Semi/Flexible Cross

December 26, 2005

Hi I'm new the the forum and to fountain pens. I've recently ordered a Lamy Safari pen as an everyday pen. I wll be getting a fountain pen as a gift in a few months and was asked to pick one that I would like which has led me researching fountain pens even more.

I was shown some basic Montblanc pens and they all seem of very good quality but I did not find the tip to be fine enough ( was using their extra fine tester ). Also, I did not get as much flex from the pen though I didn't really pressure the pen for fear of damaging the nib.

My interest in fountain pens came from using a cheap $2 art quill pen with India ink. It has an extra fine tip, maybe more, but it flex's very easily between a fine and broad line. I would use this as my daily pen excpet dipping the pen every few words is a pain and also that the nib is scratchy and trips on upstrokes. My goal is to find a pen similar to this but is smooth.

The only fountain pens I have tried all write similar to a ball point which is nice but I would like to be able to vary my lines if I need to mark something with a thick line or need to write something small and fine. This led me to flexible nib fountain pens which I am having a very hard time finding. I'm surprised I can't find a manufactor that makes one that is a true flex nib. The closest I have found is the Namiki Falcon but I can not find any reviews or pictures to compare the line variation.

In anycase, I was origionally deciding between a Cross Verve ( blue, not platninum version ), ATX, or Apogee. I like all 3 pens but would prefer the verve as my really nice pen to use and is the most that I can really afford. I know a few people have this pen, but no one has commented on it's ability on line variation. Any help or recomendations would be appreciated! Sorry for the long post!

December 26, 2005

Hi,

The purpose of a flex nib is to "draw" copperplate or spencerian script. If you need to switch between fine and broad, try the Sailor Zoom nibs or the Sailor SuperScript. You can also try a two-sided nib.

Dillon

December 26, 2005

Danitrio is probably the one modern manufacturer (that I am aware of, anyhow) that make a true flex nib. A two-sided nib, as Dillon stated, might also be a good choice. For an assortment of flex, your best bet is going to be with vintage pens. Others are far more knowledgeable in this field, and I'll leave it to them to chime in.

Some pen videos · December 26, 2005

Dani Trio has a reasonable modern flex nib.

Also there is a special nib for Pilot/Namiki (see here). Also consider the specialty nibs by R. Binder for the pelikans.

Perhaps few others but if you really want flex you need to go vintage.

Search around FPN - there are plenty of discussions for flex nibs.

I do not think there is any flex nib on Cross - they are good pens but not flex.

Edited December 26, 2005 by antoniosz

December 26, 2005

Thanks for the replies guys. I will try the makes that you guys mentioned and if not I will see if I can find a vintage pen somewhere for a good price. Thanks!.

December 27, 2005

An update: I went to Paradise Pens and tried the Cross Verve, ATX and the Namiki Falcon. From what I had heard I thought the Falcon would not flex very much at all and still be far from what I wanted in a flexible nib. Well it turend out to be exactly what I wanted and gave me just the righ amount of flex that I wanted. I plan on purchasing the pen after I read some more reviews but I like it a lot so far. I will need to see if I can get an extra fine nib with it as the small/fine nib was still a bit larger that I would like. Thanks!

December 27, 2005

I own the Cross ATX matte black and really like the way it writes. It has just the right flex for my style of writing. ANd the price was certainly a deciding factor.

Handlebar

December 28, 2005

I tried the ATX and I loved it. It fits my hand perfectly and writes smooth. I plan on buying that as my second everyday pen. I've already ordered a Lamy Safari and I don't know what I would do with 3 fountain pens.

January 19, 2006

and I don't know what I would do with 3 fountain pens.

Oh, you'll figure something out soon enough. I did , and now I'm up to six (with six different colors of ink).

January 19, 2006

and I don't know what I would do with 3 fountain pens.

Ha ha ha ha ha. You'd buy more to keep them company.

It will help you to decide if you specify why you want to be able to write thick and thin. As Dillo says, flex is designed for variation within a letter. From your description, it seems you might want to write either a thick line or a thin line, but of constant widths.

For flex, you've got some hunting to do, and the most prospective way is vintage, and once you start the pursuit of vintage flex you'll get to an order of magnitude more than three pens real quick. And it is possible that you'll never find a fountain pen nib that will give you quite the flex you get with a dip pen nib.

OTOH, a lot of nibs, Ancient and Modern, will write a line of medium or broad width with the nib held in the conventional way, and thinner if you turn the nib over and write with the back. From time to time manufacturers make more or less of a feature of this: the Parker Vacumatics had it as a minor selling point, and then Parker made the 180, where two widths with one nib was the major gimmick ^H^H^H^H^H^H^H feature, and Sheaffer copied. Many modern nibs will let you do this, with maybe a little smoothing of the reverse of the nib.

An elegant solution is Richard Binder's Italifine grind, which gives you an edged (italic) nib on one side and a finished fine point on the back. The Pelikan 200 is a good quality, low cost pen with interchangeable nibs, and one of these with an Italifine would be a distinct possibility. It may not be your final pen, but it will never have seemed like a *bad* choice.

BTW, you know that IBM originally projected the market for computers in the US as being about five machines? Not know what to do with more than three pens, forsooth.

Good luck

Michael