Chartpak and Noodler's ink

[Rapt]

And yet I ONLY use Noodlers in everything I own and I don't have problems with it... Even the dreaded Baystate Blue works just for me.

 

Ink should be permanent... And thats why Noodlers for me... Always worked great in everything, especially my Pelikans.

 

But each to their own.

 

 

[Deirdre]

I suspect that if I fill a pen with Noodler's and then leave it for a few years, it will be unusable or at least require special measures to get it to write again. I suspect the same is true if I use Waterman Black or Quink.

Seeing as how I just inherited a Parker 75 left for decades with a Quink cartridge installed, I'd say you're probably correct.

 

It still looks a mess after a good flush, but I don't know if an ultrasonic bath is a good idea since I haven't had the time to check this model out.

[Lloyd]

I suspect that if I fill a pen with Noodler's and then leave it for a few years, it will be unusable or at least require special measures to get it to write again. I suspect the same is true if I use Waterman Black or Quink.

Seeing as how I just inherited a Parker 75 left for decades with a Quink cartridge installed, I'd say you're probably correct.

 

It still looks a mess after a good flush, but I don't know if an ultrasonic bath is a good idea since I haven't had the time to check this model out.

I'd bet that an iron gall or carbon FP ink would be far worse to deal with under your circumstances.

[darkgreen]

I sent back an extra-fine nib for the second time, this time asking that it be replaced with a standard fine nib (tired of the almost okay XF nib nonsense). I got the nib today. On the included filling instruction sheet was a handwritten note saying this:

 

We recommend that you use only water-soluble fountain pen ink. Do NOT use water-resistant, waterproof or permanent inks in your Pelikan.

 

The way I read this, it seems that they're recommending against Noodler's. The only problems I've had with Noodler's ink is its tendency to leave unabsorbed dye on the surface of the paper, and I think I've almost conquered that one.

 

A fascinating thread. I have been searching through this forum (and others), toying with the idea of a M600 or M800 series as my first Pelikan purchase. But I prefer Noodler's, if for no other reason that it is water-resistant in colors outside the standard blue-black range.

 

I was almost convinced to drop the idea of a Pelikan altogether when I saw this post but became more reassured as I looked through the wide variety of opinions, many stating that they had no problems using Noodlers in a Pelikan pen.

 

In contrast to Chartpak's advice, a Pelikan specialist in the UK (Pelikanpens.co.uk) actually recommends Noodlers on their website: "As many of you may be aware, I have only ever sold Pelikan products. I believe they produce some of the finest fountain pens in the world, therefore, why would I want to sell anything else? However, when it comes to ink I have recently decided that I need to stock Noodler’s ink as well as Pelikan ink. Noodler’s ink is without a doubt an amazing invention..."

 

Go figure.

[QM2]

I own 8 Pelikans at this point and have used Noodler's in most of them over the course of 2 years. No problems. Pelikan's own ink on the other hand, is a bit lacking in lubrication for my taste and often makes these poor birds cranky writers. Go figure indeed.

 

 

 

Edited May 11, 2009 by QM2

[justforever]

I own 8 Pelikans at this point and have Noodler's in most of them over the course of 2 years. No problems. Pelikan's own ink ont he other hand, is a bit lacking in lubrication for my taste and often makes these poor birds cranky writers. Go figure indeed.

 

I just bought a Pelikan M1000, I have 4 M600, and one M400. None of them have seen Noodlers.

Also...I've been disappointed whenever I've tried Noodlers (on cheap Phileas or such) ...the nibs begin to stain, the black is not as black as Aurora, Pelikan, or Quink, and I really have found no reason or

saving grace to justify using it regularly. All of that on top of strict warnings from Abi at Chartpak NOT TO USE NOODLERS...LOL

I like Aurora, Pelikan, Cross, Lamy, Sailor, Quink, J Herbert, Script, and even Waterman better.

I prefer an ink that writes well and looks good to one that is permanent.

When I really need permanent I'll use an ultra fine point Sharpie instead of risking my loved expensive pens...

[Rafael Macia]

I sent back an extra-fine nib for the second time, this time asking that it be replaced with a standard fine nib (tired of the almost okay XF nib nonsense). I got the nib today. On the included filling instruction sheet was a handwritten note saying this:

 

We recommend that you use only water-soluble fountain pen ink. Do NOT use water-resistant, waterproof or permanent inks in your Pelikan.

 

The way I read this, it seems that they're recommending against Noodler's. The only problems I've had with Noodler's ink is its tendency to leave unabsorbed dye on the surface of the paper, and I think I've almost conquered that one.

 

 

At a recent pen show EVERY pen repairman (will not mention their names, but you all know them), and MOST pen dealers warned me against using permanent,or, "bulletproof ink" in a vintage pen.

I use a 100 N, and 400NNN's. The repair guys, and they see the insides of a lot of pens!, told me permanent ink, will often stain the insides of piston fillers.

 

Waterman's or Quink was the almost universal recommendation.

 

The repairman I always use to tune up each pen that end's up a keeper for me, uses Sailor Kawaguro Ink. When I mentioned staining, he said permanent inks were fine,

IF the pen was used regularly, and not left to sit.

