Lamy Blue-black Vs. Noodler's Blue-black

[bwnewton]

I'm interested in both of these inks but want to only buy one. I realize that Lamy BB contains iron-gall & I'm OK with it. I realize that Noodler's BB is almost bullet-proof and I'm OK with it. So, which is the best behaved in terms of feathering, bleed-through, flow, and being true blue-black in your opinion?

Edited September 22, 2009 by bwnewton

[HenryLouis]

The Lamy B/B although I never tried it seems to have a LOT of grey in it. Lamy B/B is iron gall so its more permanent.

 

The Noodler's B/B is AWESOME! It's the best B/B i've used. It's so lubricating!!! And it's very well behaved, just like Noodler's Black.

[anaximander]

I haven't tried the Lamy, but I would warn you that Noodler's B/B is an odd color to my eye, with more green than I like in a blue ink. My personal favorite Blue-Black is Pelikan, but it seems that a number of folks here don't care for it.

 

Henry Louis is quite correct about the lubricating quality and the general good behavior of the Noodler's ink--I just can't get excited about the color.

[HenryLouis]

Noodler's B/B isn't green. It's really dark though. You can still see the blue in it though. Aircorps is greenish though.

 

Maybe you would like to try Noodler's Midnight blue... That has a lot of blue in it.. No resistance to water though.

 

Henry

Edited September 22, 2009 by HenryLouis

[bwnewton]

Noodler's B/B isn't green. It's really dark though. You can still see the blue in it though. Aircorps is greenish though.

 

Maybe you would like to try Noodler's Midnight blue... That has a lot of blue in it.. No resistance to water though.

 

Henry

 

If someone sees green, then it's green to that person. This is just ink, for heaven's sakes.

[Ondina]

Lamy BB is an excellent ink and performs very well. Keep in mind though that the color that comes out of the pen-a beautiful dark blue- will oxidize over the first 24 hours more or less to a dark, vintage looking, blue-gray-black. The ink likes wet pens, although performs superbly in the not so wet Lamy 2000, for example.

[HenryLouis]

Well why ask a question when you can answer it yourself? You're asking what ink is closest to a true blue black but you say if a person sees green it is green. So why not go to the ink reviews section and judge there?

[bwnewton]

Well why ask a question when you can answer it yourself? You're asking what ink is closest to a true blue black but you say if a person sees green it is green. So why not go to the ink reviews section and judge there?

 

Easy, Henry. I was just trying to say that if Noodler's BB seems a bit green to Anaximander's eye, then that's how it is to Anaximander. Perhaps I was overreacting to your reply to Anaximander's opinion. Henry, and anyone else whom I may have offended, please forgive me. I didn't intend to cause a flair up. And, for what it's worth, I had previously read the ink reviews before posting this topic. I thought I might get the opinions of people who have used both.

 

Now, let's get back to enjoying our fountain pens, in moderation, of course.

[Lloyd]

Ethernautrix also observed Noodlers BB as greenish. I recommended she put a drop onto a white tissue and see it separate. She agreed; just black and blue components (kinda neat to see it).

[Juan in Andalucia]

Lamy blueblack starts as a dark bue and fades to a greyish blue after some minutes (the process goes on for some time).

 

It's an ink with wasi-sabi, and it's been on the shelves for many decades (in either Lamy or Montblanc bottles)

 

Juan

[ethernautrix]

Here's a quick-and-dirty shot of the Noodler's Blue-Black as expressed through a Stipula Vedo steel F nib:

 

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2615/3946336830_0bcfa72667_o.jpg

 

I don't know, man. Sometimes it looks tealish, and sometimes it doesn't. I'm going to start calling it Noodler's Capricious Blue-Black. Currently, it's looking not-tealish.

[schismit]

Bear in mind that your colour perception is down to the combination of rods and cones in the back of your eye. Colour blindness is a singularly male trait - Mrs Schismit never lets me pick paint colours!

[bwnewton]

Bear in mind that your colour perception is down to the combination of rods and cones in the back of your eye. Colour blindness is a singularly male trait - Mrs Schismit never lets me pick paint colours!

 

But do you get to do the painting?

[eissante]

I take photos for a living while I'm not studying Biology, so I've got a pretty good grasp on color balance and I think a lot of the confusion over ink colors here are a product of the three layers of color processing between an ink on the page in germany, and the color on my screen here in australia.

 

The first layer is the color of light hitting the ink while a camera captures it. daylight for example has a beautiful wide spectrum of light that allows the ink to reflect back every wavelength it can, though mostly scanners and photographs are taken under flourescent light which is either magenta or green tinted.

The picture uploaded to the forum here is emitted through a screen with a narrower wavelength (the second layer), on a cutting edge display this isn't an issue, but most LCD displays use either flouro (green tinted) or LED (which has it's own limitations that I won't bore you with here) as their backlight.

The third layer is the processing you're eyes apply to what signal it receives, as schismit says. This ones a bit fuzzy, as with anything in biology; but in general you can expect your eyes to add blue to a backlit image (an image on a display) when you're viewing it in incandescent lighting, magenta in flouro lighting, orange in cool white lighting, and grey(ish) in daylight.

 

All that combined makes computors quite the unreliable tools for evaluating colors; one of the reasons Sandy1 talks about display calibration at the start of every one of her brilliant reviews. your best method of choosing an ink based on color is unfortunately to see it either in person, or trust someones judgement who's seen it in person. preferably in daylight.

 

in saying all this; Lamy Blue Black is beautiful. It's greener, greyer, and darker than Parker Blue Black by just a hair (you'd have to see them side by side to notice). Noodlers Blue Black is less grey, more green, and quite a bit darker than Parker Blue Black. Both beautiful colors; and if I may channel the veterans of FPN, "buy what you have the budget for... and then don't think about it".

 

peace

-Kieran

[lapis]

I think it was Roosevelt who once said "If you have to ask what it costs, then you won't be able to afford it".

IMO absolutely true at least for a bottle or 2 of ink.

If anyone (e.g. the original poster here) is all that interested in these two inks, it's silly not to buy both. Theyr'e both relatively inexpensive and BTW Lamy's blue-black today is quite different than it was 7 years ago. Also FWIW, any Noodler's ink lot today, tomorrow or yesterday -- let alone 7 years ago -- is also unavoidably different from the last or next lot.

 

Mike