EFNIR: Noodler's X-Feather Blue

[LizEF]

Extra Fine Nib Ink Review: Noodler's X-Feather Blue

This is review #267 in my series. Here's the YouTube video:

Post-recording notes: This is a dark version of Royal Blue - purple leaning, ordinary blue.  It has a slightly chalky appearance like some permanent inks.  De Atramentis Document Blue is my closest match, but this is a little darker.  Cleaning was a bit of a pain. The blue component washed out easily with plain water, but there's a clingy reddish purple component.  To remove that required swabs and a pipe cleaner - pen flush made no difference, didn't try the ultrasonic cleaner. The microscope slide was serious yawnville.

The Noodler's website lists this as: Anti-feathering, Archival, Bullet Proof, Forge Resistant, Water Resistant, Waterproof.  Also, apparently the real name is "Anti Feather Blue".

Zoomed in photo (Close, but a little too muted. The actual color is a little more vibrant.)

Screenshot (Close, but a little too dark.)

Scan of Completed Review (I think this is the closest to the color my eyes see.)

Absorbent Paper Close-up (top is puzzle paper like thick newsprint, bottom is old 20lb copy paper) (Very close to the originals.)

Line width (The "I" in "Ink:". Magnification is 100x. The grid is 100x100µm. The scale is 330µm, with eleven divisions of 30µm each. The line width for this ink is roughly 300µm. With 267 inks measured, the average line width is 296µm.) (Honestly, I would have expected a finer line from an ink designed not to feather...)

Water Test Results (The particle-like specks are interesting.)

Previous Review: Diplomat Pine Tree.

Images also available on Instagram: @zilxodarap.

Want to influence the inky sequence? Take the "next ink" poll.

View a list of my inks, complete with review results in a google sheet.

Need to catch up on The Adventures of Quin and Makhabesh? Find the whole story here.

Hope you enjoy. Comments appreciated!

[lapis]

NIce! I especially like your description "Dark Royal BLue" !! A favorite color of mine. For those who (also) like such a flavor but are more hinged to better cleaning offers, may I (yes, again) suggest one of my all-time faves: S.T. Dupont's BLEU NUIT / DARK BLUE. Unfortunately long since available only in carts.

[LizEF]

6 minutes ago, lapis said:

NIce! I especially like your description "Dark Royal BLue" !! A favorite color of mine. For those who (also) like such a flavor but are more hinged to better cleaning offers, may I (yes, again) suggest one of my all-time faves: S.T. Dupont's BLEU NUIT / DARK BLUE. Unfortunately long since available only in carts.

Thanks, @lapis!  I recall you recommending that before.  Went and looked, and it seems it may not be easy to come by in the US (my usual FP sellers don't carry the brand / their ink / that color).    Scratch that - Vanness have it, but it's not exactly easy to find - I go to "all ink" and it's not there.  A google search showed they have it, so I returned to try again.  I have to go explicitly to "cartridges" and then it's there.  Here's a link for anyone in the US interested - of course, it's sold out, but maybe they'll get more - they say "coming soon".  No other site had it (unless they, too, had it hidden).

 

Dear Vanness Pens, "cartridges" should be a subset of "all ink".  Just sayin'.

[SLinkster]

Goulet shows it in stock, $22 for a 3oz bottle. I had to search for "feather" to find it, as it didn't show up using the "blue" and "Noodler's" filters. 

[lapis]

Thanks for adding that info... for those in need etc..... It really is a good ink, all-round. so to say, just like their others, most of which are now available in their 70-ml, half-round half-triangular glass bottles (as seen from the top). They (the bottles) used to be 50-ml and round. As always, one might find a couple of the oldies still floating around.....................

[LizEF]

9 minutes ago, SLinkster said:

Goulet shows it in stock, $22 for a 3oz bottle. I had to search for "feather" to find it, as it didn't show up using the "blue" and "Noodler's" filters. 

Thanks!  I was talking about the S.T. Dupont ink, but interesting to know that the filters didn't get this ink for you at Goulet - their filters are usually spot on.

[LizEF]

10 minutes ago, lapis said:

Thanks for adding that info... for those in need etc..... It really is a good ink, all-round. so to say, just like their others, most of which are now available in their 70-ml, half-round half-triangular glass bottles (as seen from the top). They (the bottles) used to be 50-ml and round. As always, one might find a couple of the oldies still floating around.....................

Gladly. Whenever anyone suggests an ink, I like to see whether it's hard or easy for me to find it.    (I did see a picture of the bottle on Goldspot - for Black - very nice-looking bottle.)

 

Klaw says:

errrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr4yttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttgh

[Sailor Kenshin]

Eek.

 

The closest ink I have to Noodler's X-Feather must be Monteverde Documental Blue (or Blue Documental…too lazy to look for the correct name now) and I have it in a 5 Below pen that would not make me sad to throw away. That itself might tell you something.  😁

It is lighter than the Noodler's but just as chalky. It stains everything it comes into contact with. I have struggled not to hate it, and I just may attempt to draw with it later.  And still hate it.

In contrast, I love the thtory! And our little snek's reactions to everyone. But I think even Essri would dislike this ink. 😜

Thank you, @LizEF for the Tuesday treat!   I look forward to them every week.
 

