An Open Letter To Noodlers

[Dragonmaster Lou]

Those taller-than-wide lightweight 30ml Diamine bottles seem especially prone to bumping over. There's a reason that ink bottles have been made mostly short and squat for over a century. Diamine must have missed that bit of pen history. (I like their inks, though. I have more Diamine than any other brand.)

 

 

 

It was my first bottle of ink, and I didn't want to go too huge while trying out fountain pens and such... I should've known better.

[Ink Stained Wretch]

 

I'd been shaking, but I recently found that for Noodler's colors that have a strong black component, shaking doesn't seem to be enough. E.g. Noodler's Black looking pale and washed out, or Bad Blue Heron looking like a very bright sky blue.

 

Careful stirring with a glass stirring rod or the back of a glass pen, followed by vigorous shaking, solves the problem.

 

This only seems to be an issue after a bottle has been sitting for a couple months, but when I went back through my collection and checked I found it on several inks. All of them were nearly full bottles, so it doesn't slosh around so much when you shake it. Likewise I didn't find it happening on any other brands of ink. Noodler's Habanero and Gruene Cactus don't show it, so it's only certain colors from Noodler's. I should probably point out that I don't have any bottles of Noodler's that AREN'T mostly full, so I can't really say if that more vigorous shaking action would help.

 

They do need to be shaken vigorously. I can see the issue if they're still filled to the brim and you can't get much movement, however.

 

I don't have any glass rods around, but I do flip the bottle vigorously and that tends to get the ink moving enough to scour out the corners of the french square bottles. I should think that'd get those corners cleaned out better than stirring would.

 

I've got so many bottles of Noodler's inks that need shaking. And some of them are pretty old. The ink still works in all of them, however.

 

I have not found that the black component is any more difficult than others to get back into the swim of things, so to speak. But I haven't bought and used new Noodler's inks in a while. Maybe Nathan has changed the composition of the black inks. Oh well, great inks in any event.

[Proto]

I nearly had a similar situation with my first bottle of Noodler's Blue-Black, I had no idea Nathan filled his bottles so full! Now that I know I'm happier with the extra ink though.

[Bklyn]

I nearly had a similar situation with my first bottle of Noodler's Blue-Black, I had no idea Nathan filled his bottles so full! Now that I know I'm happier with the extra ink though.

 

Yes, the extra ink is great but the surprise of the first bottle can be shocking.

[cattar]

There's always a lot of talk about whether various Noodler's inks are safe to use in fountain pens. With BSB, the only rule you have to follow is to leave the cap on the bottle. Admittedly, you will not be able to use the ink, but you still can admire the label and the simple utility of the bottle. Since I started following this rule, I have not had any staining from BSB whatsoever.

Hahaha.

I have a many-colored sink, for ink reasons.

Edited March 6, 2017 by cattar

[dcwaites]

1) Four little dobs of Blu-Tack, one on each corner of the bottom of the bottle.

 

2) Akkerman bottles with the glass marble. Akkerman is at sea level (Google Earth says it has an altitude of 2 metres above sea level).

The air in the bottle is at a higher pressure than anywhere else on earth that is not at sea level. Opening an Akkerman bottle rapidly can result in bubbles splurting forth, carrying ink, resulting in ink freckles on one's face, one's beloved's face, the cat's face, and any other surfaces nearby.

[Jamesbeat]

I haven't bought any noodlers inks yet, but one thing I have always wondered is what would happen if it froze during transit?

 

I live in NY, and we have some pretty brutal weather sometimes (this weekend being a prime example).

It's quite conceivable that a bottle of ink could freeze on its way here or in my mailbox if ordered in January or February.

 

With no air space in the bottle to allow for expansion, would the bottle crack if the ink froze?

[jmccarty3]

I haven't bought any noodlers inks yet, but one thing I have always wondered is what would happen if it froze during transit?

