These Aren't The Flex Pen You Are Looking For

[Inky.Fingers]

Obi-Wan Kenobi: "These aren't the flex pens you are looking for."

 

If you were bitten by the flex bug, and wanted to know how to get out of it,

you first have to admit to being bitten by the flex bug.

 

How to diagnose if you are, with just one question: Did you search once for "flex nib".

 

I've been around long enough to recognize the signs and symptoms of this flex bug that been spreading pandemonium worldwide.

 

Ain't if fun to chase your flex nib? There isn't really any cure not even when you have been mind trick by Obi-Wan Kenobi.

 

What you can do is use a substitute. Care to read on?

 

#1 Improve your penmanship with what you already have. Really why do you seek a flex pen? Any pen can do incredible penmanship.

 

#2 If color is your thing, use a broad pen or a brush. Some of us seek a wet noodle to dump as much ink on the paper as possible on the paper and see the ouououou..aaaahhh... effect. Why not use your finger then? Seriously, if you like color so much use a broad edged pen or a brush.

 

#3 If flex is really your thing....get a dip pen you lazy sloth! Don't me ya complaining about convenience. Get it down and dirty is how we all do it!

 

Any takers?

Edited April 10, 2018 by _InkyFingers

[benbot517]

#2 was what I wanted all along. Now that I realized that I'm much happier because of it. The one exception I'll make is with noodler's flex pens, only because they're relatively affordable. Chasing vintage flex, for me, is a losing battle.

[Ichiro]

Ill add: or if you desire color and flair, then a semi flex nib. I wouldnt trade my Falcon SEF. Heck, my flex mod noodlers if I really want to lay down a little more ink.

[Sinistral1]

A lot of people think that getting a super flex nibbed pen will give them improved writing. I wish it were that easy!

[katerchen]

Any recommendations for modern flex nibs that also hold a decent amount of ink?

 

For starters I got some NOS Esterbrook 942's which are perfect for the writing man : a dip will last almost half a page (A5) with normal writing, but not much in the way of flex.

 

I also tried a Brause 361 and maybe it was the inks I used, but it barely holds anything. Whereas the Estie was able to suspend a giant blob of ink underneath (yes I cleaned them of the protective mineral oil layer)

 

-k

[Karmachanic]

Modern flex nibs? Careful. Bo Bo might hear you!

[ReadyFireAim]

Any takers?

[pajaro]

I rested with cursive italic.

[WJM]

The last point is a really good advice, especially that you can get flex dip nibs for a small fraction of the price you'd have to pay for a vintage flex pen in a good condition.

 

Flex is fun to play with but in everyday writing it's really not practical. Which is likely the answer to why modern manufacturers don't make flex nibs like the vintage ones anymore.

[pajaro]

IMG_0800.JPG

 

Very, very nice. Easy to read.

[Bo Bo Olson]

I prefer semi-flex and maxi-semi-flex, but my bartender told me I don't have a problem, in they are not flex. So I ordered another shot of Irish Green.

Don't you just love Clairefontaine bar coasters?

[Lloyd]

I view super flexible nibs like super high performance cars: Everyone wants one (or more), everyone thinks that they can benefit from using one without extensive training, everyone thinks that they can use them all the time, no one thinks of the impracticality in using it for most day-to-day tasks, and everyone forgets all of the added risks of using one incorrectly.

[AAAndrew]

I view super flexible nibs like super high performance cars: Everyone wants one (or more), everyone thinks that they can benefit from using one without extensive training, everyone thinks that they can use them all the time, no one thinks of the impracticality in using it for most day-to-day tasks, and everyone forgets all of the added risks of using one incorrectly.

Precisely.

[Bo Bo Olson]

There are modern 'superflex' pens.........even the Ahab falls into that category before mod...if only the width of the tine spread is used to define superflex (needs alt least semi-flex pressure to do that)....falls better into superflex with the Pilot mod, of little half moons ground into the nib. Then it's in the first stage of superflex, Easy Full Flex. A joy to use.

 

Then there are nibs that promise old wet noodle superflex performance, by grinding little lines through various parts of the nib...............could be some of them are as good as the Easy Full Flex of an Ahab with little half moons................could even be more flexible....few enough folks that have both vintage wet noodle and sliced noodle, that care to comment on it.