 

If you use a rotation of pens, water based is better .... he said

 

I switched to Waterman's .... for now

 

 

**Anyone know where to buy Kawaguro ink?

Rafael

[watsoncb]

This has been a great thread on inks. I just got a new Pelikan and filled it with Noodler's Boston Blue. I now fear I have need to wash it out asap and switch to either Waterman or Diamine. I wish I could find a good brand of that has a blue/green tint. I grew up using a blue/green ink in school (1950s) in Europe.

 

While all the ink experts on commenting, could I ask about a bottle of ink I was given a gift: Montegrappa bottled ink. It has a silver cap and what looks like an octagonal bottle. The ink looks like a dark blue/black.

[reprieve]

I use Noodlers regularly in all of my pens, including my Pelikans. One of my M215s gets filled with Noodlers Walnut exclusively--over two and a half years later and it is still working perfectly. I have not experienced any problems. I do flush my pens regularly though (usually after every fill or two).

[justforever]

I made a little test today:

I took a sheet of paper from my notebook and wrote a few lines with Noodlers, a few lines with Pelikan, and a few lines with Aurora.

Then I placed the paper in my kitchen sink and thoroughly soaked it by running cold and hot water for about five minutes.

I don't know what all the hype is about...

The Aurora and Pelikan held on and was as legible as the Noodlers --- they may not be "permanent" but the page is not going to be wiped clean.

I did this because this would be the "worst case scenario" in everyday life and from what I saw...I am not worried that something I wrote will disappear so easily.

As Richard Binder writes on his web site:

"The highest-maintenance inks of all, in my experience, are Noodler’s “bulletproof” colors. These inks, although their dyes are in solution, contain suspended particulate matter (the stuff that makes the ink bond chemically with the paper), and they can sometimes have flow and clogging issues — as well as a high creepability that results from the use of a greater amount of surfactant than normal in order to keep the particulates flowing well. (In layman’s terms, these inks are simply “wetter” than other inks.) These minor quirks aside, however, they’re excellent inks; and if you absolutely, positively need permanence, they definitely deserve consideration. Every user’s experience is different, and you might just find that nothing else works as well in your pens as these inks."

 

So there are two sides to the fence but I rather play safe than sorry. Also, I don't like Noodler's color, clogging nor creepability and I've experienced all three!

[1000km]

Noodler's Bulletproof Black works beautifully in all of my Pelikans, new and vintage alike. Being a relatively dry ink, it benefits from the smooth, wet-writing Pels.

[frotz]

Since I started this thread, I've been using only Noodler's Standard Black in my Pelikans, especially my M150 (which is used every day). There have been no drawbacks to its use except for a bit of nib creep. The odd feathering problem I mentioned earlier has gone, even though I'm on the same bottle. I'm convinced now that Noodler's is perfectly safe for Pelikans.

[Levatio]

Regardless of what Zeus do with his pens and inks, most of my pens are Pelikans and most of my inks are Noodler's. IMHO Pelikan produces high quality pens and nibs in different price ranges. Noodler's do the same with their inks, mostly in the same price range with a wide spectrum of colors and several formulas such as water resistant, "bulletproof", "Eel" or "permanent".

Richard Binder makes a persuasive and sensible analysis of inks. He characterizes Noodler's as high maintenence inks. See his reference article "Inks: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly" at his web site: http://www.richardspens.com/

 

I love my writing birds and also like a lot Noodler's inks. I value their bulletproof formulas. One ink in particular, Baystate Blue, may be a difficult ink to use for some primarily because it may stain some materials. To me, the beautiful color justifies the extra care required. I avoid using Baystate with clear demonstrators and pens with light colors such as my yellow M640 Sahara. However I don't give credit to those stories about Noodler's Baystate "destroying" pens.

 

My job requires a lot of daily writing and signing of documents. Currently I have five Pelikans with different nibs all loaded with various Noodler's inks and one Japanese Pilot with a Music nib filled with Baystate Blue. So far I cannot report any real problems at all between my Pelikans and Noodler's. Only minor occasional creep, depending on the nib and ink. Also I've been using an M200 blue marbled with a steel fine nib that was having some flowing difficulty, skipping a bit with Aircorp. Problem solved with that pen after I flushed the pen and filled it with Eel Blue instead of Aircorp. Now it writes smoothly. Remember that not all pens and not all nibs mixes well with all inks. This is not exclusive to Pelikan nor to Noodler's.

 

Just make sure to frequently flush and clean your pens and nibs. If you do, most likely you will not have any serious trouble with your Pelikans filled with Noodler's inks or any other brand of ink for that matter.

Edited May 14, 2009 by Levatio

[MarkTrain]

My thoughts which I posted earlier on the ink forum.

 

I have not had any clogging problems with Noodler's BP inks. In fact the only time I have ever had a feed get clogged was with Pelikan ink (About 10 years ago Pelikan SRW shipped out a bad batch of black and green ink.) However, that said I would never leave this ink to dry in a pen and would flush between fillings. One should note that any ink formulation there will be compromises when it comes to performance properties. The price of permanence means that performance in other areas may be marginal. Noodler's BP inks tend to be suspensions instead of true solutions and this results in issues such as nib creep, color and appearance on paper, and the tendency to smear on slick paper. To some people these issues may be important to others not.

Edited May 15, 2009 by MarkTrain