Hard Start with noodlers Midnight?

Thursday at 11:10 PM

Ive recently made a departure from my beloved Diamine inks to try Noodlers Midnight.

I love the colour, but no matter what pen I use it in, it invariably results in hard starts. Ive tried it in numerous pens, cleaned and refilled

and always the same hard start after sitting capped for more than a few mins. Ive tried it in Narwhal Nautilus, Schuylkill and TWSBI Diamond 580.

After flushing and refilling with Diamine, each pen was all back to normal and no problems.

Perhaps I just need to find a Diamine colour that is comparable...... any suggestions for something in the ballpark?

Friday at 01:45 AM

Did you shake up the bottle before filling the pens? If so, my next recommendation would be to take a sample and dilute it a bit with water to see if that works better - Noodler's inks are generally very concentrated.

Friday at 02:13 AM

Oh dear... .no i didnt shake it up.... Ive emptied a Navhalur and given the bottle a good shake. Ill refill it and see how it goes! Im hopeful it will work. I do really like the colour....

Friday at 03:52 AM

1 hour ago, JamesonJabiru said:

Oh dear... .no i didnt shake it up.... Ive emptied a Navhalur and given the bottle a good shake. Ill refill it and see how it goes! Im hopeful it will work. I do really like the colour....

I've been surprised how much of a difference shaking the ink can make. Please let us know how it goes!

Friday at 12:23 PM

Do you mean 'Midnight Blue"?

I have 'Manhattan Blue" (from FPH) which I think is very similar. I don't have a problem with it - I don't use it every day, and when it comes up in the rotation, it typically takes a little fiddling to get it started. I have it in an inexpensive no-name pen that I bought in a gift shop in Fowey (Cornwall).

I agree with the suggestion to always shake the bottle before filling a pen. And with Noodler's inks, dilution with plain water (distilled is best if you have it - I use RO filtered) is always a good idea because they are so very saturated. I've used up to 25% water with no visible impact on the color of the ink on paper.