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The title says is all..what do you guys think? Has anyone had the chance of owning both types? My birthday is getting near and I want to give myself a nice fountain pen. Right now I own a resin Konrad, with a modified nib (for added flex) and I'm absolutely in love! Which do you think is sturdier/better made or overal prettier ? Cheers!

The original KWZI 1-47 reviews are here.. Thanks to Konrad and Dale (dcroe05), without them this work would have never been possible. Konrad for creating these amazing inks, Dale for his generosity in sharing his samples with me. The Iron Galls are marked with a big "IG" under its respective swab. I have a few favorites... (like 30... ) .. but I will let you pick your favorites. I hope you enjoy drooling over these amazing inks.. as much as I enjoyed reviewing them.

http://sheismylawyer.com/She_Thinks_In_Ink/2014-Inklings/slides/2014-Ink_827.jpg

Hi folks, this is my first post on FPN. I would like to thank everyone who has posted reviews as it made my life so much easier in selecting new pens. Here is a letter I wrote using a Noodler's Konrad Pen with Noodler's Black. I changed the flex nib out for a Goulet 1.1mm stub. The letter is not technically a review, but more my reaction to an interview of Nathan Tardif by David Goulet. However it may give you an idea on how the pen writes. I used cheap printer paper and was pleasently surprised by the results. Anyway, if you appriciciate what Noodler's stand for and enjoy there products, please post your gratification on this post. I think Nathan Tardif is an inspirational person. I hope you enjoy my letter and Long live Noodler's. P.S Please excuse my handwriting, grammer and spelling. I have to write, but I am not good at it.

I just washed my pen... and that's why you see the light (washed out) blue color... The scan is enhancing the differences of the ink... in real life, with real light..... bot are almost indistinguishable..

Hello everyone, I am Bode505 and I am from the state of New Mexico in the USA. Currently I live in South Korea as an English teacher. First fountain pens were cheesy calligraphy fountain pens, dip pens kind of got me into fountain pens. I already have a small collection going but I finally pulled the trigger on becoming an FPN member because I had been messing with my Konrad for a while trying to make it into a pen that could flex easily like a vintage pen. I am aware I said the magic word to get thrashed on this thread but I would like to present my findings before I am hiding under a rock for my words. After many attempts the best I have gotten to work for me (without weird hard starts and 1 million railroads) is using a Hunt 56 (its not exactly flush but after heat setting the ebonite it sits in there well enough to do well I feel I should also mention I think when setting the ebonite feed that I may have also heated up the plastic barrel a bit with the near boiling water as it screws in to the cap with a little resistance now which it didn't have before) and my Noodler's Konrad I bought from the Goulet company a few months ago. I liked the pen but we all know when the feed isn't set well they can be frustrating so I destroyed a few nibs trying this but I will put up a picture of what I came up with. Bare in mind you can write pretty quick with this setup (sorry for my (bleep) handwriting is 2:00 am here in Korea). Anyway here is my picture without further nonsense. Before you ask the paper in the sample is G. Lalo it was the nearest pad I had to me to write on tonight and that railroading happened as I was going pretty quick so I am overall pleased with the results anyway. I thought it was important to show that railroading does occur but it has to be under pretty big flexes and only during demo like that so far for me not under normal writing flexing on each down stroke of the pen. Question is: What sub-forum should this go into? 2.What do you guys think about it? Honest feedback is appreciated Hope you guys like and appreciate it, -Bode505