 

I live in NY, and we have some pretty brutal weather sometimes (this weekend being a prime example).

It's quite conceivable that a bottle of ink could freeze on its way here or in my mailbox if ordered in January or February.

 

With no air space in the bottle to allow for expansion, would the bottle crack if the ink froze?

 

That would depend on how cold it got, and on how much the solutes in the ink altered the temperature required to freeze it.

[pepsiplease69]

The very reason I stopped buying any Noodler's inks. I bought a whole bunch the first time but after opening the first simply gave most of them away.

I've stopped using noodlers as well.

 

Just not keen on the ink properties or what it does to the insides of my pens.

 

I'm sticking now with ink makers who also make pens. Sailor, pilot, pelikan, sheaffer, Aurora etc. so many great brands.

[Rama33]

I'm pretty clumsy! Maybe the bottles should only be half-full when we receive them.

 

Dear Noodlers:

 

I rushed home today all excited because I ordered my first Noodlers Ink called Bay State Blue.

 

I was so excited to see the box from Goulet Pens in the mailbox and I opened it so carefully.

 

I held it in my hand and let the kitchen window sunlight try to filler through the dark liquid and all of a sudden the idea of the day hit me; lets open it and take a look inside at the ink. Clever huh? Here is where things begin to go bad.

 

Upon opening the aforementioned bottle, I noticed it was filled to the very tippy top of the rim. Honestly, you could not get one more molecule of ink inot this bottle. I stood perfectly still but felt a slight tickle in my throat due to allergies that often hit us in the northeast this time of year and I coughed.

 

This was not good.

 

Please allow me to give you a list of the things in my home that are now Bay State Blue:

 

My dishes, the sink, my hands, (Including fingers) the new forks and knives, the cutting board, a child's toy that was in the sink for lord knows what reason and part of the tuna I was using to make a salad, along with my wife elbow, her left foot and the cabinet handles above the sink, below the sink and the light switch. Let us not forget the rug in front of the sink and the floor along with other kitchen implements of which I simply do not understand what they do.

 

It has been an interesting few hours here and my wife has finally stopped threatening me with her wooden mallet. (Yes, it is now blue as well.)

 

Please send kitchen stuff to my house ASAP and I am sure that there will be no further action required. I will give my wife a week to calm down and if not, you might have to send a new wife as well.

 

Warmest personal regards,

 

Bay State Blue Bklyn

 

[jmccarty3]

Nathan's overfilling of his ink bottles is a good example of the law of unintended consequences.

[Jamesbeat]

I've stopped using noodlers as well.

 

Just not keen on the ink properties or what it does to the insides of my pens.

 

I'm sticking now with ink makers who also make pens. Sailor, pilot, pelikan, sheaffer, Aurora etc. so many great brands.

I do that too. I'm not really an 'ink guy', I'm a pen guy.

I do have several colored inks, but they are all standard; blue, black, blue/black, red.

I usually use Parker and Sheaffer inks. I find them to work well enough and they are what I always used since school. Never saw a reason to change.

I did go through a spate of buying a load of samples and trying many different colors, but it just didn't really do anything for me.

 

I am considering getting some fluorescent yellow ink to use for highlighting though, but again that's more of a practical thing because I have to highlight a lot of stuff at work.

 

I know my boring standard inks are going to work well in all pens and not cause staining or other damage.

For my vintage pens I mostly stick to washable blue, but I have been known to throw caution to the wind and use Parker black or blue/black

[Bklyn]

I'm pretty clumsy! Maybe the bottles should only be half-full when we receive them.

 

 

Half filled is a safe bet.

[Ink Stained Wretch]

I'm pretty clumsy! Maybe the bottles should only be half-full when we receive them.

 

I'm willing to selflessly volunteer to alleviate this terrible scourge on the lives of my fellow FPNers.

 

Here's the solution: Just have all of your Noodler's ink purchases sent to me. I will then remove about half of the ink. I'll then re-seal the bottle and ship it back to you. Don't forget to include return postage.

