Noodler's X-Feather ink review

I find it fascinating how a small, boutique ink maker like Noodler's can offer not only a vast range of colors, but also a large variety of specialized ink features. But perhaps that's the secret: a 1-man company like Noodler's can be a lot more flexible than a large corporation.

Today's special ink is X-Feather, an ink that is designed specifically to resist feathering on poor quality paper. Feathering is the process by which the ink spreads through the paper via the fibers. Different inks have different spreading "ability". In general it's considered a good thing to control this spreading as much as possible. This is where Noodler's X-Feather comes in. If I'm not mistaken, Nathan Tardiff (Noodler's owner) designed X-Feather with newspaper crossword puzzles in mind. We all know how poor quality newspaper sheet is, and generally we'd like to avoid using fountain pen ink on it.

I tested the sample (that I've been saving for a long time) in my Pilot Vanishing Point with broad nib. The broad nib should make the test even more poignant, as thick nibs put more ink to the paper.

Bottle and pricing

Bottle capacity: 90 ml / 3 oz
Price: $12.50
Price / ml: $0.14

Color and saturation

Noodler's X-Feather is a dark shade of highly saturated black. It looks a tad darker than Heart of Darkness and about on par with Private Reserve Invincible Black. Check out the comparison below. I included Noodler's Whaleman's Sepia just for kicks, despite not being a black ink.

Shading

You wouldn't expect much shading in a dark black ink, and that is true here, but X-Feather manages to surprise in a different way, by exhibiting a high amount of sheen.

Yes, this is how the q-tip swab looks after it has dried up. Very cool. If I were to take a shot in the dark, I'd guess the sheen is part of the feathering-resist mechanism.

Feathering

Here we are at the crux of the matter. Is X-Feather really resistant to feathering or is it just clever marketing? I'm happy to report that it does, indeed, do a good job at holding the line intact and tightly controlling any ungainly spreading.

I have tested X-Feather on cheap photocopy paper (see the sample at the bottom), on cheap and flimsy notebook paper, as well as on newspaper. In fact here's a close-up of the newspaper sample below.

Granted, the lines in the latter aren't perfectly sharp but I believe that's more of a paper issue, because the paper itself has an uneven surface. To me it looks like the ink is part of the print. Thus, I declare Noodler's X-Feather worthy of its name.

Bleedthrough

Interestingly, Noodler's X-Feather also does a great job controlling bleed, even on cheap paper. There is a little ghosting because this is, after all, a black ink, but it doesn't bleed. Once again, I believe this is a positive side-effect from the feathering resistance.

Flow, lubrication, and smoothness

Noodler's X-Feather flows very smoothly in the Pilot Vanishing Point. It's rather wet, but also feels thick and dense, almost like soot. If I didn't know better I'd say this is pigment ink.

Drying time

One thing that I don't appreciate as much as all the other features is the drying time. X-Feather takes around 1 minute to fully (more like 99%) dry on Clairefontaine 90g paper, which is pretty long in my book. That time drops down to about 15 seconds on copy paper. I suspect this is due to the fact that most of the ink stays on top of the paper instead of penetrating the fibers deeply. Again, all connected with the feathering resistance and the lack of bleed.

Smearing when dry

Kind of. You see, X-Feather is one of those inks that needs to be left to dry properly before even thinking about touching the paper. Even after it dries, I'd be very careful around shiny and good quality paper. On copy paper, you can still get it to smear a little if you rub it hard but that shouldn't be an issue in normal use.

Water resistance

As an added bonus, X-Feather is also water resistant. As you can see in the sample below, exposure to water for 1 minute left it virtually untouched. While this is not the headline feature, it's always nice to have.

Conclusion

Noodler's Ink has produced another hit with X-Feather. This ink wears its name proudly and does it good justice. It is also a pleasure to write with, being smooth and wet, and even offers excellent water resistance. The only things that keeps it from a perfect 10/10 are the long drying times and the possibility of smearing. However, these won't stop me from highly recommending it, especially if you need the unique feature of feathering resistance which, to my knowledge, no other ink offers as a main selling point. Even as a simple black ink, X-Feather won't disappoint. To top it all off, this special ink is priced the same as most regular inks in Noodler's lineup.