So there I was. I'd loaned my Ahab to a Martian who needed directions to the White House. He/she/they(?) sneezed, and the Noodlers flex nib dissolved. My pen was out of action! Interplanetary Crisis! Noodler's doesn't sell replacement flex nibs, at least not yet. I had a Noodler's regular fountain pen nib, free gift when I bought my pen. Taking my trusty Dremel, I set out to modify the regular nib to make it into a flex. Fortunately for the Solar System, it worked. In case you ever find yourself in a similar boat, here's what I did. 1) Extend slot of regular nib with Dremel cutoff wheel. 2) Apply Pterodactylus' Ease My Flex (EMF) Mod. 3) Adjust the tines; heat-set the feed if necessary. 4) Clean...and test. Details: 1) I made a jig to position the Dremel cutoff wheel on the nib. Ahab/Konrad nibs have an arc that matches a 1/4" bolt. I used a 1/4" wooden dowel about 1.5" long for the jig. I hand cut a slot in the dowel with a coping saw, trying to keep the slot in the middle of the dowel. Slot length is about 1/2 the diameter of the cutoff wheel. I clamped the dowel vertically in a vice, and ran down the slot with the cutoff wheel to enlarge the slot to fit the wheel. BE SURE TO WEAR A FACE SHIELD whenever using a cutoff wheel. These cutoff wheels can't take any twist, they will shatter. There will be some smoke as the wheel cuts/burns its way down dowel. Stop when the axle of the wheel reaches the top of the dowel. I clamped the nib in a vice, using the dowel and a popsickle stick to protect the nib. See photo. Note, the 2nd bit of dowel in the vice, to the right of the nib, is there to keep the vice jaws from cocking as I tightened the vice. I wanted to extend the slit to match the length of a Noodler flex nib's slit. I marked the approximate stop point on the nib with a black marker pen. I positioned the dowel slot over the center of the Concave side of the nib. By cutting from the concave side, the wheel will have less tendency to wander. Positioning the nib/dowel/vice took some fiddling. My goal was to start the wheel at about the 1/2 way point in the desired slot extention. The cutoff wheel diameter gets smaller as you use it on your projects. You'll have to match the size of your wheel to the middle of the desired slot, I can't give you any precise figures. My wheel was not quite new, so was a few mm smaller in diameter than a new wheel. Take light cuts, removing the wheel to check that the nib is not getting too hot. I dribbled water on the nib periodically, just to be safe. But the nib never felt hot to my fingers, even after the first (dry) cut. The wheel will cut on both sides of the slot since this is a "plunge" cut. I positioned the Dremel so that the wheel would try to climb up the nib; I never had a problem with climbing, though. I used a "medium" speed for the Dremel. After I got the slot length I wanted, I deburred with wetordry sandpaper, and a scraper (small screwdriver blade...the universal tool). Deburring took a while. 2)Once the slot was deburred, I applied the EMF mod. See his thread for details. https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/index.php/topic/240492-noodlers-ahab-ease-my-flex-mod/ 3) I had to adjust the tines, in/out and up/down and rotation. The slotting had spread the tines, and the EMF procedure had warped them a bit. I needed to use round-jaws needle-nose pliers to bend the tines parallel to the arc; this was to correct an "Inverted Grand Canyon slit" problem (Richard Binder terminalogy), probably caused by the slotting operation. Eventually I got the slit and tip looking ok. Richard Binder's Nib Smoothing Workshop notes (.pdf) is a great help in showing you what you need to see at the tip. The nib was not snug against the tip of the feed, so I heat-set the feed to the nib. Nathan Tardif uses a "Tiki oil candle" in his demonstration video. Ace Hardware had similar candles under the "Ultra Pure Liquid Candle" name (on a shelf next to lamp oil and tea candles). This was my first heat-set....I held the feed a little too long above the flame, and the feed started to smoke, oops. The fins expanded a bit, clearly suffering from the heat; but they still will hold ink, fortunately. 4) Clean and clean again with dish soap+ammonia. I also used rubbing alcohol to remove fingerprints & grease from the nib. Testing was long. Initially, the pen would not pass ink past the slot. The ink channel would dry up, under the slot, as I wrote. This drying was exacerbated by the wonderful flex of this nib - wide areas are Very wide, expending ink quickly. Pen would work fine if I covered the slot with a bit of masking tape. This would restore the wicking action needed to move ink past the slot to the slit. I tried various fillers to increase capillary action in the ink channel under the slot: brass wire, cotton threads, stainless steel wire. Cotton thread (from string) laid in the ink channel wetted the best, but flow was still slow. Eventually, repeated cleaning of the feed with a the soapy solution and a test-tube brush, got me back in business. The ink will flow through the ink channel without needing any capillary enhancers or masking tape lid. When I burned the feed, perhaps some of the combustion products were inhibiting ink flow? The pen writes fine now. I can't write at blazing speed, the feed can't keep up. However, for normal calligraphy writing speed, the new nib with slot works well. If I feel the need for speed, I'll just put a small bit of tape over the slot. If it was clear tape, no one would even know :-) Oh yes, Step 5) Always carry a Loaner Pencil in case you run into Martians. The photos: 1) Modified nib and original flex nib. 2) Jig and vice. Slot has been cut, deburring next. 3) Look, it writes! I diluted the ink to get more shading. A 50% dilution, not seen here, works better. Without dilution, my wet lines show no shading with this ink.

So here it is: unlike the Ahab, on which I have given up for good, does the Konrad write? Even if left capped for 15 minutes, or, Heaven forbid, overnight?

Hey, guys! Just got a new Noodler's Konrad Acrylic flex pen today...it writes SUPER scratchy. I'm pretty new to fountain pens and all. What can I do to fix this issue?

