Review of Noodler's Baystate Blue

[Philip1209]

Edited April 23, 2008 by Philip1209

[Philip1209]

I hope this review is helpful. If you have any questions, please feel free to post them.

[Deirdre]

Actually, Baystate Blue isn't a bulletproof ink.

[NeoTiger]

Baystate is only waterproof, it can easily be removed by various chemical means.

[PAKMAN]

OK dadgumit you convinced me, I'll see if Sam has any and order a bottle. I'm back saved by the out of stock sign. I guess I better wait on other new inks since I will hopefully get my 6 bottles of FPN inks soon!! But I can't resist for ever!

[aka]

Just bought a bottle of this stuff.. GREAT COLOR. And it's sooo smooth and rich. I love it! However, it hsa stained my sink and fingers and my white prera =( I had dried ink on my fingers, and just touching the plastic transfered the ink to the pen. Very fussy stuff!

[jdboucher]

how quickly does it dry....can you give me a time frame?

[Philip1209]

how quickly does it dry....can you give me a time frame?

 

With my fine-tip Lamy, when writing a longer word, the first few letters are dried by the time the word is finished. Whole words don't smear after about two or three seconds. Be aware that this is a fine tip pen though, and it also depends on the paper.

 

If anyone else has comments about its dry time, feel free to post them.

[aka]

how quickly does it dry....can you give me a time frame?

 

With my fine-tip Lamy, when writing a longer word, the first few letters are dried by the time the word is finished. Whole words don't smear after about two or three seconds. Be aware that this is a fine tip pen though, and it also depends on the paper.

 

If anyone else has comments about its dry time, feel free to post them.

 

This has been my experience as well. A very fast-drying ink!

[digitalnative]

Seems to dry quickly and puts down a nice wet line with a Safari F nib. Love the colour too.

[Philip1209]

I think that everybody should be aware of the following thread:

 

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/in...showtopic=60498

 

I am a member of the group whose lamy pens have fallen victim to the Baystate Blue Ink attack. My nib curled up like a toenail midsentence, and, according to this thread, it may be because of baystate blue. A replacement nib is on its way to me, but I do not plan on putting Baystate Blue in it.

 

Has anyone else on the board had the baystate blue attack their Lamy nib?

[fuddmain]

I think that everybody should be aware of the following thread:

 

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/in...showtopic=60498

 

I am a member of the group whose lamy pens have fallen victim to the Baystate Blue Ink attack. My nib curled up like a toenail midsentence, and, according to this thread, it may be because of baystate blue. A replacement nib is on its way to me, but I do not plan on putting Baystate Blue in it.

 

Has anyone else on the board had the baystate blue attack their Lamy nib?

 

To clarify, it was the plastic feed that crumbled, correct? The metal nib did not actually get bent.

 

5 or 6 people had this happen while using BSB in a Safari. Strange and concerning.

[WillSW]

This scan looks rather dark - comparable to DCSS Electric Blue. The other scans seemed to be lighter. Is it a darker shade like Electric Blue? If so, I must get it.

[kiavonne]

Nice show of the ink. On my monitor it looks about right, maybe a tad brighter blue in actual use.

 

On Baystate and Safaris: My personal take on this is that the two just are not compatible in a relationship and should go their separate ways. That's me, though. I got rid of all my Safaris, save for my green Al-Star. And I use Eternal Hunter Green in that pen.

 

My Baystate works wonderfully in other pens. I've had it in a Pelikan M200 (cleaning/flushing does take longer, but no staining or damages), and now I have it in a DaniTrio $33 pen from winedoc. Both these pens have medium nibs. It is doing very well in the $33 pen and matches the intense blue stripes of the pen. It is a very vibrant color. It does dry very quickly, and on all papers I've tried from cheap recycled office paper to check blanks. And it absolutely loves Apica notebooks. It doesn't care for thermal paper, though, with the paper around the ink discoloring quickly - sort of like a little oil slick. Doesn't hurt anything beyond the discoloration and the signature won't be going away.

 

The quick drying of the ink could lead to some hard starting or nib clogging, perhaps, if one is not careful. A lot of quick-dry inks seem to have that tendency. Swishmix Burgundy certainly does. I wouldn't leave the Baystate pen uncapped for any period of time. I haven't experienced any problems as yet, though, and it starts right up when I put the nib to paper. I also flush out my pen every 2 to 3 fills, too. I'm going through the ink rapidly. I'm on bottle #2 of my stash.

Edited April 27, 2008 by kiavonne

[jdboucher]

Nice show of the ink. On my monitor it looks about right, maybe a tad brighter blue in actual use.

 

On Baystate and Safaris: My personal take on this is that the two just are not compatible in a relationship and should go their separate ways. That's me, though. I got rid of all my Safaris, save for my green Al-Star. And I use Eternal Hunter Green in that pen.

 

My Baystate works wonderfully in other pens. I've had it in a Pelikan M200 (cleaning/flushing does take longer, but no staining or damages), and now I have it in a DaniTrio $33 pen from winedoc. Both these pens have medium nibs. It is doing very well in the $33 pen and matches the intense blue stripes of the pen. It is a very vibrant color. It does dry very quickly, and on all papers I've tried from cheap recycled office paper to check blanks. And it absolutely loves Apica notebooks. It doesn't care for thermal paper, though, with the paper around the ink discoloring quickly - sort of like a little oil slick. Doesn't hurt anything beyond the discoloration and the signature won't be going away.

