Waterproof ink that's not creepy . . .

[Eternally Noodling]

There are several waterproof inks out there....but when tested with bleach, carpet cleaner, UV light wands, and other tools of the forger and "father time"....do they hold up? Greg Clark's ink sampler anyone? Just set them out in the sunlight for a while....you will see which inks fail to hold against the tests of time. I might be biased in Noodler's favor...but I strongly believe I have reason to be: test results. ;-)

 

As to "nib creep", it tends to be a capillary action across platinum group metals that are commonly used in white gold and plated trim on nibs.

 

Noodler's has certain test pens and pens it "gives away free" with certain eyedropper bottles. For instance, Polar Blue in the 4.5 oz dropper bottle has a free eyedropper filled demonstrator pen included in every box. The nib is anodized blue steel and you will need some effort to get it to show "nib creep", yet Polar Blue is a bulletproof ink.

 

Likewise, the free pens included with the recent 4.5 oz dropper bottles of Legal Lapis also will have a hard time exhibiting "nib creep" (need I mention how much more ink a single filling holds vrs. the largest Pelikan or MontBlanc? Yet....they are FREE pens included with your ink bottle?).

 

Some may have noticed we began giving away eyedropper filled pens with the "Golden Year of the Pig" 4.5 oz dropper bottles...there was a reason for this. There were over 60 prototype nibs made for highlighting purposes (every design that could be thought of...but the manufacturers and some retailers remained unconvinced on the merits of precious metal highlighter nibs). It was noted that in many Asian countries the INK is the premium product...and the PENS cost next to nothing and have ubiquitous commodity status. Eyedropper pens in India have no rubber sacs to rot, and no seals to fail....and last a VERY long time...as well as being extremely durable (I have driven my car over a few vintage Indian eyedroppers in tests - they can be the most durable plastic pens in the world). You might not be able to drive your car over the free fountain pens (with 100% VISUATED demonstrator ink chambers!) enclosed in some 4.5 oz. Noodler's boxes....but you will no longer be able to complain to me: "I can't find an eyedropper pen to use with those big bottles." or "Nobody will pay for a solid gold or platinum highlighter nibbed pen." Well, now the eyedropper pen is free....and the highlighter pen is free. The pen is even "nib creep" resistant!

 

I believe the ink is more important than the pen....what would a pen be without ink? Were words written before a rainstorm upon a page that is now wet and blurred with streaks - ever written at all? Will your grand children know what pen they were written with??? A free pen writes with the best ink as well as a costly pen does provided your grandchildren can read what both wrote in 80 years. That's my goal.... Fountain pens can use many varied inks with many colors and properties - and that makes them the most versatile of writing instruments known to mankind, but what really matters is how much of what a person pours upon the page of themselves - their mental being captured for time by the pen, paper, and ink - how long will that essence of their soul live? We won't all be as immortal as Shakespeare - but we can try to be with the right ink!

 

 

I'm a fan of archival ink, such as Noodler's Ink, as well as eyedropper pens (fountain or rollerball). Which suppliers sells these inks with the free demonstrator pens?

 

Everybody (Polar Blue, 4.5 oz with free fountain pen, Golden Year of the Pig with free highlighter eyedropper). If they do not yet have them in stock, it is simply because it is a recent offering. They soon will, if they want to stock them...same exact price as it was before - hence the "free" nature of the pen.

[Eternally Noodling]

Well, nib creep doesn't bother me in the least, but if I were to make a recommendation, I would say that virtually all of my Noodlers inks creep except Bulletproof Black, which shows no creep on any pens I have tried it in. Hunter Green and Fox Red creep a lot, but like I said, I don't care. It doesn't bother me.

 

Most of my pens are Sheaffer school pens with steel nibs, so your mileage may differ.

