Noodler's Polar Green....

[yazeh]

Noodler’s Polar Green

This is my 2nd Polar ink. I have the Polar Brown already and I’ve just filled a pen with Polar Blue. The inks are not at all similar. Polar Blue is the wettest. I’ve read that the Polar series could be mixed to create a variety of colours, which is fun.

Green is not my favorite color, especially dark green. However, when I saw swabs of this ink, I knew I would get it. I got a sample just in case and the moment I filled a pen I knew it was my type of ink.

Who is this ink for: For those who like bulletproof inks and can accommodate the ink’s idiosyncrasies and appreciate woolly lines (I do), and live in North America. I honestly don’t think it’s worth the shipping cost for overseas. I’m sure there are other alternatives available.
Note the woolly line effect happens with a wet, flexed Kanwrite.

When wet, the ink is Emerald Green, then dries to dark green, think boreal forest to sage, depending paper.

This ink is paper/pen specific. Personally, I really like it with a Kanwrite ultra flex on Midori. I find the combination gives a vintage look. It’s a sage color on Tomoe River but one would need a blotter/copy paper underneath the page as the ink would bleed through several pages.

It’s a bulletproof ink, with all it entails. The flow is not as wet 54 Massachusetts or Polar Blue…., I would say viscous, it reminds me of Kung Te-Cheng in this regard.

People often say that it feathers badly. I’ve been writing pages with it, with different nibs and to be honest, I like the effect. See for yourself....I would not use it on copy paper...

• Pens used: Kanwrite ultra flex – Jinhao 450 – Pilot Metro Fine – Nameless Kaweco type EF fountain pen…
Note for testing the ink I filled the Pilot Metropolitan with the ink and left it for a couple of weeks to check if it would dry up. It didn’t. Longer periods might need some coaxing. Note the Pilot Fine nib seems finer than the Chinese
• Shading: A bit only with flex nib on TR
• Ghosting: Depending nib/ flow combination
• Dry time: 2 seconds on Rhodia....Longest on TR
• Bleed through: As above.
• Flow Rate: Decent. It was least agreeable with a Chinese Kaweco style with an Ef nib….though after a second filling it wrote noticeably better. I won’t recommend it for dry writers…but flow is not wet, nor dry, I would say in between. I would say, when you start writing it might be a shy, but then it flows.
• Lubrication: Average.
• Nib Dry-out: It can happen….
• Start-up: Almost immediate. I noticed some skipping with EF nib.
• Saturation: saturated
• Shading Potential: Vaguely on TR
• Sheen: Nope…t
• Show-Through: With flex nib and fine wet nibs.
• Spread / Feathering / Woolly Line: On Midori with flex…gives a vintage look…I like it.
• Nib Creep / “Crud”: Yes on all nibs… you’ll have a green patina on all your nibs.
• Staining (pen): Don’t know yet
• Staining (hands): Easy to wash.
• Clogging: Nope
• Water resistance: Bullet proof.
• Availability: Only in bottle.

Note on some scans I've written the type of paper with a greenish ink. It's General of the Armies.... I didn't add a swab as would time, it would revert to blue

 

Swab comparison

 

On Amazon copy paper

 

Mnemosyne

 

Midori

 

Tomoe River

 

Tomoe River 68 gr

 

Full page Rhodia

 

Rhodia

 

Please feel free adding your scans, impression.... The more the merrier.....

 

 

[Eclipse157]

I like the color, but woolly line bothers me to no end.

 

Thanks for the review!

[LizEF]

Too normal a green. Blame Montblanc - Jonathan Swift Seaweed Green ruined me for normal greens!

 

But thank you for the comprehensive review!

[lapis]

Looks a bit like their Banknote Green (a long gone FPH LE, I think).

[A Smug Dill]

Thanks for the review!

 

Buying a whole bunch of Noodler's inks, early in the piece when I returned to the hobby in 2013 after a decade-long hiatus, on account of the supposed virtues of being "bulletproof", was my big newbie ink mistake. To make the shipping charges to Australia worthwhile and a one-off expense, I ordered not only a number of different ink colours, but also two bottles of each of some of those at once. Polar Green was one of them.

 

Not actually "knowing" about or understanding feathering at the time, Polar Green and Polar Brown almost put me off using fountain pens all over again, because no degree of permanence on paper matters if I can't stand the look of the woolly ink marks from the minute they were put down. No matter how fine a nib I used, I couldn't control the fuzziness of the outlines of each pen stroke; I even blamed many of my pens for that, instead of the inks, and they ended up unfairly banished to the back of a drawer never to see the light of day.

 

All my bottles of Polar Green, as well as Polar Brown and Prime of the Commons Blue-Black, were "donated" to the Aussie FPN pass-around box. (I did keep Noodler's Green Marine and Golden Brown.)

[yazeh]

I like the color, but woolly line bothers me to no end.

 

Thanks for the review!

I've come to appreciate the woolly lines. Also the happen with a specific nib/ paper combination...

However, if you're looking at something as nice, wet and smooth as North African violet this is not it.....

