Ink Review #174: Noodler's Legal Blue
/
Today's ink is Noodler's Legal Blue, which is one of Noodler's bulletproof inks, meaning that it is designed to be water resistant, bleach resistant, as well as archival and fade-resistant. I purchased my sample of ink from Vanness Pens.
The color:
Legal Blue is a medium blue.
In large swabs on Tomoe River paper, the ink shows a kaleidoscope of dark pinks. The pink completely surprised me. I wish the ink looked like this in writing.
The ink drops took three days to dry, and the ink seemed a bit thin to me. In flex nib writing I found this ink really hard to control. I also had problems with nib creep with every pen I tried the ink in.
Dry time: 5 seconds-super fast dry time.
Water resistance: High-the water appeared to have no effect.
Feathering: Medium-the ink feathered on every paper except Tomoe River, not in every nib size, but at least half of them did show some feathering.
Show through: Medium
Bleeding: Low-there was some bleeding in the flex nib.
Other properties: No shading, low pink sheen, no shimmer.
On 20 pound copy paper, there was some bleeding and feathering, but the ink did dry pretty quickly.
Ink swabs for comparison, left to right (top to bottom for mobile RSS): Robert Oster Evening Sapphire, Noodler's Legal Blue, and Organics Studio Copper Turquoise. Click here to see the Noodler's inks together.
Sailor Jentle Souten, PenBBS #41 Yunnan Blue, and Robert Oster Lake of Fire. Click here to see the blue inks together.
Longer writing:
I used a broad Forest Green Conklin Duragraph on Tomoe River paper.
At first the ink gushed onto the page, and then settled to a very wet consistency-the nib felt like a double broad with this ink rather than a broad.
Overall, I don't like this ink at all. I had trouble with bleeding, feathering, nib creep, and the ink felt one nib size wetter than I used. If I had to pick, I liked this ink the best on Rhodia or Tomoe River in a fine or medium nib. I would only use this ink in very specific circumstances-the right papers and nib size, but only if I needed an eternal blue ink. This is not an ink I can ever see myself needing or buying. It does serve a purpose-it's just a very specific one.
Disclaimer: I purchased this ink myself, and all photos and opinions are my own. There are no affiliate links on this page.