Noodler's Firefly

[Dan Carmell]

I got a bottle of Noodler's Firefly from my pals at Pendemonium yesterday, with three other Noodler's inks (more black, more Nightshade, and the ED bottle of Eternal Brown). I was really shocked and amazed by the Firefly. I have to say that the photos/scans I have seen of it on the web, including Nathan's own, do not do it justice. It is bright, almost luminous, just like a fluorescent highlighter. The flow is nice and on cheap copy paper, no bleeding at all.

 

I have this ink in an easily flushed pen, a cheap Sailor calligraphy demo fountain pen. The Sailor calligraphy pen has a nib unique to Asian pens (Hero makes a few like it as well), more often seen here in the US in Sailor's high-end 21K nibbed pens--I think these nibs are referred to as Zoom nib (per Kendall's correction, thanks Kendall!) on these high-end pens. It gives a very wide line at a normal writing angle, and a thinner line the higher the writing angle, until it is very thin--and writes a hairline when the nib is reversed--Swisher sells these pens.

 

Not knowing much about the ink's properties, I wanted it in an easily flushed pen. Also, even a minute amount of regular ink will pollute this ink, as I found when trying it in another pen. So this pen is cheap, easily flushed, and has about as wide a horizontal stroke as any non-custom nib.

 

Back to the ink, I can simply state that it works great as a highlighter on laser printed and other printed text. It does smear other fountain pen ink, although not extensively, in my limited testing. While this is a speciality ink with limited uses, unless you are prone to a lot of highlighting, it definitely works. If you buy it, I would suggest you consider what pen to use with it, per my words above. Nathan is offering a specially modified Kaweco at $88, which I might just buy.

 

Sorry for the wordy review! I will attach a scan of some highlighted text and my Sailor calligraphy pen to the next post. The left-to-right light to darker shading is due to the way the pen lifted the page off the platen.

 

best, Dan Carmell

Edited August 17, 2005 by dcarmell

[Dan Carmell]

And here is the scanned document and pen!

 

Dan

[KendallJ]

That nib type is called a "zoom" I have one. Great for highlighting applications and combined with this ink, I bet its a great combo.

 

Thanks for the review. I will have to consider getting some fo this ink as the number of stubs, italics, and zooms in my collection grows and this is a great applicaiton for them!

[KCat]

Hi Dan.

 

It is great stuff isn't it! Excellent review and good advice. Though I'm not too into having a $90 highlighter. though it would be ideal - holds a ton of ink and usually when i'm highlighting I wouldn't want to run out of ink.

 

In my pics in the Pen Repair article you can see a hint of it from some scribbling I was doing. I agree it is an excellent highlighter ink. I have in a Rotring Artpen (1.9) which of course allows it to be spread a good broad line. I would think the Parallel pen would work well but would probably go through the ink quickly.

 

have you noticed any bleed through in your average paperback or text book?

 

I found that most of the time, as long as the FP ink was thoroughly dried, I could drag the Firefly across it *once* and not smear. Two swipes would smear it. And on something like Legal Lapis of course, no smearing.

[KendallJ]

Excellent review and good advice. Though I'm not too into having a $90 highlighter.

But a 90$ pen is different?

[Johnny Appleseed]

Though I'm not too into having a $90 highlighter.

 

You could always pick up a cheap Sheaffer NN Calligraphy pen.

 

or find a Wearever on Ebay with broken tines and grind the nib down to a really fat stub.

 

 

Ohhhh - I am having visions of an ED conversion on that Sailor calligraphy pen.

 

J. Appleseed

Edited August 10, 2005 by Johnny Appleseed

[beaker606]

Though I'm not too into having a $90 highlighter.

 

You could always pick up a cheap Sheaffer NN Calligraphy pen.

<snip>

This have I done and it works pretty well. I highlight a lot when reviewing and ordering books for the library and am very pleased with the ink. I do find the calligraphy pen to be a bit of a slow starter, but I'm begining to learn that I have to hold it at a "Pen" angle and not a "Highlighter" angle.

 

FWIW,

 

Kevin "Beaker"

[KCat]

Excellent review and good advice.  Though I'm not too into having a $90 highlighter.

But a 90$ pen is different?

absolutely. a $90 pen in all likelihood will get used much more often than a highlighter would for me.

[Roger]

Excellent review and good advice.  Though I'm not too into having a $90 highlighter.

But a 90$ pen is different?

absolutely. a $90 pen in all likelihood will get used much more often than a highlighter would for me.

I know this is heresy on this board, but I just can't get into an actual pen for highlighting. A plain old Sanford in my lap is my concession to modernity.

I do have some yellow ink, however, for the mixes that are, as yet unrealized, but in my head.

[southpaw]

Dcarmell,

Thanks for the good review of firefly. Anyone have options on a cheap fp highlighter? IMHO, it should be an ED or suitable for ED conversion. Perhaps the Sailor calligraphy is the one.

