Speaking of Noodler's ink: my own ink tests

I've been doing ink tests for decades. I'm less interested in
envelopes not getting smeared than I am in the things I write not
going away due to age or accident. So I was very interested in the
Noodler's ink. Here are the results of some ink tests I did with some
ordinary inks and Noodler's. For some years I had resigned myself to
the fact that the BIC stick pens had the most resistant ink for every
day use. So that's what my checks were made out with. The Parker
ballpoint refills were about the same. I also tested something new
from BIC.

Here are my results:

BIC "Classic" Crystal, BIC blue round stick, BIC black round stick:
All three of these stood up to water well, they even stood up to
bleach and detergent. When the isopropyl alcohol hit them they
dissolved, however. Still, there is a tiny shadow of writing left from
them. The color matters only slightly, they all look almost the same
now. If anything the blue round stick came up with a slightly darker
shadow than the two black BIC inks did. I say "shadow" because at
first glance these inks all appear to be completely washed away. Only
by looking closely in bright light with a magnifying glass could I
find that there was a discernable residue of writing left on the page.

BIC Ultra Round Stick Grip: This started to wash away in plain water.
It was completely gone after a couple of minutes in bleach. The area
on the paper where this ink had been is totally blank now. There is no
residue left whatsoever. Disappointing because the pen writes as
smoothly out of the box as the "classic" BICs do after most of the ink
has been written out of them and the ball has loosened up a bit.

Skrip Jet Black: This is old stock from the glass bottles with the
integral ink well. Water smeared it a lot, the bleach pretty well
wiped it out. There is nothing to be seen of it using a magnifying
glass.

Noodler's Black: Survived pretty much perfectly. Some parts of the
paper got all blistered up and after drying the paper looks like the
surface of the Moon, but the ink has survived looking the way it did
when I wrote it. There's no degradation at the edges and the black ink
is as dense as can be. Except for the condition of the paper it's on
you'd never know that it had been through an attempt at washing it.

Conclusion: Yeah, this Noodler's Black ink really is waterproof, and
proof against a lot more than water. It's now what I use to sign
checks, and as soon as I use up my other inks it's going to be the ink
I use for journals, etc.

What I used in this ink test: water not quite boiling, undiluted
household bleach, dish washing detergent, laundry detergent, isopropyl
alcohol 70%. When all was done the paper was dried in direct, August
sunlight for a few hours.

A note: how do I know for sure which inks used to be where on the
paper? Why I wrote down what ink was there. I wrote it down in pencil.
The pencil marks came through as perfectly as the Noodler's Black ink
did. This is just another little plug for my other favorite writing
instrument, the humble pencil, which doesn't get a lot of attention in
this news group.

great review

Now the thing I don't know, is if the Swishers waterproof black ink in the
3oz. bottle is Noodlers or not.
Am I the only one getting confused over who is making what for whom?
--
All incoming and outgoing mail scanned using Norton Anti Virus, by the
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"R. Paul Martin" wrote in message
...
I've been doing ink tests for decades. I'm less interested in
envelopes not getting smeared than I am in the things I write not
going away due to age or accident. So I was very interested in the
Noodler's ink. Here are the results of some ink tests I did with some
ordinary inks and Noodler's. For some years I had resigned myself to
the fact that the BIC stick pens had the most resistant ink for every
day use. So that's what my checks were made out with. The Parker
ballpoint refills were about the same. I also tested something new
from BIC.

Here are my results:

BIC "Classic" Crystal, BIC blue round stick, BIC black round stick:
All three of these stood up to water well, they even stood up to
bleach and detergent. When the isopropyl alcohol hit them they
dissolved, however. Still, there is a tiny shadow of writing left from
them. The color matters only slightly, they all look almost the same
now. If anything the blue round stick came up with a slightly darker
shadow than the two black BIC inks did. I say "shadow" because at
first glance these inks all appear to be completely washed away. Only
by looking closely in bright light with a magnifying glass could I
find that there was a discernable residue of writing left on the page.

BIC Ultra Round Stick Grip: This started to wash away in plain water.
It was completely gone after a couple of minutes in bleach. The area
on the paper where this ink had been is totally blank now. There is no
residue left whatsoever. Disappointing because the pen writes as
smoothly out of the box as the "classic" BICs do after most of the ink
has been written out of them and the ball has loosened up a bit.

Skrip Jet Black: This is old stock from the glass bottles with the
integral ink well. Water smeared it a lot, the bleach pretty well
wiped it out. There is nothing to be seen of it using a magnifying
glass.

