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Ytah
October 10th, 2015, 08:53 AM
I am starting to get some expensive pens in my small collection. I really like noodlers bullet proof ink but is it safe in an expensive pen, could it clog up staying in the pen for as long as 2 weeks?

Chrissy
October 10th, 2015, 09:21 AM
I am starting to get some expensive pens in my small collection. I really like noodlers bullet proof ink but is it safe in an expensive pen,

could it clog up staying in the pen for as long as 2 weeks? Several sources say that it could.

Ytah
October 10th, 2015, 09:52 AM
So it s not like a document ink...?

Ytah
October 10th, 2015, 09:54 AM
And do you mean "it could". Clog up or it is safe to use?

mhosea
October 10th, 2015, 10:02 AM
One of the things one finds pretty quickly about Noodlers inks is that they are diverse. Anything one says about them risks being wrong for some. Having said that, the clogs one gets with bulletproof inks are cleaning issues, not safety issues. They can leave a residue, and an ultrasonic cleaner is helpful, though not a panacea, for that. In this respect they behave exactly the same in cheap pens. Two weeks is a very healthy interval, IMHO. Most people who experience problems with clogging seem to have very poor habits. The cardinal rule is simple and easy. Always flush a pen at the first sign that it isn't performing as well as it did before. Don't suppose it will get better on its own. If you add to that rule flushing after 2 weeks even if all seems well, I doubt you'll see a clogging issue that is any kind of safety issue.

However, what concerns me more is staining. Some of the newer ones that I've tried are among the worst inks I've seen for staining. Do your research on each individual ink in this matter. And there is some concern that some Noodlers inks, under some conditions, at least, can degrade rubber sacs and piston seals. Rick Propas, for example, advises not to use Noodlers inks in Pelikan pens for this reason. So you may find reasons to avoid these inks in some expensive pens, even if clogging is not really among them.

Ytah
October 10th, 2015, 10:39 AM
Thanks that s really helpfull! Do you have a prefered permanent ink?

mhosea
October 10th, 2015, 11:30 AM
Do you have a prefered permanent ink?

I actually think Noodler's Bulletproof inks are great for permanence, just in cartridge-converter pens mainly, and not with ruthenium (black) plated nibs. I personally don't use Noodler's anymore, except the King Philip Requiem that I bought at the Commonwealth Pen Show. It's in the Noodler's Charlie pen that came with it. I have bought dozens and dozens of bottles of Noodler's ink, though. I've just given or sold them all. It was mainly the dry time on Tomoe River that sealed the deal for me, but there were some stainers in there, like "Revolution Blue".

I like Sailor Sei Boku and Sailor Kiwa Guro, more the former than the latter by a long ways, but they're hard to clean out if you leave them in the pen for a couple of weeks. I would recommend an ultrasonic cleaner for use with those, and cartridge-converter pens are best, since you can immerse the entire section in the ultrasonic basin. Suffice to say that I consider these inks as high or higher in maintenance than most Noodler's bulletproof Inks.

Ytah
October 10th, 2015, 11:35 AM
Thx and greetings from Holland

Wile E Coyote
October 10th, 2015, 01:18 PM
I agree wholeheartedly with Mike's recommendations but would like to add Platinum's Pigment inks. Similar to Sailor's but I prefer the color of the Platinum Blue-Black and they also have rose red and sepia brown.

Wile E Coyote
October 10th, 2015, 01:28 PM
I agree wholeheartedly with Mike's recommendations and would like to add Platinum's Pigment inks. Similar to Sailor's but I prefer the color of the Platinum Blue-Black and they also have rose red and sepia brown.

Also, pick up some Koh-I-Noor Rapido-Eze, an ear bulb syringe and an ultrasonic cleaner. You'll be all set to clean anything other than the Devil's ink.

inklord
October 10th, 2015, 01:43 PM
The above recommendations of Platinum and Sailor pigmented inks are sound choices IMHO. I have also had good results with Rohrer & Klingner "Scabiosa" and "Salix" ferrogallic ink and any mixtures of the two as long as you never let them dry in the pen. Limited document ink qualities can be found in most Graf von Faber Castell inks, notably in "Stone Grey", a nice, well-behaved dark grey with a slight greenish tint. These inks conform to ISO document ink standards once fully dry; MB "Permanent Grey" is somewhat similar. De Atramentis has a whole line of document inks, but they are not nearly as well behaved (feathering, spreading and bleed-through) as the others.

Chrissy
October 10th, 2015, 01:44 PM
And do you mean "it could". Clog up or it is safe to use?

Your sentence was "could it clog up staying in the pen for as long as 2 weeks?". My answer is several sources say it could.

I would never use it in one of my expensive pens.

ethernautrix
October 11th, 2015, 01:06 AM
I use Noodler's Bulletproof Black in any of my pens and have used it for going on eight years without any problems - mostly modern pens but also vintage.

I inked up a cheap Hero 329 at the end of July and forgot about it until mid-September. When I tried it out, I expected at minimum hard starts and skipping. Nope. Wrote as if I'd just inked it up. Of course, I wouldn't let ink sit for weeks in a >$10 pen.

The black is the only bulletproof ink I feel no reservations about using. It washes out easily, and I seldom notice nib creep. It doesn't leave a squicky residue as other Noodler's inks have IME.

I also use Noodler's Walnut and Manhattan Blue (neither is bulletproof), in addition to other brands (Pelikan, Waterman, Pilot, Sailor, Faber-Castell, to name a few). The other brands and colors I use are not permanent, usually not even water-resistant. (I do have Platinum Carbon Black but haven't been using it, cos it is, as Mike said, a high-maintenance ink.)

Jon Szanto
October 11th, 2015, 02:00 AM
I had been using Noodler's Black as my only bona fide waterproof ink, but I have finally gotten tired of a couple of issues. Beyond the nib creep and occasional hard starts, my main problem was that, with time - and this is in pens dedicated to things like postcards and addressing envelopes where waterproofness is paramount - the ink becomes thicker, and takes FOREVER to dry. I am never certain if I've traded some form of waterproofness for smearing and illegibility. I've tried it for almost two years in this role, and it hasn't succeeded.

I'm switching to Sailor Kiwa-Guro. I'll give it some time to see if it pans out. I hope like hell it does, otherwise I'm going to start using gel pens and Sharpies for these tasks. Pisses me off, but I have needs.

The Good Captain
October 11th, 2015, 03:58 AM
I've had 'Prime of the Commons' in a Pelikan M205, for about two years, and apart from the occasional flush between fills, I've had no problems whatsoever. It is rather prone to nib creep, or whatever, but that does make the steel nib a rather pleasant shade of blue, which seems fitting, in a way.
I know that it's not a particularly 'expensive' pen, but personally I can't see any real issues with 'bulletproof' inks at all.