Fighting With Noodler's Inks Again

[SeeksAdvice]

I can't figure out what type of "biocide" Noodler's uses. Nearly every single bottle of Noodler's "bulletproof/warden" lines that I've had seems to grow stuff. Their "regular" inks don't seem to have issues for me. Midway Blue... fine. Blue Steel... stuff. It's not psoriasis flakes either, because I am currently on meds for that. Found an older bottle of Tsuki-Yo that had such identifiable dead skin material, but none of the circular or "fuzzy" stuff that the Blue Steel, Black Bat, or Legal Lapis have (none of which I've drawn directly out of). Strangely enough, my old bottle of Bad Green Gator doesn't seem to be effected despite being used to directly fill a few pens at times. One of my bottles of Noodler's is starting to show a lighter "ring" at the top of the liquid, much like the bottle of El Lawrence I had. Heck, even my bottle of J. Herbin black is holding up better...

 

 

[Uncial]

I have Black Bat and it is still fine. You mention El Lawrence has a lighter ring of liquid at the top. Mine does that too. In fact it can even gradate down the bottle in terms of its colour depth. I think it has a tendency to precipitate out the colour, so every time I use it I give the bottle a good shake and its fine - no bits, or mushrooms or anything like that. I think its just a feature of that ink.

[wallylynn]

it's possible it's condensation. especially on a lesser filled bottle, the water can condense on the glass and drip back down and over time form a layer of less color a top.

[estie1948]

Sorry to hear of your problem with these inks. I have used Legal Lapis and Old Manhattan Black since they first came out and I haven't had any problem. I hate the full-to-the-brim circular bottles, so I always transfer the ink to a Mont Blanc shoe bottle or a Sheaffer Skrip well bottle and fill my pens directly from them. Maybe this transferring to another bottle is what is saving my ink although I would tend to think it would make the chance for contamination greater. I wish you better luck with your future inks.

 

-David (Estie).

[loweevan]

I'd be curious to know about this too. My GI Green (v-mail series) started to grow things. The only other ink I've had that's ever had flakes or fuzzies has been a seasonal MB scented ink. I thought that perhaps it was limited to the v-mail series which seems to have been deprecated, but it looks like that's not the case.

 

As for the color variation, I think that's a performance characteristic that owes to the saturation level of the ink. Turn a bottle of Noodlers black upside down and I bet you see that some of it clings to the bottom. I've never had any problems with it in pens whatsoever. A shake re-distributes things to keep saturation consistent over time.

[Octo]

I've never had problems with the inks you mention (or other Noodler's inks). Is it possible you had one contaminated fountain pen and then transferred the contamination from bottle to bottle via your fountain pens? However, precipitate can develop in saturated inks from any company. Is your problem true particles or slime or merely precipitate that goes away with mixing?

[amberleadavis]

Dear Seeks, I think that whatever is in your water there in North Dakota is scary and dangerous. While I think you can inoculate your inks with some serious biocide, I think you should also look at the water. I've never tested them myself, but I've heard that many of the Japanese inks are alkaline, the pH neutral inks may be less resistant to the hazards where you are. How have your Sailor inks held up? Also, do you want a few mls of phenol? I bought the one from Natural Pigments and it has served me well. I'm sorry to read that you are still having these problems. Take care. Amber