Ink Review - Noodlers Brown

Ink review time! Noodlers brown is on the plate today. I'm going to use an adapted version of my new review system for this. We'll see how it works out. :)

Noodlers Brown ranks about 65% in my book.


Overview:
Noodlers brown originally got me interested for two reasons:

1) It looked like it shaded really well.

2) It looked like the perfect shade of brown.

Overall I am a little bit disappointed in this ink. Not completely, but it certainly is not exactly what I thought it'd be. It has some major (t0 me at least) downfalls, that I'l hit on in this review.

The good:

• It is a nice shade of brown. Not perfect, but better than most.
• It's a Noodlers ink, so it's not expensive to buy.

The Bad:

• It has some major bleed-through issues. Wait till you see the photos below...
• Color is too dark for me. Sometimes it looks black. It's the right shade of brown, but it needs a touch more light to it.
• Dry time is a bit slow.

All in all, it's a decent ink, but I'd like to find something to replace it. I only bought a sample, in my hunt for the perfect brown. This is not the perfect brown. It's a good one, and some aspects are real close, but it's not there.

Onto the review!

Ink Review: Noodlers Brown

Pen and nib: Lamy 2000 - B nib

Color: Dark Brown

Dry time: 15-20 seconds. Not bad for such a wet pen.

Smear when dry: A tiny bit...

Shading: Low/moderate. I think a less wet pen would actually shade better.

Lubrication: Good.

Bleed-through: Quite a bit actually. I wish it wasn't so...

Feathering: A very small amount.

Here's the scan. I think this one's pretty accurate.

Here is a shot of that bleed-through. Yikes! You'll notice that the bleed-through looks red-ish. It is in person too. It seems that the red-hue of the ink is separating, and bleeding through the paper.

Another shot of the swab...

Overall:

This is an okay ink, but it's poor behavior makes it a no go for me. Again, if these small problems were fixed, this could be a real winner. But until then (or if ever), I will be searching for another brown.

Anybody here got a brown to recommend? Waterman Havana Brown is next on my list to try, thanks to Peninkcillin. :)

Anyone else ever tried this ink before? Did you get the same impression that I got? I'm wondering if it's just my pen and nib combo. I'll try it in my fine nibbed VP, and see what happens.

I hope you enjoyed the review. As always, feel free to leave me a comment and let me know what you think. If you've never left a comment before, now's your chance. :)

Until Wednesday then!

Regards,

Tyler Dahl

Weekend Reads 12/4/11

Welcome to the first official Weekend Reads post. I hope you'll enjoy it!


Let's start this off with my favorite articles of the recent week. There are some great ones here, so be sure to check them out.






1) First one is not exactly FP related, but it is related to writing. Someone posted this website up on FPN, and I just had to share it here. I'll keep it a surprise, so you'll have to go find out for yourself what exactly it is. :)

2) Next up is an ink review from one of my favorite fellow bloggers. I've never tried this ink, but Im definitely adding a sample next time I go ink shopping. Noodlers Hunter Green is basically a waterproof ink, in my favorite shade of green.

3) With the holiday season upon us, and Christmas approaching fast, I thought this was a very appropriate post from Economy Pens.

4) I have not seen to many pink inks before... But this one looks pretty intriguing! Very wild, and not a very "manly" ink so to speak, but  enjoyed the review.



Now time for some Q&A!


Q #1: While I can, and have, replaced ink sacs, is there an easy way to get a new ink sac on the section when replacing an old sac? I have tried sac stretchers, tweezers, just my fingers, etc. Sometimes I have immediate success but sometimes it is frustrating beyond belief, the shellac dries out or ends up on my fingers, and I have to start all over! Is there one foolproof way to get the sac onto the pre-shellacked section?
A: My method for placing the sac on the sac-nipple is very simplistic. Once I discovered it however, I have had no trouble in getting my sacs on. I'll attempt to describe it, though I may end up needing to make a video of this one. - Start by trimming your sac to size, and dry fitting it, to make sure it's the right size. Next, give the sac-nipple a good coat of shellac. I prefer to have a little extra, and need t dab it off later, as opposed to not enough. If there's to little, the sac will stick and not slide, and that will make it harder to do this. Now for the real trick. Basically, I just push the sac on. I start with half of the sac-nipple, sliding the sac over it. Then, I use my finger (not pinching) to just push it over the rest of the sac-nipple. After this, I'll twist the sac 1/4 turn, to make sure the shellac is spread. Then dab off any extra shellac, and you're done! That probably doesn't make a whole lot of sense, but maybe you caught it. I'll work on a "pictorial", or video of this very soon. :)




Q #2: I recently purchased brass shim so that I could floss the tines of my fountain pens in order to increase ink flow. Luckily, my local hardware store had brass shim available to purchase, but only in a package containing various sized sheets of brass shim. Each sheet is a different width/thickness. The package included: .001, .002, .003, and .005. Since I am a novice at this, first, I had no idea that brass shim came in different widths. Second, which one do I use on my pens?
A: The preferred sizes for brass shim, when used with FP's, is .001, and .002. I use both, but mostly the .002. Any wider though, and you might spread the tines to far apart. The .001 is good for cleaning out ink channels in the feed. It's a bit thin to floss the nib with, unless you like a really dry nib.

