What To Do With My Noodler's Inks ...

[SeeksAdvice]

A long time ago, I had purged my collection of them. Then I bought about 24 more bottles, mostly in their "bulletproof" and "warden" lines. Now, they are experiencing some issues.

My Black Swan in Australian Roses had mold growing in it, and I wound up cross-contaminating a bottle of Diamine Poppy Red without realizing it. Noticed by the black mold spores in the pen...

My bottle of Year of the Golden Pig has taken on a somewhat granular texture.

 

My bottle of Dragon Catfish Pink wound up completely clogging the Preppy HL I put it in, plus left insoluble deposits in the body of the pen.

My bottle of 54th Mass. leaves behind a black film that refuses to come off without being physically rubbed off.

My bottle of QSH has something settled in the bottom that refuses to go into solution, period.

My bottle of Upper Ganges Blue left a Preppy pink, and can't figure out how that ink has a pink/red component to it... Given Tardiff's apparent issues with other colors, I'm wondering what exactly is in there. Especially as it's come out *turquoise* at times.

My bottle of KTC has small "spots" that get left behind on the walls of the bottle, which almost look like the mold spots in my TWSBI 580 that came from the Black Swan.

While I love the deep, intense black of Borealis Black, it's just 100% incompatible with all the paper that we now use at the office.

My bottle of Ghost Blue has stuff floating in it, despite never being opened, and nothing having the opportunity to "fall in."

 

Just about to toss the whole mess and never, ever go back given that MB and DeA now have durable alternatives.

[PrestoTenebroso]

All I can say is that that is the longest swing of bad fountain pen luck I've ever heard. The only Noodler's ink you have I have tried is BS in AR, and it's treated me well for ages, so I can't speak for the others except to say I guess Noodler's isn't working for you. The stuff I have with my pens is great. I'm not thrilled with every color I have, but I am pleased with the brand overall. I'm sorry you had such a bad experience. That's too bad.

[Icywolfe]

It's never late to start a ink tasting career. Hell maybe the mold might give it a unique taste.

 

Check around the place you stored them for mold spores. So your other inks doesn't get contaminated.

[Kosmic-kowgirl]

I hope there's a solution to what they could still be used for. So sorry to hear of your bad luck

[KBeezie]

Out of that whole list I've not tried any of them except Upper Ganges Blue, and I didn't care it as it smelled bad, was extremely wet, and dried to a faint chalky powder look.

 

I've had good luck with most of my other noodler's inks:

 

Noodler's Black Eel : My favorite black, completely waterproof, flows well even in my Montblanc 225 Piston filling pen with a inlaid nib that I'd describe as a Japanese Extra-Fine in line width, black eel is pretty much married to that pen. It can be a bit too wet once going past a Japanese Medium in especially in terms of dry times mostly due to the lubrication.

 

Noodler's Liberty's Elysium : a nice blue, partially bulletproof and partially waterproof (doesn't seem to run at all though). The main gripe here is while it won't stop up my pens, it will leave behind a bright blue chalky residue on the exposed side of the feed when you go to clean it out, may require a bit of a soak depending on the feed. Relatively wet but not too wet, appears to do great in pens where the feed is not exposed (such as my Pilot Elite Mini with an 18K Soft Fine where only the nib is visible, the feed is encased).

 

Noodler's Texas Blue Steel : A nice almost green-ish blue, decent flow, haven't had clogging or stoping problems with it. Tends to be a tad on the wet side. It's almost comparable to Tsuki-yo ... almost. It's water resistant but not proof. It pairs rather well with the Pelikan M250 with a 14K Medium I have when I was trying to find something dark but not too wet and not too dry.

 

Noodler's Texas Live Oak : A almost iron-gall looking green (ie: dark but with sort of a lighter 'fuzz' to it), very wet flowing but dries instantly on paper (less than 1 seconds on rhodia with the Lamy fine nib), requires a pretty dry nib to use without it bleeding a dot quickly at the start and end of a stroke. Hasn't caused issues with the pens, just picky on which nib/feed combination you put it in to control it's wet flow.

 

Noodler's Texas Pecan: A nice brown that's waterproof, but it runs a bit dry and can cause hard stops with some of my pens. Despite it being dry running, it tends to take longer to dry without smudging. It leaves being an almost brown oily film in the converter which appears to be pretty water resistant.