 

 

If push comes to shove: more people will be angry with me if the ink fades under UV light, washes away with rain drops, and can be removed with detergents or by a forger. So, 1 in 100 being angry is better than 99 in 100 being angrier? ?? The moment it is possible to please everyone...or at least more people than before, it will happen - to the extent the chemistry allows. I can yell at those certain inks all day not to creep - but the chemistry will only laugh back at me until it is figured out. Noodler's makes many inks that don't "creep", but they are not constant color AND completely bulletproof in their properties. It is a trade off. Please note that we offer both - though...

 

In the meantime, I have an eyedropper pen I can show you that has been tested for "nib creep" with a bulletproof blue for several weeks....that has "not yet creeped". ;-)

 

Black has different chemistry - it tends to be the most feather resistant, the most nib creep resistant, and absolutely laughs at the rays of the sun. Alas, people asked for colors other than black that were as durable....and I am not Henry Ford with model T ink.

[captnemo]

Yeah, I often see people asking / complaining about nib creep, but for my part, I could care less. Hey, it reminds me what color ink I have in the pen. What matters to me is, now that bulletproof inks exist, is the bulletproof qualities and whether the ink flows smoothly and generously, and the pen starts every time. Noodlers inks do that. And I love the black. I have several blacks here and I like the fact that Noodlers Bulletproof Black is pure, dense, solid, dead, black, black, without any hint of bluish or reddish. You wouldn't think there could be many variations to black but to my eyes there are many, and yours is the definition of black. (In my opinion)

 

 

PS. I was so excited about discovering bulletproof inks after living in the tropics for years, in a hot sweaty, marine / aquatic environment, where it rained a lot, and when boating, things always get wet. Back then, I ended up abandoning pens entirely and switching to pencil. The only thing you could put in your pocket and expect to be able to read when you got where you were going was stuff written in pencil or printed with a laser printer. So I'm hyper-sensitized to the waterproof thing.

 

 

[FLZapped]

I guess I've always accepted the nib creep as something you tolerate for the luxury of having a bulletproof ink. I have said this before, permanency comes first with correspondence to my family in Lithuania. It was a matter of luck I even found out I had family still there, so I want the record I make for them as permanent as possible.

 

Quite frankly, I'm amazed in this day and age that there isn't really much competition in this area. Nathan seems to have the only cutting edge technology fountain pen ink on the market in this regard.

 

-Bruce

[Possum Hill]

(snip)

Noodler's has certain test pens and pens it "gives away free" with certain eyedropper bottles. For instance, Polar Blue in the 4.5 oz dropper bottle has a free eyedropper filled demonstrator pen included in every box. The nib is anodized blue steel and you will need some effort to get it to show "nib creep", yet Polar Blue is a bulletproof ink.

 

Likewise, the free pens included with the recent 4.5 oz dropper bottles of Legal Lapis also will have a hard time exhibiting "nib creep" (need I mention how much more ink a single filling holds vrs. the largest Pelikan or MontBlanc? Yet....they are FREE pens included with your ink bottle?).

(snip)

 

The pens pictured appear to be Platinum Preppys (5 for $12 from Pendemonium) with an o-ring seal added. If you can't justify buying yet another bottle of Legal Lapis just to get one you can convert one yourself.

 

The barrel can be glued to the section; I used Duco cement. The nib and inner part of the feed can be easily removed by pulling straight out and a syringe used to fill the pen through the hole. There's a restriction at the end of the cartridge nipple; if your needle is too large to get past it, fill s-l-o-w-l-y. You can also enlarge the hole in the end of the nipple with a small drill bit.

 

I have one filled with Legal Lapis and one with Polar Black. It looks like the barrel will hold about 4 ml.

[LDF]

I live in a temperate climate, have never had a letter or post card lost,

and never had a forgery incident, so I find bullet proof inks unnecessary. I'm glad bulletproof inks

are available for those who live in wet places and don't mind a nib covered in ink, but I don't really think

they are really necessary for everyone.

 

[Eternally Noodling]

I live in a temperate climate, have never had a letter or post card lost,

and never had a forgery incident, so I find bullet proof inks unnecessary. I'm glad bulletproof inks

are available for those who live in wet places and don't mind a nib covered in ink, but I don't really think

they are really necessary for everyone.

