Noodler's Black (review)

[Randal6393]

Chuck

How would you describe the difference between Noodler's Black and Heart of Darkness?

Gerry Berg

Charlottesville

 

Used Noodler Black for about 7 oz worth. A great ink, writes well and handles just about any paper with ease. But has a reddish base and dries out a bit to leave smudges on my papers in winter.

 

Tried Hear of Darkness, found out it doesn't dry out as much as black, has a darker base, and sinks into papers to bond with the cellulose in cheaper papers very well indeed. Just enough extra features and pluses to cause me to use it instead of Black. Of course, you should try each and use the one you like best as your mileage may vary.

 

Enjoy,

[ethernautrix]

This morning, I tried out Noodler's Black and Noodler's Old Manhattan Black in the same pen -- a Stipula Vedo with a steel F nib.

 

Wow, the black is BLACK. NB just only edges out NOMB cos it's just that little bit wetter. I remember Splicer telling me that using NOMB in a wet writer would help it write not so wet, and that's the quality that won me over to NOMB.

 

I'm using NB in a Bexley Simplicity with a steel F nib that's finer than the Vedo's, and so the NB and BS are a perfect match.

 

I've got Noodler's Blue-Black back in the Vedo. Well, half-NOMB and half-NBB. When it's time for a refill, it'll be pure NBB.

 

FWIW.

[gmberg]

Chuck

How would you describe the difference between Noodler's Black and Heart of Darkness?

Gerry Berg

Charlottesville

 

Used Noodler Black for about 7 oz worth. A great ink, writes well and handles just about any paper with ease. But has a reddish base and dries out a bit to leave smudges on my papers in winter.

 

Tried Hear of Darkness, found out it doesn't dry out as much as black, has a darker base, and sinks into papers to bond with the cellulose in cheaper papers very well indeed. Just enough extra features and pluses to cause me to use it instead of Black. Of course, you should try each and use the one you like best as your mileage may vary.

 

Enjoy,

 

Thanks.

Gerry

 

[cpsantillan]

Nice review!!this is a must have ink color,love it and of course I am going to order one bottle,for now I just have the eel american blue,lovely too...

[phys.xvtk]

I think I must have gotten a bad batch of ink. My current bottle of Noodler's black seems rather diluted. Has anyone else encountered this problem? I'm thinking about just buying a new bottle, since everyone else seems to be getting solid black lines from the ink.

[WilsonCQB1911]

I think I must have gotten a bad batch of ink. My current bottle of Noodler's black seems rather diluted. Has anyone else encountered this problem? I'm thinking about just buying a new bottle, since everyone else seems to be getting solid black lines from the ink.

 

I had that. I threw my bottle out since it was more like a dark grey or a diluted black. I keep wondering about these reviews describing it as super black. Maybe I need to get another bottle and try.

[WaskiSquirrel]

I think I must have gotten a bad batch of ink. My current bottle of Noodler's black seems rather diluted. Has anyone else encountered this problem? I'm thinking about just buying a new bottle, since everyone else seems to be getting solid black lines from the ink.

 

Noodler's Black is, by far, my favorite ink, so it's easy for me to make excuses for it. However, I have encountered this with certain pens and papers: mostly the paper.

 

I will also say that it is not Noodler's darkest black. As much as I like it, I would never describe it as super black. It's very black and dark, but not like Borealis Black.

[phys.xvtk]

 

Noodler's Black is, by far, my favorite ink, so it's easy for me to make excuses for it. However, I have encountered this with certain pens and papers: mostly the paper.

 

I will also say that it is not Noodler's darkest black. As much as I like it, I would never describe it as super black. It's very black and dark, but not like Borealis Black.

 

I should point out that this is actually my second bottle of Noodler's black, and it is definitely not as dark as my first bottle.

[intentionalist]

Does anyone know how this ink fares in a Waterman Expert 2?

[tjt7a]

I think comparing Noodler's Black to Sailor's Nano Carbon black would be awesome.

 

Tom

[PenFisher]

I've said it before ... Noodler's Bullet-Proof Black is the one for me.

