Need advice on permanent ink

[Butch46]

I have been wondering about Noodlers Inks. A while back I was doing a lot of checking on FP repair and restoration guys, and remember one who said he would not guarantee the pens he repaired if they were used with Noodlers ink. Then I see above the Sir Nemo won't use Noodlers in his pens.

What gives? Is it bad to dry and clog up feeds and nibs if not kept capped immediately following use? Does it melt seals and eat holes in sacs? Expode in pens?

I can sorta see if someone for their own reason doesn't like a certain ink, but what would cause a repairer to state he will not honor his guarantee if Noodlers is used in a pen the he repaired?

 

[lasta]

My go to inks are Scabiosa and Hero 232 (both iron gall). Both are well behaved on a variety of media. Permanent enough that you can still the words even if you burn the paper!

 

[TropicalHotDogNight]

X-Feather is one of my favorite inks at the moment. I have had zero trouble with dry time, and in fact wouldn't have known it was a slow drying ink if people hadn't said so. I use it on cheap paper, however, which seems to be what it was designed for. I wouldn't use it on an ink resistant paper.

 

[hack]

Coming in late here. Over the past several months I've been experimenting with several of the permanent black inks described at The Best Waterproof Fountain Pen Inks | JetPens and found that de Atramentis document is well-behaved and very permanent (YMMV). Ditto for their other document ink colors I've tried.

 

[Raissermesser]

I have been wondering about Noodlers Inks. A while back I was doing a lot of checking on FP repair and restoration guys, and remember one who said he would not guarantee the pens he repaired if they were used with Noodlers ink. Then I see above the Sir Nemo won't use Noodlers in his pens.

What gives? Is it bad to dry and clog up feeds and nibs if not kept capped immediately following use? Does it melt seals and eat holes in sacs? Expode in pens?

I can sorta see if someone for their own reason doesn't like a certain ink, but what would cause a repairer to state he will not honor his guarantee if Noodlers is used in a pen the he repaired?

Noodler's is controversial in vintage pens. Some have said it's destructive to the sacks and that there are other problems, some say they haven't run into any. I haven't with Noodler's Black in 21st Century pens. For antique pens? Know from the chatter that there's a risk. It may be best to use an ink like a brand of Waterman's that's been mentioned in this forum for antique pens.

 

[stuartshaver]

While I like some of the Noodler's inks, I only use them in certain pens. I've found they can be hard to clean out of a pen, so I use them in pens I can take completely apart if I need to clean them thoroughly.

There are several pen repair persons that are quite vehement about their dislike for Noodler's inks.

One nibmeister and pen repairman has said that he's observed some problems with pens that were said to have been used with some boutique inks and he indicates that you might want to stick to some other inks that he feels are safe. (Waterman and Diamine.) (I'm not directly quoting him, so this is my remembrance and interpretation of what he said.)

There are also plenty of people who say, "It's just ink. What are you so worried about?"

I can't tell anyone what to do with their pens, but if a pen is really irreplaceable, then I'd say you might want to not use it with "boutique" inks. Maybe there's only a slight risk, but you're not going to be very happy if it turns out that some fancy ink eats your great-grandparent's fountain pen that they used all their life and was passed down to you.

(I have my grandfather's Vacumatic and my father's '51' and while I do write with them sometimes, I only use Waterman blue ink in them and I don't take them with me to work or anything like that.)

The topic of ink "permanence" and durability is complex too. If you're really writing for the ages, you need to have both paper and ink that will last. You're probably better off using an ink that contains carbon as the pigment, rather than some other pigment or dye. I'd recommend looking into what museums and archives use when they need to have writing last for many years.

 

[2Vu5_T]

My permanent inks:

Private Reserve Invincible Blue

Montblanc Permanent Black 60 ml Ink

And as mentioned: Noodler's black.