 

 

....and that is also why Noodler's makes so many non-bulletproof inks too. ;-)

[Eternally Noodling]

(snip)

Noodler's has certain test pens and pens it "gives away free" with certain eyedropper bottles. For instance, Polar Blue in the 4.5 oz dropper bottle has a free eyedropper filled demonstrator pen included in every box. The nib is anodized blue steel and you will need some effort to get it to show "nib creep", yet Polar Blue is a bulletproof ink.

 

Likewise, the free pens included with the recent 4.5 oz dropper bottles of Legal Lapis also will have a hard time exhibiting "nib creep" (need I mention how much more ink a single filling holds vrs. the largest Pelikan or MontBlanc? Yet....they are FREE pens included with your ink bottle?).

(snip)

 

The pens pictured appear to be Platinum Preppys (5 for $12 from Pendemonium) with an o-ring seal added. If you can't justify buying yet another bottle of Legal Lapis just to get one you can convert one yourself.

 

The barrel can be glued to the section; I used Duco cement. The nib and inner part of the feed can be easily removed by pulling straight out and a syringe used to fill the pen through the hole. There's a restriction at the end of the cartridge nipple; if your needle is too large to get past it, fill s-l-o-w-l-y. You can also enlarge the hole in the end of the nipple with a small drill bit.

 

I have one filled with Legal Lapis and one with Polar Black. It looks like the barrel will hold about 4 ml.

 

 

They are. They are also included free with a bottle - and yes it is easy to make an eyedropper yourself....in fact, most cartridge filled pens with plastic barrels that do not have air vents can be converted. I was hoping more people would do exactly as you describe a few years ago (although one might prefer to use silicone grease and an o-ring - and a regular eyedropper...as some people don't want any form of syringe in an office setting or the home) but still many e-mail and mention either that eyedroppers are not available....they don't want to convert one themselves....or some other reason. So - I don't see anything wrong with giving them away. It might get to somebody out there who previously did not consider fountain pens OR eyedropper filling.....who otherwise might never have bothered with our hobby at all. If I can get just a dozen people to switch to fountain pens from roller balls with these free eyedroppers (which I intend to expand with the dropper bottles) - it will be worth it. I also hope more people keep telling others...especially roller ball and ball pen users....how EASY and INEXPENSIVE it is to have a functioning eyedropper that LASTS far longer than the disposable alternatives.

 

Those included with the dropper bottles are true eyedropper pens - and only fill as eyedropper pens (they will not take cartridges, as the ink level drains right down to the last drop of ink....there is no cartridge mount in the section).

 

If more people realized how many cartridge pens can hold more ink than the largest self filler as eyedropper filled pens...and with certain modern feeds, do so with relative safety....the attractiveness of our hobby might increase for more people. A worthy goal, n'est pas? ;-)

[Tricia]

I live in a temperate climate, have never had a letter or post card lost,

and never had a forgery incident, so I find bullet proof inks unnecessary. I'm glad bulletproof inks

are available for those who live in wet places and don't mind a nib covered in ink, but I don't really think

they are really necessary for everyone.

 

Well, there are those of us who don't live in a rainy climate but are clumsy enough to occasionally knock over a cup of tea onto the notes we've just written, or - what happens even more often - have condensation drip off a nice cool one onto the page, so the waterproof qualities of the bulletproof inks are greatly appreciated!

 

(And, wow, are you lucky never to've had a letter or card lost!)

 

I'm more in captnemo's camp, though. Nib creep doesn't bother me all that much, and in the few pens I have with gorgeous nibs, I either use a different ink or deal with it for that fill.

 

Currently, though, the beautiful nib on my Bexley Sheherazade is not touched a bit with ink creep this go-round. It's a two-toned 18k nib - just gorgeous - and the pen is filled with Noodler's blue-black.