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titivillus wrote:

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"...Nathan decided to become the boutiquest ink meaning tha sometimes the colors he produces not meanted to be limited are because he didn't have a large enough amount of raw materials.

unfortunate but not something that he is easily willing to admit to.  It's good that a person's grasp tries to be greater than their limits but sometimes it's nice to know that an ink you like is going to be around for awhile"

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I wholeheartedly agree, that I too buy inks I find enjoyable only to have them too limited or later discontinued, how frustrating that can be. For one I really like Noodler's Coral Sea ink, but it's an Australian Exclusive ink that costs a small fortune to have shipped from Australia to the U.S.. That negates my being able to replenish the stock I had, no way I can afford to pay nearly $60 USD for a 3 oz bottle of my favorite ink and there's nothing else like it. Some Noodler's Limited Edition inks were made in such large quantities there's still plenty to be found but that too is not always the case. It's not just Noodler's, they just seem to be at the heart of it due to the overwhelming number of inks that have been and are being produced. The fact that another of my favorite inks was made by MontBlanc and is no[w] discontinued is evident that other companies are in the same boat, or in MBs case the cease of Racing Green production for reasons untold. that forced me to either find a replacement or stockpile what Racing Green is still available and neither is an option I care for or in the latter case can afford to do.

Back on the original topic, overly saturated inks clogging pens? So far the only ones I've had issue with from Noodler's has been Borealis black, Whaleman's Sepia and *Polar Brown [*original recipe, has since been reformulated]. Now these inks don't "clog" my pens but they do have heavy particulates that dry out under the nibs and in the feed channels, negating the flow until they've been wiped clean or the nib wetted with a damp tissue. Not once has any clogged a feed so badly that I needed to completely flush the feeds of the inks. That's why I say they don't clog, but rather they stop proper flow until wiped clean. The reds and yellows have never stopped flowing on me, they're heavy with color yet they don't separate like the blacks and browns do. I see this when a bottle goes unused for awhile, I've not once seen any sedimentation from Nikita red, Habanero or Apache Sunset and have never needed to shake them prior to use as I do need to do with some dark colors. I don't have nor have I ever tried Zhivago dark green but if it's anything like Hunter Green Eternal it may also separate while remaining static. Ink separation can be shaken to reconstitute in a bottle, but poses a real problem inside a fountain pen reservoir when a pen goes unused and unmoved for any period of time. While I don't see clogs, I do see these inks run light in color when first flowing and get darker as the ink has flown for a few lines and that's rather annoying.

I've had similar issues with inks that are not Noodler's brand and the worst have been the dark inks like blacks that tend to dry with non-use. This is even more evident when using them in a Pilot Vanishing Point with their tiny nibs & feeds, despite having a trap door covering the parts when they're not extended for writing. Try this, if you have a VP; fill a VP with just about any ink, leave it extended for writing and sitting on a desk for several minutes unused and you'll see what I mean. Pick it up, try to write, nothing happens. Run a damp tissue over the nib slot, touch the tip to tissue until the flow starts back up and they're good to go, not clogged but rather they just dry out and need coaxing.

-- Edited by InkaFX on Friday 11th of June 2010 09:16:22 AM

While I have been one of those that have been avoiding using Noodler's due to its reputation. I also have learned that on a forum one negative  experience blossoms into a wildfire of negative responses. I personally have fallen for those negative posts. I also believe that most of this is an urban myth, that has mushroomed.

When I first journeyed into  fountain pens as a hobby several years ago. I had bought some bottles of Noodler's. As I my hobby grew, I put aside the Noodler's ink in favor inks such as Daimine, J.Herbin, Private Reserve. Recently I have purchased a bottle of Noodler's Sunset Apache.  I currently have it in a Parker Sonnet with a flex nib. The shading with the flex nib is very nice, love the color. I do not follow any rules of what colors I use, like being different. I do not any black inks.