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Is This Waterman 52 Flexible?

Materwan

By Materwan
in Waterman

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rochester21 Collectors Item

rochester21

Posted
Posted (edited)

I think you`re wrong, Force. If the pen is made from hard rubber, it should be very flexible. :rolleyes:

Edited by rochester21
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BetwixtTheLines Mint

BetwixtTheLines

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Normally only the gold bit.

:lol:

http://img525.imageshack.us/img525/606/letterji9.png

 

I want all the things x_x

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Left FPN Donor Pen

Left FPN

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I think you`re wrong, Force. If the pen is made from hard rubber, it should be very flexible. :rolleyes:

You try bending one with one hand...even two hands.

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mirosc Collectors Item

mirosc

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it might be flexible.

--------------

I just remembered:

You try bending one with one hand...even two hands.

Spoon boy: Do not try and bend the spoon. That's impossible. Instead... only try to realize the truth.

Neo: What truth?

Spoon boy: There is no spoon.

Neo: There is no spoon?

Spoon boy: Then you'll see, that it is not the spoon that bends, it is only yourself.

Greetings,

Michael

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ANM Antique

ANM

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Posted

I saw an old ad for Waterman fountain pens that advertised 9 different pen points for the buyer to select for the pen they were getting. One that looked a lot like yours was described as Standard, a splendid correspondence point of medium flexibility. Suits most writers.

And the end of all our exploring

Will be to arrive where we started

And know the place for the first time. TS Eliot

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FredRydr Antique

FredRydr

Posted
Posted

Waterman 52s are a pretty good bet to get a flexible nib, and plain black hard rubber (or worn chased hard rubber) should result in a good price. It's a simple pen and easy to clean and sac, so if you believe the seller when he confirms that nothing is cracked, I'd say go for it. If the nib isn't to your liking, there are plenty of Waterman No. 2 nibs around.

 

Best is to try before you buy, at a pen show.

 

Fred

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brendonsie NOS (New Old Stock)

brendonsie

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Force i like your sense of humor. :D

 

Materwan, The Hard Rubber body is not flexible in anyway, The Nib may be flexable however you would be best to ask the seller. Some sellers will even show you a writing sample which i personally like to see because what some sellers call flexable others don't.

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sombrueil Vintage

sombrueil

Posted
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I wish a discussion on What Is Flexible? could be posted as a sticky somewhere.

 

Answer to the OP: you can't really tell from a picture. You can GUESS from a picture. I sure have. Based on long, incurving tines and a make/model that often had flex, I've made some guesses. Many wrong, some right.

 

Even if the seller posts a writing sample, all you can tell from that is that the nib will produce a line that varies in width. A writing sample won't tell you how much pressure it takes to produce that variance, how slow you have to write to produce that variance without railroading . . . and even self-nominated flex experts may sell you something that is not what you think of, personally, as a flexible nib.

 

Only way I have found to be sure is to write with it yourself. And that is today's bad news.

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Bo Bo Olson Ancient Artifact

Bo Bo Olson

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No.1, you need a very light grip and pressure. You have to learn to 'draw' letters.

Don't try to do Olympic splits all the time.

My '52 is superflex....and true superflex you should read Mauricio articles on his site. Put it in Search and you can get a link to his articles. Superflex is wide theme....in there are levels of flex in it.

Mine surprised me in starting a bit harder than expected and then suddenly becoming more flexible. Yours could be a single stage flexibility; as I have my other two superflex nibs.

 

Richard Binder has a very good article on his site, about how easy it is to spring a nib.

In the Penman sub section....the real writers are more interested in how fast a nib snaps back to a thin line that how fat a letter they can make.

 

There are some six, basic fancy strokes you can incorporate into your writing from stiff nib Italic Calligraphy...get a book or download. I found my book helpful the first time I went into real flexible dip pens....where there are nibs so flexible a fountain pen superflex nib looks semi-nail. Hunt 99-100-101 or Gillette 303/404.

 

Give that a try....so you have an idea and cheaply of flex, with out busting your 52's nib.

In reference to P. T. Barnum; to advise for free is foolish, ........busybodies are ill liked by both factions.

 

 

The cheapest lessons are from those who learned expensive lessons. Ignorance is best for learning expensive lessons.

 

 

 

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RMN Museum Piece

RMN

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Merged.

 

 

D.ick

~

KEEP SAFE, WEAR A MASK, KEEP A DISTANCE.

Freedom exists by virtue of self limitation.

~

 

 

 

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Scrawler Antique

Scrawler

Posted
Posted (edited)

It is probably a semi-flexible nib. The way to recognize a higher probability of greater flex capability without actually writing with the pen, is the shape of the tines. If the shoulders of the nib are behind the breather hole it will be more flexible. I don't have any photos at the moment, else I would show you 3 examples of the Waterman #2 nib to show the different shapes of nib. Basically if the tines are shorter and wider it has little flex, and if they are longer and thinner it will have more. However, the shape of the nib is only one aspect. A nib is a 3 dimensional object and has thickness. Variations in the thickness of different parts of the nib, and the skill of the craftsman in tempering the nib, plays into the variability of the nib too. In some places, the art of handwriting remained behind the fashions, and pens made in those places may have more flex to them. Eventually you can learn to recognize based on time, place and shape whether you will have a higher probability of getting a flex nib.

Edited by Scrawler
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