Reevaluating

[southpaw52]

Recently I participated in a traveling ink box. It was exchanging one for one exchange. Over the years of pen collecting and ink collecting, the one ink brand I have not got into was Noodlers. I have had bottles of Noodlers over the years had PIF'd them away. Noodlers is one ink brand where there are two distinct camps for it and those that dislike it to the point of hating it. Urban legends some true and some unfounded abound. I guess I fell for some of the half truths.

All ink has the potential of being problematic if proper pen maintenance is not adhered to. Some of the complaints of inks is due to lazy pen maintenance. I'm fastidious about keeping my pens clean and rotating inks.


From the box I took a bottles of Noodlers Legal Lapis, Noodlers Rome is Burning, and Walnut, a bottle of Diamine Steel Blue, a bottle of J Herbin 1670 Ocean Blue. My decision on the Noodlers choices were to give Noodlers an honest chance to earn a spot in my ink rotation. Initially the results have been positive. I'm really enjoy the Legal Lapis, Rome is Burning is a very unique color that even offers some shading with my fine nibs.

Will Noodlers earn a spot, probably. The lesson learned is to evaluate inks thoroughly is you have to use them and not assume. I know in the past I was too eager to discount Noodlers inks.

[mhosea]

All ink has the potential of being problematic if proper pen maintenance is not adhered to. Some of the complaints of inks is due to lazy pen maintenance. I'm fastidious about keeping my pens clean and rotating inks.


Me, too.

NB: my sense is that a lot of people seem to love Noodler's and hate Rome is Burning at the same time. I think it has something to do with feathering or bleedthrough.

[tandaina]

I love many Noodler's colors. Rome is Burning is *not* one of them. Something about it just strikes me wrong. :P But glad you gave them a shot, there are some stunning Noodler's inks and many are very, very well behaved.

[Bogon07]

Rome Burning typifies Noodler's ink quirkiness. It can bleed & feather like crazy on some papers but on the right ones it comes across as a golden brown but if dampened will turn a purple. It will turn purple on your nib if your nib is susceptible to ink creep. Use it in pens you can easily clean.
I can't help but think if you put an Iroshizuku or Sailor label on the bottle people would be falling over themselves to get it.

[Waski_the_Squirrel]

I'm glad you gave them a second chance. There are a lot of good inks in this brand.

[jde]

<snip>The lesson learned is to evaluate inks thoroughly is you have to use them and not assume. <snip>

I love this! This is the key, IMHO, for everything. Certainly we use each other as guide posts at times, but mostly I wish for people to follow this kind of advice. Investigate and evaluate and make one's own decision about what we use and consume. (That is, not take anyone else's word for "it.")

[Dreck]

Southpaw, have you tried the 54th Massachusetts yet? If you'd like to, I will be happy to send you a sample of it. That is my daily-use ink, and while not particularly stunning or overly attractive (unless you're into blue), it is a fantastic permanent ink that (IMO) has all the benefits of Iron Gall except for darkening upon drying.

[Silverbreeze]

Only pens I don't use it in are sac pens
It and Liberty are my favorite Noodler's I think

[adson3492]

I'm not sure what forum this goes in; sorry if it is the wrong one.

So I bought a used Levenger Demonstrator, and it has an inner cap. Ink has gotten between the inner cap and the outer cap. I have soaked the cap and also tried a sonic cleaner; some of the ink has come out, but I'm still seeing ink (which I can live with if I have to). But I am just wondering if anyone has a suggestion as to how to get the ink out from between the two caps.

[Sailor Kenshin]

Traveling inkbox?

Tell me more!

[ethernautrix]

The Noodler's Inks I love I love. The others (Noodler's) I've tried, I don't love. I don't hate them, but I don't love them - and don't use them. But Noodler's Black is my favorite ink of all inks, but it certainly isn't the only ink I use.

[DMurphy]

@Adson3492


I'm not sure what forum this goes in; sorry if it is the wrong one.

But I am just wondering if anyone has a suggestion as to how to get the ink out from between the two caps.

