Is Noodler's Black a good newbie ink?

[grimakis]

You will regret getting it all over your bedsheets... I know I did.....

 

Funny, I've done that as well... I left my inked 2000 on my bed at a weird angle that it started to collect ink. Good thing it was a dark cover.

 

I was doing work with a "51" aero, and I stood up and made a turn(more of a whirl). My entire room, walls, ceiling, floor, everything... had Bulletproof Black on it. I managed to get it off everything except the ceiling(too high for me to reach without a step stool, and I am too lazy to get a step stool.), and the carpet.(Which is a dark, patterned one, so it is nearly impossible to find the ink stains....)

[Nero]

And you see, that's why I am confused. You admit you have never used Noodler's Black and still claim its performance factors into the decision and that if price were no object you would still recommend Sailor Nano Carbon first. That just doesn't sound logical to me. You also plainly state that the price alone would keep you from recommending it to a newbie.

 

Do you not see how that sounds a bit unfair and like you have some ulterior motive behind your reasons for disliking Noodler's black? And that's the issue that always seems to come up around this topic and why so many of us are sick to death of the people who crawl out of the woodwork to badmouth Noodler's and to spread outright lies whenever someone asks an honest question about an ink that would suit their purposes when all they are asking for would be met by Noodler's Black. I just think full disclosure is important, like "I've never used it but..." Hearsay and irrational dislikes for a product never even tried shouldn't be used in fora such as this to dissuade anyone from finding the product they might actually like. Perhaps I am just old-fashioned in that regard.

 

I am sorry, but I can't understand you. I put in my first posting "Based on my experience with Heart of Darkness I will not recommend it." That is full disclosure to me. The poll opener based his vote on Polar Black. Why don't you discuss that with him?

 

Naturally flows the performance of inks into my evaluations. I was very satisfied with Noodler's Galileo brown, I can recommend it, and decided to invest more money in other colors. Waltnut was too dry for me, but I think that is normal for brown inks. I don't use it, but I would not say that it is a bad ink. The only black I bought, Heart of Darkness, was a catastrophe on my pen. I bought it, based on the reviews here, and it didn't work for me at all. I have good experiences with other black inks: Pelikan, Waterman, Sailor. I will recommend to a new newbie asking for a black ink one ink that I think is safe, instead of letting her/him experiment with a costly ink that at the end might be a wonder ink or a disappointment.

 

Sure, my decision is perhaps not 100% fair, because I voted based on Heart of Darkness, as another black ink from Noodler. But even the original poster voted for Polar Black. I don't expect any ink in a poll to receive 100% positive or negative answers, because there are too many factors for the decision. And price is an important factor for me, when recommending an inkt to somebody else who doesn't have much money. I don't understand why price should not be important? This is a worldwide forum and not all people live in the US where Noodler's inks are widely available. I would accept when somebody from Pakistan, for example, votes no, because Noodler's costs there perhaps 20x of their for us cheap (but still good) black ink.

 

And please don't insinuate ulterior motives to my posts. I could do the same about you, but I didn't and I don't. I accept that you think that my vote is not in accordance with the poll (but please read the messages from the original poster). I don't accept that you insinuate that I have ulterior motives to bash Noodler, just because I don't like some of his inks and say so.

[mstone]

Sure, my decision is perhaps not 100% fair, because I voted based on Heart of Darkness, as another black ink from Noodler.

In this case that is important because bulletproof black is a very different ink than heart of darkness. In general, it is important to not extrapolate how one noodler's will behave based on the characteristics of another. (This is more or less true for all manufacturers, but Noodler's especially has inks with radically different characteristics based on what the objectives were for each particular ink.)

[bardharlock]

And you see, that's why I am confused. You admit you have never used Noodler's Black and still claim its performance factors into the decision and that if price were no object you would still recommend Sailor Nano Carbon first. That just doesn't sound logical to me. You also plainly state that the price alone would keep you from recommending it to a newbie.

 

Do you not see how that sounds a bit unfair and like you have some ulterior motive behind your reasons for disliking Noodler's black? And that's the issue that always seems to come up around this topic and why so many of us are sick to death of the people who crawl out of the woodwork to badmouth Noodler's and to spread outright lies whenever someone asks an honest question about an ink that would suit their purposes when all they are asking for would be met by Noodler's Black. I just think full disclosure is important, like "I've never used it but..." Hearsay and irrational dislikes for a product never even tried shouldn't be used in fora such as this to dissuade anyone from finding the product they might actually like. Perhaps I am just old-fashioned in that regard.

 

I am sorry, but I can't understand you. I put in my first posting "Based on my experience with Heart of Darkness I will not recommend it." That is full disclosure to me. The poll opener based his vote on Polar Black. Why don't you discuss that with him?

 

Naturally flows the performance of inks into my evaluations. I was very satisfied with Noodler's Galileo brown, I can recommend it, and decided to invest more money in other colors. Waltnut was too dry for me, but I think that is normal for brown inks. I don't use it, but I would not say that it is a bad ink. The only black I bought, Heart of Darkness, was a catastrophe on my pen. I bought it, based on the reviews here, and it didn't work for me at all. I have good experiences with other black inks: Pelikan, Waterman, Sailor. I will recommend to a new newbie asking for a black ink one ink that I think is safe, instead of letting her/him experiment with a costly ink that at the end might be a wonder ink or a disappointment.

