How hard can you push down with the flex nib before you damage the nib? I'm afraid I'll ruin the nib or bend it by pushing it down too hard to get line variation.

For reference, here is the pen and sample of the writing
http://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/in...showtopic=18109

Just about all fountain pens came equipped with what are now popularly called "flexible" (or "semi-flexible") nibs when I was growing up in the 1930s and '40s. Nobody knew they had a "flexible" nib in their pen and they didn't attempt to develop a technique of consciously producing pressure induced thick and thin strokes in their writing. Of course, everybody I was acquainted with used a light and relaxed pen hold touch when writing -- a technique that seems to have become generally lost -- the nuance of letter form line weight was incidental.

I think the general public just used their fountain pens as they had their school dip pens -- some wrote with light paper contact (as I always have) and some wrote with moderate pressure and produced writing with nicely "shaded" (as they say these days) letter forms. Others wrote with heavy pressure and produced noticeably (but often erratically) "shaded" writing -- and lots of blots. Heavy pressure writers also risked ruining their nibs -- all that excessive tine spreading eventually took its toll -- fountain pens saw an enormous amount of daily use in those days.

Modern users of fountain pens with these "flexible" nibs can write normally with them -- as they do with any fountain pen -- but with a relaxed and light hold -- or they can use them to produce deliberately "shaded" writing by developing a conscious "pressure on the nib" technique (or even employ them for Copperplate writing).

I derive my own greatest pleasure in using these nibs from the soft feeling and tactile feedback that I experience when writing on fine paper (the subtle line variation is incidental). I believe that is what they were originally designed for.

The following exemplars were rendered using vintage flexible nib fountain pens and the light pen hold and paper contact I outlined above.

James

Gdr2004,

I think we have the same Mabie Todd ringtop model! What number is your nib?

-Hana

What a great read! I am concerned that if I apply too much pressure, the tines will seperate and remain that way

On one hand, I really want to learn the art of shaded lettering, but on the other, I'd hate to bend the tine and ruin the pen.

It's realy hard to read the number and I have 20/20

I believe it's a 35? 33? 55?

#2 nib -- I just added writing exemplars to my previous post via edit.

This "Lady Swan" ring top belonged to my mother:



EDIT: Please excuse me Hana (and Gdr2004) I miss-read your post -- I thought your question was directed to me.

Apologies,

James

Gdr2004,

You're right, it's hard to read.. Is that a little fracture under the vent? The nib number seems to be the same with the one OldGriz sold, whatever it may be..lol

You know, I paid $125 for mine. It's coming back next week from Richard Binder, so maybe we can compare pens then!

-Hana

That is a beautiful ringtop! My Swan ringtop has a No 2 nib, too.

-Hana

I paid 25 for mine, but one of the ribs in the feed mechanism thing on the backside of the nib is broken. Still seems to write fine though

And yes that is a fracture. O

I just wanted a beat up old pen to practice with and it's what I got :bunny1:

Do you have what is called a "wet noodle"? :ph34r:

You are so lucky!!

I'll post up writing samples when I get my pen back from Mr. Binder.

-Hana

I was taught to write with dip pens, moving to FPs, back in the day when they were normal writing instruments (though a bit after James Pickering, to whose handwriting I am not worthy to apply a blotter). We were taught to produce thick and thin lines -- thin on the upstroke, thick on the down -- but this was not much more than an emphasis on the variation of pressure that comes with normal manipulation of a nib. Certainly no mashing down.

Try writing with it as it comes naturally, and see if you get any variation.

Have fun

Michael

Hi,

Be careful not to push the nibs too far. You do not want your nib to crack in half, lose its tipping, or get sprung. :doh:

Dillon

Could you tell me a bit more about " You do not want your nib to crack in half, lose its tipping, or get sprung. :doh:"?

I let one of my friends try out a pen and they pushed down really hard. Now the tines have seperated, and it seems like it'll only write if I use the back of the nib. Is there anything I can do to fix this?

Thanks