Noodlers Boston Safety Pen

[KKay]

Nathan wanted his pens to be affordable. There is no way another company would be able to get close to a 55 dollar pen like this. Sure they could make this with better threading but that would raise the price up quite a bit. A Jowo nib alone is around 25 bucks. (this doesn't have a Jowo nib, I'm just showing a price comparison on one product) This pen is made of ebonite. It is based on the old Moore pens, it looks like. He improved it. You can buy o rings at the hardware store and you are good to go again. I'd rather have this pen, than any of the old pens with a cork seal.

 

I hope you don't buy one of these pens. I don't think it would make you happy. Pass them buy and let others who want this pen just as it is, for themselves. All of these safety pens are black. I'm not trying to aid promotion. I am calling it like I see it. This is a great pen with a great price. I know a lot of people would adore this pen. I have a friend who has old safety pens, and he loves this pen as well. I think maybe you should just stick with the older very expensive safety pens. My pen will make me smile at $55 USD. In fact I use this pen everyday, and I smile at the thought of it.

Edited February 17, 2018 by KKay

[fountainpen51]

 

 

don't remove it. It's not threaded in, at BEST it's a friction fit and you may damage it.

Maybe rust in the future with strong inks or IG?

[KKay]

My friend put a magnet up to that little rod piece (cap), and it did not attract. Still to be safe, I wouldn't use a harsh IG ink in it. I have the pen with the green ebonite rod in it though. (it was a gift) I don't know about the newer versions, so I can't say. If you have the kind with the regular rod, I would find out before using IG at all. If you put a gold nib in there it would not hurt that. But the rods are a concern. A light IG may work. I don't know if we are going to have parts though, so better safe than sorry.

Edited February 18, 2018 by KKay

[Honeybadgers]

Maybe rust in the future with strong inks or IG?

 

 

Nathan is adament that it's fine (he addressed my concern of exactly that directly)

 

I've been using IG inks in mine heavily and thusfar, no isssues.

Edited February 18, 2018 by Honeybadgers

[inkstainedruth]

I got another small batch in this week. Looks like there's a few left after fulfilling all the back orders. https://nibsmith.com/product/noodlers-boston-safety-pen/

 

Thanks! Order placed a couple of hours ago.... (I hadn't realized anyone still had them in stock.)

Well, I guess that hitting the Luxury Brands table at B/W isn't *such* a high priority after all -- although some of the Committee of Safety inks did look interesting (I didn't want to get them at the Commonwealth Show in September without having a pen to put them in...). But now with the pen ordered I don't have to figure out where they are first thing Friday morning when I get to the show -- I can walk around a bit and see who has what....

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[KKay]

I have been using a handmade iron gall, that is supposed to be a lighter IG ink.

[Donald2]

 

Thanks! Order placed a couple of hours ago.... (I hadn't realized anyone still had them in stock.)

Well, I guess that hitting the Luxury Brands table at B/W isn't *such* a high priority after all -- although some of the Committee of Safety inks did look interesting (I didn't want to get them at the Commonwealth Show in September without having a pen to put them in...). But now with the pen ordered I don't have to figure out where they are first thing Friday morning when I get to the show -- I can walk around a bit and see who has what....

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

 

How many Boston Safety pens did you order? I also placed an order last night for the Boston Safety pen too. What brand ink and what color ink are you thinking of putting inside your Boston Safety pen?

[inkstainedruth]

 

How many Boston Safety pens did you order? I also placed an order last night for the Boston Safety pen too. What brand ink and what color ink are you thinking of putting inside your Boston Safety pen?

 

Just the one. I'm not being greedy. Also, I don't like having duplicates of the same pen if they're the same color....

I have the tracking # but so far no other information (but given that yesterday was a holiday, not too surprising).

As to ink(s)? Haven't thought that far ahead. I keep wondering how a cloggy ink like Kung Te Cheng would do in it, but also have an unopened bottle of Pelikan Fount India. Of course I did like a couple of the colors of the Committee of Safety inks, but didn't want to get any of those without having a pen to put them in....

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[inkstainedruth]

 

How many Boston Safety pens did you order? I also placed an order last night for the Boston Safety pen too. What brand ink and what color ink are you thinking of putting inside your Boston Safety pen?

 

Just the one. I'm not being greedy. Also, I don't like having duplicates of the same pen if they're the same color....

I have the tracking # but so far no other information (but given that yesterday was a holiday, not too surprising).

As to ink(s)? Haven't thought that far ahead. I keep wondering how a cloggy ink like Kung Te Cheng would do in it, but also have an unopened bottle of Pelikan Fount India. Of course I did like a couple of the colors of the Committee of Safety inks, but didn't want to get any of those without having a pen to put them in....

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[inkstainedruth]

Ack. Double post (and I just read the thread about those and how to deal with them...).

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[wallylynn]

Just placed my order for a Safety. I can't wait to try it out. Also added a bottle of Diamine Shimmer. I think being able to shake the pen would make the ink work well. And to use up my old iron gall, a wet pen would make it look nice.

[inkstainedruth]

Well, the Boston Safety came today. Rewatched Nathan's video this afternoon to understand how the pen comes apart and goes back together. Very excited about it, and trying to decide what ink to inaugurate it with (I'm leaning towards KTC, but also thinking something a little less, um, finicky... ).