I've been wanting for ages to getting hold of a Noodler's pen to fiddle with. Now I have a Konrad in 'Narwhal'. I always intended it as a replacement holder for my Knox 1.1mm stub, but I left the flex nib in it to see how I liked it (it didn't last the day before I swapped it out). I'd only seen pictures before and I thought it was quite a big pen, but it's actually a really nice size for me. The resin feels warm and 'soft' to the touch with just a little bit of drag when I move my fingers over it, nice, I don't mind the smell either. The quality of the finish is good for a pen of this price, can't complain about that. From reports I'd read I was expecting to have to do some major tweaking to get it to write, but i just flushed it and filled it and away it went. It flexed with firm pressure and wrote with just discernable variation with light pressure, but the nib wasn't doing anything for me so out it came. The Knox went straight in and it wrote pretty well but there were hard start and skipping issues. I had a closer look and saw there was a gap between the nib and feed so I thought I'd try my hand at heat setting it. It was disappointingly simple, only took about 30 seconds (took longer to boil the kettle). Perfect, neat set, it hasn't skipped once since then and starts as soon as it touches paper. The one thing I miss from the Jinhao X450 that the nib was in before is the sound. The nib used to make tiny squeaks and growls as it moved over the paper, probably because of the hard plastic feed with lots of fins. The sound added another level of satisfaction. The X450 is actually a very good pen, very solid and reliable, but it's too heavy and cold for my personal taste. I've put the Noodler's flex nib into it so it might get some use (probably not though). I have to say that I'm impressed by the Konrad, I think I'd get another one, or maybe an Ahab, but I'd probably spring for the ebonite version since I hear they're finished a bit better.

So, I've decided to get me one of these. I can't really make up my mind between Forbidden City, Olde Salem or Victory Garden, although I've put the other colours in my poll too. I'll give it a few hours then order away!

Gotta say, I love my Noodler's Konrad. Has anyone here has replaced the standard Nooodler's Flex nib with another nib (Like a Goulet nib or a Knox nib) and would be willing to share pictures of it? I have a Goulet <F> in my Konrad right now, and though it writes well, the nib is set do far into the section that it just looks ugly to me. I was wondering if a Knox or even Nemosine nib from xfountainpens.com would look better (as in less far set into the section)

I am having a hard time with this Konrad and the nib looks different to me than the nibs on the other Noodler's pens I have. Here is the best shot I could get of it... opinions? (the picture will get bigger if you click on it)

Hi all, Does anyone know of a good script/lettering style that would look elegant when written small (under 8mm majuscule height) with a modern flex fountain pen such as a Noodler's Ahab, Konrad, or Serwex/Dilli? These pens don't always have quick returns, but they allow the inks I use to shade to my liking. I've been using a copperplate variant, but it's just nowhere near what it needs to be to look appealing. They can't really do quick turn arounds with the hairlines/swells and it comes off just looking like lazy copperplate with too much ink. Any ideas? Feel free to post pics if you think of something. PT.

(Btw, I ordered all three pens from Todd at Isellpens. Each pen arrived on time, well packaged (protective but not too bulky), and with a courteous handwritten thank you note. I highly recommend his services.) The Ahab is the most friendly Noodler's pen, and maybe one of the friendliest pens out there, to service and maintain. all Ahab components can be disassembled and reassemblednib/feed must enter through a specific part of the section in order to fitThe special fit in the section is especially useful since it's that area where the friction fit creates the best seal against air intake which can cause leaking and ink blobs. My writing experience with the Ahab has been divine. The nib is rigid enough for daily writing, yet it will flex enough for me to do a little hack calligraphy. ---- The Nib Creaper is the second most friendly pen. The only issue I had to worry about was fitting the nib and feed, and both were easy to fit and created decent enough seals to guard against leaking and ink blobs. Of all the pens, this pen *feels* the springiest and easiest to flex. ---- The Konrad however...I cannot get this thing to write without burping up ink everywhere. No matter what I tried, I could not get the feed and nib to get a snug enough fit with the section in order to limit excess air intake. Does anyone have tips on how to prevent ink burping and leaking? I contacted Noodler's asking for a replacement feed/nib and noted the lack of a snug fit between the top of the nib and the section.

Just saw this new video on noodler's web site about how to use speedball nibs in noodler's pens, as well as some new pens / new colors / non-flex Konrad nibs. Man I do love all the noodler's videos! I'd love to be able to get those new ebonite Konrad colors, I'm trying to get all of them and have been successful so far, but not being able to go to the Boston show may put a wrench in the works. Anywho, thought you all would wanna watch! -Nick