Following are the two samples on photocopy and Clairefontaine 90g paper, respectively.

Private Reserve Invincible Black ink review

Private Reserve Invincible Black is one of those inks that seem to have vanished from the market between the time when I bought the sample and now, when I finally got the chance to review it. It's quite a shame since waterproof inks (which it is) are not in every manufacturer's portfolio. Outside of Noodler's, not many brands seem to care about this segment. Unfortunately it seems that PR has sent its Invincible inks (along with PR Invincible Aqua Blue which I fancied) along the way of the dodo.

Read the review for curiosity or nostalgia sake but I'm not sure where you'd find this ink if you wanted it.

I reviewed the sample in my Pilot Vanishing Point with broad nib.

Bottle and pricing

Bottle capacity: unknown
Price: unknown
Price / ml: unknown

Color and saturation

Private Reserve Invincible Black is, well, black. A very dark black in fact. Side by side with Noodler's Heart of Darkness it looks even darker.

I also compared it with Noodler's Whaleman's Sepia, just for reference, even though the latter isn't technically black.

Shading

Private Reserve Invincible Black is black as the night and thus pretty much flat.

Feathering

None.

Bleedthrough

PR Invincible Black bleeds less than I would have expected, even on cheap paper. There's evidently some ghosting but even that comes more from the contrast between the very dark ink and thin white paper than from actual penetration.

Flow, lubrication, and smoothness

Invincible Black flows nicely and smoothly in the Pilot Vanishing Point with the broad nib unit. However, I have noticed that it likes to dry up rather quickly in the pen, within a few hours. This makes for hard starts and it's definitely not a feature I appreciate, especially in my most expensive pen.

Drying time

Here's the rub. Umm, pun not intended, but you'll see... Private Reserve Invincible Black dries reasonably fast on cheap paper and even the shinier and more expensive stuff like the Clairefontaine 90g sample. Keep reading...

Smearing when dry

Following up on the previous section, this ink is quite prone to smudging when rubbed. So even though it is technically dry, it needs a lot more time to become inert, and even then you can still get it to smear a little if you rub it hard.

Water resistance

As advertised, Private Reserve Invincible Black is completely water resistant and immune to the elements (not sure about acid rain though).

Conclusion

This review might have been all for nothing, considering Private Reserve Invincible Black has been discontinued, but it was interesting, nonetheless, to see how it behaves in relation to other waterproof inks. Overall it's a decently performing ink, with two exceptions: the drying up inside the pen and the fact that it likes to stain containers, including the Pilot VP's converter. Since it's extinct, if you are looking for a black water resistant ink my only option is to recommend one of many such variations that Noodler's makes, including Heart of Darkness and another black ink that I will review soon.

Following are the two samples on photocopy and Clairefontaine 90g paper, respectively.

2014 ink of the year

I know this post is a month late and a few bucks short but better late than never. In my defense, I'm back from a long vacation and it's hard to get the old routine back on track.

Without further ado, I present you my top 3 favorite inks tested in 2014, along with 3 runners-up.

#1 Monteverde Brown

Monteverde Brown is absolutely the ink I enjoyed most in 2014. I just love brown inks and this is the definitive brown.

#2 Noodler's Black Swan in English Roses

Noodler's Black Swan in English Roses is a close second. I love its burgundy/brown color and beautiful shading.

#3 Diamine Green Black

Diamine Green Black is the ink which resembles the color "British racing green" the most. If I were to pick a green ink out of all the ones I've tested (not just in 2014), this would be it.

Runner Up #1 - Diamine Graphite

Normally I'm not a fan of gray inks because they're too boring, but Diamine Graphite changed my mind. It proves that a gray ink can be engineered well enough to make it useful in a professional setting and look good at the same time.

