Jump to content

Noodler's Air-Corp Blue-Black Review


Gazcom

Recommended Posts

Before exploring my first ink review, I’d like to explain my review method.

After reading several reviews I’ve decided to try to pick some features here and there, and put them together in a sort of “hybrid review”.

I use three kinds of paper:

 

Fabriano copy paper : Nothing fancy, just standard inkjet printer 80 gr/mq paper. Behaver poorly in any occasion, a fantastic stress test for detemine if an ink is suitable for daily use purposes.

 

Favini “Schizza & Strappa” paper : It’s a drawing purpose paper, at the touch feels like Rhodia paper, but it’s a lot lighter, just 55gr/mq. Behaves much better than normal copy paper and on this support it’s more likely to bring out some shading and, if you’re lucky, some sheen. It has also a really good cost/value rate.

 

Tracing Paper : Everyone knows what tracing paper is and how it behaves, quite trasparente, almost waterproof, takes ages in drying times, but really brings out everything from the ink you’re using. This support is the last chance for an ink to show shading or sheen. Obviously is a very unfriendly paper for left handed pen user like me.

 

I’m always using the same Lamy Safari pen with 4 different nibs : Fine, Medium, Broad , 1.9 Stub.
In the future I’m looking to improve my reviews with implementing a fifth tipe of nib: a Broad nib grinded to Architect.

 

I feel also that Is interesting examine how an ink behaves on towels and on a cromatography test, just because I’m a really curious guy and I really like trying to understand how an ink is made and wich dyes and tones composes the final colour.

 

So let’s begin my first review!

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

The ink I’m going to examine is one of my usual choice on work : Noodler’s Air-Corp Blue Black.
As you may notice from the picture below, even if it’s called blue black, it feels more like a greeny dark teal ink.

It’s a really wet ink, with a fantastic flow (wich is thing I really enjoy), without losing performance on the feathering and bleeding side even on cheap paper.

On the other side I’ve to say that this ink on cheap paper appears a little flat, with almost no shading. Using it on more “fountain pen friendly” paper this ink really gives is best with a wider range of shades. It does not show any sheen on any kind of paper.
As you may notice from the cromatography and from the water drop test, this ink is absolutely waterproof, and leaves a nice dark grey line if soaked in the water.

 

COPY PAPER

http://s11.postimg.org/rqmznmky7/COPY_PAPER.jpg

 

SCHIZZA & STRAPPA PAPER

TRACING PAPER

We’re usually defining low cost – high performance – durable fountain pens as workhorses, in my opinion there are some inks that can have the same definition in terms of work appropriate colour – waterproofness – indelible over time – cleaning easiness – cost per bottle. This ink for me belongs this category and I find a plus not being the usual standard royal blue or blue black, but a particular tone absolutely usable, even on official or business documents, without looking odd, but just interesting.

 

P.S.

As this is my first review, please feel free to give me any advice to improve the others coming next!
Thanks!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 15
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

  • Gazcom

    3

  • truthpil

    2

  • eharriett

    2

  • IndigoBOB

    2

It is a very nice ink and I often alternate between it and the standard Blue-Black.

The Good Captain

"Meddler's 'Salamander' - almost as good as the real thing!"

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...

Thanks for the great review. I love the unique color of this ink, the decent water resistance (although the blue component makes a mess on the page), and how well it behaves. Just ordered my first whole bottle!

fpn_1451608922__truthpil_signature_small

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Great job.

Fountain pens are my preferred COLOR DELIVERY SYSTEM (in part because crayons melt in Las Vegas).

Create a Ghostly Avatar and I'll send you a letter. Check out some Ink comparisons: The Great PPS Comparison 

Don't know where to start?  Look at the Inky Topics O'day.  Then, see inks sorted by color: Blue Purple Brown Red Green Dark Green Orange Black Pinks Yellows Blue-Blacks Grey/Gray UVInks Turquoise/Teal MURKY

 

 

 

 

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Great review!

 

As I recall, though, my bottle of ACBB tended to the teal side. This was several years ago.

 

Your ACBB looks like an ink I would have enjoyed if my bottle had contained it.

_________________

etherX in To Miasto

Fleekair <--French accent.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 weeks later...

Good review. So good that you've convinced me to buy it! (seriously). Although I'm not really a teal-freak, there is as you say something special about it. Maybe it's the deepness. No, not deep in the sense of saturation but more due to the edge between the darker and the lighter regions (substantiated in your last two images).

 

Mike

Life is too short to drink bad wine (Goethe)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This is a timely review for me. I've embarked on a project of collecting about 100 ink samples and trying them until I find my "perfect" inks for both my new pens and my vintage pen. Job #1, however, is to find the best work ink for me. So far, only about 20 of my vials have come (Anderson shipped fastest). And from the testing I'd gotten. I am not 100% sure of anything yet EXCEPT for the blue-black (need a black and a blue-black for work -- jury still out on the black). The blue-black I NEED is this one.

 

My goal is to have a library of inks I can use that I consider my "perfect" colors. And I was completely BLOWN AWAY at how this particular shade of blue-black matches exactly how I picture blue-black in my mind.

 

Tomorrow, out of 20 inks tried, this ink is the first one to graduate to phase 2 of my testing: load part of the sample up into my Jinhao tester pen and start carrying it around to see how it performs during my normal day with the forms I'll need it to write on -- and make sure it doesn't damage my pen. Need to know if it will be safe in my vintage "children."

