Thoughts On Noodler's Inks?

[ink-syringe]

Earth still spins if your pen is stained.

 

Ink it, use it, embrace the stain.

 

 

 

We'll all be dead soon anyway.

 

Edited May 24, 2015 by ink-syringe

[amberleadavis]

Dear New Pen Man, my only suggestion to your list ... consider adding American Eel Red. It is a great stain remover.

[Barkingpig]

Earth still spins if your pen is stained.

 

Ink it, use it, embrace the stain.

 

 

 

We'll all be dead soon anyway.

 

I like that sentiment! I enjoyed Sasha Royale's advice in reference to the difficulty of cleaning a Parker 51 when he said "it is only a pen to write with. It is NOT like you are going to eat food with it!" I have been so intimidated by so many of the opinions I read here that sometimes I doubt I should be trusted with my own pens. After purchasing a used Montegrappa with badly tarnished silver fittings I realised I had sprung the clip with a "Sunshine Cloth" while cleaning it. I am sorry it happened BUT I have never put a pen in a shirt pocket & have no intention of doing so. I made peace with the issue & have not let it lessen my appreciation for the pen. I appreciate your sentiments & if I ever encounter a stained pen I will smile & "move on." I have certainly damaged many more important things than a pen.

[amberleadavis]

Earth still spins if your pen is stained.

 

Ink it, use it, embrace the stain.

 

 

 

We'll all be dead soon anyway.

 

 

 

I like that sentiment! I enjoyed Sasha Royale's advice in reference to the difficulty of cleaning a Parker 51 when he said "it is only a pen to write with. It is NOT like you are going to eat food with it!" I have been so intimidated by so many of the opinions I read here that sometimes I doubt I should be trusted with my own pens. After purchasing a used Montegrappa with badly tarnished silver fittings I realised I had sprung the clip with a "Sunshine Cloth" while cleaning it. I am sorry it happened BUT I have never put a pen in a shirt pocket & have no intention of doing so. I made peace with the issue & have not let it lessen my appreciation for the pen. I appreciate your sentiments & if I ever encounter a stained pen I will smile & "move on." I have certainly damaged many more important things than a pen.

 

 

That being said, one of my favorite pens is stained beyond belief (Diamine Grape was the first stain). I love the pen so much and I sort of enjoy the extreme stains.

 

http://sheismylawyer.com/She_Thinks_In_Ink/2015-Pens/20150408_170210.jpg

[mhosea]

• Tiananmen
• Noodler's Blue
• Bay State Blue
• Cactus Green
• Nikita
• Noodler's Blue Black
• Apache Sunset

Nikita is fantastic, IMHO, a water resistant but conventional red. Perhaps it's not as vibrant as it could be when it has fully dried.

 

I'm going to let the voluminous record on BSB speak for itself. I like it, but I keep it dedicated to a single, cheap pen, owing mostly to the difficulty in cleaning it out of anything without resorting to the use of alcohol or bleach, neither of which has any business being used to clean out pens in general, IMHO.

 

I've observed Noodler's Blue to melt a latex sac fragment after a year of continuous exposure (the control fragment cut from the same sac was not melted by Waterman Blue). Whether this was caused by some fluke or not, I do not know. I'm trying to repeat that result, but while the matter is uncertain, I urge a little caution about using that particular ink in pens with latex sacs. I tested plenty of other Noodler's inks at the same time, including Nikita and Baystate Blue, and they did not melt any sac fragments.

[SeeksAdvice]

That's interesting with regard to Noodler's Blue. Of all the inks in the Noodler's line, I'd least expect something as mundane as that to be a potential problem. I figured that we'd be looking at LRM or something.

I tend to want reds that jump off the page (use them for document mark up). None of the Noodler's reds seem to do that.

 

I would suggest getting some samples of the various inks. It's pretty cheap, and you can test a bunch of them. Sometimes you find out that something that looks great initially, turns out not so great. Had that happen with Q'ternity.

[amberleadavis]

Seeks, here is the new red that will be released soon.

 

[mallymal1]

 

 

 

 

That being said, one of my favorite pens is stained beyond belief (Diamine Grape was the first stain). I love the pen so much and I sort of enjoy the extreme stains.

 

http://sheismylawyer.com/She_Thinks_In_Ink/2015-Pens/20150408_170210.jpg

 

 

A wonderful inky patina.

