellent choice, BTW, if you want an ink that is easy to clean out, though a poor choice if you want any water resistance.

[lynxcat]

Noodler's ink has a product line half a mile wide, and two different products from Nathan might have absolutely nothing in common, other than they stick to paper. you'll have to be more specific as to which particular Noodler's ink.

 

i've only used two blue-like inks from Noodler's. Upper Ganges Blue is fairly pale, rather chalky, and i'd call it moderately high maintenance --- it had noticeable nib creep, and cleaning it out of the pen after i was done with it took more effort than plain Bulletproof Black. (which latter, of course, is the best behaved ink ever --- but is black, not blue.) Kung Te-cheng is a wonderful shade of dark blue with purple tones, but has unbelievable nib creep and i'm told it's even higher maintenance still. (haven't got around to flushing the pen after it, yet.)

[kestrel]

I have limited experience with Sonnets (one 1994 production and one 2008 production, both with medium gold nibs). The 2008 pen is rather fussy about inks. Noodlers Black was fine, Ottoman Rose was not. What it really wants is Penman Sapphire so that is what it usually gets. The earlier Sonnet writes just fine with any ink I have put in it including several Noodler's (Black, Eel Blue, van Gogh Starry Night, Nikita). As lynxcat wrote, the variation in properties across the Noodler's line is huge. I'm sure the Ottoman Rose would be fine in my old Sonnet. This is when ink samples can be valuable. Try several colors and find out what makes both you and your pen happy.

[Dumatborlon]

I can of course only speak for my own steel-nibbed Sonnet. This is maybe the second-most temperamental pen I own and gave me troubles with every ink I fed into it. Except Noodler’s (which I didn’t even know existed until a few months ago): specifically Lexington Gray.

 

Now it works like a charm, none of that awful skipping and the nasty startup problems that kept haunting me. As if that ink finally ‘tamed’ that recalcitrant pen. : o)

[WaskiSquirrel]

Noodler's covers a wide range of inks and properties. However, the general answer to this question is that Noodler's would be totally safe in a converter pen like the Sonnet. I might avoid Baystate Blue in the Sonnet (unless it's already blue).

 

Noodler's Black is the classic black and my personal favorite. Navy is a fun blue, though the regular blue is fine too. Either of the Black Swan inks have nice color. Apache Sunset is nice and bright with amazing shading, but I'm not sure that the Sonnet would show it to its full advantage. Another fun one would be Dragon's Napalm, and you wouldn't need the shading there.

 

A unique favorite of mine is Mata Hari's Cordial. I don't usually like lavender, but that one works. It may be my interest in the First World War, but it's a nice ink. A more straightforward and nice purple is Purple Heart.

 

I don't like the 1 oz inks from Noodler's nearly as well. I had a Parker Insignia that worked surprisingly well with a few of these, but I really didn't like the pen overall.

 

Honestly, I could go on and on. There are a lot of great inks in this brand. There are a few I don't like, but overall, they are great inks.

[mhosea]

I don't like the 1 oz inks from Noodler's nearly as well.

 

I understand. I don't remember if you like greens, but I recently received a second sample of Noodler's Hunter, my first sample being from 2011 or thereabouts. Back then it didn't seem like a good rendition of "hunter green" as it was almost as bright as Gruene Cactus Eel, just with extra spread and no shading at all. However, when I checked the sample of Hunter I just received yesterday, it's darker now and actually looks like hunter green.

[KBeezie]

I have a few different Noodler's inks, and they vary quite a bit depending on the line or type of ink it is. I prefer them because they have the colors I like with the waterproofness like, and for most of my pens they run fine in the choice of inks I've picked.

 

I've not tried the dreaded BSB (Bay State Blue), and I don't really need something that vibrant (Even if it's only temporary on paper).

 

But I've used the following with out issues thus far:

 

Noodler's Black Eel

Currently in my Montblanc 225 piston with a Jpn-sized extra-fine nib. Mainly got the eel for the lubrication in case it helps with the extra fine nibs, but also turns out the lubrication *can* be useful to pistons.

I've also used it in my Sheaffer Snorkel Admiral without issue, it is however too wet (lubrication mainly) in the M2 Medium nib.

 

Noodler's Liberty's Elysium

Probably the most vibrant blue I currently have without being *too* saturated and waterproof just like the Black Eel. Currently in my Pilot Elite Mini with an 18K Soft Fine. No where near as wet as Noodler's Blue-Black (Which is "partially" bulletproof), and it dries faster than blue-black (no smears after about 5-10 seconds). I did have it in a Parker 51 Vac, but as a vacumatic I'd like to use something a little more subtle, as it'll be easier to clean (perhaps one of the Akkerman, Iroshizuku, or waterman ink samples I have).

 

Noodler's Texas Blue Steel

A almost green-ish blue, a tad on the wet side, not too wet, not completely waterproof, good flow, not too difficult to clean up. Used this in my Faber-Castell BASIC with a fine nib. (Akkerman Shocking Blue seems to be very close on paper, except Shocking Blue doesn't shade gradually as much as Liberty's Elysium).

 

Noodler's Inks I do have *some* issues with:

 

Texas Pecan : nice look, but it's dry running, easy to dry out in finer nibs. Also on paper it takes a bit too long to dry.

 

Texas Live Oak: Very wet flowing, but dries instantly on most papers. But due to being very wet it bleeds or feathers at the start and end of certain nibs (I seem to notice this happens a lot with most Noodler's Greens I've tried, especially Bad Gator Green). But what I do love about it, is that it is dry in under a second and waterproof. It is however causing hard start issues in my already-dry-writing Vanishing point with the fine nib, but working just fine in my Lamy Safari with a Fine Nib. This would be a great green if it didn't go down so wet.

 

Upper Ganges Blue : bleed bleed bleed bleed bleed lol, and it has a nasty smell to it. Not a bad blue though, but kind of dries to a chalky look.

 

Sequoia Green: A bit too wet for me and definitely not waterproof. (it was too wet for a Medium nib on a Pilot Metropolitan).

 

The nice thing about cartridge/converter pens is that they are generally easy to disassemble and clean if needed. Which is why I'll only put something like Diamine Syrah into a C/C pen that can also remove the nib/feed (stains like crazy and dries up easy).

 

But Noodler's inks I probably won't be getting any time soon (unless I put it in a Preppy or Varsity or something):

- Bay State Blue (or any Baystate line for that matter)

- Kung Te-Cheng

- Tchaikovsky

- Upper Ganges Blue

 

You can see a lot of their properties via this PDF that Goulet Pens made, which can be useful if you have a pen prone to clogging, in which case you might want to avoid inks with bulletproof properties.

 

http://noodlersink.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/103012_noodlers-ink-properties.pdf

Edited August 26, 2014 by KBeezie