Noodler's Black: Survived pretty much perfectly. Some parts of the
paper got all blistered up and after drying the paper looks like the
surface of the Moon, but the ink has survived looking the way it did
when I wrote it. There's no degradation at the edges and the black ink
is as dense as can be. Except for the condition of the paper it's on
you'd never know that it had been through an attempt at washing it.

Conclusion: Yeah, this Noodler's Black ink really is waterproof, and
proof against a lot more than water. It's now what I use to sign
checks, and as soon as I use up my other inks it's going to be the ink
I use for journals, etc.

What I used in this ink test: water not quite boiling, undiluted
household bleach, dish washing detergent, laundry detergent, isopropyl
alcohol 70%. When all was done the paper was dried in direct, August
sunlight for a few hours.

A note: how do I know for sure which inks used to be where on the
paper? Why I wrote down what ink was there. I wrote it down in pencil.
The pencil marks came through as perfectly as the Noodler's Black ink
did. This is just another little plug for my other favorite writing
instrument, the humble pencil, which doesn't get a lot of attention in
this news group.

In article ,
"Kenneth D. Schillinger" wrote:

Now the thing I don't know, is if the Swishers waterproof black ink in the
3oz. bottle is Noodlers or not.
Am I the only one getting confused over who is making what for whom?


Noodler makes all of Swisher's ink, but some of the colours are custom
ones that aren't offered under the Noodler name. I think they haven't
finished deciding exactly which colours to offer - obviously this will
be based on which ones people buy.

The big difference in the is whether they're the permanent/waterproof
Noodler's ink or the regular Noodler's ink. The waterproof kind
generally costs more, because of the cost of whatever is in it.

I think Swisher black is NON-waterproof, but maybe I'm wrong. (But it's
all made by Nathan, regardless.)

David

So does that mean Noodler's secret is carbon?

--
Best regards,
Free Citizen
http://www.freewebs.com/fpnet/

"R. Paul Martin" wrote in message
...
[snip]

A note: how do I know for sure which inks used to be where on the
paper? Why I wrote down what ink was there. I wrote it down in pencil.
The pencil marks came through as perfectly as the Noodler's Black ink
did. This is just another little plug for my other favorite writing
instrument, the humble pencil, which doesn't get a lot of attention in
this news group.

What is this I hear about Noodler getting mouldy after some time?

--
Best regards,
Free Citizen
http://www.freewebs.com/fpnet/

"Dave" wrote in message
...
In article ,
"Kenneth D. Schillinger" wrote:

Now the thing I don't know, is if the Swishers waterproof black ink in
the
3oz. bottle is Noodlers or not.
Am I the only one getting confused over who is making what for whom?


Noodler makes all of Swisher's ink, but some of the colours are custom
ones that aren't offered under the Noodler name. I think they haven't
finished deciding exactly which colours to offer - obviously this will
be based on which ones people buy.

The big difference in the is whether they're the permanent/waterproof
Noodler's ink or the regular Noodler's ink. The waterproof kind
generally costs more, because of the cost of whatever is in it.

I think Swisher black is NON-waterproof, but maybe I'm wrong. (But it's
all made by Nathan, regardless.)

David

Kenneth D. Schillinger wrote:

Now the thing I don't know, is if the Swishers waterproof black ink in the
3oz. bottle is Noodlers or not.
Am I the only one getting confused over who is making what for whom?

Hi Kenneth,

Here's the breakdown of what's what concerning the Noodler's and Swisher
Pens inks:

- The Noodler's Black ink, not our Swisher Pens Black is the waterproof
ink. Our black ink is water resistant, but will fade somewhat if soaked in
water. Our Swisher Pens inks are indeed made by Nathan Tardif but they are
a completely different formula than the Noodler's inks. Our ink was made to
dry faster on Vellum and several other papers that we sell. Noodler's was
made to resist feathering on most types of recycled paper. Swisher Pens ink
will feather on some recycled paper. I believe our ink dries faster than
Noodler's on most types of paper. On some, our Swisher Pens ink will dry
almost the instant it hits the paper. No, our ink is not the same "quick
dry" formula that Nathan prior to developing the Noodler's formula. The
colors of our ink were my "picks" and I hope folks will like them. I told
Nathan the colors I liked and he worked with them for several months until
we both were happy with the results. We should have 3 more colors
(prototypes) in next week and these will be shown at the NYC Show next
weekend. After these 3 colors we will have about all of the Swisher Pens
inks finished.

