Hello all.

A few days ago I received a raw ebonite Takumi from winedoc with the flexy F nib.

I like it so much I've already shot off an email to order a Densho, too.

It's my first nib that has had the word 'flex' waved anywhere near it, and I'd like to ask a little advice, please.

Regarding presure, and the 'flex' of the nib, how much pressure is too much? I have a fairly heavy hand at the best of times, but my wife presses really hard on a pen. She grabbed it and used it, and when I saw the line width I kind of went "oh my goodness!" and immediately started worrying about the possibility of damage to my nice new pen.

On the other hand, if it can handle that safely then that is a way cool thing indeed.

I'm not at home, or I'd scan a sample of what I mean, but by memory it may have been as much as 2 to 3 times the line produced with no pressure.

How would I tell if the nib had been damaged? Would it be obvious, given I don't know the pen very well yet?

Please excuse all the n00bness - I tried a search but got nowhere fast.

(I will post a review of the pen once I find the charger for my digicam that got mislaid in a house move last month. I know it's been done, but when I was buying I wanted more info - especially on size.)

I don't have a great deal of experience with flex nibs either, but I just read Richard Binder's excellent article on flex nibs. The sense I get in general is that if a nib is seriously damaged, it'll be very obvious. There's a picture of a sprung nib near the top of the article.

Others with more experience will almost certainly weigh in. I'm looking forward to learning more!

Don M.

Is the nib bent out of shape? Does it still write a thin line if you use less pressure? Are the tines of the nib still aligned?

If the nib still writes properly, then in all likelihood it's fine.

Write to Kevin about this. I suspect he can send you a steel nib that you can slip in and then not worry about pressure. Then, if you want to experiment with the flexy nib thing, you can use your other nib. These nibs go in and out very very easily.

I hope others chime in about the flex issue. A nib can be "sprung" to various degrees and the nib may be slightly damaged without your being able to detect it.

Obviously if it works, it works, but it may well not be working at its best. I slightly sprung a flex nib on a pen and did not find out until I sent it to Richard Binder. The pen worked decently and was not obviously out of shape, but Richard said it was slightly sprung. It was much better when it came back to me. In fact, it was a Dani with a gold nib.

I hope others with more experience can help you out more, but the steel nib possibility might be one to follow up on. the Dani steel nib is very smooth. j

Thanks, folks.

Of course, it is now academic as I have this evening dropped the pen (how careless do I sound from this thread?!) and the nib has suffered - the tines are a little out of alignment, shall we say

I think an email to Kevin is in order...

Oh man. I feel for you. I did that once. Ugh. Dillo fixed it for me.