DIY Planner - Insider info on Noodler's Ink - Comments

I posted because the thread

Tombunny — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 08:26:14 -0400

I posted because the thread shows up in Google searches and I didn't want people getting misled. Plus it seems to get a post or two every few months so I didn't feel it was a 'dead thread'. ;)

There are many lines of Noodler's ink.

Anne-Sophie — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 23:20:42 -0400

Bulletproof, Eternal, Freeze resistant and waterproof.

I bought one of the regular Noodler fountain pen ink in magenta to match my magenta pens.

I only use modern fountain pens under the $100 range.

I have been using fountain pens for many decades and have been a member of FPN almost since its creation.

It is known that highly saturated ink in the red, pink and purple color range will stain pens.

I didn't store one of my pen properly and the very light pink non Noodler ink that was in it stained part of the cap.

Pelikan and other piston fillers or pens with an ink window have a greater likelihood of being stained by highly saturated inks, especially if the piston's seal is old or the pen is used in dry climates or in houses/offices with drying air conditioner.

Any ink left long enough in a fountain pen will clog and damage the feed, maintenance and cleaning is just part of using fountain pens.

It is also true that bad paper can accumulate "fuzz" on the nib and make the pen unusable, it happened to two of my fountain pens, they were filled exclusively with Waterman Florida Blue, so I know the ink is not to blame.

I have no experience with Noodler's specialty inks, I have read posts on FPN linking Baystate Blue use with Lamy All-Star Ocean Blue feed failures.

However, before blaming one ink brand for a lot of pens failures, one has to remember that daily use of a fountain pen in a myriad of environments, (dry, freezing, hot, cold, at high then low altitudes, inside a pocket wallet subjected to body heat or in a pen case in a purse moved around all day) and with all kind of papers (fountain pen friendly or not) will take a toll on any pen, especially a vintage one.

I am grateful for Noodler existence and the broad spectrum of colors Nathan has worked hard to offer to fountain pen users.

It is also easier for pen repairers to blame Noodler than to risk offending clients by telling them repeatedly that they shouldn't use very cheap paper and that regular cleaning is part of fountain pen ownership, especially if the pen is a piston filler.

Well, this thread IS 3 years old

ygor — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 06:56:52 -0400

:)
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"I think the surest sign that there is intelligent life out there in the universe is that none of it has tried to contact us." (Calvin and Hobbes/Bill Waterson) ***

Noodler's Bulletproof Black for meeeeee!

Chen Wong Wei — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 15:46:51 -0400

Robert Culmer and La Maison du Stylo have been OUT OF BUSINESS for 2 years now.

Noodler's Inks still flowing strong and has even made its way into the White House ;)

Real reason behind a lot of anti-Noodler's comments

Tombunny — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 06:33:23 -0400

PLEASE READ
I believe Tournevis' original comment was genuinely trying to be helpful, and the comment on 'acidic' was in fact a mistake in terminology. As others have pointed out, Noodler's is pH neutral, or as close to it as any inks get. Meaning they are not leaning towards acid or base.

Some of the further comments, and ones that will surely spring up from this point on may have ulterior motives. Noodler's ink is one of the most popular and also one of the most despised. Nathan is rather eccentric and also doesn't mind sharing his political views. Many people that disagree with him politically have flooded threads on the forums as some sort of vendetta to discredit him.

If you go to FPN, you can find them state in one thread that they'll never buy another one of his products because of one of his ink's has a particular message on it. Note down the name of that user and watch how often they will now pop up in all the other Noodler's threads stating how this ink stinks or his new pens have this problem which make them unsuitable for their use. These same users go in thread after thread and find blogs and places such as this to continue spitting their vitriol against him.

Noodler's is a saturated ink (as are others), and if you don't take care of your pens there is a chance for clogging and other issues. If you don't want to take care of your pen, buy something like Watermans. If you can't be bothered with simple maintenance and care (like not letting ink sit for months in the pen, or leaving the cap off) I don't know why you are bothering with a fountain pen in the first place.

Some people do have problems, Baystate Blue requires additional caution. But I find it disgusting that people seek to mislead and misinform others because they don't like someone or their views. That type of behaviour undermines the type of consumer advocacy Tournevis was trying to promote, albeit poorly worded.

Me, I will continue to use Noodler's. They are some of my favorite inks. If you don't want to use them, there are plenty of alternatives, I hope you find something you enjoy writing with!