- You can see all of the Noodler's waterproof colors we carry at the
following link:

http://www.nexternal.com/swisher/?Ta...asp&RowID=1251 (once
there you can click on "View Enlarged Image" for a complete color chart of
the waterproof Noodler's inks we have available)

- You can see all our Swisher Pens inks at the following link:

http://www.nexternal.com/swisher/?Ta...asp&RowID=1318 (here you
can click on "View Enlarged Image" for a complete color chart of our
"non-waterproof" Swisher Pens inks)

- You can find all of the Noodler's "non-waterproof" (except the Black) at
the following link (we now have the black waterproof Noodler's ink listed
under both Noodler's and Noodler's Waterproof inks in our shopping cart):

http://www.nexternal.com/swisher/?Ta...ProductID=1274 (to
see all these colors you will need to select the individual colors, the
complete color chart was too large for our shopping cart)

If you are attending the New York Show next weekend you will find most of
these inks available at our table. We are bringing the Swisher Pens inks
and the Noodler's waterproof inks. If you would like for us to bring any of
the regular Noodler's inks to the show, please send Jennifer an e-mail
) and let her know what colors you want us to bring.
Hope this helps.

Best wishes,

Chuck Swisher -

Swisher Pens, Inc. - www.swisherpens.com

Tele: (757) 471-7445, TF: 1-888-340-7367, Fax: (757) 925-2787

Free Citizen wrote:

What is this I hear about Noodler getting mouldy after some time?

Some of the very first bottles that shipped in March or early April that
were sold by us and one (possibly 2) other dealers were found to be
susceptible to mold. Unfortunately, this wasn't caught until we had already
sold most of the first shipment of this ink. I have not heard of any cases
of mold (or anything else) in any bottle of Noodler's ink that was shipped
after the 1st of May. Any of our customers that reported finding mold in
their Noodler's ink had the ink replaced by us (if they let us know). We
have not heard of any reports of mold in any of the Noodler's Waterproof
colors or our Swisher Pens inks. I think Nathan has the mold problem under
control and I would be very surprised to hear of any cases of mold in any of
these inks that shipped after the original mold was discovered back in late
April. Hope this helps.

Best regards,


Chuck Swisher -

Swisher Pens, Inc. - www.swisherpens.com

Tele: (757) 471-7445, TF: 1-888-340-7367, Fax: (757) 925-2787

I guess Nathan must have forgotten to put in the anti-mould agent for that
batch . Anyway, I do not believe this episode will deter customers from
buying Noodler or other brands made by it. From what I have seen here, it
looks like the ink to beat.

--
Best regards,
Free Citizen
http://www.freewebs.com/fpnet/

"Chuck Swisher" wrote in message
news:NRd_c.4699$OZ6.1712@okepread06...
Free Citizen wrote:

What is this I hear about Noodler getting mouldy after some time?

Some of the very first bottles that shipped in March or early April that
were sold by us and one (possibly 2) other dealers were found to be
susceptible to mold. Unfortunately, this wasn't caught until we had
already
sold most of the first shipment of this ink. I have not heard of any
cases
of mold (or anything else) in any bottle of Noodler's ink that was shipped
after the 1st of May. Any of our customers that reported finding mold in
their Noodler's ink had the ink replaced by us (if they let us know). We
have not heard of any reports of mold in any of the Noodler's Waterproof
colors or our Swisher Pens inks. I think Nathan has the mold problem
under
control and I would be very surprised to hear of any cases of mold in any
of
these inks that shipped after the original mold was discovered back in
late
April. Hope this helps.

Best regards,


Chuck Swisher -

Swisher Pens, Inc. - www.swisherpens.com

Tele: (757) 471-7445, TF: 1-888-340-7367, Fax: (757) 925-2787

Free Citizen wrote:

I guess Nathan must have forgotten to put in the anti-mould agent for that
batch . Anyway, I do not believe this episode will deter customers from
buying Noodler or other brands made by it. From what I have seen here, it
looks like the ink to beat.

No, not really! He put some anti-mold additives in this ink, but apparently
not enough to prevent this type of mold. Unfortunately, the type of mold
that attacks these older Noodler's inks didn't show-up until about a month
after the first batch was shipped. This ink was tested for every known mold
to exist in the United States. Are there molds elsewhere that might live in
Noodler's? Possibly, but I doubt it. I doubt we will be hearing about any
more molds in the newer inks, but there is always a chance that someone will
find mold in one of these older bottles. As I have posted many times, if
you find mold in any of the Noodler's inks (or Swisher Pens inks) just let
us know and we will replace this ink if you purchased it from us. If you
bought it from another dealer, insist that they replace the ink, give you a
credit or a refund. If you bought your ink after the 1st of May, you
probably have nothing to worry about.

Best wishes,

Chuck Swisher -

Swisher Pens, Inc. - www.swisherpens.com

Tele: (757) 471-7445, TF: 1-888-340-7367, Fax: (757) 925-2787