Noodlers Ink

[truthpil]

 

KTC has a lovely saturation and dark bold color without going black and losing the color, but yet is still quite vibrant without being vivid.

 

KTC didn't work as well in my typcial Jinhao x750-Goulet nib combo so I christened my Charlie pen with it and I quickly loved the ink and now this pen combination since it is writing quite pleasurably.

 

This is an ink that makes me want to find a pen that works with it. Definitely something with an Ebonite Feed would do it justice for me.

 

 

Does KTC tend to dry out in the Charlie? My experience is that inks evaporate in any Noodler's pen because the cap doesn't seal all that well.

I really want to find a pen I can devote to KTC so I can justify buying a bottle of it. The color really is one of my favorites!

[DrDebG]

I’ve tried many Noodler’s inks (over 20). I keep trying others. I have a love/hate relationship with Noodler’s inks. I love the colors. But I hate the formulation of the inks I have tried. The samples I have tried all have some issue - very slow dry times, cleaning difficulties, nib crud, etc.

 

But, I love what Nathan is doing and trying to do. Because of that alone, I have bought a few bottles to try and support him.

 

Others really like Noodler’s inks, so they are probably better judges that I am.

[truthpil]

I’ve tried many Noodler’s inks (over 20). I keep trying others. I have a love/hate relationship with Noodler’s inks. I love the colors. But I hate the formulation of the inks I have tried. The samples I have tried all have some issue - very slow dry times, cleaning difficulties, nib crud, etc.

 

Ugh, that's exactly my story as well. I have over 20 Noodler's inks and only use 3 or 4 of them semi-regularly (Prime of the Commons, Air-Corp Blue Black, La Reine Mauve, North African Violet), yet even those need 4:1 dilution to reach peak performance. What drives me nuts is the "coal dust" they leave behind in every converter and pen (except for NAV).

[IndigoBOB]

 

Does KTC tend to dry out in the Charlie? My experience is that inks evaporate in any Noodler's pen because the cap doesn't seal all that well.

I really want to find a pen I can devote to KTC so I can justify buying a bottle of it. The color really is one of my favorites!

 

 

I've had no problems and the flow has been consistently good, which has surprised me. I use an FPR #5.5 nib with it and it's a pleasure.

 

I agree, I don't think the charlie is going to be as air tight as pens with inner caps. I make sure I twist the cap on tight. I also make sure I don't have many pens inked at once so I use it more regularly.

 

It is a beautiful color.

[displacermoose]

I just got a Platinum 3776 Century in medium that is very wet; the next time I fill it I'm going to give KTC a try. It doesn't work in my sf Century because that nib is too dry, but it does beautifully in my Sailor Sapporo fine. The moral of this is that I doubt you can count on any particular pen on being a good KTC pen. You have to try the candidates in your collection (I'd recommend wet pens that you aren't concerned with staining) and see what works.

[truthpil]

I just got a Platinum 3776 Century in medium that is very wet; the next time I fill it I'm going to give KTC a try. It doesn't work in my sf Century because that nib is too dry, but it does beautifully in my Sailor Sapporo fine. The moral of this is that I doubt you can count on any particular pen on being a good KTC pen. You have to try the candidates in your collection (I'd recommend wet pens that you aren't concerned with staining) and see what works.

 

Looking forward to hearing how it goes with KTC in your 3776. I love those pens and have one in SF and B. It seems like the qualifications for a KTC pen are (1) being a wet writer to keep flow going so it doesn't dry out on the nib and (2) having a cap that seals well to prevent hard starts when not used for a day or two.

 

I'm going to try it out in my wet medium italic Parson's Essential and my 1.1 TWSBI ECO and see how those work. I don't use the ECO for anything so could care less if it gets stained and the Parson's is all black anyway.

 

I'm shying away from using a eyedropper pen because the last thing I want is bomb-proof ink burping on my close and everything else.

[IndigoBOB]

 

Looking forward to hearing how it goes with KTC in your 3776. I love those pens and have one in SF and B. It seems like the qualifications for a KTC pen are (1) being a wet writer to keep flow going so it doesn't dry out on the nib and (2) having a cap that seals well to prevent hard starts when not used for a day or two.

 

I'm going to try it out in my wet medium italic Parson's Essential and my 1.1 TWSBI ECO and see how those work. I don't use the ECO for anything so could care less if it gets stained and the Parson's is all black anyway.

 

I'm shying away from using a eyedropper pen because the last thing I want is bomb-proof ink burping on my close and everything else.

 

 

Lol That's a good point about the burping. I've had my close calls.