Runner Up #2 - Diamine Syrah

Diamine Syrah is an ink I love to hate. The color and shading are gorgeous and hard to beat. However, it likes to stain plastic and smears on glossy paper.

Runner Up #3 - Rohrer & Klingner Alt-Goldgrun

Rohrer & Klingner Alt-Goldgrun is a wonderful shade of bright, saturated olive green with beautiful shading. R&K inks are a bit quirky though and flawed in other aspects, such as feathering and sometimes flow.

Diamine Graphite ink review

In my last post I promised that I would review another grey ink, back to back with Diamine Grey. Well, the mystery ink is revealed today, and it is, you guessed it, Diamine Graphite.

I could save myself the trouble, and you the time, and simply state that Diamine Graphite is an almost identical twin of Diamine Grey but there are actually a couple of very small (but key) differences.

I reviewed this ink, as I did the previous, in my Kaweco Sport Classic with broad nib and eyedropper conversion.

Bottle and pricing
This being Diamine, a bottle sells for around $12.95, and it holds 80ml / 1.7oz. That makes it $0.16 per milliliter, or very affordable, in other words.

Color and saturation
Jumping right into the differences between Grey and Graphite, there are two things here that separate the two.

First, Graphite is a darker ink, edging even closer to black. You can clearly tell it's still grey but feels black when wet, turning lighter as it dries up.

Second, the color isn't really a neutral grey. To my eye, there are faint traces of green/khaki in it. Is this unpleasant? Not at all, in my opinion. Now, if you're looking for a perfectly neutral dark grey, you might be better served elsewhere but I find this ink very attractive. In fact I think I prefer it to Diamine Grey.

Here's a better comparison between the three grey inks I've tested so far, from lightest to darkest: J Herbin Gris Nuage, Diamine Grey and Diamine Graphite:

Shading
Like its lighter sibling, Graphite shows some very nice shading, especially when used with a broad nib such as my Kaweco Sport.

Feathering
None that I could see.

Bleedthrough
Diamine Graphite is darker still, meaning that it ghosts a little bit more on cheap paper. It might even bleed a bit if you're using a nib with ample flow but that won't be an issue on good paper.

Flow, lubrication, and smoothness
Like its sibling, Diamine Graphite flows smooth as silk, and also wet, the way I like it.

Drying time
Drying times on various papers match, once again, those of Diamine Grey. About 5 seconds for cheap paper and 15 on Rhodia, but bear in mind that I used the broad nib which typically takes longer to dry.

Smearing when dry
None.

Water resistance
For a regular ink, Diamine Graphite shows surprisingly good water resistance. After 1 minute exposure under flowing water, some of it has washed off but most still remains, leaving the text legible. You might notice that some of the dark green undertones are exposed by the water.

Conclusion
Once again (that makes it twice in a row) I'm impressed by a grey Diamine ink. I find Graphite even better than Grey, maybe because it's more assertive, being darker. All the good qualities that I found in Diamine Grey are reflected here, with the added bonus (or disavantage, depending on your point of view) that it gets from the subtle green undertones. Personally I like that because it gives it personality. Having said that, I highly recommend it, provided you are looking for a darker grey ink and don't mind the fact that it is not entirely neutral.

Here are the two samples done on photocopy and Rhodia 80g paper, respectively.

Diamine Grey ink review

It's been a long time since I reviewed a grey ink so I got the urge to test one of the grey samples I have. I settled on Diamine Grey. If you're looking for a generic ink name, Diamine's got you covered. Now, grey inks can be rather boring, in my humble opinion, but I like to keep an open mind and this time I was surprised in a good way.

The ink was tested in my new workhorse, the Kaweco Sport Classic, which I use as an eyedropper. This has recently become my daily office pen and it's a good thing because it allows me to review inks quicker than I normally would, thanks to the broad nib which uses more ink.

