Neponset Flex - An Esterbrook Nib In A Beautiful Big Pen

[zoniguana]

Cross-posted with the "Show us what you're using today" thread...

 

OK, I am still pretty new at this flex thing, but, I'm working on it, and learning... That said, below is a review of the Neponset with Nathan's new (actually old Esterbrook) flex nib that he fitted on there, yesterday... In short, it is an amazing pen...A transcription of my scribbling follows..

 

 

 

Noodler's Neponset with Flex Nib

Nathan, chief cook, alchemsit and bottle washer at Noodler's built this pen for me, yesterday, at the New England Fountain Pen Expo. He warned me, as he fitted the nib over an alcohol burner, that, particularly if held vertically, nib down, this pen might "drool" a bit, but, he failed to warn me of just how much I would drool over it. Apparently, I am not alone in that!

 

The pen, itself, is one of the Neponset line, and it is huge. Larger than the Ahab, which was already considerable, it rivals the Mont Blanc 149 for sheer immensity. Even the understated elegance of a black pen with silver trim is offset by the scale of this pen. Anything more would be ostentatious. As it is, it commands attention and respect, like Robert Wadlo walking into a bank. Then, off comes the cap...

 

This stunning, imposingly elegant pen has something special. The nib looks like bronze. It has none of the silver or gold commonly seen; it is brown, and it is sharp, and it is big. Jutting out nearly half again as far as a modern counterpoint, the nib tapers to a sharp, needle-like point. Something is very, very odd here - delightfully so. And that is before it hits the paper.

 

You know that sound you hear in the movies, when some old man is writing with his feather pen? That "scritch scritch scritch" of a sharp point catching the fibers of the paper parchment? That's the sound of this nib on the smoothest papers I own. I find, and despite my having large hands, I have a very light hand when writing, that I cannot make this nib not write. If it is in contact with the paper, so too is ink. And once the ink is flowing, this writer does not want to stop!

 

Now, for this pen to flex requires very little pressure, and that is something I will need to learn to control. The variability of this nib, which is extreme, mandates that it also be quite wet - in fact, Nathan recommended I not even ink it until ready to write, to prevent the pen's initial potential to drool, but, once inked, we're off and running with an enviable variation.

 

[some scribbles] Yes, it will go wider, but not controllably so in my hands...

Edited June 18, 2013 by zoniguana

[inkstainedruth]

So, you don't say what # nib is on the pen. Is it a dip pen nib? I know that in Nathan's most recent video he put Speedball nibs onto his pens.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[zoniguana]

In this pen is an R. Esterbrook #14 Bank Pen nib (dip pen nib). Esterbrook described this nib as being firm, but, I find it to be astoundingly soft.