 

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/index.php/topic/214676-im-often-asked-why-i-like-noodlers-black/

[WaskiSquirrel]

I think comparing Noodler's Black to Sailor's Nano Carbon black would be awesome.

 

Tom

 

I don't have them on the same page in my notebook, but I don't know if the difference would scan well anyway.

 

Both inks are very black. The difference I saw was that the Sailor was more reflective because it sits on top of the paper. Noodler's Black is darker because it soaks in. Both inks are well behaved on the paper and both are quite permanent.

[Kuhataparunks]

Some say that this ink is very bad for mid to higher-end pens because it corrodes some parts and clogs over time. I've also heard some say that they would not put this ink in any pen over $20. Why is this?

Could someone attest to such negative comments about this ink?

Edited August 24, 2014 by Kuhataparunks

[WaskiSquirrel]

Some say that this ink is very bad for mid to higher-end pens because it corrodes some parts and clogs over time. I've also heard some say that they would not put this ink in any pen over $20. Why is this?

Could someone attest to such negative comments about this ink?

 

Are you talking about Noodler's Black?

 

Most people don't mind this ink. There has been some discussion of whether Noodler's inks in general harm latex, but little agreement on which colors in the line do this and some argument over whether or not the ink or the faulty latex sacs were at fault.

 

As for corrosion: I've honestly never heard this criticism of Noodler's, even from the Noodler's bashers.

 

The clogging is usually due to insufficient cleaning. The bulletproof inks in particular can clog. (Periwinkle Blue did that a lot for me.) Black hasn't clogged for me at all.

 

I will say that I use Noodler's quite comfortably in my expensive pens and my cheap pens. I don't own any pens with latex, so I can't say anything intelligent about that.

 

The thing to remember with Noodler's is that the owner of the company tends to polarize people. He puts his opinions right into the names and labels of his products. Some don't like this, especially if they disagree with those politics. He has also been quite outspoken about some things in the fountain pen world which also turns some people off.

 

There are a few inks in the Noodler's line with "interesting" properties. The Baystate inks and Kung Te-Cheng are unique. Baystate Blue in particular seems to get people emotional.

 

Overall, Noodler's inks are safe, and I say this as a user. But, in such a large line, the different colors will have different properties.

[BlueJ]

Earlier in this thread, some users reported their bottles of Noodler's Black seemed grayish or diluted. I have observed that this can happen if the bottle is not shaken before filling a pen. If I shake my bottle (with the cap on tightly, of course!) and then fill, the ink writes very black, but if not, it can produce a brown-gray line, especially in pens that are drier in general. It appears there is something in NB that settles in the bottle. This does surprise me as I thought all the Noodler's inks were dye inks (solutions) and not pigment inks (particulate suspensions.) I note member psfred reported similar observations a few years ago on another thread. Has anyone else found this?

Edited October 3, 2016 by BlueJ

[Tweel]

I've definitely experienced this, in an unrecoverable form. See this post and the two following.

 

Since then, I've had a second bottle of Noodler's Black "die", and it was never subjected to anything other than room temperature. The replacement bottle mentioned in my post was used up before it flocculated.

 

[BlueJ]

The thread referenced by tweel suggests that all the "bulletproof" inks have suspended ingredients that can settle. The only other bulletproof Noodler's ink I have is Liberty's Elysium, a blue ink exclusive to Goulet Pens. I have not observed that LE writes differently as a function of whether it is "shaken or stirred" (a reference to James Bond's martinis btw) or not, but I will stir it up before filling in the future, as a precaution.

 

It occurs to me this settling could occur inside a pen or converter if it is stored filled and vertical for a sufficient period of time. I would not dare to shake a filled pen, but rotating it gently between nib-up and nib-down positions a few times before writing might be a good idea, with these inks.

[migla9]

Thanks for that information, BlueJ. It just happens that I inked up a pen a few days ago from a bottle of Noodler's Black that hadn't been touched in a while. When the writing sample was somewhat greyish, I chalked it up to writing with a Pilot EF nib. Sure enough, after shaking up the bottle and refilling, it's a much darker black - pretty much as I expected. The bottle is about 3 years old and hasn't been used much.