Flexible Nibbed Pens (for nice variation in line)

[Romebot]

Hello. I'm looking for very flexible nibbed pens for drawing. Most of the pens that I tried had little variation in line until I discovered the Namiki Falcon which I now own and love to use. I was told, maybe incorrectly, that this was the only "modern" pen that's built like that, and that to find other flexible nibbed pens I'd have to go w/ vintage pens. After learning that only vintage pens had this feature, I was suprised when the other day I tried an Aurora pen which seemed to be pretty flexible.

 

So my question is, either new or vintage, what pens can give me a lot of variation in line weight in a single stroke?

 

Best,

 

R

[corienb]

Wahl and Waterman have great flex nibs(it says "FLEXIBLE" on th enibs as well by the way).

Moore has as well, and also has a great Maniflex ( semiflex nib) .

[Nimrud]

Omas also has a range of semi-flex nibs, as does Nakaya and Dani-Trio.

 

I haven't tried any of them personally though.

[jbb]

Some Wahl fountain pens have good flex. The other option is a dip nib. The Gillott 404 nib is particularly nice.

[kissing]

Here's a good source of info from Richard Binder:

 

http://www.richardspens.com/?page=ref_info/nib_disaster.htm

 

and

 

http://www.richardspens.com/?page=ref_info...flex_italic.htm

Edited July 2, 2006 by kissing

[meanwhile]

Go to ebay and include the key words flex and flexible in your search, ticking the search "titles AND description". I've noticed a lot of NOS Japanse pens being sold by Cliff Stutler that have flex nibs.

 

Or buy a 14K nib pen and get Richard Binder to add flex - you can probably buy a flex nib off him straightaway for Pelikans.

 

I think this ebay search I did for you should work as a link I'd recommend learning ebay's advanced search commands, like the brackets and comma I used for "or" - they're very simple.

Edited July 2, 2006 by meanwhile

[Romebot]

Thanks everyone for the info and the links, and thanks "meanwhile" for the ebay search and suggestions--your link worked! Best,

 

R

[sonia_simone]

Mottishaw also does excellent flex nibs. I have a very nice one he did for me for a Namiki Falcon.

[corienb]

I always thought added flex was great but couldn't equal the true "old fashioned" flex ( since nib material of modern pens is different alloy or something ).

 

Stutler is called Russ by the way , some real nice flex nibs in that Ebay link !

[sonia_simone]

My one vintage flex is a lot flexier than my two modern modified flexes, but the modern flexes are enjoyable to write with. I don't get tremendous line variation, but the subtle variation plus the spring in the nibs makes them very pleasing writers, and they're easier to use than the full flex vintage. Also, neither of my new is as flexy as it could have been made--one of these days I'm going to get a full-out new flex nib and see how well I like it.