Ahab

[watch_art]

 

appearance and design -- love the colors available. wish there was a solid black, or even a dark green/black swirl. that would be awesome. i don't like the little steps at either end of the pen too much for aesthetic reasons. looks kind of goofy. also think the clip is kinda funny lookin, but it's a very nice functional clip. very easy to grab when slipping it in a pocket.

 

build quality -- very good. only bad thing is the feed may come loose when flushing it out. at least it did for me. maybe i was a bit overzealous and pumping a little too fast. because of this I've taken the converter off and I'm using it as an eyedropper. So far so good. Really like that converter. I'm definitely going to get a new o-ring for it. Maybe I'll cut the one I have to put a nice little groove in it.

clip is sturdy and works great. cap ring rotates when i fiddle with it - but not really that big of a deal.

 

size -- big and light weight. love it. much better in my hand than the earlier flex pens.

 

nib -- was quite toothy at first, but after a turn on my polishing wheel it's very nice and smooth. good line variation as well. i don't feel like I have to push really hard to get a fat line.

 

flow - after a very good cleaning with some 409 and running an xacto down the channel to be sure it was clear of any debris, it's perfect. only with very fast flexing and drawing do i get any railroading. only twice on the drawing below did it do this. never skipped once. using Noodler's Heart of Darkness.

 

 

 

Why the heart? Well, the heart has been on my mind b/c of an art contest that some of my students have been participating in and it sort of just popped up on the page after I drew the first center arrow. Why the arrows? Stole them from one of my kids who is always coming up with really cool designs based around arrows. First time she saw one of my worm drawings with arrows, she said "You stole it!" I love being inspired by my students.

 

Edit to add: both pages are 8.5 by 11 inch HP 32 lb copy paper. Good stuff.

Edited December 19, 2011 by watch_art

[GemMayhem]

Another fabulous, entertaining review! I always enjoy your reviews.

 

Glad to see you're loving your Ahab.

 

All the Best,

Gem

[The Royal Pen]

Excellent review, complete with the best pictures too!

[watch_art]

Thanks!

 

I'm super loving my Ahab. Been drawing with it all day.

[AlejoPlay]

I have to say I really love the looks of my two Ahabs, particularly the Ivory darkness.

 

I've been fiddling with both of mine to get them to write well. Both are writing fine but with some caveats. The Cardinal Darkness is able to flex without railroading however the nib feels very stiff and dry (it's inked with Noodler's Red Black). The Ivory Darkness is wet and juicy and the nib feels springy but railroads when flexed and skips on the occasional downstroke (inked with a 30:70 Pelikan Blue:Violet mix). I'm leaving them for now until I run a converter full through them and flushing them both out with ammonia and soap.

 

I don't have much experience setting nibs and feeds so really afraid to fiddle with these too much.

[watch_art]

No fear fiddling. They're very simple to put back together. When you take the pen apart scrub it real good with the ammonia solution and an old toothbrush, and give the channel a light once over with a sharp xacto blade to ensure that there's no manufacturing debris in the channel causing flow issues. When you put it back together, stick the feed in so about 8 or 9 fins are showing.

[AlejoPlay]

No fear fiddling. They're very simple to put back together. When you take the pen apart scrub it real good with the ammonia solution and an old toothbrush, and give the channel a light once over with a sharp xacto blade to ensure that there's no manufacturing debris in the channel causing flow issues. When you put it back together, stick the feed in so about 8 or 9 fins are showing.

 

I did pull the nibs and feeds out this weekend and did the scrubbing (used an electric toothbrush ). I just couldn't quite get the nib/feed relationship right. Either the ink was too wet or it would choke. They both write well enough now and I don't want to mess with them too much (I also warped the breather tube in my Ivory Darkness when I was shoving the nib and feed back in, so decided to leave well enough alone for now). Both pens have 9 fins showing.

 

I think the occasional skipping on the Ivory Darkness will sort itself out with an additional flush.

[Fabienne]

Gad, you are good at this! Thanks for the review. I feel the same way about the Ahab. Nifty pen and nifty idea.

[watch_art]

the breather tube isn't that big of a deal. you could trash it if you want. it's only really necessary if you're wanting to get the entire converter filled. It's pretty big though, so even w/o a tube (like mine) a fill will last quite a while.

[AlejoPlay]

the breather tube isn't that big of a deal. you could trash it if you want. it's only really necessary if you're wanting to get the entire converter filled. It's pretty big though, so even w/o a tube (like mine) a fill will last quite a while.

 

Good to know. I left mine in for now. I love the converter. Plenty of ink for me. I've written for two days with both Ahabs and there's a ton of ink left. Really amazing for a $20 pen!

[watch_art]

It is very nice. I took the converter out because during the last flush the feed scooted out a bit. The pressure from the converter is pretty high. It's really awesome.