If you're wondering about the eyedropper conversion in the Kaweco Sport, let me tell you that all I did was pour the ink in the body and screw it to the section, without using any silicone grease. It doesn't leak, though I wouldn't take it on a plane. Anyway, on with the review.

Bottle and pricing
Diamine inks are usually $12.95 a bottle for 80ml / 1.7oz which comes in at $0.16 per milliliter. In other words they are very affordable.

Color and saturation
Since this is a grey ink we can't really talk about color, while the saturation is average. Diamine Grey is on the darker side and to illustrate this I am comparing it with the other grey ink I tested, J Herbin Gris Nuage. As you can see, Diamine Grey is much darker.

Shading
Surprinsingly, Diamine Grey actually has some interesting shading going on. I like that when I start writing it is wet and much darker, almost black. As soon as it dries (which happens quickly), the color lightens but you can clearly see the dark shadows, usually where the ink pools at the end of a line. So yes, it definitely shades and it's far from being a flat color. I like to call this an "ink with personality".

Feathering
None that I could see.

Bleedthrough
It doesn't bleed through the cheap paper, except for a little insignificant ghosting.

Flow, lubrication, and smoothness
As always, I'm impressed by a wet ink and Diamine Grey makes me happy by scoring a 7/10 on the wetness scale. It flows nicely through the Kaweco's broad nib, as well as smoothly. It's a real pleasure in use. 

Drying time
Drying times vary depending on the paper quality. On Rhodia 80g it takes an average of 15 seconds to dry but on cheap paper that happens in 5 seconds or less. Of course, it also depends on the size of the nib. Broad nib equals longer drying times on glossy paper.

Smearing when dry
None.

Water resistance
Another thing that took me by surprise is the degree of water resistance this ink exhibited. It's not supposed to be at all resistant to liquids, yet the text is still legible after being submerged for a minute under running water.

Conclusion
Diamine Grey is by far the best grey ink I've tested, although that's not saying much since this is only my second grey ink. Nonetheless, I'm personally enamored with this ink by virtue of it's pleasant shade (dark but not too dark), as well as its shading, smoothness and surprise water resistance. I find it a joy to use in my daily pen and I would highly recommend it to anyone looking for a decent grey ink. I still have a couple more grey inks to test but this one looks like a strong contender for Grey Ink of the Year.

Here are the two samples on photocopy and Rhodia 80g papers, respectively.

J Herbin Gris Nuage ink review

At one point in my short fountain-pen-and-ink-loving career I got the notion that I should get a grey ink to use in my drawing endeavors. I must specify at this point that I'm not an artist by any stretch of the imagination. I just like art, I have a great admiration for the drawing side of art and I like to doodle a lot.

I bought a bunch of grey ink samples and J Herbin Gris Nuage is the first one I tested. It so happens that I also managed to buy a Noodler's Flex Pen during the same period, so I decided to test this ink in the flex pen. That was kind of a bad mistake. I should have used a darker and more saturated ink in the flex pen.

Going forward I will make a small change in my ink reviewing procedure. I'll organize my impressions by "bullet points" to make it easier to locate relevant information. So here goes.

Bottle
Gris Nuage comes, like most J Herbin inks, in those dainty little bottles with a 30ml (1oz) capacity. They cost about $9.50 or $0.32 per milliliter. Quite expensive, compared to Noodler's or Diamine inks. Of course, I got mine in a sample vial so there's no bottle to show.

Saturation
Being a grey ink, the saturation is, well, non-existent.

Shading
Surprisingly, and unless I'm imagining things, it looks like Gris Nuage does have a little bit of shading. I suspect this is partly caused by the flex pen which lays heavier, wetter sections in some of the strokes.

Feathering
This isn't very clearcut but Gris Nuage did show a fair amount of feathering. However, bear in mind that the flex pen was used on cheap photocopier paper. There wasn't any feathering on Rhodia 80g paper.

Bleedthrough
Bleedthrough goes hand in hand with the feathering. Flex pen + cheap paper = show through, especially where the nib flexes. Flex pen + good paper = no show through and the reverse side remains unblemished.

