Does Namiki Blue Fade?

April 8, 2017

Hello everyone,

I am looking for a standard professional blue ink that is permanent and will not fade much. I have searched and it seems Pilot / Namiki Blue could suit me as it is a bit water resistant but I can't tell if it will also not fade over time. Does anyone have experience with this ink? I have looked at Noodler's inks too but there are so many and it's quite confusing to me.

April 9, 2017

Dunno about Pilot Blue, but Pilot Blue-Black is the world champion Clydesdale of workhorse inks, with very good fade and water resistance, minimal feathering and strike-through. And, in my opinion, it's much more of a navy blue than a blue-black. The 350ml "soda bottle" is just about the best value you can get unless you are buying Chinese, Russian or Indian inks domestically.

Noodler's Blue is really, really cyan. It's very fade-resistant. It doesn't have the sort of water resistance that Pilot Blue-Black does. Noodler's Baystate Blue, on the other hand, is prone to fading even when in closed notebooks. Furthermore, it turns evil and nasty when mixed with conventional inks (say, when you use BSB to fill a pen that's had normal inks in it, or when you put a normal ink in a pen that last was filled with BSB -- without ensuring that ALL the old ink was cleaned out before adding the new). Solid precipitates typically form in well under a minute.

You should check out Amber's 2013 Fade Olympics Results Spreadsheet. If you cross-reference the best inks there with the Reviews Index, you ought to have some ideas as to what sorts of inks will suit you best.

April 9, 2017

Dunno about Pilot Blue, but Pilot Blue-Black is the world champion Clydesdale of workhorse inks, with very good fade and water resistance, minimal feathering and strike-through. And, in my opinion, it's much more of a navy blue than a blue-black. The 350ml "soda bottle" is just about the best value you can get unless you are buying Chinese, Russian or Indian inks domestically.

Noodler's Blue is really, really cyan. It's very fade-resistant. It doesn't have the sort of water resistance that Pilot Blue-Black does. Noodler's Baystate Blue, on the other hand, is prone to fading even when in closed notebooks. Furthermore, it turns evil and nasty when mixed with conventional inks (say, when you use BSB to fill a pen that's had normal inks in it, or when you put a normal ink in a pen that last was filled with BSB -- without ensuring that ALL the old ink was cleaned out before adding the new). Solid precipitates typically form in well under a minute.

You should check out Amber's 2013 Fade Olympics Results Spreadsheet. If you cross-reference the best inks there with the Reviews Index, you ought to have some ideas as to what sorts of inks will suit you best.

Wow that information is fantastic, thank you so much! It's too bad the Noodler names don't always indicate the ink colour though!