 

I assume this form of layered methodical testing is not too weird with this group :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

I assume this form of layered methodical testing is not too weird with this group :)

Not weird at all. I've got a list I carry around on my phone of ink color categories with check marks next to those I've found "my perfect color" for. Right now Air-Corp blue-black and Prime of the Commons are fighting it out for my perfect blue-black.

 

One thing that can be really frustrating with Noodler's inks though is batch variation. I had a sample of Bad Blue Heron that had a lovely green tint to it, but when I finally bought a bottle to put as my perfect teal, the ink in the bottle had no green his whatsoever. Now I've got more blue ink than I know what to do with.

fpn_1451608922__truthpil_signature_small

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Great review, thanks.

 

I love the color of this ink but have found it to be unsuitable for me as a lefty due to the drying time on quality paper. This is one of a couple of inks I really wish could work for me!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Great review, thanks.

 

I love the color of this ink but have found it to be unsuitable for me as a lefty due to the drying time on quality paper. This is one of a couple of inks I really wish could work for me!

Huh. I'm a lefty too and it isn't too much worse for me on quality paper than most other inks. I generally have to use a fine nib, though.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 10 months later...

I really like your concluding paragraph about this ink. I agree.

 

I find this ink very useful for my finer nibs because it flows so well, yet is still well behaved in the medium or broader nibs.

 

I like the legibility of the darkness and using it as an alternative to noodler's black.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I really like your concluding paragraph about this ink. I agree.

 

I find this ink very useful for my finer nibs because it flows so well, yet is still well behaved in the medium or broader nibs.

 

I like the legibility of the darkness and using it as an alternative to noodler's black.

 

Thanks a lot!

 

An alternative use I found for this ink is putting it in pens difficult to disassemble, that have some flow issues dued to dried ink. I've lended to my girlfriend a J.Herbin ink cartridge rollerball (trying to introduce her in the fantastic world of the inkeophiles) but she left it unused for months, resulting in a mess. I had tried almost every possibile method (cleaning a rollerball is a lot more difficult than cleaning a fountain pen I discovered) then I decided to fill a cartridge with Noodler's Air-corp blue black, and suddenly it began again to write, not very well, but better and better every time. I know it's quite empirical but i thought it was worth sharing.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

Thanks a lot!

 

An alternative use I found for this ink is putting it in pens difficult to disassemble, that have some flow issues dued to dried ink. I've lended to my girlfriend a J.Herbin ink cartridge rollerball (trying to introduce her in the fantastic world of the inkeophiles) but she left it unused for months, resulting in a mess. I had tried almost every possibile method (cleaning a rollerball is a lot more difficult than cleaning a fountain pen I discovered) then I decided to fill a cartridge with Noodler's Air-corp blue black, and suddenly it began again to write, not very well, but better and better every time. I know it's quite empirical but i thought it was worth sharing.

 

 

It verifies how well this ink can bring pens to life, and I think it's worth mentioning.

 

Just today I have been using it in my Pilot Prerra Fine Nib, and TBH it's the first time I've been able to enjoy writing with a Japanese Fine... getting a dark line out of it that isn't boring. I find this great for Tomoe River Paper since the show through is lessened by the finer nib while retaining legibility with the dark lines.

 

I'm really surprised with this ink. I'm finishing up a sample right now, but when it's done I think it will be my next bottle. I just got Sailor Shiguro so I want to temper my purchasing until I need it. The FPN doesn't make that easy lol.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now


  • Most Contributions

    1. amberleadavis
      amberleadavis
      43844
    2. PAKMAN
      PAKMAN
      33501
    3. Ghost Plane
      Ghost Plane
      28220
    4. inkstainedruth
      inkstainedruth
      26627
    5. jar
      jar
      26101
  • Upcoming Events

  • Blog Comments

    • Shanghai Knife Dude
      I have the Sailor Naginata and some fancy blade nibs coming after 2022 by a number of new workshop from China.  With all my respect, IMHO, they are all (bleep) in doing chinese characters.  Go use a bush, or at least a bush pen. 
    • A Smug Dill
      It is the reason why I'm so keen on the idea of a personal library — of pens, nibs, inks, paper products, etc. — and spent so much money, as well as time and effort, to “build” it for myself (because I can't simply remember everything, especially as I'm getting older fast) and my wife, so that we can “know”; and, instead of just disposing of what displeased us, or even just not good enough to be “given the time of day” against competition from >500 other pens and >500 other inks for our at
    • adamselene
      Agreed.  And I think it’s good to be aware of this early on and think about at the point of buying rather than rationalizing a purchase..
    • A Smug Dill
      Alas, one cannot know “good” without some idea of “bad” against which to contrast; and, as one of my former bosses (back when I was in my twenties) used to say, “on the scale of good to bad…”, it's a spectrum, not a dichotomy. Whereas subjectively acceptable (or tolerable) and unacceptable may well be a dichotomy to someone, and finding whether the threshold or cusp between them lies takes experiencing many degrees of less-than-ideal, especially if the decision is somehow influenced by factors o
    • adamselene
      I got my first real fountain pen on my 60th birthday and many hundreds of pens later I’ve often thought of what I should’ve known in the beginning. I have many pens, the majority of which have some objectionable feature. If they are too delicate, or can’t be posted, or they are too precious to face losing , still they are users, but only in very limited environments..  I have a big disliking for pens that have the cap jump into the air and fly off. I object to Pens that dry out, or leave blobs o
  • Chatbox

    You don't have permission to chat.
    Load More
  • Files






×
×
  • Create New...