Q #3: Hi Tyler, how about this: (a) what has been your toughest repair and (b) why was it so difficult? 
A: Wow, that's a tough question. I think I may have had toughest repairs, but never one single repair that's been the most difficult. I'll pick just one tough one though. It's funny actually - My toughest repair is now one of my most ruitine, and easy tasks to perform. At the time however, I was stumped, baffled, and frustrated. I was trying to install a hanging pressure bar into a Waterman pen, for the first time. Boy was that a chore! This one happened to be just a bit bent inside, so it was more difficult than normal. Still, After I finally got it in, I thought - "Why was that so hard!?". I laugh about it now, as I find this very easy to do, but at the time, it wasn't very funny at all. :)






Well, I hope you've enjoyed the weekend reads for this week! I know I was late this week, due to the work needed on my house. Hopefully next week I can run this all as scheduled.


Enjoy the reads, leave me a comment, subscribe if you liked this, and don't forget to submit your questions for next week!


Regards,
Tyler Dahl

Sorry folks, a little busy today... :)

Well guys, I wasn't able to post to the blog today. I was working all day long installing the wood-stove on my house. Took a long time, and I honestly don't enjoy working up on top of my metal roof. :| A bit stressing, but it sure is great to have it done!

I'm also going to delay the weekend reads till Sunday. I just need a day to prepare for it, and the next week of blogging.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Regards,
Tyler Dahl

Monthly Update!

Well guys, today marks the first day of December! I've got snow on the ground at my house, and it's pretty chilly here too. Anyone else think it's beginning to look a  lot like Christmas? ;)


I'd like to just give you all an update on what's going on this month, and what you can expect from the website, and both blogs.


Firstly: I will be open for business all December long. I do not take a break for Christmas, so you may feel free to send me pens anytime during the holiday season. Don't be concerned about me being busy, because Christmas-time is not a busy time for me. :)






Let's start with the Website. I've got quite a few improvements that I think you'll enjoy!


1) First off, I've got a whole new tray of pens up for sale this month! Lots of really great ones too. These are for sale, but only for this month. Tis' the perfect season for buying a new FP, for yourself, or a friend. :) Some of my top picks of the month are:

Beautiful Blue EverSharp Skyline!

A lovely vintage Pelikan M400 with a semi-flex nib!

Conklin Crescent filler with a fabulous #2 flexible Toledo nib!

2) Next up, we've got a great new feature for those "visual minded" people. I decided that just listing a photo of all 12 pens at once just didn't cut it. You can't see enough of the pen. So, to remedy this, I've come to a good in-between place. The "tray picture" will remain the same, as it's good to see what's for sale at a glance.

The new feature is the "click the title to a large picture of the pen". Any pen that you're interested in - just click the title, or the magnifying glass icon. You will be taken to a new window (or tab), so you won't lose you place, and then you can see a full image of just the pen you want. I've made these images to show as much detail as possible. Try it out here and see for yourself!


3) The Mobile Website is almost ready to launch! I'll need another week or so to finish up the last details, but it's very close now!

A public thank-you to everyone who volunteered to help out with the mobile website! I couldn't have done it without you. You've been a huge help, and I really appreciate it!






4) This is very important, so please do read it. 
I have had to make a rather difficult decision this month, and I want you all to be aware of this, and have a good understanding of "what" and "why". I try to be honest, and keep stuff like this out in the open.

I have recently had a rise in my costs for repairing pens. Namely, new tools, to expand the possibilities of what I can accomplish. Many of these tools cost quite a "fortune", and thus I feel the need to make some small price change in accordance with this. As of today (12/1/2011) I have made some small price changes to my some of my services. I realize that this is not the kind of news that we always want to hear. I do dislike having to do this, but I feel it's the only way to keep my business running, and thus I decided to go for it. However, even with these small price changes, I can still safely say that my prices far undercut many others in the pen-repair field. I hope you all understand this, and please, let me know if you have questions. I am still determined to maintain low prices, and excellent customer service, forever.


Now for some blog updates:


Just a few quick ones, to keep you current.

1) I will be continuing to blog every other day on both blogs! I don't intend on stopping this anytime soon, as I don't see a reason to. :)

2) Hopefully you all read about my new review system here. That will continue to be used for all my future reviews. Seems very handy to me.

3) If you haven't checked it out yet, I'd love to have you participate in my Weekend Reads Q&A! I need folks to ask questions, or else I can't do it. Go ahead, don't be shy! Ask away about anything pen-related.


That's about it for the monthly updates. Have a great holiday season everyone, and enjoy the blog!


Regards,
Tyler Dahl