Pelikan 400Nn, Does This Look Correct?

[BlueJ]

I do feel the 400NN is not writing up to its potential and plan to send it out, but haven't decided to whom. The happy (or sad) ending will follow, but it will probably take a few weeks or months as nibmeisters are not known for overnight service. I plan to send at least one other (non-Pelikan) pen out for some work at the same time, possibly causing additional delay.

[BillH]

Nibmeisters, especially the good ones, do not have overnight service simply because a couple hundred other FPN'ers got in line before you knew you needed one

 

They are definitely worth the wait though.

[Bo Bo Olson]

You do have a second pen? Right?

Time for new inks and good to better papers while you wait.

[Bo Bo Olson]

There must be a list of US repairmen...in that really don't need a great nibmeister.

 

There a number of them with a waiting time of weeks, from my reading.

I've only used PB..Pendelton Brown but he is popular. Check him for time.

 

There are very many others, and often folks here who like the "lesser known" (well to me in living in Germany have Euro ones), who have waiting lists of a couple of weeks to a month.

Perhaps those in the know could drop you a few names....or post a thread in the Fountain and Dip pens's main section, where you could get more action.

[BlueJ]

You do have a second pen? Right?

Time for new inks and good to better papers while you wait.

 

Err, yes, about 18 other "second pens" so I will not have to use ballpoints!

[Bo Bo Olson]

I fingered you did, so the wait will not be forever.

Do you have any other semi-flex pens? Do you have any of them in oblique?

[SpecTP]

I have 2 400nn. One has a straight nib and the other has a bent nib (though not as much as yours). Both are semi-flex and write beautifully.

[BlueJ]

I fingered you did, so the wait will not be forever.

Do you have any other semi-flex pens? Do you have any of them in oblique?

 

I have some with at least a little flex including a few obliques. Closest is a Montblanc 22 OM. The directional variation with the OF is more subtle but still visible and to me, attractive. I hope the 400NN will be a little wetter and more flexible than it is now when straightened and adjusted.

Edited July 29, 2018 by BlueJ

[Bo Bo Olson]

I'm not up on the MB 22...but it might be old enough to be semi-flex. I enjoy a number of that era's obliques.

Hidden away I have I think a 322 that is a nail. Sigh cubed....No it's a 320.

 

 

'Little flex' can be a regular flex....more a nice springy ride.Needs a bit of a mash to really spread the tines.

Or a Semi-flex takes half that pressure to spread it's tines, is even softer; and is often, but not always a wet writer; due to ease of tine bend.

3X is the max for that tine spread set....so that too = a little flex for the softer semi-flex..

Edited July 29, 2018 by Bo Bo Olson

[BlueJ]

I received the 400NN OF back from Mark Bacas a couple of weeks ago. He made the nib much more nearly straight, with just a slight downward bend remaining. The pen is smoother and much wetter than before, though not an excessively wet writer in absolute terms. It is still not more that semi-flex but I bought it for the (subtle) oblique directional line variation, not for pressure variation.

All in all, a success.

 

In fact I like it so much I also bought another 400NN in OM (green this time to compliment the tortoise.) This pen of course shows much more pronounced oblique character but is similar in flow and flexibility to the repaired OF. It also has a very slight downward bend to the nib.

 

I may put up some photos and writing samples eventually but am a bit busy now.

[oldrifleman]

Older 400s (including the nn class) are addictive! I seem to have accumulated about 10 of them, one has ended up being a donor, until I find a plainer one (it is nicer Tortoise pen).

[Bo Bo Olson]

I don't always put pressure on my semi-flex nibs....still being a tad heavy handed, will occasionally get a fatter first letter, or a heavier crossed t, and if the last letter is an e, it thins out nicely as the stroke dies.

More natural flair than, trying to flex the nib, which occasionally I'll do with a decender on a last word in a paragraph.

 

Lots of folks it appears, do try to flex semi-flex the nib all the time, but that is work....once one has a superflex, I think one would go back to the natural flair. A dip pen will flex so easy, that semi-flex...'flexing' is hard work. But I think many think of it as semi-flex instead of semi-flex.

Flex is flex, samo samo. Right?

(Almost is a pretty big word........especially if coming from nail.)

 

Originally I was ham fisted when I got my first semi-flex nib, a 140 OB, and was maxing the nib more. It took me some three months to lighten up my hand so I wasn't maxing so much.

Now it's line variation On Demand...............................I have to remember to demand.

[BlueJ]

The 400NNs are certainly nice pens. How do they manage to get nearly 2 mL of ink into such a slim and not overly long body? Is it a 2-stage telescoping piston like the contemporary Montblancs?

[Bo Bo Olson]

No, not a two stage...don't know how either.

 

The regular 200/400 holds @ 1.27***, the 600/800 1.37 and the 1000 is only 1.47....about what a MB 146 has. The 149 has 1.60....as much as a large Sheaffer cartridge. The 400nn I've seen listed at 1.95.

***I have seen other listings, but will go with the one memorized in it was first. Back then I didn't have an electronic kitchen scale, and since I do...never think to weigh before and after.

 

It only took me two years to decide the 400nn has a slight tad better balance than the 400. Posted of course. I'm a firm believer in that posting gives standard and medium-long pens their best balance.

 

If one fears mars, wax the pen.

Edited October 25, 2018 by Bo Bo Olson