Question About Feeds.

[Icywolfe]

I really don't know how to explain my question in my head. It is worsened because I have a limited idea how feeds works. (More like what is the difference between different pens.)

 

Well in my extremely wet Ahab (not the broken one) I can do flexy writing and it takes up a ton of ink from the feed, but I have to write slow or I'll rail road. And it takes a while for the feed to recover, while My Justus95 doesn't seem to have a "fancy" feed like the Ahab. I can do faster Flexy writing and when it does rail road all I need to is stop and it recovers. (I do suppose it is the same for the Falcon.)

 

I thought the Noodler's pens would be top dog for modern flex pens. (Or that I was told from everyone.) I know I don't really have a huge comparable base due to I have yet to buy those Indian Flex pens.

 

So what makes a flexy/soft pen feed special? My Creaper and Ahab looks different than the other pens I have. My Justus95 with a soft nib has a regular looking feed (I will not try to pull it out though.)

[tonybelding]

The new (rebooted) Wahl-Eversharp Skyline comes with a computer-designed feed to keep up with the semi-flex nib. I've seen a video where somebody torture-tested it with constant flex writing, and eventually managed to run it dry, but only with a lot of effort. It was impressive.

 

However... I personally do not like that type of flex writing, which seems to me like a stunt. Historically flex nibs in fountain pens were designed to add a bit of flair to normal handwriting, and that's how I prefer to use them. You don't need a super-feed for that.

[Lyander0012]

Hmm, lemme see if I can explain this well (possible long post ahead):

 

At the dawn of the fountain pen era, towards the tail end of the 1800s, writing instruments still somewhat closely resembled dip pens in that, ink reservoir aside, there was little to moderate the flow of ink to nib tip save for a rudimentary feed that did little to actually regulate the flow; compared to modern feeds, these practically had ink in free fall. There were vertical channels that, paired with a nib's breather hole, allowed for the air exchange necessary to ensure continuous flow, but none of the lateral ink channels you find on most contemporary pens nowadays. I believe they're referred to as "fins"?

 

Anyway, the spoon feeds found on Waterman pens are a fairly good example of these. But I'll stop here, I just found an article that's both concise and quite thorough in its explanation of feeds, haha: http://www.richardspens.com/?page=ref/feeds/evolution.htm

 

 

TL;DR

People are generally less interested in flex writing, and as such, modern manufacturers design their feeds so as to provide a suitably wet, but not excessively so, writing experience.

 

Oh, and about your Ahab, it's a semi-flex writer at best when unmodified. I believe it's mentioned in the documentation that comes with your pen that you need to widen the channels in the feed a bit if you want to go full-flex. I have the paper in my desk at home somewhere, so I'll check to confirm later.

 

Cheers!

Kevin