 

I'm willing to extend this humanitarian service to everyone on FPN. I will also handle non-Noodler's bottles as well. :lticaptd:

[JayHomeBody]

Ive never spilled ink, but i have gotten it all over my hands and I just dropped an empty cartridge down the drain of the sink >_>

[Sabin]

"It has been an interesting few hours here and my wife has finally stopped threatening me with her wooden mallet. (Yes, it is now blue as well.)"

I got the same reaction from my wife, when I wiped myself with the curtains, after having sex...

[DannyB]

Thanks for sharing that tale of woe! It's hilarious!

 

I have Noodlers black, BSB and sunset orange. Only the orange has been opened. For the time being, Iroshizuku is "safer" as I gain experience.

 

I only open bottles and refill pens using an old tv dinner tray. Any spills should be self contained, unless I forget the syringe contains a little ink and I shoot it across the room. That would be a bad thing.

[inerlogic]

I'm sticking now with ink makers who also make pens...

Nathan makes pens, i own three of his pens actually, a clear Ahab, and Emerald Ahab and a Charlie i got with my 4.5oz bottle of BSB for free!

 

I found Goulet, and Noodler's through Goulet. Brian's videos warned me that Noodler's ink bottles are filled to the rim, so i took.precautions with my first bottle, bulletproof black.

 

I was refilling for cartridge pens, so the over-fill wasn't an issue, i was using a syringe. That was a few months ago.... (October maybe?) I *just* pocked up BSB for the first time, not a fan of Blue, but i like Nathan's videos, and his "set the record straight" video on BSB convinced me that even if i never used the ink, i was going to buy it. The 4.5oz bottle comes with a dropper-top. The dropper was FILLED and so was the bottle, but removing the dropper brought the level down. The big bottle also came with a free Charlie pen, so, reading about BSB's pen staining ways, i dedicated Charlie to BSB.

 

Like Massachusetts, BSB is a deep blue, through and through, and stains/ruins everything it touches.

 

I haven't opened my (tiny) bottle of hunter green yet.... i'm going to use up my Cross, Jinhao, Pilot and Parker cartridges, clean and dry those pens and store them somewhere.... put the Black in my clear Ahab, Hunter in my Lime Eco, and Charlie keeps BSB....

 

Maybe i'll throw black or hunter in my Pilot Metro also...

 

The only ink issue i have had was back in high school in '92 or '93. A girl in one of my classes was annoying the hell out of me, so i turned around, Parker Vector in hand, and pointed a finger at her with some words for her as well. well, the Parker "perm. blue" jumped out of the pen due to my turning and pointing action and carved a nice arc aceoss the chest of her blue oxfod button down shirt. I was shocked it did that, not as much as she was though.

 

*please excuse typos, it's nearly 2am and i'm typing this on my phone

Edited March 25, 2017 by inerlogic

[pepsiplease69]

Nathan makes pens, i own three of his pens actually, a clear Ahab, and Emerald Ahab and a Charlie i got with my 4.5oz bottle of BSB for free!

 

I already know that. But there's a difference between Noodlers and real pen makers. eg Sailor, Pilot, Lamy, Pelikan and maybe to a lesser degree now, Parker, Sheaffer, etc.

 

Noodlers' primary game is inks. Tons of inks, some with supernatural tendencies, some that are quite vicious towards pens. Noodlers are nice enough to provide us with $20-40 pens made not by Noodlers but subcontracted out to Indian manufacturers.

 

Pelikan/Pilot/Lamy/Sailor is the other way around. Their primary game is Pens but they make inks to put in the pens they make.

[Bklyn]

 

"It has been an interesting few hours here and my wife has finally stopped threatening me with her wooden mallet. (Yes, it is now blue as well.)"

I got the same reaction from my wife, when I wiped myself with the curtains, after having sex...

 

 

Love it.