Flow
Unfortunately I can't really say how J Herbin Gris Nuage flows in a "normal" pen but in the Noodler's flex it flowed really well - and wet. That's expected though, but I do have to mention that I adjusted the nib and feed for greater than average flow.

Drying time
The drying time for Gris Nuage proved to be really good, despite the thick lines. It dried in about 10 seconds. The caveat is that this performance was reached on the porous (and cheap) photocopy paper. The situation reversed on Rhodia 80g where after 30 seconds the ink was still slightly wet. However, I agree that flex nibs produce much wetter lines so this might not be indicative of the ink's real drying properties.

Smearing when dry
None!

Water resistance
I wasn't expecting this ink to resist water but strangely enough it doesn't wash off easily. My standard test is 1 minute under flowing water, although in this case I forgot to mark that down on the sample. As you can see, some of it washed off but most remained.

Conclusion
J Herbin Gris Nuage is a grey ink with decent properties, including a surprising amount of water resistance. Personally I wouldn't use it for writing, and I admit that in this case I was wrong to use it in the Noodler's Flex Pen. The reason? It's too light. I do think that it would be ideal for drawing, though a bit expensive. Not being an artist, I can see this as being very suited for drawing backgrounds, clouds, etc, especially considering that it does show some shading when you apply thick swaths of it.

Noodler's Heart of Darkness ink review

For my first black ink I wanted an extremely dark shade of black so after much research I decided to go with Noodler's Heart of Darkness or HOD as it is also known. Though there are darker blacks, Heart of Darkness is black enough for me and considering it is a generally well-behaved ink, I consider it a keeper. And it better well be, because I got the big 4.5oz bottle.

The 4.5oz bottle costs $19 and comes with a Platinum Preppy F nib fountain pen, converted to an eyedropper. The price per milliliter comes to $0.14 which is pretty good considering the free pen. Some people discredit the Preppy, claiming it is a cheap and worthless pen. Personally I like it because it is easy to fill up with ink, being an eyedropper, and the capacity is huge. It is also a wet and smooth writer. Its only flaw is that the F nib is not fine enough for how wet this pen writes.

One disadvantage of the 4.5oz bottles from Noodler's, and one that I didn't consider before I bought it, is that it's very hard to fill a non-eyedropper pen from it. I filled my Lamy AL-Star with the piston converter and it was difficult because of the very narrow diameter of the bottle neck.

Being a very black ink, Heart of Darkness is also extremely saturated. Interestingly enough, the Preppy lays a line that's as dark as a black hole but as you can see from the q-tip swabs, when applied to a larger surface, it looks lighter. There's no shading to speak of and that's how I like it. If it had any shading I wouldn't consider it a deep black.

I'm not a big paper buff so I tend to use cheap paper. As a result, this ink tends to bleed through significantly, to the extent that the reverse side sometimes becomes unusable. On very cheap paper there's also some feathering but not nearly enough to cause major issues. Now of course, with the Preppy which tends to write very wet, if I don't lift the nib quickly from the paper, the ink will feather a lot more.

HOD flows very nicely through the Preppy. On the paper I usually use it dries up very quickly, within a couple of seconds.

So far, this is the most water resistant ink I possess and in fact it is classified as "bulletproof", meaning that is is resistant to a whole plethora of chemicals that forgers might use to alter documents. This also means that it is totally waterproof. You can see from the sample that I've submerged it under running water for over a minute and nary an atom of this ink has been dislodged from the paper. The paper will dissolve under water long before the ink. If you want to write archival stuff, this is an excellent ink for it.

Noodler's Heart of Darkness may not be the best black ink out there but it's good enough for my needs. A good, bulletproof black ink should be in any fountain pen lover's arsenal. My bottle will last me a while and when it's over I might go with the same ink.

Here are two samples written on photocopier paper and a Staples journal with off-white paper, respectively.