Noodlers Bay State Blue Any Problems?

[Ols67]

12 hours ago, TSherbs said:

@inkstainedruth Thanks. I have no memberships at box stores, and I live in southern Maine, third rock from the sun.

 

I have checked Walmart, Target, Ace, Home Depot, Lowe's, grocery stores, CVS, and Walgreens, and Rite Aid. 

 

Nada.

 

Next time I'm in Target I'll ask about ordering something. Thanks for the tip. <wave>

Thats crazy!  No issues finding distilled water in NOVA.  I get it at Wegmans.  Sorry you are having an issue finding it!

 

Vr

 

Matt

[inkstainedruth]

17 hours ago, TSherbs said:

 

Next time I'm in Target I'll ask about ordering something. Thanks for the tip. <wave>

Check the Target website.  If they don't have it in your local store, there may be other ones in the area that do.  

I guess I'm spoiled -- I just picked up a boxed package of three one-gallon jugs at the big Giant Eagle near me, and I paid under $3.  I had to double check to make sure I wasn't buying spring water, which was on the shelf above (also in 3 packs).

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[inkstainedruth]

Sorry about the double post.  Second time today.  Can't tell if it's due to the page shift or a bug in the new upgraded system on my laptop (but at least it didn't take as long as originally said...).

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[TSherbs]

2 hours ago, inkstainedruth said:

Check the Target website.  If they don't have it in your local store, there may be other ones in the area that do.  

I guess I'm spoiled -- I just picked up a boxed package of three one-gallon jugs at the big Giant Eagle near me, and I paid under $3.

 

Dayum! Nice!

[kestrel]

22 hours ago, TSherbs said:

@inkstainedruth Thanks. I have no memberships at box stores, and I live in southern Maine, third rock from the sun.

 

I have checked Walmart, Target, Ace, Home Depot, Lowe's, grocery stores, CVS, and Walgreens, and Rite Aid. 

 

Nada.

 

Next time I'm in Target I'll ask about ordering something. Thanks for the tip. <wave>

There is always this way:

https://www.amazon.com/Convenient-Distiller-Lightweight-Easy-Fill-Reservoir/dp/B005QDEAMK/ref=sr_1_24?keywords=water+still&qid=1661821393&sr=8-24

[Monophoto]

In our previous home, we had to use a dehumidifier to control the humidity in the basement.  I reserved the effluent from the dehumidifier to use in my darkroom in instances that called for distilled water - if you think about it, the process of condensing water trapped in the air as humidity is the same as the second half of the distillation process.  If you are concerned about dust, just run it through a coffee filter.

 

In our new home, we have a reverse osmosis water filtration system for drinking and cooking water.  That also works in applications calling for distilled water.

[inkstainedruth]

@kestrel-- Interesting.  I guess that if you use that on a regular basis, it would eventually pay for itself.  But since I just bought 3 gallons of distilled water for under $2, probably not worth it for me.

@Monophoto-- That would not have occurred to me.  Of course, we have the dehumidifier in our basement set up to automatically drain into one of the floor drains, so we don't have to drag a  heavy bucket of water up the stairs, or even to the sink in the laundry room.  

We had a bad problem with seepage when we first bought our house, and installed French drains and a sump pump.  We have no idea if the sump pump ever worked, and up until last week (when we had bad storms with heavy rains) it hadn't been an issue for years, so I'm wondering now if we will have to have the French drains checked out to see if they're clogged -- which is possible, since it's been a couple of decades since the French drains were installed.

Of course, I think the dehumidifier is also in the "well room" (our house was apparently originally L-shaped, with a covered (?) porch in the back corner, next to the driveway; at some point (probably in the 1930s), a former owner closed that back corner in to make the house rectangular (the foundation in that corner is different).  We had gone to a thing that was a home show particularly for people with older houses (of which there are a great number in the Pittsburgh area) and one of the speakers talked about being able to find books of old plot plans of properties for different towns in the area that were originally put together by some insurance company.  The Pittsburgh History Center had one for our town from 1926, IIRC -- and shows the house before the back corner was closed in (I'm guessing the bump-out over where the well is -- and we don't know how far under the driveway it extends) is a porch roof.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[amberleadavis]

On 8/28/2022 at 7:21 PM, TSherbs said:

@inkstainedruth Thanks. I have no memberships at box stores, and I live in southern Maine, third rock from the sun.

 

I have checked Walmart, Target, Ace, Home Depot, Lowe's, grocery stores, CVS, and Walgreens, and Rite Aid. 

 

Nada.

 

Next time I'm in Target I'll ask about ordering something. Thanks for the tip. <wave>

 

Purified water works just fine. You're looking for something that has all the extra minerals removed and has been boiled or purified to remove any natural contaminants.

[Mayo]

I got my bottle of distilled water from a car supplies store. Haven't tried dilluting my BSB yet, but I've been using it regularly in my vintage sailor pocket pen for a month now without issues. I did clean the pen thoroughly before inking it, since it had some R&K Salix in it before, so I haven't got any clogging. I haven't performed any maintenance on it yet but plan on giving it a another good cleaning this week or the next.

The pen has quite the dry nib, and Baystate blue is by far the best performer from the inks i've tried on it. Most other inks just didn't write smooth, or looked way too light due to being not saturated enough. Platinum carbon black is another ink that performed well in my noticeably dry writing platinum preppy, but i haven't tried it in my Sailor.