One thing I haven't seen anywhere (although I haven't watched his other video yet) -- usually one has to flush out any sort of manufacturing oils and such out of a pen before filling it with ink. Is this the case here as well (I have an ebonite Konrad, and honestly don't remember now what I did when I got it... which was nearly 4-1/2 years ago at this point). And should I just eyedropper in soapy water, extend and retract the nib a few times and flush it well, or do more?

Thanks in advance.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

 

​edited for typos

Edited February 24, 2018 by inkstainedruth

[eharriett]

Well, the Boston Safety came today. Rewatched Nathan's video this afternoon to understand how the pen comes apart and goes back together. Very excited about it, and trying to decide what ink to inaugurate it with (I'm leaning towards KTC, but also thinking something a little less, um, finicky... ).

One thing I haven't seen anywhere (although I haven't watched his other video yet) -- usually one has to flush out any sort of manufacturing oils and such out of a pen before filling it with ink. Is this the case here as well (I have an ebonite Konrad, and honestly don't remember now what I did when I got it... which was nearly 4-1/2 years ago at this point). And should I just eyedropper in soapy water, extend and retract the nib a few times and flush it well, or do more?

Thanks in advance.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

 

​edited for typos

 

I really don't think it is necessary since the ink just soaks in the feed when retracted. A bit different from the usual pens.

[KKay]

I took the nib and feed out. I used warm soapy water and cleaned both. I rinsed the feed with warm water, but I put hotter water on the nib while rinsing it.

I rinsed the inside of the pen with lukewarm water. I had no trouble with the nib and feed setting, and I did not have to heat set the nib and feed at all. As I've said before though, I did add silicone to the o rings and threads too, before adding the ink. It wrote amazingly well. I did not have to play with the adjustments.

[wallylynn]

My safety pen arrived this morning. I took most of it apart to see how it fits together and watch the piston action. Gave it a nice polish to make it all shiny. Unfortunately I was also overzealous and marred the cap slightly. My cap is assembled good and tight, cushioned pliers couldn't take it apart (hence the slight marr). Didn't pull out the piston completely, the piston was already greased.

 

 

Gave the inside a quick soap rinse. That was a good idea, the water emptied out slightly grey.

 

The tines (as on my other noodlers) were too tight. I could hear them scrape/catch each other if I moved them one side at a time and stick misaligned. Heat set and pressed the tip of the feed to spread the tines just a tiny bit. This could be why earlier posts talked about skipping...

 

 

The pen is very comfortable to hold, definitely heavier than the plastic I'm used to. Slightly back heavy. I never post any caps.

 

But my goodness, the pen is so long. For better or worse, there's no way I can EDC it in my pocket as I normally do.

[inkstainedruth]

But my goodness, the pen is so long. For better or worse, there's no way I can EDC it in my pocket as I normally do.

 

Had I but known before I ordered mine, the guy whose pen I tried at the pen club meeting last month had the same issue with his -- it was too long for him to put in his shirt pocket. So he was offering his for sale, and at a discount. Of course, by that point *my* pen was in the mail, and less than 48 hours away from delivery.

Eh. It happens. I'm looking forward to inking mine up, once it gets flushed out (I've been watching all the videos that Nathan has done about the pen (including the one where he shows the results of soaking the feed and o-ring in various noxious substances -- although where he got his hands on xylene is beyond me.... ).

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[Donald2]

I received mine yesterday. I don't think that I'm going to flush mine out or clean it. I'm just going to go ahead and fill it up with ink and hope that it writes.

[ReadyFireAim]

It's a great pen and it will do everything that Mr. Tardif says it will.

 

Stick with it and you will happy.

 

Mine is in the classifieds only because of length.

Everything else is only a matter of tuning.

 

The nib is awesome with the proper grind.

[wallylynn]

 

Had I but known before I ordered mine, the guy whose pen I tried at the pen club meeting last month had the same issue with his -- it was too long for him to put in his shirt pocket.

I'm confused. You tried it last month but didn't notice the length until this month?

I inked it up. It's much drier than I expected. Though I didn't put all that much ink in. I don't know what volume "One and a half eyedroppers" is. My syringe is 1ml. I can say that I don't see the ink inside the pen, even while tilting it almost level.

I do have a problem that mine is maybe faulty. There's a little seepage out the rear, past the piston. I have tiny droplets on the shaft, which gets on the sleeve, which gets on the barrel, which gets on my fingers.

 

 

And there's ink on the section collar and threads, although that may not be an issue.

[KKay]

You fill the pen until you can see the level with your syringe. Don't fill it to the top. It may be around a quarter of an inch below the top. Tap the bottom of the pen on a notebook, then look at the level again. New folks getting the pen, you don't push the nib straight up! Turn it clockwise as you slowly push the nib upwards until it reaches full extension. If it is hard to turn, DON'T push it straight up either. When I refill my pen, I always use a paper towel right behind the pen, as I push the nib up. That will prevent a little mess. The more you refill, the better you get at judging when it is full, but not too full.

Edited February 25, 2018 by KKay