I set out to test how much feathering X-feather actually reduces. After ordering a sample from the Goulet pen company I wrote some samples and compared it to my current go-to black ink; Lamy Black.
I think it's worth noting that x feather was designed for crossword puzzles on newspaper. I'm buying my first fountain pen, ink, and proper paper. I'm going with kukuyo binder and loose leaf paper, and although it is relatively fountain pen friendly, I'm going to play it safe since I don't plan on spending money on the subject again until I complete notes from Jordan Petersons "Beyond Order" book. The plan is to take quick notes with a cheap pen and notebook, each page being for one sub-chapter. Then at the end of the week, write down the notes neatly with a fountain pen in a quality notebook to store away for future reference. Hopefully the kukuyo shikari paper and x feather work well together enough so I can take notes on the front and back of papers.
I think generally you won’t see the advantage of x-feather until you get into 1.9mm stub and wider, as well as flex pens. With a fine, it’s generally not going to matter. Lamy ink also tends to be dry writing, which makes it less likely to feather or bleed.
Erik Peterman while that might be true the simple fact is that x feather is sold as a anti feathering ink regardless of the nib size. From my testing it isn't and different than lamy black. If your testing proves otherwise I'd love to see the results
A fascinating comparison. Thank you. I have both inks so this was really interesting. Regrettably, I have had negative experience with all Noodler's pens I have - all three of them leaked. Subconsciously, this affects my attitude to Noodler's inks even though I have not had problems with them. I am staying with Lamy.
All we can say from this demonstration is that there is little difference between these two inks. We can draw few conclusions about the feathering of these two inks versus that of other inks. Moreover, the choice of the nib, particularly its width and wetness will affect the results and a fine nib downplays any differences. I am interested that Lamy ink performs well in feathering under the given restrictions. If an ink doesn't feather on legal pads it's probably good at not feathering generally. Would that RustyDarkMatter makes more videos.
Nice video! I like Noodlers inks in general, though I haven’t tried X feather because I don’t really ever have the need to write on low quality paper. Good to know it doesn’t make much of a difference.
Interesting find. I still think that in a medium, broad or bigger nib grins the x-feather would work better but I don't have the lamy ink to test it. Also in your video the lamy looks darker then in others.
feathering happens at all wetness and thicknesses, it is the ability of the paper to handle liquid ink instead of thick ballpoint ink. While a generous helping of ink might make any ink feather or bleed you can see in my zoomed in photos showed that x-feather didn't perform any better than Lamy black even using a fairly wet fine point. I may do additional tests at some point to see if that theory holds up but for now, my testing shows that x-feather isn't special.
Good video. But you cannot confidently confirm the results based on just one test on only 3 papers. It is unscientific. I understand it is impractical but the text has to be repeated multiple times preferably with more papers and then you get a higher probability but never 100% guarantee that your results are absolutely conclusive.