[TSherbs]

On 9/2/2022 at 12:47 PM, Mayo said:

I got my bottle of distilled water from a car supplies store. Haven't tried dilluting my BSB yet, but I've been using it regularly in my vintage sailor pocket pen for a month now without issues. I did clean the pen thoroughly before inking it, since it had some R&K Salix in it before, so I haven't got any clogging. I haven't performed any maintenance on it yet but plan on giving it a another good cleaning this week or the next.

The pen has quite the dry nib, and Baystate blue is by far the best performer from the inks i've tried on it. Most other inks just didn't write smooth, or looked way too light due to being not saturated enough. Platinum carbon black is another ink that performed well in my noticeably dry writing platinum preppy, but i haven't tried it in my Sailor.

You put BSB in a pen in a pocket??  You are brave. <bow>

[txomsy]

Regarding distilled water. I find that the easiest source is the gas station shop. It is used for the windshield watering reservoir.

 

Still, a cursory search for water strength in your place will show how hard is water in your taps. Me, I've never used distilled water,just tap water, with no issues, but on one hand, I didn't know any better twenty years ago, and on the other, water here is very soft and well sanitized, so never posed a problem for me. Now, that I know better, and since I do not use so much ink any longer, I do the mixing in a small ~10ml bottle, to prepare small amounts of diluted ink, so the ink in the original bottle is will not be affected if the mix goes south.

 

Which, BTW, is also good advice, make dilutions in small quantities in a separate bottle. Measuring ink quantities with a 1ml syringe takes away any inconvenience.

[TSherbs]

46 minutes ago, txomsy said:

Regarding distilled water. I find that the easiest source is the gas station shop. It is used for the windshield watering reservoir.

 

Still, a cursory search for water strength in your place will show how hard is water in your taps. Me, I've never used distilled water,just tap water, with no issues, but on one hand, I didn't know any better twenty years ago, and on the other, water here is very soft and well sanitized, so never posed a problem for me. Now, that I know better, and since I do not use so much ink any longer, I do the mixing in a small ~10ml bottle, to prepare small amounts of diluted ink, so the ink in the original bottle is will not be affected if the mix goes south.

 

Which, BTW, is also good advice, make dilutions in small quantities in a separate bottle. Measuring ink quantities with a 1ml syringe takes away any inconvenience.

 

My well water is VERY hard (I live in New England, and my well is 150 feet deep into the rock). I'll just keep using this water until I find something better. My water even has radon in it....

[Uncial]

A cigar shop will sell you bottles of distilled water. It's what you use for a humidor.

[TSherbs]

2 hours ago, Uncial said:

A cigar shop will sell you bottles of distilled water. It's what you use for a humidor.

 

Interesting. There actually is one of these about 5 miles from my home....

[Mayo]

On 9/7/2022 at 12:25 PM, TSherbs said:

You put BSB in a pen in a pocket??  You are brave. <bow>

 

I've found the sailor to be quite a trusty pocket pen, never had it burp any ink or leak in any way. It's by far the pen I take with me the most when going out! Makes me want to get another pen in the same style, like the more modern Pilot e95

[TSherbs]

5 hours ago, Mayo said:

 

I've found the sailor to be quite a trusty pocket pen, never had it burp any ink or leak in any way. It's by far the pen I take with me the most when going out! Makes me want to get another pen in the same style, like the more modern Pilot e95

It's the ink that worries me. I carried fountain pens in my shirt pocket for 12 years. I made some mistakes (user error). Paid the price with ink stains. Some washed out, some never did. BSB would likely have been in the "never wash out" category, but I never risked that one! 

[amberleadavis]

2 hours ago, TSherbs said:

It's the ink that worries me. I carried fountain pens in my shirt pocket for 12 years. I made some mistakes (user error). Paid the price with ink stains. Some washed out, some never did. BSB would likely have been in the "never wash out" category, but I never risked that one! 

 

 

BSB comes out of white shirts with a few days on the clothes line.  However, it does leave a splotch you can see under UV light. 

 

[txomsy]

Plus bleach helps remove BSB and is a common add-on to whiten white clothes. wash with bleach and leave it hanging in the line under the sun for a few days and you may be lucky (may depend on your latitude and time of year).

 

Still, it is best to avoid trouble if possible.

[TSherbs]

12 hours ago, amberleadavis said:

 

 

BSB comes out of white shirts with a few days on the clothes line.  However, it does leave a splotch you can see under UV light. 

 

wow, did not know this!

[Dip n Scratch]

BSB is one ink colour that looks stunning but has such unpleasant behaviour that I have no desire whatsoever to buy anything beyond a sample. Stains even a porcelain sink requiring bleach and a vigorous scrub.

I remember the poor gentleman that had some sort of Noodlers pen with a piston-fill & this thing leaked chronically. Observing the state of his hands I said: "Dear Christ! I hope that isn't Baystate Blue".

 

"How did you know the ink colour"!

 

I broke the news to him of how badly the ink stains sinks & toilets & he ought to wash his hands with diluted bleach. I further suggested he might buy a cheap Jinhao X450 and toss whatever it was he'd been using into the nearest bin.