 

Noodler's Apache Sunset : An excellent shading ink that has not given me any problems in any of the pens. It just tends to be a bit too thin and light for my everyday usage.

 

I've generally avoided inks like Baystate Blue, Kung Te-Cheng, etc.

[Icywolfe]

 

 

I've generally avoided inks like Baystate Blue, Kung Te-Cheng, etc.

My BSB sample wasn't hard to clean.

 

KTC on the other hand would be a good substitute for glue right next to Platinum Carbon Black.

[KBeezie]

My BSB sample wasn't hard to clean.

 

KTC on the other hand would be a good substitute for glue right next to Platinum Carbon Black.

 

I mainly stayed away from it primarily for two reasons (especially as I've only used fountain pens as of february of this year):

 

1) The initial scare which eventually I chalked up as being the fault of the user for not thoroughly cleaning their pens before changing inks. (ever noticed how dedicated BSB pens don't seem to have a problem?)

2) It's a bit too bright, and the vibrancy doesn't last that long after being written.

 

Liberty's Elysium is pretty close, not too dry, but not too wet for my choice of pens. I'd imagine that any issue I have with Liberty's Elysium would probably be somewhat increased with Baystate. And LE is already pretty bright for me, at least as bright as I'd like a blue to be.

 

Kung Te-Cheng is just generally too saturated for some pens, plus the price is just a tad higher. But I imagine if you found just the right pen/nib for it, they'd be a matched pair for the rest of the pen's life.

[SallyLyn]

I'd offer some of them to other FPN-ers for a low "get them out of my house price" and the spoiled ones dispose of. But please do not put them down the drain as they have mold and tons of chemicals. If perchance your local sewer plant doesn't get the crud all out of the water, the next town down stream, kids, pets, crops... will be drinking it.

[Tritonus]

I'm amazed that nearly every single bottle has a problem - sorry to hear of your bad luck! The mold you mention has only ever been present in ONE bottle of the 50 odd ink bottles that I own (various brands) and that is J.Herbin Vert Empire. I suggest you speak to the seller and see if you can get a replacement. I've got two Noodlers inks and they have been excellent so far without any issues and have lasted for well over two years in the bottle.

[Cyber6]

A long time ago, I had purged my collection of them. Then I bought about 24 more bottles, mostly in their "bulletproof" and "warden" lines. Now, they are experiencing some issues.

 

 

I am sorry.. but the only common denominator in all your bad Noodlers' experiences is YOU.

 

Why did you purged your collection from Noodlers the first time?... Where you having problems. ?

 

 

If by any chance you have ONE infected pen.. you can spoil your whole ink collection that way. (BTW.. a friend did just that. She doesn't have Noodlers... she has lots of Diamine.. and they were all infected... 15 bottles approx. She didn't blame Diamine, she knew she must have done something.. in the end it was a specific pen)

 

 

Get rid of them all and deep clean (10% bleach) all your pens. I just cannot believe ALL the Noodlers are defective.. I have hand Noodlers for years..and I do have Kung Te Chang and year of the Golden Pig.. I even have Upper Ganges and none of them are "spoiled"..

Edited September 8, 2014 by Cyber6

[Icywolfe]

Better question do you fill directly from the bottle?

[A144]

I'd PIF the ones that aren't infected. But I'd also check your pens for any trace of infection. If it's a pen, then even new inks will become contaminated.

 

As for me, I haven't had a problem with any Noodler's ink, although I haven't quite been at this a year. I've got bottles of: 54th, ACBB, Apache Sunset, BBK, BGG, old BSiAR, new BSiAR, Black, Green Marine, Gruene Cactus Eel, and Navajo Turquoise.

[KBeezie]

Better question do you fill directly from the bottle?

 

That's a good question especially from a contamination standpoint, be it mold/fungus or cross-contamination of different inks. (I suspect some of the sac/feed problems people have had with noodler's or PR is attributed to ink mixing when not properly cleaned).

 

It's also why I transfer ink to a sample vial via a syringe for filling rather than direct from bottle.

Edited September 8, 2014 by KBeezie

[Fozziebear]

I'm really sorry about the demise of so many or your inks. That really sucks and must be very frustrating for you.