As a final note, for those that don't understand why people were taking offense at Noodler's being called acidic. Acidic is a term that is often misused. Acids are solutions with a low pH, where bases are higher. The scale used is 0 to 14, with 7 being considered neutral, with distilled water considered the 'standard'. Noodler's inks were designed to remain as close to neutral as possible, whereas many inks vary widely on the scale. Because of this, calling Noodler's acidic would just leave anyone that knows about the topic with their jaw's gaping. This doesn't say it can't chemically react with things, for instance Lye is 13 (extremely basic) and can burn flesh from your bones(first rule about ink club).

simple way to figure it out

amyx231 — Wed, 3 Mar 2010 00:34:41 -0500

someone with access to a science lab, or your kid's chem kit, use pH paper. If it turns red, it's acidic. Otherwise, it's not. There.

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anyone selling rollabind/circa punch, etc? I'm looking to start.

Do they void the warranty for any other inks?

bp — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 15:21:48 -0500

The anti-Noodler's crowd is an interesting one, as, I suppose, are the pro-Noodler's crowd (of which, I suppose, I am a member).

To ask the obvious next question, Mora, does Pelikan (and all of the other cited restorers and warranty service organizations from this thread) only void coverage for Noodlers, or just any non-endorsed-brand ink.

Similarly, accusations of "amateur" are really just ad hominem attacks - chemicals are chemicals, how you use them and in what concentrations doesn't reflect your expertise in and of itself. Of course, I'd be willing to bet no one knows which exact solvents are in use, nor whether the Noodler's choices are actually "safer" or not, just what the pen repairers they've talked to about the problem have to say.

Also, the "facts" you quote are just facts of policy, you haven't actually disclosed any facts that are relevant to the underlying issue.

All of that said, I like my inexpensive, not-rare fountain pens, and appreciate the domestically manufactured, somewhat eccentric quality of the company, as well as the superb capabilities of the ink. In any case of any product, it's up to you to decide whether to use the "official", "endorsed", or whatever complementary products or not. I have a similar problem with the 2-stroke oil for a scooter of mine - I've saved roughly $300 on supplies over the course of 7000 miles purely by using a cheaper alternative than the manufacturer recommended. My choice, my possible loss of warranty, but also my savings (or, in Noodler's case, the option of an intense, indelible fountain pen ink).

Cheers!

The Official Pelikan Service

Mora — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 11:33:31 -0500

The Official Pelikan Service in both USA and EUROPE does void the warranty if Noodler's inks are used in their pens. Most knowledgeable pen restorers recommend avoiding them in bulk. The pH has nothing to do with an ink being safe, is just a selling trick. The solvents used in that amateur ink are the ones that damage the pens, clog them and even eat them up ( Bay State Series). So there is no polemic, there are facts.

I dont know what your

leicamaster — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 18:06:30 -0400

I dont know what your talking about maybe its some other brand but ive been using The Fountain Pen Hospital's Noodlers Ink for years and all my pens are still intact. India ink is a no no though. Never been to the store you are talking about but the Fountain Pen Hospital is the largest pen store in North America and ive been buying from them for a looooong time. I was at their store today.

Proud owner of a Newton 2100
-Leicamaster

base-rate fallacy

cognitive science prof — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 03:23:44 -0400

Experience fails Robert Culmer here. He may be a pen guru, but needs to brush up on basic reasoning skills. Hasn't he heard of the base-rate fallacy? Or of illusory correlations? One can not draw any conclusions about the number of feeders and seals replaced that had been filled with Noodler's (even if the number is countless). Why? Because in order to do so, you have to know how many people in the world (or whatever population you are getting clients from) are using Noodler's and how many people are using each other kind of ink (the base-rate). Noodler's has become a popular ink in the last few years. Assuming that the fountain pen using population and and the number of those needing repairs has been fairly constant, just by numbers alone you would expect more repairs on pens filled with Noodler's ink simply because more people are using it in their pens. If suddenly Quink became much more popular you would probably have "countless" repairs done on pens filled with Quink instead.

Leaking Prelude Piston

dconwill — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 20:08:55 -0400

I'm having the same problem with the piston in my Prelude. I go back and forth between Skrip (Sheaffer's house ink) and Private Reserve, both leak equally bad. Does anybody know if this is just a problem with the Prelude piston in general, or did the poster and I just get defective ones?

-Dave

I spoke to the distributor

Vinicio — Fri, 24 Aug 2007 08:23:35 -0400

I spoke to the distributor of Noodler's and he also defended the ink. Noodler's makes ink for Swisher Pens so, it's not a surprise they would defend it. However, if I'm going to make a mistake I'd prefer to do so…on the side of caution or prevention. If I have an expensive pen that I enjoy, I'd rather use Waterman's ink which flows and writes great and gives no maintenance problems than Noodler's that might send it for repair sooner than necessary. After trying Aurora, Mont Blanc, Swishmix, Noodler's, Pelikan, and Parker-- I wound up going back to Waterman's because it has no problems compared to the others. Waterproof and permanent is nice but a great writing long lasting fine fountain pen is better. The Mont Blanc 149 I sent for overhaul was given to me by my 93 year old father. I'll never Noodle it again...
Time is the measure of change.