[bardharlock]

Seeks, here is the new red that will be released soon.

 

It looks like it may shade as well.

[Chthulhu]

 

 

 

 

That being said, one of my favorite pens is stained beyond belief (Diamine Grape was the first stain). I love the pen so much and I sort of enjoy the extreme stains.

 

http://sheismylawyer.com/She_Thinks_In_Ink/2015-Pens/20150408_170210.jpg

That's the prettiest Ahab I've yet seen. :-)

[torstar]

BSB has its quirks, be careful with it, it will stain the stainless steel sink

 

Good choices for the rest, we'd warn you about the really horrible ones....

[mhosea]

Before BSB:

 

BSB:

 

The dreaded BSB "stain":

 

The magic potion:

 

The magic potion at work:

 

After 4 minutes of using alcohol (applied as wetly as practical based on the location of the stain) and wiping paper towels (no abrasives):

 

Ceramic sinks are much the same, IME.

Edited May 25, 2015 by mhosea

[torstar]

so make sure to bring a cleansing agent with your bottle of BSB, carry it in a brown paper bag...

 

and that's just the external damage, the internal damage to pens is legendary.

 

reminds me of the immortal Marion Barry: "Outside of the killings, D.C. has one of the lowest crime rates in the country."

 

Still like BSB and use it a few months of the year...

Edited May 25, 2015 by torstar

[KBeezie]

As noted above, alcohol should work, it's primarily when bulletproof ink is bonded to paper that you can't remove without destroying the paper.

 

Far as my thoughts on Noodler's, they make some of my favorite inks, and some of my not so favorite, the affordability and variety is what I find attractive about the brand, just takes a little longer to pick the one I like the best (which right now is primarily Noodler's Black Eel, and Blue Steel).

[bardharlock]

We might be getting too closely into an ink battle.

 

NewPenMan, I suggest you take a look at this thread, pinned to the top of this forum. It has a lot of good information on Noodler's inks. Obviously, many folks use Noodler's and never experience any problems. Just as obvious is that some people have experienced some issues. The choice is totally up to you.

[mhosea]

For my part, I've already conceded that BSB is a bear to completely clean out of pens, and that I don't think alcohol or bleach should be used on pens. It's why I dedicate a cheap pen to the ink.

Edited May 25, 2015 by mhosea

[haruka337]

Noodler makes some of the most beautiful shading inks on the market (Golden Brown, Apache Sunset, both Black Swans, the list could go on!) so it's a brand that seemingly every fountain pen owner owns.

 

Though, Noodler does produce some lines that use historically accurate ink recipes (like V-mail, amongst others) that can stain pens, fade quickly on paper or may be corrosive to a pen over time (corrosion shouldn't be an issue with regular flushing and pen maintenance), but these inks are produced because they appeal to a segment of fountain pen users that like a particular color with certain properties or enjoy using inks that are historically identical.

 

Either way, kudos to Noodler for having such broad offerings of ink that appeal to so many segments within this community.

Edited May 25, 2015 by haruka337

[clazbill]

I have a wide (sample) collection of Noodler's inks. I haven't let any of them stay in a pen for too long, so I haven't had any permanent ink staining problems. When I did the Baystate Blue, I followed it up with some of the Eel Red; worked wonderful to clear up the pen.

 

I've bought a few bottles of Noodlers too, though I stick with inks that can go in pens without worrying about staining, damage, etc.

[Randal6393]

Worry, smurry. Have a half-dozen Noodler's inks, keep them in pens that range from $ 35.00 to $ 200.00 each. The only stains I have are outside the pens. Most of my pens have been working for from one to five years, one (Lamy 2000) that is over ten years old.

 

Like the guy said, stains or no, the pens work. Ink gets everywhere, that's the nature of ink. Just don't let your ferret out when a bottle of ink is open on your desk ...

 

Enjoy,

[cjr]

54th Massachusetts is a permanent, well-behaved blue-black. It doesn't bleed or feather and dries reasonably fast. If you want a green, try General of the Armies. It is supposed to age from a green to a faded blue, but my bottle looks pretty much blue-green. Bad Belted Kingfisher is one of my favorite permanent blues along with Bay State Blue, which I use in a dedicated Pilot Prera medium and a CON-20 converter just so I don't have to clean it out weekly. BSB dries fast, but bleeds more than most through cheaper paper.