 

If I were experiencing such problems, I would want to consider a number of factors (in no particular order) to avoid future issues:

1. Approximate date of purchase
2. Vendor
3. Storage location and environment (humid/dry/hot/cold? smoky? ceiling fan? pets?)
4. Frequency of ink use.
5. Method (and local environment) when refilling pens - I believe someone already discussed "direct" vs. "indirect" fillings.
6. Other inks with similar problems.
7. Other inks without similar problems that may match some of the factors listed above.

Essentially, I would want to consider all of the variables before moving forward and especially before buying any replacement bottles. I'm definitely not saying that these are the causes of your ink issues. Instead, my intention is to throw out a bunch of random ideas that might save you future annoyance.

 

FWIW, I have tendency to keep sample vials full of my regularly used inks (from bottles). This is primarily due to a lack of space to keep my bottles out. A side benefit to this is that I top off my vials less frequently that I refill my pens and I "clear the desk" for the process each time I do. I write quite a bit and probably top off my vials about every other week (I'll refill 2 vials at a time of my most frequently used inks). For me, the down-side is that it's more difficult to refill my pens from vials and certainly less aesthetically pleasing to look at a nicely arranged collection of glass ink bottles. The up-side is that I'm pretty confident my ink should be usable to the very last drop.

 

Hope this helps.

[_Stormin_]

 

It's also why I transfer ink to a sample vial via a syringe for filling rather than direct from bottle.

 

I've gone to this 100% of the time. It's just not worth spoiling a whole bottle of ink because of one pen.

[Icywolfe]

 

I mainly stayed away from it primarily for two reasons (especially as I've only used fountain pens as of february of this year):

 

1) The initial scare which eventually I chalked up as being the fault of the user for not thoroughly cleaning their pens before changing inks. (ever noticed how dedicated BSB pens don't seem to have a problem?)

2) It's a bit too bright, and the vibrancy doesn't last that long after being written.

 

Liberty's Elysium is pretty close, not too dry, but not too wet for my choice of pens. I'd imagine that any issue I have with Liberty's Elysium would probably be somewhat increased with Baystate. And LE is already pretty bright for me, at least as bright as I'd like a blue to be.

 

Kung Te-Cheng is just generally too saturated for some pens, plus the price is just a tad higher. But I imagine if you found just the right pen/nib for it, they'd be a matched pair for the rest of the pen's life.

Use a Ahab, that can run on liquid sludge. I gave it dip pen ink and I have a video to prove it! (Lazy to upload to youtube tho...)

 

 

That's a good question especially from a contamination standpoint, be it mold/fungus or cross-contamination of different inks. (I suspect some of the sac/feed problems people have had with noodler's or PR is attributed to ink mixing when not properly cleaned).

 

It's also why I transfer ink to a sample vial via a syringe for filling rather than direct from bottle.

I do it to prevent contamination..... from stupid moments. Where I think one ink is another.

 

You may call me weird or odd, but when I refill the ink vials I wear a gas mask to prevent contamination by saliva.

[Sasha Royale]

Please review your storage procedures to avoid warm locations. With 24 bottles, it is possible that

one moldy bottle contaminated the others before you realized. Anyway, the ink is bad. Sorry, but

I would not trust any of it in my pens. That said, how about an experiment ?

 

Pour some into a sauce pan. Heat slowly to 180 degrees for three minutes (Do not boil.), Cover and

cool slowly. Meanwhile, Wash the bottle and cap. Soak five minutes in 10% Chlorox solution. Fill

with pasteurized ink, without rinsing the bottle.

 

The treated ink should be fungus-free. If heating doesn't cause it to break down, see what colors you

have created.

 

Sorry for the misfortune.

[KBeezie]

You may call me weird or odd, but when I refill the ink vials I wear a gas mask to prevent contamination by saliva.

 

Just how close is your face to the pen when you're filling?

[Icywolfe]

 

Just how close is your face to the pen when you're filling?

About 6 to 12 inches.

[gwyneddd]

Interesting. I was unaware of "pen-tamination." We live in a mold-ridden climate here and you gave me a great idea to DECANT inks rather than dip from the main bottle. I wish I still had a collection of those 10 ml scintillation vials from the lab (glass vials with screw cap lids, used to hold radioactive samples for measurement in a scintillation counter.) I don't even know if they exist anymore but they would be great for filling pens--reasonably wide mouth.

 

I suppose a second best would be some empties. I know Goulet sells empty ink bottles from time to time.