 

I am curious how it works in your TWSBI Eco if you get around to it.

[white_lotus]

This thread is making me fill a pen with Noodler's (FPH) Old Dutch Colony Sepia.

[inkstainedruth]

This thread is making me fill a pen with Noodler's (FPH) Old Dutch Colony Sepia.

 

I almost bought a bottle of that a couple of weeks ago when I was at FPH. Decided against, but at some point I may decide I need it after all.

The problem of course is that swabs don't give an accurate visual reading of what an ink will look like coming out of a pen. Some of the other FPH exclusives were no brainers (Manhattan Blue was a possible match to an ink that came out of an Esterbrook SJ, found in the wild, when I went to flush the pen out; Ellis Island was "Oh yet another blue black, where do I sign up?" ; Old Manhattan doesn't get much use but is BLACK; and Henry Hudson I got to try back when they still allowed dip testing -- didn't buy it then because it didn't match the aforementioned ink in the Estie, but is nice on its own terms as a grey-blue.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[displacermoose]

 

Looking forward to hearing how it goes with KTC in your 3776. I love those pens and have one in SF and B. It seems like the qualifications for a KTC pen are (1) being a wet writer to keep flow going so it doesn't dry out on the nib and (2) having a cap that seals well to prevent hard starts when not used for a day or two.

 

I'm going to try it out in my wet medium italic Parson's Essential and my 1.1 TWSBI ECO and see how those work. I don't use the ECO for anything so could care less if it gets stained and the Parson's is all black anyway.

 

I'm shying away from using a eyedropper pen because the last thing I want is bomb-proof ink burping on my close and everything else.

It's been in the 3776 M for 2 days now with no issues, but the longest I've left it to sit is 24 hours. Thus far I'm very happy, but I'm not ready to declare success yet; I've had pens start out splendidly but then gunk up over the course of a fill. We'll see.

[truthpil]

 

 

Lol That's a good point about the burping. I've had my close calls.

 

I am curious how it works in your TWSBI Eco if you get around to it.

 

I'm just on day 2 now with KTC in my ECO and I'm getting mixed results. The pen wouldn't write at all without an unreasonable amount of pressure.

I'm getting better results with a wet medium FPR 5.5 nib in the pen, but still every once in a while the nib will go dry and I'll have to flick the pen to restore ink flow. I think the issue is that something about the construction of the ECO feed just doesn't work well with KTC.

 

Good news is that the cap does seem to seal well, so there aren't any hard starts as long as ink was flowing immediately before capping.

 

I just inked my Parson's Essential with KTC and immediately got better results. Flow is excellent without any skipping, but I don't think the cap seals as well as the ECO. I'll report more on both after a few more days with them.

[dcwaites]

I have a love/hate relationship with Noodler's, but with individual inks, not with the maker.

 

I love Noodler's Black, and although I don't use it much, it has a set of properties, that as a set, are unique. There isn't another ink like NB.

 

I have other inks, like Midway Blue, which just spread too much for me to find useful, although I now have better papers so I should give it another go.

 

I am currently re-visiting Noodler's Liberty's Elysium, because it has a lovely colour, but it spreads, but if I use it in a Fine nib, on good paper, it only spreads out to a M-F, and shows the colour off nicely.

 

The problem for me is that the Noodlers's inks have a high dye load, which is why they are such beautiful, intense inks, and to carry that dye through the pen, they consequently have a relatively high concentration of surfactant, meaning they tend to bleed and spread more. Now in a Western Medium or Broad pen, that doesn't matter very much, as the spread doesn't show up much. But if you have an Asian Fine, and it gets spread out to a Medium, that's a problem. The absolute degree of spreading isn't very much, but relatively to a Fine nib, it's a lot.

 

NLE's big competitor, with me at the moment, is Monteverde Horizon Blue. They are both almost identical colours, but MHB spreads much less than NLE. On good quality paper, in an Asian fine nib, MHB writes like a needle, with shading, while NLE is like an Asian FM or M.

[Bill Wood]

Very nicely put. That's actually the reason I steer away from Noodlers' inks. I have a few handfuls of them but then stopped ordering them. Again, I like the labels, but that's no reason to buy a whole, over-stuffed bottle. If they were at least "usually" or "almost always" let alone consistently of one and the same batch/lot/formula, I'd probably buy more.

Bingo Lapis.

[Orange25]

I've been away from this forum for a while but I remember a time when there was a lot of discussion about Noodler's, especially around the infamous Baystate Blue.

 

For me, I love what Nathan is doing. The bulletproof properties plus the range of colours is one of the reasons why I got back into using fountain pens. The price is exceptional and even better when those bottles are filled to the brim. The nice labels are a bonus.