You might want to take a look at this video from Ink Nouveau about cleaning behind the cap insert (http://www.gouletpens.com/Articles.asp?ID=479). Good luck!

[Pendragon]

I have used Noodler's Legal Lapis for nine years in a Pelikan M215, and never had any problems at all. The pen is never cleaned, simply refilled when it runs out of ink. Absolutely zero problems. The pen is now filled with Noodler's Polar Blue and it also works like a charm. I used Noodler's Black and Eternal Luxury Blue in a Hero 100 for about four years. That pen was also never cleaned and never had any problems whatsoever. Noodler's ink never made my pens explode, never clogged the pens, and never made the nibs fall off. Quite the contrary, the inks have performed splendidly and are now the only ones I use.

On the other hand, I also saw photos posted on another forum of a Lamy Safari stained by Noodler's Baystate Blue. There were also reports there of pens being clogged by Baystate Blue. Both the photos and some of the critical posts were censored shortly thereafter. It appeared that this only served to decrease information and increase suspicion, leading some to jump to conclusions and question Noodler's entire product line. Someone in a local store that sold pens stated that Baystate Blue had clogged his pen. The store stopped carrying Noodler's ink within a year after they started carrying it, so there must have been other reports of problems. To be fair, these are only two reports of a single much-maligned ink, just one of many inks in their product line.

Based on the foregoing, my take is that is well worthwhile to try Noodler's inks. If a particular ink - Noodler's or otherwise - clogs your pens, then simply clean out the pens, relegate the ink to dip pen duty or pour it down the drain, and move on to the next ink. If my experience is any example, you will find some excellent inks indeed!

[Jon Szanto]

Noodler's is why we have people selling ink samples. You only know if you try some, and there are so many that there are angels and dogs in that panorama.

[mrcharlie]

It drives me up a wall when anyone says/writes "Blah brand inks are great" or "are blah brand inks water/fade proof?" or "blah brand inks will dissolve/stain/harm your pen", etc. Even ink companies with only six or eight colors are not universally the same in their various properties or how they behave in pens. Any brand with as many different inks as Noodler's, Diamine, PR, etc will only have a larger spread in how well they work for different people/pens/paper than long time established pen manufacturer brands with less than a dozen colors such as Waterman or Sheaffer or Pelikan 4001 or Lamy. There is no brand of FP ink where all their inks will be fade proof or fade resistant; the same with respect to water.

Early in my most recent (last 3 years) FP ferver, I purchased a bottle of Noodler's Black after reading so many raves about it and loving the idea of a truly permanent black ink. I wanted to love it and tried to use it for about two years but I hate it; I will never ink it again. I seem to be in the distinct minority on this.

I subscribed to Ink Drop for 12 months and received a lot of Noodler's during that time. I found many that I loved and were wonderfully behaved, non-staining, easy to clean/flush from pens, never dried out in the nib of a capped but unused pen, had an awesome color, etc. But at least two were completely unusable in three or four distinct pens from different manufacturers, no matter what you thought of the color. I would never again buy a bottle of Noodler's unless a) I could afford to toss or gift it if I didn't like it, or more likely b) I'd first used a sample of it.

I know the proprietor scoffs at the idea of warning labels for certain inks and made fun of that on the Kung Te Cheng label, but Rome Burning will stain some plastics purple as I and a 1950s Waterman C/F know from experience. But there are many pens it can be used in where that will never be a factor. It would have been nice to know that ahead of time.

[Laura N]

I agree with southpaw52 that you should evaluate these things on your own.

But ... I am fastidious about pen maintenance, too. Some inks do stain more than others, no matter your maintenance ability. It's not all on the user.

For me, inks that have stained include Tsukyo-yo, Sailor nano blue black, a number of purple inks, a number of Diamine's newer, more saturated inks, and a number of Noodler's inks. I still use the first two inks because I like them very much, but I am careful about the pens I use them in. I don't care if a converter is stained. I don't care if a Lamy Safari is stained. I actually celebrated when two Noodler's inks stained two Platinum Preppies, because to me that was a mercy killing. But I would care very much if a celluloid or vintage pen were stained.

[Jon Szanto]

Haha... "mercy killing".