 

D, any chance of a full review of your pen as a highlighter?

 

TIA, southpaw

[KCat]

I know this is heresy on this board, but I just can't get into an actual pen for highlighting. A plain old Sanford in my lap is my concession to modernity.

my favorite remains the Faber-Castell pencils. which are no more they do smear regular graphite though. I keep thinking I'm going to invest in a Graphiti with refills but i can only find it at Levenger for what is too much IMO.

 

i'll probably break down and get one eventually though

[KendallJ]

Excellent review and good advice.  Though I'm not too into having a $90 highlighter.

But a 90$ pen is different?

absolutely. a $90 pen in all likelihood will get used much more often than a highlighter would for me.

Kcat -

 

Can't follow this logic. How many pens do you have? Oh yes, here it is: 37

 

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/in...indpost&p=24214

 

So lets see, $90 for a pen that on average will see 1/37th of your writing time is ok, but $90 for a single pen to do highlighting with is.... hmmm.

 

[Dan Carmell]

When one buys a new pen, Kendall, it is with the assumption that it will be THE pen, the one and only, the end- and be-all! Thus your Vulcan logic falls to the ground! But thanks for supplying the correct nib name: Zoom! I'd forgotten and just looked quickly at the Swisherpens website to ID Sailor nibs. (p.s. love your avatar photo of your standard jumping--is he/she in obedience or agility?)

 

I too hesitate at the idea of that price for a highlighter, perhaps because I highlight almost not at all! But Firefly is so compelling, perhaps I need to change my ways. I hadn't thought of a Rotring or Lamy italic FP, thanks for the idea, KCat! To answer your questions, I've only tried Firefly on laser prints, offset printed materials, and fountain pen ink, so I don't really know about the other materials you mentioned, but I will do some more experimenting as I get the chance.

 

I don't think that the Sailor Calligraphy pen really merits a full review, especially as even at its widest, it isn't a wide enough line to cover 12 pt. text. It's just the best I had available. To the person who suggested making an ED of it, it could be done, I'm sure, but you would have to seen the back end, as that black plastic end piece screws in. However, the trim ring doesn't touch the inside, so no harm done there. The converter is better for me, though, since I don't highlight enough to justify an ED version that would simply loose most of the ink via vaporation.

 

best, Dan

[KendallJ]

When one buys a new pen, Kendall, it is with the assumption that it will be THE pen, the one and only, the end- and be-all!  Thus your Vulcan logic falls to the ground! But thanks for supplying the correct nib name: Zoom!  I'd forgotten and just looked quickly at the Swisherpens website to ID Sailor nibs.  (p.s. love your avatar photo of your standard jumping--is he/she in obedience or agility?)

Live long and prosper, Dan. I'm just flipping Kcat a little grief...

 

most people I know question the sanity of owning 37 pens, much less a $90 highlighter. That does not stop me however!

Edited August 11, 2005 by KendallJ

[KCat]

So lets see, $90 for a pen that on average will see 1/37th of your writing time is ok, but $90 for a single pen to do highlighting with is.... hmmm.

 

well, chances are I will use the highlighter about once every two to three weeks. So the useage rate is significantly different. Put it this way - i bought six F-C pencils about 6 years ago. I still have all six and only two have been used about 1/2" - 3/4" down. I don't highlight a lot - I prefer to use an Estie 9128 and underline with that. Actually, I prefer to use my Book Darts (greatest invention known to this reader).

 

so... on the surface, what you say makes sense. But from day to day use...

 

I guess if my highlighter was a really attractive pen... like a snazzy M400 or an incredibly broad VP, i'd have a different take.

 

But the Sport, as cute and functional as it is (and I love the three I have) - converted to a highlighter at +8X the price I paid for it... well... just a bit over-the-top for me.

[Eternally Noodling]

http://home.earthlink.net/~noodlersink/PDRM1443.JPG

 

http://home.earthlink.net/~noodlersink/PDRM1447.JPG

 

http://home.earthlink.net/~noodlersink/PDRM1448.JPG

 

This was turned from USPS to UPS in less than a day...from a fine nib to that flex alloy highlighter shown in the images (flexed at a slight slant)...for $89 including the UPS postage.

 

A lot of people compare the highlighter nib to a highlighter marker....but the nibs can be made to write four line widths...including fine/medium or broad on their sides. The last time I looked, a custom nib similar to that out of Japan on a plain black cartridge pen with a small fraction of the ink capacity and half the precious metal content was priced over $780 (often listed with an msrp over $900).

 

So my question is...why is it assumed these are marker equivalents (although about 1/4 of buyers report using them as marker pens with Noodler's Black - including Chuck Swisher)? Kaweco sells a gold nibbed pen...it also is nearly double the price of the highlighter Kaweco. The highlighters are also all dropper filled with mammoth ink capacities. Now, in the pen magazines...luxury highlighters have been cropping up for two years...and ALL have disposable units! There seems to be a dual market: one that says it is OK to buy a black cartridge filled custom nib pen for just under a grand...but not OK to buy a custom nib with double the gold content and at least three writing points made to order...at 1/8th to 1/9th the cost?

