Noodler's Baystate blue just ruined my Ahab! Help!

[gforce]

I was using Noodlers Baystate blue in my Ahab for the last 2 months. Cleaned pen today, clear window is not clear anymore, it has a blue tinge to the window. Tried ammonia and bleach. No good! What the heck does Noodlers put in that ink! The feed also has a blush tinge to it. I am very annoyed. Has this happened to anyone out there? What has worked for you?
gforce

[inky]

I've had this happen to a Preppy I used with BSB. I basically soaked it overnight in a 10% bleach to 90% water solution. The next morning I rinsed it off and the blue tint was gone. I know the Preppies are made from different material then the Ahab so maybe more time is required? I wouldn't soak the nib in the solution though, Bleach can do funny things to Steel nibs.

[fountainpenkid]

If you like the ink, great, but don't expect it to not ruin things. It has staining problems, and I think it should really just be a dip pen ink because it ends up ruining so many pens.

[tandaina]

Well that pen becomes your BSB pen. No harm done, the ink window is still useable and no other (more expensive) pen gets damaged. When you want BSB, pull out the Ahab! Some inks aren't well behaved, this is one that is well known to have issues. So if you want to use it dedicate a pen to it and let it be what it is.

[gforce]

I just tried some rubbing alcohol on a q-tip, it seems to have worked somewhat, but not perfect.
gforce

[KrazyIvan]

Ummm, never mix ammonia and bleach. A soak in 10% bleach water solution should remove the blue tinge. Use the same water solution and a tooth brush to clean the feed. Dealt with it once and I don't use BSB anymore. Don't like the color nor the high maintenance.


Nib and feed by IvanRomero, on Flickr

[Jon Szanto]

People get on our asses when we try to warn about these problems with BSB, and yet here is another person who apparently was not aware of the downside of using this ink. It's a shame, but it isn't the first time, and won't be the last, I'm afraid.

[cwent2]

Well, I for one have read the warnings - and if Hades ever freezes over and I find myself using BSB, I will remember to use a dedicated preppy for the ink. Was in the Air Force for twenty years - do not like blue ink. Hence the Hades reference.

Just saying

Cw

Even in Mr Nathan Tardif's videos he recommends a dedicated non expensive pen to dedicate to BSB!

[Tracy Lee]

Ya'll have instilled the fear of BSB in me from day one. It will not ever darken my door.

[jar]

First off, your pen is not ruined and claiming that getting stained somehow ruined a pen is just plain juvenile. In addition, Noodler's didn't put anything in your pen, YOU put the ink in your pen. If there is any blame it sits squarely with you.

Quit whining kid.

[MisterBoll]

I've had BSB in an Ahab for a few months now. The pen is taking on a life of it's own.

[mhphoto]

Not really ruined, just stained. BSB doesn't respond to ammonia as well as other inks. My go-to for BSB stains (including on clothes) is isopropyl alcohol. Unfortunately the vegetal resin used to make Noodler's pens will cloud up when exposed to strong concentrations for too long, so I'd forgo the 91% and stick with scrubbing with 70% using a q-tip, followed by a thorough rinse.

[Waski_the_Squirrel]

I have two pens dedicated to BSB (though only in use one at a time). I happen to really like the color.

On the other hand, while this ink does stain plastic, it is far from the only one. I have a Pelikan demonstrator that has purple regions thanks to some quality time with Iroshizuku Yama-budo. After I get done working out of town, I may have to spend some special time with it and try ammonia or bleach (but not at the same time). I look upon this as the risk I take every time I ink up a pen.

[jor412]

This isn't a defense of BSB but the Ahab plastic seems to me to be more prone to staining than other plastics.

I turned my clear Ahab into an eyedropper & filled it with Sailor Epinard. The pen barrel was stained pinkish-orange from one end to the other. Nothing I tried got rid of the stain so I gave up.

[firstpancake]

I pulled out the ink from a black Pilot cartridge and put it in my noodler's Truk Lagoon Standard Flex. Now it's truk lagoon with an amber barrel.

[woosang]

I have a ruined ahab but at the end of the day it's a cheap pen and I love bsb

[firstpancake]

Yeah, I might go with tandaina's plan, and have a stainy ink creaper, and a safe ink creaper. I really like the truk lagoon. the idea of soaking a noodler's pen in bleach doesn't seem like a good idea to me. it's resin, not plastic, and I have no idea how it will react. for now, I still have a functioning stained pen. If the bleach hurts the resin, I'll have no pen at all.

[manoeuver]

Two months soaked in BSB? no bitchin. The ink stains. And if the pen still writes it ain't ruined.

[Sailor Kenshin]

Aurora Blue stains every bit as much as BSB but no one treats THAT ink like radioactive waste.

[jacksterp]

The ink which must not be named, in certain circles, will never have to be removed from my fingers...