 

The quick drying of the ink could lead to some hard starting or nib clogging, perhaps, if one is not careful. A lot of quick-dry inks seem to have that tendency. Swishmix Burgundy certainly does. I wouldn't leave the Baystate pen uncapped for any period of time. I haven't experienced any problems as yet, though, and it starts right up when I put the nib to paper. I also flush out my pen every 2 to 3 fills, too. I'm going through the ink rapidly. I'm on bottle #2 of my stash.

 

Glad to see the M200 works well with the ink. let me know if anything goes wrong with it. What about a Lamy 2000...im reluctant to get this ink because half of my fountain pens are Safaris.

 

[kiavonne]

Glad to see the M200 works well with the ink. let me know if anything goes wrong with it. What about a Lamy 2000...im reluctant to get this ink because half of my fountain pens are Safaris.

 

 

I don't have a Lamy 2000, so I'm not sure how it would work. I have a Lamy Studio, but it's not in use as it proved to be a poor writer, and I don't like the tapered chrome section.

 

Though some have used Baystate successfully in their Safaris, I would steer clear for that particular pen.

 

My M200 has been cleaned and put away for now. The Baystate was in it from the day of release up until a week ago. It takes a considerable bit of time longer for flushing/cleaning, but the pen appears no worse for wear. The time cleaning might deter me from putting Baystate in another piston fill pen, but that would be my only deterant at this time. The $33 pen is my Baystate pen for now. The ink matches those stripes so well. The $33 pen actually writes a little more smoothly than the M200 did, both medium nibs.

 

I guess I would hesitate to put Baystate in any pen made of the type of plastic as the Safari; most of the "school" pens seem to have this plastic - color more bright and vibrant for grabbing attention in a material that warms to the hand and meant to make learning fun with an inexpensive pen - pens that are made replaceable and inexpensive for the mishaps of youth. That's my own catagorization, anyway. Never mind that non-students and adults find them appealing, as well.

 

Baystate is a great, fun ink. It just requires a little more care in its use and an understanding that it isn't for everyone or all pens. It's still too new to know all the pens that should/shouldn't be used with Baystate. If you really want to try it, do so. Start with a pen that you wouldn't be upset over if it was stained. If you decide you don't like the ink, you'll be able to turn it around to someone else. If you do like the ink, you can continue with that first pen or start putting it in others, knowing it is high maintenance and used at your own risk. Me, I just went for it. As has been said by others, my pens are beautiful and fun, but they are the means of putting the words to paper which is what is really all about anyway. YMMV, as they say. I buy my pens for me, I don't think they'll end up in anyone's collections after I'm gone. I've yet to sell off any of my pens, regardless of whether I like them.

 

Hm, maybe I'll take that first and most expensive pen I purchased that does not now, nor ever has written worth a darn (my ruby red Parker Sonnet - engraved), and I'll send it in to one of our wonderful nibmeisters and have the nib ground into an Italic and the flow adjusted and then load IT up with Baystate. Learning cursive Italic with a ruby red Sonnet and vivid Baystate Blue just plain sounds like fun. Yeah, I think I might just do that!

 

[I am not a number]

What about a Lamy 2000...

Works fine in my 2000s.

[pmormack]

This is an evil ink. I love the color, but I've just spent a half hour trying to remove it completely from a Conklin Nozac. Constant flushing with water, soap, a little ammonia, soaking the nib and it's still dribbling out some blue. I tried in a Pelikan 200 that wouldn't kill me to lose, but BSB turned it into a skipping pen. At this point I plan to toss the entire bottle.

 

Any ink that requires this much maintenance is just not worth the hassle.

[kookychick]

This is an evil ink. I love the color, but I've just spent a half hour trying to remove it completely from a Conklin Nozac. Constant flushing with water, soap, a little ammonia, soaking the nib and it's still dribbling out some blue. I tried in a Pelikan 200 that wouldn't kill me to lose, but BSB turned it into a skipping pen. At this point I plan to toss the entire bottle.

 

Any ink that requires this much maintenance is just not worth the hassle.

 

If you're seriously going to toss it (and haven't done so yet or someone else hasn't claimed it already), I'd love to have what's left of your bottle. I've been wanting to try this ink for a while! I'll gladly pay for postage if you're willing to ship it to me (if you're in the USA). Please PM me to let me know! Thanks!

[pmormack]

Seriously, I am going to toss it. I've now tried it in three pens. While initially very happy with the color saturation, it's been misery since. I would also add that I had an email earlier today from a well-known nibmeister who told me that he doesn't recommend Noodler's inks in general because of several problems that he sees with pens not working well with them. (I was seeking advice about several sub-standard nibs and whether they needed professional intervention.) While I'm not quite ready to jettison all of my Noodler's bottles, Bay State Blue has to go.

 

I have to admit that I'm having some trepidation about sending a bottle of this to somebody else. It doesn't feel right to give somebody something that could seriously screw up a pen.