[yazeh]

Another excellent Tuesday, ink review, bravo @LizEF 

The bromance of your storyline was the most inspiring part of this review. Otherwise, the ink reminds me of another doomed sibling of KTC. Though the latter has very short daytimes. 

The colour seems elegant in the scan but otherwise it veers into the ballpoint territory

 

Thanks for making Tue-thday'th tho thpethial

 

 

[LizEF]

11 minutes ago, Sailor Kenshin said:

It is lighter than the Noodler's but just as chalky. It stains everything it comes into contact with. I have struggled not to hate it, and I just may attempt to draw with it later.  And still hate it.

 

11 minutes ago, Sailor Kenshin said:

In contrast, I love the thtory! And our little snek's reactions to everyone. But I think even Essri would dislike this ink. 😜

Thank you!

 

12 minutes ago, Sailor Kenshin said:

Thank you, @LizEF for the Tuesday treat!  

You're very welcome!

 

12 minutes ago, Sailor Kenshin said:

I look forward to them every week.

Thanks!

[LizEF]

3 minutes ago, yazeh said:

Another excellent Tuesday, ink review, bravo @LizEF 

Thanks!

 

3 minutes ago, yazeh said:

The bromance of your storyline was the most inspiring part of this review.

 

3 minutes ago, yazeh said:

Otherwise, the ink reminds me of another doomed sibling of KTC. Though the latter has very short daytimes. 

The colour seems elegant in the scan but otherwise it veers into the ballpoint territory

  Exactly - too close to ballpoint / rollerball blue.

 

4 minutes ago, yazeh said:

Thanks for making Tue-thday'th tho thpethial

You're motht welcome!

[Penguincollector]

3 hours ago, yazeh said:

Thanks for making Tue-thday'th tho thpethial

  I just about fell out of my chair, 😝- but yes- thank you, Liz! 
 
    I like this shade of blue, one of my favorite shades of my favorite color.  Too bad it’s Noodler’s.

[yazeh]

50 minutes ago, Penguincollector said:

  I just about fell out of my chair, 😝- but yes- thank you, Liz!
 

It-th Li-th 

[LizEF]

59 minutes ago, Penguincollector said:

I just about fell out of my chair, 😝- but yes- thank you, Liz! 

You're very welcome!

 

1 hour ago, Penguincollector said:

I like this shade of blue, one of my favorite shades of my favorite color.  Too bad it’s Noodler’s.

 

9 minutes ago, yazeh said:

It-th Li-th 

[Penguincollector]

1 hour ago, yazeh said:

It-th Li-th 

[inkstainedruth]

@LizEF -- Is that the ink that used to have the image of Winston Churchill on the label?  I think I have a bottle of that but haven't tried it.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[LizEF]

1 hour ago, inkstainedruth said:

@LizEF -- Is that the ink that used to have the image of Winston Churchill on the label?  I think I have a bottle of that but haven't tried it.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

Yes, same ink.

[InesF]

Thank you, @LizEF, for the making this weeks story part Forge Resistant ... if you incinerate the paper with your review, will the letters remain? Can they be put into a box and sold as letter-puzzle (like letter pasta for the soup)? 

Sorry, I have strange thoughts, again.

 

In all honesty I'm able to have now ( ), the colour, as ballpoint-like it is, has some appeal. I guess it will be much darker on paper than any ballpoint ever can be. And that makes sometimes the difference. Lamy Crystal Azurite is similar and I learned to like it, because it is that way - and because it doesn't cling.

 

Essri theems to thlowly grow into a bigger role. I'm looking forward to the next adventures of the magic group!  

[txomsy]

Noodler's X-feather black is one of my favorite inks.

 

I have been considering getting X-feather blue for quite some time, but Montblanc Permanent Blue has been my preferred blue for a long time, closely followed by Koh-i-Noor Dokument Blau and Noodler's BSB. I still have too many bottles of each so I've deferred trying X-feather blue so far.

 

After your review, I think I will stick with Montblanc Permanent Blue for my permanent, dark royal blue, well behaving ink. It is easier to come by in EU, and the price difference is not that worrisome this side, and has not given me any cleaning trouble so far.

[LizEF]

4 hours ago, InesF said:

Thank you, @LizEF, for the making this weeks story part Forge Resistant ... if you incinerate the paper with your review, will the letters remain?

You're very welcome!  And I have no intention of finding out - but I suspect the heat of the forge would burn up all trace of the ink.

 

4 hours ago, InesF said:

Can they be put into a box and sold as letter-puzzle (like letter pasta for the soup)? 

 

4 hours ago, InesF said:

Sorry, I have strange thoughts, again.

Strange thoughts keep life interesting!

 

4 hours ago, InesF said:

In all honesty I'm able to have now ( ), the colour, as ballpoint-like it is, has some appeal. I guess it will be much darker on paper than any ballpoint ever can be. And that makes sometimes the difference. Lamy Crystal Azurite is similar and I learned to like it, because it is that way - and because it doesn't cling.

I prefer inks that don't cling!  It's been so long since I used a ballpoint that I can't remember how solid they look on paper.  But this is definitely a solid and dark blue.

 

4 hours ago, InesF said:

Essri theems to thlowly grow into a bigger role. I'm looking forward to the next adventures of the magic group!  

  I hope not to disappoint - honestly, I still have no idea what happens next (that is, in 6 weeks for you all, and next Tuesday for me).  I know where, but I haven't figured out what...