Bad experience with Noodler's Black and i am really wondering why

[ThePenLover]

Hey , i was really wondering why i had such bad experience with Noodler's Black - Normal ( not Eel - lubricated ) ......

Not a single  fountain pen in my collection can handle it and flow ..it produces nib creep ( ink stains the nib between the nib tines ) and it dosen't have a flow at all most of the time , hard starts are guaranteed .

Yet it is the most popular black , it may be a good ink in general , but not a single pen of mine can even flow with it

On the other hand Noodler's Blue - American Eel ( lubricated ) is one of my top inks !

Haven't found a solution or a explanation till this day .

 

Thanks

[Dillo]

I have encountered very similar issues with it. I don't use it for a lot of reasons, not the least of which is that it appears to have solid particles that are not water soluble in it and don't clean out easily, at least not without wiping or some kind of mechanical cleaning. With something like Platinum Carbon Black, I can just use a technical pen cleaner and everything cleans out nicely. This does not happen with Noodler's black. I have completely removed Noodler's from my ink lineup after far too many misses with far too many of his inks.

 

If you're looking for a nice black and don't need the waterproofing, I would get Sailor Black, Aurora Black, or Pelikan Brilliant Black. Those all seem to work much more reliably for me and are a smooth, deep black.

[LizEF]

First question: Did you shake up the bottle before filling?  (And depending on how long the bottle had sat undisturbed, it make have needed either vigorous shaking or extended, but more gentle, shaking - as you prefer.)  If not, I would try this and ignore all other suggestions until you've determined if this is the problem.

 

Next question: Do your pens seal well to prevent evaporation?  Also, how much air space is there around the nib inside the cap.  Our own @A Smug Dill has presented a hypothesis that water can evaporate into the cap, then when you uncap, the evaporated water escapes.  Repeat this often enough and your ink may get pretty concentrated.

 

Finally, have you tried diluting some of it - put some in a sample vial and add a little distilled water?  Noodler's inks are highly concentrated and handle dilution well.  Dilution may improve the behavior (as long as you don't go too far).

 

Nib creep is not a problem, per se, and I wouldn't worry about it.

[ThePenLover]

15 hours ago, LizEF said:

First question: Did you shake up the bottle before filling?  (And depending on how long the bottle had sat undisturbed, it make have needed either vigorous shaking or extended, but more gentle, shaking - as you prefer.)  If not, I would try this and ignore all other suggestions until you've determined if this is the problem.

 

Next question: Do your pens seal well to prevent evaporation?  Also, how much air space is there around the nib inside the cap.  Our own @A Smug Dill has presented a hypothesis that water can evaporate into the cap, then when you uncap, the evaporated water escapes.  Repeat this often enough and your ink may get pretty concentrated.

 

Finally, have you tried diluting some of it - put some in a sample vial and add a little distilled water?  Noodler's inks are highly concentrated and handle dilution well.  Dilution may improve the behavior (as long as you don't go too far).

 

Nib creep is not a problem, per se, and I wouldn't worry about it.

unfortunatly i have tried all the above methods you enlist , so i can identify the problem , nothing worked .

i dont know if the bottle by bottle consistency is different and i just was extremely unlucky ..

or i just havent found a pen that works with it .

The thing i found weird is that is so much popular and i suppose the 90% of the noodlers black fans dont dilute it ..thats all :))

Thanks again!

[LizEF]

1 hour ago, ThePenLover said:

unfortunatly i have tried all the above methods you enlist , so i can identify the problem , nothing worked .

i dont know if the bottle by bottle consistency is different and i just was extremely unlucky ..

or i just havent found a pen that works with it .

Sorry, I have no other ideas.  Noodler's are known for each batch being unique, so there's no telling whether yours is from a "fussy" batch.  And matching pen and ink is definitely a thing - not all work well together.  Sorry I couldn't help further.

[PJohnP]

I'll start by mentioning that I like Noodler's inks a fair bit.  I have a number of them that have been regularly in my pens.

 

That written, in my experience, a larger percentage of Noodler's inks that I've used have nib creep than other brands.  At this moment as I type, I have a Pelikan M205 Amethyst filled with La Reine Mauve in front of me, and, yes, the nib has significant nib-ink-creep.   I will say that I've noticed this much more with the various "permanent"/"eternal"/"bulletproof" Noodler's ink versions.  I was most struck by this with Noodler's Australian ink, Coral Sea Blue, more than fifteen years back, but I've seen it with varying degrees in other inks from Noodler's since (e.g., Hunter's Green, Texas Live Oak).   Coral Sea Blue has the most nib creep in any of the Noodler's inks that I've used.   I have not seen anywhere near as much, sometimes none, with the non-water-resistant Noodler's inks.

 

For the most part, my nibs are cursive italic of various widths.  It's hard to say if the nib width and other characteristics have a direct or any effect on nib creep.  I haven't discerned any relationship with the pens that I use.

 

I might wildly speculate that perhaps a constituent of the Noodler's inks used to make them more water-resistant/waterproof has some effect on surface tension allowing the inks to "cling" and "move" along the pen nib surfaces.  But I have no testing data or material information to make that more than a wild speculation.

 

Diluting the "nib creeping inks" has only had a limited reduction in nib creep effects for me.  I made many attempts with CSB years back, and a (sadly departed) friend here on FPN attempted to make a number of variant inks.  I have a bottle sitting (almost) unused, now that I think of it.

 

However, a more cogent remark is that my M205 Amethyst has been stocked with La Reine Mauve consistently, despite any nib creep issues.  I don't experience hard starts with this ink, FWIW.  But that the ink, including nib creep, is in one of my EDC pens perhaps indicates my tolerance for the nib creep with that specific ink.

 

As for black coloured Noodler's inks, I have no informed opinions.  I settled on Sailor Kiwa-Guru pigment ink many years back, which has worked very well and consistently for me, so I've just stuck with it.  I suppose that I'm a boring fellow... but I tend towards using inks and pens that work well for me.

 

 

 

John P.