mhosea
May 20th, 2016, 09:14 PM
I cleaned out my sample stash yesterday and noticed that I still had my Noodler's immersion experiments still going. For those that don't know/remember, I divided several latex sac trimmings and put part of each trimming in Noodler's Blue (2 runs), Waterman Blue, and a phenol solution. I also had some in Noodler's Navy and Noodler's Ottoman Rose. This had been going on for some time, I think pulling up on 2 years, but I don't remember. I do recall that the trimmings in treatment groups spent several months in a dryout situation (open vials, allowing the ink to evaporate) after a year or so had failed to change them very much. I also had a plastic feed divided in two, with one half in Noodler's Baystate Blue and the other in Waterman Blue. That's been going on for about 6 months.
My observations are as follows. They are not quantified, so take them for what they are worth, which may be more than you paid for, but less than you might hope.
None of the trimmings "melted". One of the trimmings in Noodler's Blue seems noticeably less elastic than it should be and is "sticky", but it it is not really "gummy" in that it does spring back to form. The others in Noodler's inks are a generally a little sticky on the surface. My subjective sense is that the latex in the Noodler's groups is slightly "softened" compared to the control groups. However, at rest they retain their sharp edges from being cut and do not appear to have lost any of their form. They are not "eroded" in any sense that I can tell. It appears that any of these sacs would have continued to function for a long time yet.
BSB does not seem to have had any effect on its half of the divided plastic feed.
I will resist drawing conclusions, though I will say that I would not bet that the useful life of the sac with Noodler's Blue in continuous use would equal the life of the same sac if used with Waterman Blue. If sac life maximization is one of your personal goals, based on my experiences here, I would not be recommending Noodler's Inks to you.
I de-Noodled awhile back, except for Noodler's King Philip Requiem, over drying times on Tomoe River for the most part. However, KPR is at this moment in a pen with a latex sac. I have spares. :)
My observations are as follows. They are not quantified, so take them for what they are worth, which may be more than you paid for, but less than you might hope.
None of the trimmings "melted". One of the trimmings in Noodler's Blue seems noticeably less elastic than it should be and is "sticky", but it it is not really "gummy" in that it does spring back to form. The others in Noodler's inks are a generally a little sticky on the surface. My subjective sense is that the latex in the Noodler's groups is slightly "softened" compared to the control groups. However, at rest they retain their sharp edges from being cut and do not appear to have lost any of their form. They are not "eroded" in any sense that I can tell. It appears that any of these sacs would have continued to function for a long time yet.
BSB does not seem to have had any effect on its half of the divided plastic feed.
I will resist drawing conclusions, though I will say that I would not bet that the useful life of the sac with Noodler's Blue in continuous use would equal the life of the same sac if used with Waterman Blue. If sac life maximization is one of your personal goals, based on my experiences here, I would not be recommending Noodler's Inks to you.
I de-Noodled awhile back, except for Noodler's King Philip Requiem, over drying times on Tomoe River for the most part. However, KPR is at this moment in a pen with a latex sac. I have spares. :)