The word from Swisher Pens...

wikeh2004 — Wed, 22 Aug 2007 16:48:56 -0400

I corresponded with Chuck Swisher, of Swisher Pens (www.swisherpens.com) regarding the alleged acidity of Noodler's inks. Swisher sells Noodler's inks and special edition inks made for them by Noodler's. I'll quote his response.
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"Dear Walter,

From all of the reports I've heard about Noodler's inks they are about the most neutral inks made for fountain pen use. I have been using these inks since they were first introduced in both vintage and modern pens and have not had any problems. I also know of several repair persons that sell Noodler's inks. I read that the fellow saying it would void his warranty had never personally tried any of these inks. I'm not saying that this ink might not leak around faulty seals, but I don't believe this ink caused the seal to fail. I am not a chemist but as someone that has used this ink (Swishmix) almost exclusively for the past few years I have a hard time believing that Noodler's inks are any more harmful to a fountain pen in proper working order than any of the other brands of ink made today.

Best wishes,

Chuck Swisher"
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I understand that some pen sellers or repair persons don't recommend Noodler's, Private Reserve, or any inks that are densely pigmented or strong dyes. Many don't recommend red or purple inks in vintage pens because these might stain the transparent barrels or visualated sections of vintage pens, decreasing their value. With modern pens that use cartridges or converters, that's not such a big deal. I use Waterman ink for my vintage pens because many have transparent barrels that I don't want to get stained. I like Noodler's permanent inks because there's nothing else that will work in a fountain pen that's permanent. I like some of the Private Reserve inks too because the colors are just fantastic, but I'm careful in which pens I use those. The late Earl Shigemoto (Honolulu Pen Shop) assured me that the Private Reserve inks were safe for any fountain pen.

So, I guess it's up to the individual. Everybody's got their own preferences. We're just so lucky to have so many great choices. Long live fountain pens!

Aloha,
Walter

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The only reason for time is so that everything doesn't happen at once.
B. Banzai?

Hmm... I wonder if that might explain

wikeh2004 — Tue, 21 Aug 2007 16:54:44 -0400

the leaking twist converter (piston) in my Sheaffer Prelude? I had a Prelude that I filled several times with Noodler/Swisher Gulfstream Blue, one of the permanent inks. I found out one day, fortunately not too messily, that the converter was leaking by the knob, and had filled the barrel of the pen with ink. Fortunately, the Prelude barrel is a metal one piece barrel or it might have leaked all over my shirt. I like the ink, but not the possibility that it might be a problem for some pens.

Walter

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The only reason for time is so that everything doesn't happen at once.
B. Banzai?

Noodler's

Vinicio — Sat, 18 Aug 2007 19:09:48 -0400

I've spoken to Pelikan repair about this issue and was told that the problem is with permanent Noodler's. According to Pelikan, regular Noodler's inks are OK but the waterproof or permanent reportedly leads to a higher number of repairs. After I filled my Mont Blanc 149 with Noodler's bulletproof black, it began to leak from the piston knob...and is now in Mont Blanc repair. Coincidence? Maybe...but I'm using Pelikan in my Pelican and Mont Blanc in my Mont Blanc from now on. Parker Quink jet black is a very good alternative as well...I'd rather play it safe than sorry.

Insider info on Noodler's Ink

Tournevis — Sat, 9 Jun 2007 14:21:09 -0400

Sara suggested I make a post about this. It seems that Noodler's Ink is extremely acidic.

I was in Montreal yesterday and I got to talking to Robert Culmer of La Maison du Stylo (one of the best pen shops on the planet, opened since the 1940s) and he was shocked that anyone would be using Noodler's in fountain pens. It is extremely acidic and tells me he's stoped counting the number of feeders and sceals he's had to replace on fountain pens that had been filled with Noodler's. To him (and he's been doing this for 50+ years) the best ink for fountain pens is Quink by Parker because it is more liquid and less acidic than almost all the other inks out there. Second best is Waterman's, that is less liquid, but non-acidic.

D*I*Y Planner - Insider info on Noodler's Ink - Comments

I posted because the thread

There are many lines of Noodler's ink.

Well, this thread IS 3 years old

Noodler's Bulletproof Black for meeeeee!

Real reason behind a lot of anti-Noodler's comments

simple way to figure it out

Do they void the warranty for any other inks?

The Official Pelikan Service

I dont know what your

base-rate fallacy

Leaking Prelude Piston

I spoke to the distributor

The word from Swisher Pens...

Hmm... I wonder if that might explain

Noodler's

Insider info on Noodler's Ink

DIY Planner - Insider info on Noodler's Ink - Comments