Noodler's — Polar Green — Ink Review #5

 Noodler's — Polar Green

 

Ink Review # 5

 

Originally posted on FPN: Jul 10, 2020

 

Ink: Polar Green

Series: Polar Series

Type: Bulletproof

Brand: Noodler's

Country: USA

Availability: 3 oz, 90 ml bottles. 

Pens Used: Kanwrite ultra-flex, Jinhao 450 M, Pilot Metro F, Nameless Pocket EF fountain pen.

 

Description

The flow is not as wet as 54 Massachusetts or Polar Blue. It’s viscous and reminds me of Kung Te-Cheng or Polar Black. 

This ink is paper and pen specific. 

The ink can stain transparent sections or body, but it can be cleaned with a combination of elbow-grease and pen flush. 

The woolly-line effect happens with a wet, flexed Kanwrite. When wet, the color is emerald green and then it dries to a dark-ish green. 

Personally, I really like it with a Kanwrite ultra-flex on Midori. I find the combination gives a vintage look. It’s a sage color on Tomoe River but one would need a blotter/copy paper underneath the page as the ink would bleed through several pages. 

People often say that it feathers badly. I’ve been writing pages with it, with different nibs and to be honest, I like the effect. See for yourself. 

I would not use it on copy paper.

I filled the Pilot Metropolitan with the ink and left it for a couple of weeks to check if it would dry up. It didn’t. Longer periods might need some coaxing. 

I’ve read that the Polar inks can be mixed to create different colors and have successfully mixed a Blue and Green to improve the flow. This ink dries very fast. It’s waterproof. 

Writing Samples

Rhodia

Midori

Tomoe River 52 gsm

Tomoe River 68 gsm

Amazon copy paper

Mnemosyne

Comparison

 

• Shading: A bit only with a flex nib on TR.
• Ghosting: Depending on the nib and flow combination.

• Dry time: 2 seconds on Rhodia. Longest on TR.

• Show-through: With flex nib and fine wet nibs. 
• Bleed through: As above.
• Flow Rate: Decent. I would say slightly hesitant. 

• Lubrication: Average. 
• Nib Dry-out: It can happen….
• Start-up: Almost immediate. I noticed some skipping with an EF nib. 
• Saturation: Saturated
• Shading Potential: Don’t get your hopes up. 
• Sheen: Nope.
• Spread / Feathering / Woolly Line: On Midori with flex, it gives a vintage look, which I like.
• Nib Creep / “Crud”: Yes, on all nibs.

• Staining (pen): Yes, but it’s easy to clean with pen flush..
• Staining (hands): Easy to wash.
• Clogging: Nope.

• Cleaning: Requires pen flush. 
• Water resistance: Bulletproof.

Retrospective note: I’ve been using this ink for 6 years. I have had it permanently in a Majohn M2 (EF nib) for the past year and have had no startup issues. Cleaning will need a pen flush. As a reassessment, I would say it’s best used in a well-sealed pen, with M or finer nibs and on good paper. It’s ideal for those who want a fast-drying, waterproof ink.  

Feel free to share your experience, feedback, or any other comments. The more the merrier. 😊