Old Baystate Blue

[rickap]

Hi Folks,

I've got an old (2008ish) bottle of Baystate Blue that I used about three times in the past. It's probably been unopened now for five years. I filled a pen with it yesterday and it is very dark purple now, nothing like the searing blue it used to be. It also has a red sticky residue on the bottle cap threads.

Has anyone else encountered this with Baystate blue?

Thanks,
Rick

[Chrissy]

I'm confident that my bottle is almost that old, but is still blue. However, many older inks can change colour, depending on how old they are and how they have been stored. Sadly yours sounds like it's ready for the bin, despite it still being quite young in comparison to many older vintage inks.

I had a Private Reserve Orange Crush that changed to a muddy brown as it aged. Most unattractive. Sheaffer Persian Rose also regularly ages to a less attractive dark purple.

[Wile E Coyote]

I had the same experience as the OP. Except it happened in about 1-2 years.

I can't figure out why it happened either as it was stored "in a cool dark place," well sealed in the original bottle in the original box.

[mhosea]

It's supposed to be slightly alkaline, but people with proper equipment have measured it--credibly--as somewhat acidic. Blame it on variant formulations, maybe, but another possibility is that the stuff just isn't that stable.

[rickap]

Thanks Chrissy, Wile E Coyote and mhosea. I like the original color but I doubt I'll buy another bottle because of the staining.

Thanks,
Rick

[Kulprit]

Before you toss it, have you tried just give it a thorough shaking? I've found this (surprisingly) necessary with some Noodler's inks.


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[KKay]

I agree with Kulprit. I would shake it before you toss it out.

[rickap]

I have shaken it thoroughly, always do, especially with saturated inks. Didn’t help but thanks for the suggestion.

Rick

[mhosea]

I wouldn't expect it to help so much with BSB. Shaking seems to be needed with the cellulose-reactive Noodler's inks because there is, for one reason or another, a settling that takes place. Nathan confirms this and maintains that there is nothing wrong with shaking whatever falls out back into "solution". The traditional wisdom of NOT shaking ink has to do with circumstances (especially with IG-based inks) where that which falls out of solution is never going back into solution, in which case shaking the ink only makes it easy for you to draw potentially-clogging particulate matter into your pen.