Until then I'll take the info with a one pound grain of rock salt.

 

Don't know how long the sliced noodle nib will last.......Could well be a 1-2 year nib....is my WAG. if so, you've gotten your money out and can send off for another one.

The half moon nib is expected to fail within some three years...by folks that can guess better than me.

[sirgilbert357]

Yeah, I tried flexy dip pens...Nikko G nib or something.

 

-Waaay too much ink went down on the paper. I had blue inks looking almost black.

-They have no tipping at all and are super sharp, so they are really scratchy on anything other than a downstroke. They tugged and tore at the wet inky paper -- even my good Clairefontaine.

-Had to dip it every word or more.

 

I think vintage flexy nibs offer WAY more than a cheap untipped flexy dip pen nib ever could. But that's where I'll stop disagreeing. Everything else said is SO true...everyone wants one, but they aren't for everyday writing and they SURE ain't going to make your writing look better overnight. Master the modern nail nib first if you want your flexy cursive, etc to look better.

 

Side note: Stubs are TONS of fun and glorious to use when you're having a good "cursive" day, LOL.

Edited April 11, 2018 by sirgilbert357

[Runnin_Ute]

Tried a Konrad with "flex" nib. Changed the nib, to a Goulet branded B.

 

My favorite nib though had to be the one in my 1950's Pelikan 140. Makes me smile.

[Inky.Fingers]

Newbie to dip pen should read what AAAndrew wrote in this steel pen web site.

 

Unless the car is tuned for racing, dont take it to the track. Same as an untrained swimmer should not get in the pool and expect to outswim Michael Phelps.

[Dr_Jekyll]

Definitely learned that dip pens are the way to go for calligraphy 👍 Started with a cheap manuscript pen set, tried the Noodler's Ahab, then finally took a leap of faith with some india ink and a Speedball No.101 nib and never looked back 👌

[sidthecat]

You’ll have to pry my hybrid pens from my cold, dead, ink-stained hands.

[Bo Bo Olson]

Tried a Konrad with "flex" nib. Changed the nib, to a Goulet branded B.

 

My favorite nib though had to be the one in my 1950's Pelikan 140. Makes me smile.

Semi-flex. I have two 140's. When testing the nib at the flea market on my thumbnail, I suddenly knew what all the fuss was about....before even inking.

Actually have 27 semi-flex, 16 maxi-semi-flex......some 7 or so, superflex, three of them wet noodles.....and not all wet noodles will go 7X.

 

A good poster posted to a thread, that in the '30's Waterman was more interested in ease of tine spread, and was only aiming at 3 X tine spread........so it seems we are over stressing the nibs on our 52's....have two, both different in how they tine spread. One that does 7 X, starts off Easy Full Flex, before shifting over to a 7 X wet noodle. The other is more a 5-6 X tine spread.

 

 

I was like many Ham Fisted, it took me some three months to stop maxing the 140's nib. No nib should be maxed all the time. Richard Binder has a great article in his blog, on metal fatigue...I call it 'how to spring your nib'.

 

So strive to keep a nib under max.

 

I have a superflex; first stage, Easy Full Flex 100n, that will go 5 X a light down stroke. I strive not to do more than 4X.....same goes for my 7 X Waterman 52 and Soennecken.....instead of taking it out to BBB, stay at BB.

I'm still a tad heavy handed, to go XXF is a sweat, to go EF I have to think, so mostly scribble** with those two Wet Noodles at F.

**Would help learning to draw all the letters....but I'm lazy. I do have a dust rusted shut Calligraphy book on my desk....for the blue moon days when I want something better than a scribble.

 

Sometime at least in the 1870's the 'diamond' tip came in...then rare and still rare iridium. There were a couple strip mines in Italy and Turkey, where they strip mined the up to two inch thick layer of iridium from the asteroid that helped kill off the dinosaurs. That was for the expensive gold nibs only of course....so they wouldn't wear out.

Steel or bronze dip pen nibs.....called pens back then, wore out just like today, which was why you bought 1/4 gross packages of them. Pen angle is very important. They used a version of the 'forefinger up', rather than the heavy handed tripod.

 

If you take some beeswax, and cut rills/combs in it, you can dip pen and have ink longer.