[yazeh]

Too normal a green. Blame Montblanc - Jonathan Swift Seaweed Green ruined me for normal greens!

 

But thank you for the comprehensive review!

It's actually less normal of a green in person... I would say it's a calm, muted green. It doesn't distract me from writing. I often get distracted if I'm writing my brilliant ideas by shading/ sheening inks

[yazeh]

Thanks for the review!

 

Buying a whole bunch of Noodler's inks, early in the piece when I returned to the hobby in 2013 after a decade-long hiatus, on account of the supposed virtues of being "bulletproof", was my big newbie ink mistake. To make the shipping charges to Australia worthwhile and a one-off expense, I ordered not only a number of different ink colours, but also two bottles of each of some of those at once. Polar Green was one of them.

 

Not actually "knowing" about or understanding feathering at the time, Polar Green and Polar Brown almost put me off using fountain pens all over again, because no degree of permanence on paper matters if I can't stand the look of the woolly ink marks from the minute they were put down. No matter how fine a nib I used, I couldn't control the fuzziness of the outlines of each pen stroke; I even blamed many of my pens for that, instead of the inks, and they ended up unfairly banished to the back of a drawer never to see the light of day.

 

All my bottles of Polar Green, as well as Polar Brown and Prime of the Commons Blue-Black, were "donated" to the Aussie FPN pass-around box. (I did keep Noodler's Green Marine and Golden Brown.)

I can truly understand what you're saying....especially with the shipping and then being stuck with a bottle of ink you're never gonna use....though mine are for different reasons.

Ironically one of my first "surprise" samples was Polar Brown. And I didn't like it at first... But it grew on me to the point that I bought a bottle....

 

I am not sure, but it's possible your Polar inks belonged to the first generation of truly Polar series, which truly didn't not freeze.

The new generation is freeze resistant and in very cold weather turn into slush consistency.

I did not experience the fuzziness you went through with brown but I can attest that you cannot use a dip pen with it It's truly horrendous....

As for Polar Green, yes I did experience fuzziness with an Ultra flex nib on Midori especially but the effect, I enjoyed..... It gave me the impression that I'm a turn of the last century writer... in account of those fuzzy lines.... but I understand that it's a feature that many users do not like..... I happen to be in the minority......

[A Smug Dill]

I suspect the two bottles of Polar Green are coming back to me again in the Aussie FPN pass-around box (currently in transit), even though the bottle of Polar Brown has found an appreciative new owner (and of that I'm very glad).

[namrehsnoom]

Thanks for the very complete review. Personally, I like this green ... it has a certain pastel-feel to it.

[LizEF]

... I often get distracted if I'm writing my brilliant ideas by shading/ sheening inks

Only a fountain pen person could understand this. I love watching the little puddle of ink under the nib, and watching the ink dry. Truly, we're a bunch of weirdos!

[yazeh]

I suspect the two bottles of Polar Green are coming back to me again in the Aussie FPN pass-around box (currently in transit), even though the bottle of Polar Brown has found an appreciative new owner (and of that I'm very glad).

 

 

You can try diluting it... Maybe it'll perform better....

 

Thanks for the very complete review. Personally, I like this green ... it has a certain pastel-feel to it.

It has... It's a muted Green...To my surprise, I seem to like muted colours....and I though I was more of a "shady" type....

 

Only a fountain pen person could understand this. I love watching the little puddle of ink under the nib, and watching the ink dry. Truly, we're a bunch of weirdos!

If that's being weird.... then so be it....

I'm often fascinated by how the ink shades, then dries to solid... The other day, my Polar Green test Pilot didn't write, for being in my pocket for so long, as when I primed the nib, a big drop fell out and my page and I closed my notebook to "blot" the page.... I couldn't help but staring at that blob of blue grey......

[LizEF]

If that's being weird.... then so be it....

...

 

It's a good kind of weird - the best and most civilized kind.

[yazeh]

It's a good kind of weird - the best and most civilized kind.

[PAKMAN]

Too light for me, don't do green much but prefer a dark forest green when I do use one.

[amberleadavis]

Great review!

[yazeh]

I suspect the two bottles of Polar Green are coming back to me again in the Aussie FPN pass-around box (currently in transit), even though the bottle of Polar Brown has found an appreciative new owner (and of that I'm very glad).

 

You might be able to do some mixing. See below.....

Too light for me, don't do green much but prefer a dark forest green when I do use one.

 

In the Pilot thanks to evaporation it became too dark for me......

Great review!

Thanks!

Inspired by your mixing advice, I did some mixing with a sample of Polar blue I had stashed....

I tried filling the nearly empty with Pilot Metro with some Polar Blue but I didn't have enough of a sample. So, I mixed my remaining Green and a bit of blue sample...

It seems the Pilot had sucked in some Blue as the color is quite different from the other Jinhao....

The flow became slightly better.... there is some feathering but acceptable to me....

 

 

On Tomoe River 68 the result was much nicer.....Though I think on this paper one can write with anything and it would look fabulous....