 

Sure, my decision is perhaps not 100% fair, because I voted based on Heart of Darkness, as another black ink from Noodler. But even the original poster voted for Polar Black. I don't expect any ink in a poll to receive 100% positive or negative answers, because there are too many factors for the decision. And price is an important factor for me, when recommending an inkt to somebody else who doesn't have much money. I don't understand why price should not be important? This is a worldwide forum and not all people live in the US where Noodler's inks are widely available. I would accept when somebody from Pakistan, for example, votes no, because Noodler's costs there perhaps 20x of their for us cheap (but still good) black ink.

 

And please don't insinuate ulterior motives to my posts. I could do the same about you, but I didn't and I don't. I accept that you think that my vote is not in accordance with the poll (but please read the messages from the original poster). I don't accept that you insinuate that I have ulterior motives to bash Noodler, just because I don't like some of his inks and say so.

 

And there is the whole story. The facts are Noodler's is safe for beginners and has been for many people on this board. When asked if Noodler's was the best performing ink out there you said you still wouldn't recommend it because of the high price in Germany. When asked if money was not an object, you said you would still not recommend BP Black because of your experience with other Noodler's inks. I think that speaks for itself. It strikes me as rather close-minded. Thanks for the discussion, though!

[Ink Stained Wretch]

I voted "yes." In fact I wouldn't be using fountain pens as I do were it not for Noodler's Black.

 

I used fountain pens in grammar school. I went to cartridge fountain pens some time in high school. The Skrip Washable Blue annoyed me in that it was so washable. As soon as I could find Skrip Jet Black in cartridges I loaded up on them. In those days I was wishing I could find some way to refill cartridges with the stuff since Jet Black in cartridges was expensive when compared to the same ink in a bottle. As an adult I finally got that problem solved. And I was refilling Sheaffer cartridges with Skrip Jet Black from a bottle before Noodler's Black was invented. And there was a problem.

 

The problem was that even the Skrip Jet Black, labeled "permanent" on the bottles and packs of cartridges, would not last through the longer soak tests. Jet Black was all right with a fast splash of water, but it eventually went away in a long soak, whereas #2 pencil and all ballpoint pen writing remained. I was disappointed in this. I wanted to use fountain pens but their writing was very vulnerable.

 

So when Noodler's Black came around and I started reading about it in early 2004, I grabbed a bottle. And it was great! It was a blacker black than Jet Black and it was totally waterproof, it even outlasted ballpoint pen inks when I started trying solvents on it. So with Noodler's Black I was able to go back to fountain pens and feel confident that what I was writing would last even if I had some accidents, which I'd had with Skrip Jet Black near an open window during a storm.

 

Anyone starting out with fountain pens is going to have to be motivated to use fountain pens because they are just a higher maintenance writing instrument than the ballpoint which can be thrown around and treated any which way and will, probably, still write. So I would recommend the Noodler's Black to a newbie because that ink would be a small part of the new things that person would have to learn in order to go from ballpoint use to fountain pen use anyway, and they may as well have an advantage over the ballpoint inks. The permanence of Noodler's Black is a selling point for fountain pen use.

 

I've never had this issue myself, but I know that some people have experienced skipping and minor clogging with Noodler's Black. I use Noodler's Black all the time, but I have personally seen that if left in a pen for more than about a week, little sediment pieces accumulate, which only come out through leaving the pen filled with water and with the nib submerged in water for a few hours. This would be my hesitation with recommending it to folks new to fountain pens.

Well, I'll stick with my own experiences in this. I've used Noodler's Black in a Sheaffer Imperial IV for more than 5 years now. For the first year or so I only used that fountain pen to write a small number of checks once a month. It did not clog, it did not accumulate sediment and I did not have to clean and flush it for that reason. I have had this same fountain pen filled with Noodler's Black in my rotation for about 4+ years and it gets used every sixth day. No sediment accumulates. It writes fine. Flushing Noodler's is straight forward as well. I do it with this Sheaffer Imperial IV about once every 2 years.

[gerard1973]

Yes Noodler's Black a good newbie ink. Noodler's Black is probably one of the best and most popular fountain pen inks that you can buy. I've NEVER had any problems with this ink. Two other benchmark inks that would be good for a newbie are: Aurora's Black and Pelikan 4001 Brilliant Black. It's hard to beat Noodler's Black, Aurora's Black and the Pelikan 4001 Brilliant Black inks.

 

I think that a good newbie blue ink would be the Waterman Florida Blue. This ink is considered to be a benchmark and a "staple" for many fountain pen users.

Edited April 21, 2011 by gerard1973

[jgrasty]

I would say yes, as Noodler's Black was the second ink that I bought when I started using fountain pens (again).

[tonybelding]

I've given away a number of pens to other members of my writing circle. I wanted to make sure they have a good experience, so I always gave them pens that I've personally checked out and know are good, plus a bottle of the all-around best behaved and most trustworthy ink that I know. Thus, each of them gets a new bottle of Noodler's Black along with their pen.

 

My first experience with a fountain pen, back when I was in grade school, involved a Sheaffer No-Nonsense pen with the included carts of blue Skrip. I partially blame the Skrip for my bad experience with that pen. If something like Noodler's Black had come with it, I might have stayed with fountain pens at the time. I might even have gone through college taking notes with a fountain pen instead of my hand cramping up all the time with a ballpoint.