 

In time, I believe the lower valuation perception of these precious metal nibs will change (sales indicate this to be the case). Alas, if I am proved incorrect...mass produced steel highlighters with better flow than those two tined calligraphy pens will be in order.

 

Still, the Parker 75 rainbow gold highlighter remains the top seller...nobody has mentioned it here. The market's tastes can be unpredictable - to say the least.

 

www.NoodlersInk.com

 

(click on the top link for "nibs designed and engineered for this ink")

[Dillo]

Hi Eternally noodling,

 

That Parker 51 has such a nice wide highlighting nib. Is the nib custom? Can it do italics if it is filled with black ink?

 

Dillon

[Dan Carmell]

Dillon,

 

Nathan may not get back to you for a while--he's a busy guy, between pens, nibs, and inks! But I can answer your questions partly. The nib is custom, as Nathan retips and shapes nibs himself, generally using his own mix of platinum or iridium-type metals. I have a retipped music nib he made for me from a #3 Sheaffer open nib, with three tines (two slits) and a wide nib, although not even half as wide as the one on the 51 to which he provided links.

 

I'm sure the stroke from that pen would give an italic-style effect with a solid colored ink, although massively wider, of course.

 

You might also want to go and look at this web page:

 

http://home.earthlink.net/~noodlersink/index.html

 

to see another style of highlighter tipped pen that Nathan is making and selling, so you can get an idea of what he is capable of. Nathan repairs pens, designs inks, silversmiths, makes nibs in various metals, designed a pen that was all nib and all metal but the top bulb of a transparent material to see the ink, cuts toxic abalone and thus re-creates abalone and MOP sided pens, what doesn't he do?

 

And don't ask about the military glow-in-the-dark ink and pen, it's a state secret! Seriously, Nathan is amazingly inventive and has been involved with pens since his teen years.

 

best, Dan

[KCat]

So my question is...why is it assumed these are marker equivalents (although about 1/4 of buyers report using them as marker pens with Noodler's Black - including Chuck Swisher)? Kaweco sells a gold nibbed pen...it also is nearly double the price of the highlighter Kaweco.

the biggest distinction for me, Noodlin' Man, is usage. If I used a highlighter daily then I wouldn't make the comparison. I can see, if used regulary, that as Kendall pointed out, there's no difference in a quality highlighter vs. a quality FP. Though sometimes it is a bit hard for me to swallow a $10 pen turned into a $90 pen. I realize the cost is in the specialty nib. I think the Sport would hold up for a long time as well so that has no bearing on my feelings about it. Some may have a different take though on that issue as well. Some may feel the pen is too "cheap looking" for it's price, regardless of the nib.

 

One other factor is probably because highlighters in general have never been very good. the typical fibre-tip highlighter dries out quickly. I think, even knowing that this would not be the case with a large-capacity FP highlighter, it's easy to think in those terms. Not much different from people who roll their eyes at me for using a Pelikan MP vs. the $2 MP from Walmart. To them, it's just a pencil. To me, there's a quality in the D200 that has been hard to beat in the $2 MP world. So... IOW, if I'm making any sense at all, while it's perfectly logical to view an FP highlighter as a better value in terms of quality and probably long-term cost, it's hard for people to make a mental leap, small as it is, when they are so accustomed to cheap, dry, toss-em-in-the-round-file highlighters.

 

not much different from the battle we FP enthusiasts fight on a regular basis when someone sticks a Bic in our face and says "39c!" (or whatever the price is these days.

 

I don't know how heavily the Pilot Parallel pen is produced, but IMO, the technology could be used to mass produce a steel highlighter. The flow on those things is incredible and nothing like the flow of a very broad, single tine nib. IOW, not the least bit stingy. But I'm not sure Pilot would catch onto that. However... it is a thought for a penmaker to consider. The nibs are very smooth, surprisingly so when you consider they are essentially just two metal plates with tiny grooves in the tip. If it were possible to convert these to an ED (and it may well be) than I think that would easily fit the "steel highlighter" niche. There are problems though - they are not transparent and they are artpen length.

[Dan Carmell]

KCat,

 

I picked up a Sheaffer ViewPoint (the successor to the NoNonsense, as you probably know) over the weekend. Translucent red, with a broad italic nib, it cost under $4. With silicon grease on the threads, it works nicely as an eyedropper, although I think most folks put an O-ring on these as well and I should too.

 

Anyway, the BI nib works very nicely for highlighting at about the 9pt to 14pt text size range. It doesn't have the panache of Nathan's creation, but at $4, it's pretty good.

 

I like your idea of a parallel pen, but I think they cost a bit more. I've never used one, but this could be the inspiration to try one now.

 

best, Dan