Could Noodler's Baystate Blue make a great office ink?

[txomsy]

I know it has many detractors, but let me explain.

 

I have had this old silk sweater for 30+ years which I hadn't used since last winter. We had an extremely warm summer and when I picked it recently it was stained with brownish wood varnish. So, off to the washing machine with little success, then exposed to weak sun (it's extremely rainy now, so it was indirect under cover exposition to cloudy sunlight) a few days, and the brownish stains are almost gone. Not so a few small blue ink stains in the sleeve edges.

 

That is what got me pondering:

 

I also have a few shirts with blue stains from ink leaks.

 

If these stains had been BSB, which is waterproof but not lightfast, it would have been easy to remove them: just let it hang exposed to sunlight and off it goes. I know it stains everything, but once you know it goes away easily with bleach, that is not necessarily a major problem (at least for me). Plus, bleach can be used as a whitener when washing white clothing (I know, depends on your location). True, one needs to remember not to mix it with non Baystate inks (not even across refills).

 

Which is to say, a waterproof ink, in a vibrant blue suitable for professional use, and with a way to remove stains from clothes. If it were not for its wetness and tendency to feather, it would make for a perfect work ink for me once I know its quirks.

 

As a counter example, I also have Koh-I-Noor permanent blue, one of the first inks to get ISO certified as registrar grade. It also stains like BSB, even the kitchen sink, it also washes with bleach from the kitchen sink if applied before it dries, it is permanent too, but as ISO registrar, lightfast and resistant to cleaning agents. BSB at least can be removed by UV or bleach, and archived documents do not get that much exposition to light.

 

I think I am going to retake my experiments to reduce the wetness of BSB and reconsider using it more.

 

So, what is your experience? Do you use BSB in the office?

 

P.D.: maybe the point is that there is always a hidden advantage everywhere to be found if one looks carefully enough.

[Lithium466]

As far as staining (pens and everywhere else), I never had problems with BSB.

I love the colour, but the behaviour on paper from my batch of ink was just bad, feathering, bleed through, wide lines. Just unacceptable, so it had to go. I wish I could use it, but especially at the office on cheap copy paper, it's a no.

 

BSB feels like a tweaked acrylic paint/ink that would have more or less been made suitable for fountain pens. I have some Windsor and Newton inks that are not suitable for FP but behave a bit like BSB, with vibrant colours and permanence.

 

On the other hand I want to say KIN Document blue is pigmented, now if I could prove it I would finally be at peace 😂

[wallylynn]

I think bsb is "too vibrant" for the office. It's a strangely dark blue that somehow blinds the eyes.

 

Here and there : signature, post it note, sure. But I don't want to read a page written in fresh bsb.

[Monophoto]

One of the traditional arguments about ink color in business settings is the presumed need to be able to ascertain that a signature is original.

 

That retina-searing blue of BSB leaves no question about originality!

[lapis]

Sorry to repeat (well, actually, I'm not at all sorry) but as a short answer (to "Could Noodler's Baystate Blue make a great office ink?"), "NO".

Me too -- so to say -- because it hurts my eyes. However, I do love the fact that it stains everything....

[amper]

Bleachability is not really a property I think about with my inks, because I'm far too busy making sure I don't spill them, in the first place. 😁

Mrs. Stewart's (Prussian Blue), which is what I use for all my office writing except telephone messages, does not come out with bleach, because bleach is an oxidizer, and will just cause the pigment to remain blue. If you want to eradicate it, you have to use an acid to reduce it, but even then, it can still re-oxidize and turn blue again.

[Dip n Scratch]

I don't know why BSB bleeds through a paper that is fine with any other ink: (Rhodia pad by Clairefontaine).

BSB is as subtle as a punch from a professional boxer, but at least you wont end up with two black eyes.

A spillage of BSB sounds like a horrific event in an office setting.

The average office paper is NOT F.P. friendly anyway. Sorry to say this on a Fountain Pen forum but take a rollerball instead.

[AmericanMonk]

12 hours ago, txomsy said:

P.D.: maybe the point is that there is always a hidden advantage everywhere to be found if one looks carefully enough.

This should be the Noodler's brand tagline.

 

+1 to every reason already stated to avoid BSB in any environment. But misbehavior, accidents, and personal preferences aside, there's no such thing as a work-friendly Noodler's ink, IMO, because of the brand's inconsistencies. Even if you find one that works well for you there is no guarantee that the next bottle will look or act the same. Using Noodler's is like renting or dating versus owning or marrying. But some people prefer the dating or renting lifestyle, so I try not to judge unless there's an objective objection (ie, I'm subjected to the writing so often that I get headaches). Otherwise I'd say do what makes you happy until a stakeholder tells you that you're not happy.

[amberleadavis]

The closest color to BSB is a blue Sharpie. Since I use Blue Sharpies at work, then yes!

[welch]

I have received signatures in BSB. They look like some type of Day-glo blue. No way others would want to read that. BSB calls attention to itself, in a way that no work-ink should. As if it shouts: "Forget what they wrote. Just look at my roasty-toasty color!!!"

 

A better blue: Parker Quink Blue now being sold on Amazon. Wet, "just right" blue that does not call

[arcfide]

I could see an Ad Agency or Marketing Group or Design Studio using the entire Baystate range as their "signature colors" as a way to sort of stand out among the crowd, but in more staid and conservative professions, BSB might be a little too much. Then again, if you diluted it somewhat to improve the paper behavior, and then used it as an annotating ink or signing ink, I think it could work well in some cases. 

 

The only issue is the lack of archivability, since I think even washable blue inks can have better performance than BSB in some cases. 

 

 

[ErrantSmudge]

I would be concerned about BSB staining an article of clothing that should not be laundered with bleach, or itself might fade if left in the sun for a week!

[txomsy]

That is a good point, not every piece of clothing can be exposed to the sun or bleach. Other valid points have been risen. I agree that its feathering/bleed through in cheap paper is the worse quality for me as well. The color, on the other hand, I do not consider so relevant, but it is a matter of taste. For me, I find that its attention drawing quality depends strongly on ambient illumination.

 

Archivability, I'm not so sure how relevant can actually become if the document is not to be exposed to light for long periods. I have non-archival ink notes that have lasted 40 years (so far), but my experience with BSB is, evidently, not as long.

[vtgt]

Why do people make things so complicated. There are a lot of the barely grown on the internet who enjoy adding to the myth that Baystate Blue stains everything, when if you'd actually play with it you'd see that bleach nullifies it like Kryptonite to Superman.

If this ink feathers too much then use it in a drier nib, same for all inks.

I should add that I did not shake my bottle once and the color I obtained was relatively  muted, like Kensington Blue or something, and it did not feather. This may be something to consider.

Baystate Blue to me smells like some kind of painting and decorating material, I think it may still have an alkaline ph.

[txomsy]

Well, FWIW there used to be a time when the original formulation was very aggressive, until Nathan changed the formula to further tame it.

 

I think the general consensus, besides its tendency to stain and its alkalinity which makes it unadvisable to mix, is that it is not that badly behaved.

 

Staining, like any other ink, is an issue if -like any other- gets in contact with a surface that is difficult to clean. Chemistry is a matter of remembering to avoid mixtures.

 

Feathering, I don't get on Rhodia, even with wide lines, but it (and ghosting) is still a bad offender in copy paper, even with EF nibs. I'm trying different dilutions to see if I can tame it, for it would make a great underliner on scientific articles. On good paper, I've had little trouble, but most office paper nowadays isn't.