 

I always have at least two pens filled with Noodler's ink - Heart of Darkness and Baystate Blue/Bad Belted Kingfisher. I usually dilute Bad Belted Kingfisher with some water - (roughly) two parts BBK to one part water - just to help it flow.

 

I've stopped using some of their colours because in the UK we're a bit more limited in terms of the availability of colours. Ordering from US retailers can get expensive. As far as I know, we only have one retailer stocking Noodler's and the range isn't extensive.

 

For an alternative, Mont Blanc do some really nice colours (although the range is, of course, much smaller). I've used MB's Racing Green and Irish Green as replacements for Green Marine and Hunter Green respectively. MB's inks can't match Noodler's for water resistance but they're good enough to still be legible after a few drops of water.

 

I get that there may be QC issues from one batch to another, but for a one-man operation, what Nathan is doing is extraordinary. I hope he continues for a good long while as Noodler's is a huge benefit for the fountain pen community.

Edited January 9, 2018 by Orange25

[IndigoBOB]

 

I'm just on day 2 now with KTC in my ECO and I'm getting mixed results. The pen wouldn't write at all without an unreasonable amount of pressure.

I'm getting better results with a wet medium FPR 5.5 nib in the pen, but still every once in a while the nib will go dry and I'll have to flick the pen to restore ink flow. I think the issue is that something about the construction of the ECO feed just doesn't work well with KTC.

 

Good news is that the cap does seem to seal well, so there aren't any hard starts as long as ink was flowing immediately before capping.

 

I just inked my Parson's Essential with KTC and immediately got better results. Flow is excellent without any skipping, but I don't think the cap seals as well as the ECO. I'll report more on both after a few more days with them.

 

 

Thank you for the feedback .

 

I just inked up my Lamy Safari with KTC and it's working great right now. I'll let it sit for the night and try it out later.

[truthpil]

Thank you for the feedback .

 

I just inked up my Lamy Safari with KTC and it's working great right now. I'll let it sit for the night and try it out later.

After one more day with these 2 pens I can say that the TWSBI cap seals really well because I never get hard starts with KTC in it. However, the feed running dry and causing skipping persists. The Parson's Essential is the exact opposite on both counts. I need to make a couple strokes to restore ink flow when I haven't used it for a few hours, but it doesn't skip while writing. If this continues, I'm going to order myself one of the new dark indigo Parson's Essentials with the wettest, broadest nib available.

[Pravda]

I personally love the colors of Noodler's inks. So many are 'favorites'. But the nib creep prevents me of buying more, or using them frequently. Now when I want a 'messy/vintage' look on a nib I may have a Noodler's fill but otherwise.. sigh.. I wish they'd address this and it'll be awesome.

[IndigoBOB]

After one more day with these 2 pens I can say that the TWSBI cap seals really well because I never get hard starts with KTC in it. However, the feed running dry and causing skipping persists. The Parson's Essential is the exact opposite on both counts. I need to make a couple strokes to restore ink flow when I haven't used it for a few hours, but it doesn't skip while writing. If this continues, I'm going to order myself one of the new dark indigo Parson's Essentials with the wettest, broadest nib available.

 

 

Yah, the TWSBI Eco isn't my favorite pen, but it's still solid and keeps the nib from drying out... Though it can be on the dry side so I'm not surprised.

 

Sounds like a good excuse to buy a descent pen . And the color would match ... And it's like totally one of the best colors out there . I'm going to stop myself from being an enabler lol.

 

I haven't tried an Italix pen yet, but it seems like it would be safer than something like a Noodler's pen.

[truthpil]

 

 

Yah, the TWSBI Eco isn't my favorite pen, but it's still solid and keeps the nib from drying out... Though it can be on the dry side so I'm not surprised.

 

Sounds like a good excuse to buy a descent pen . And the color would match ... And it's like totally one of the best colors out there . I'm going to stop myself from being an enabler lol.

 

I haven't tried an Italix pen yet, but it seems like it would be safer than something like a Noodler's pen.

Allow me to return the enabling haha...if you don't mind the weight of an all metal pen, you really should have at least one Italix Parson's Essential in your collection. The nibs are the smoothest ever and so far mine has handled even the most frustrating Noodler's inks like a champ.

[IndigoBOB]

Allow me to return the enabling haha...if you don't mind the weight of an all metal pen, you really should have at least one Italix Parson's Essential in your collection. The nibs are the smoothest ever and so far mine has handled even the most frustrating Noodler's inks like a champ.

 

Enabling duly noted.