Noodler's was the very first brand of ink I ever bought. As a high school student the sheer affordability of the ink was a big point in its favor. A 3-ounce bottle of Noodler's Black lasted me nearly 3 years, and it managed to go moldy before I finished it. Such is life.
As you probably already know, Noodler's inks come in bottles that are filled to the brim. Do be careful when you open a bottle for the first time: I've always opened mine over a metal sink. The inks are super saturated, so you definitely don't want to spill any on a surface you care about.
I love the label on this bottle: it pays homage to the Flying Tigers, an American aerial squadron that participated in World War II. You may not know them, but you probably know the awesome shark faces painted on their planes, and this is featured on the label (right next to the catfish pilot, which always kind of creeps me out, to be honest). It's definitely a really interesting part of history, and as a Taiwanese-American I'm always fascinated by these kinds of little tidbits.
Air-Corp Blue-Black is a really interesting color, particularly because it isn't actually the kind of blue black you're probably thinking of. It's much closer to a teal-black, with hints of turquoise.
Before I get into the ink's properties, I'll let you know that I've diluted the ink in this bottle. Without dilution, the ink took a very long time to dry and was so saturated there would always be a layer of ink on the surface of the paper ready to smear as soon as you touched it, even after a couple of days. Noodler's inks are practically made for dilution: you could probably mix 1 part water to 3 parts ink and come out no worse for wear. For my part, I added 5-10 ml of water to the bottle and it's helped a lot.
Pre-dilution, Air-Corp Blue-Black basically never dried down. Now, it's dry by the 30 second mark in the fine nib!
The ink is very waterproof. Only the slightest bit of the turquoise color was lifted from the lines. Air-Corp Blue-Black is partially bulletproof, so the "core" color will stay strong.
There's a nice amount of shading in the broader nib, which I really enjoy. It gives the ink some depth and really makes it stand out as a not-so-normal blue black ink.
I've had this ink in a variety of pens, but the most recent fill was my Fuliwen 16 with a Fountain Pen Revolution 1.0 mm stub nib. I've been more careful about what pens I put Noodler's inks in recently (particularly because of a bad experience I had with Kiowa Pecan and a TWSBI), so I don't put it in any pricier pens that I'm not able to replace or fix without eye-watering cost. In the Fuliwen though, it flows well and I haven't had any issues so far.
Where to buy
- Goulet Pens: bottle / sample
- JetPens: bottle
- Pen Chalet: bottle
- Wonder Pens: bottle and sample
This post was updated on 5/10/20 to match my current review methodology.
I think for every person who says something bad about Noodler’s, you’ll find 99 of the rest of us mere users who love Nathan’s inks. Never had a problem from any of my 15 different colors.
ReplyDeleteDefinitely! I think everyone's experiences will vary with inks. I really enjoy Noodler's inks for what they are, despite some flaws. That's not to say that only Noodler's has caused damage to pens (KWZ's Honey clouding TWSBI plastic comes to mind immediately). I do believe that some people may blow minor problems out of proportion for one reason or another; that's an unfortunate issue in the fountain pen community, where small problems get spread really quickly.
DeleteI've probably owned 7 or so inks from Noodler's in bottles and samples; so far I've only had two inks, Kung Te Cheng and Kiowa Pecan, that have been downright harmful. The rest of them have worked perfectly. So for me personally it's been a bit of a mixed bag. I try to put Noodler's inks in my less expensive pens, or my TWSBIs since they have a warranty. My inks have been behaving for a while, so it's more precautionary than anything else!