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I have recently purchased a new box of nibs, Zebra comic G, for copperplate calligraphy. They're nibs I used in the past with happy results, very flexible and nice fine lines in my opinion. I used them with regular fountain pen inks (like Waterman, Pelikan, Lamy, MontBlanc and so on) but also with some self-made mixes and gum arabic. The old set worked just fine as soon as it was out of the box, no need for cleaning or set-up: they just held ink perfectly. This new box seems exactly the same, same finishing, and it was purchased by the same vendor. However the nibs don't hold ink properly: it will pool around the reservoir and refuse to flow towards the tip. When it does flow, it very often comes down all at once creating splotches. I tried different ones, so it's not just a faulty one of the box. I have tried cleaning them with: saliva - which had worked fine in the past with other nibs: slightly better, but the issue is definitely not solved water - no improvement, almost made the issue worse if possible flame - held it over a lighter, at first just a second, then when it was not working I held it for several seconds: again the situation got somewhat better, but it's not solved Things I heard but haven't tried yet: toothpaste - I'm afraid to ruin the tip: should I go for it? chemicals, like solvents: acetone, nitro thinner or simple kitchen degreaser - I really don't know what's going to happen with the metal and/or the ink. I'm not keen on playing the little chemist, so I'd rather leave this as a last resort. intervening on the ink - maybe some inks will solve this problem? Maybe they need to be thinner? Do you have any recommendation or low-risk methods I could try at first? I really want to solve this because I love these nibs and would be very sad to start looking for different kinds to fall in love with also I have a deadline coming up for a job and need to sort this out rather quickly! Thanks and apologies for my English.

So, I finally attempted a nib replacement- a Zebra G nib in a Jinhao x450. I think it worked pretty darn well!

Had an extra Jinhao x750 and a Zebra G nib (titanium) lying around, and saw the hype of the frankenpen you could make with these. Thought, "Hey, this seems easy, I could do that!" YouTube videos and tutorials spun a picture of ease and simplicity. And yet, seven hours (not exaggerating) of trying yielded no results - except for a stuck nib and feed. Heat setting had no effect on the stubborn feed, and pliers upon the nib to try and flatten it slightly resulted in much frustration when the nib failed to rest on the feed satisfactorily. I've read the forum pages and watched videos and done exactly as they said... yet, nothing. I'm at a loss of what to do. How do you do this ardous task so (seemingly) effortlessly?

hey all, i've seen a lot about replacing the nib in a jinhao 450 or 750 with a zebra G nib to get a flexy fountain pen, and I was wondering if the same would be possible a 599, because I'd really like a demonstrator with a flex nib. thanks for any advice!

hey all, i've seen a lot about replacing the nib in a jinhao 450 or 750 with a zebra G nib to get a flexy fountain pen, and I was wondering if the same would be possible a 599, because I'd really like a demonstrator. thanks for any advice!

Hello FPN, Here's yet another Zebra G hack. I had an extra Pilot 912 that was gifted to me and extra titanium coated Zebra G nibs I wasn't using so I figured why not. Maybe a crazy thing to do with a $150+ pen, but I sure like it a lot better now! I like dip pen calligraphy and I even like the action of going slow and dipping the pen for every word because I'm a masochist I enjoy the soothing nature of it and the purity of it all; puts me in some kind of meditative state. Sometimes you just want to write without stopping though and add some flair to boot. I was looking at various Zebra G hacks for pens; JinHao, Noodler's, Ranga etc. and seeing that poor unused Pilot gave me an idea: the Pilot 912 "G". Knowing that flow is always an issue, I modified the feed by deepening the ink channel with an x-acto knife. The Zebra G nib won't fit snugly onto the feed because the feed is too wide. So I took my x-acto knife and started shaving off material on the top and top-side areas of the feed in a way that would make the nib fit flush. Then I took fine grit sand paper to smooth it out and sanded down some other areas to make it fit well. The feed tip wasn't flush to the underside of the nib (there's space) so I put the feed in some very hot water then took it out and held it in place so as to alter the shape slightly, pushing the feed tip upwards towards the underside of the nib. Had to do it a few times (this was the trickiest part for me and I probably didn't even have to do it if I shaped the feed to the nib better by sanding it). The Zebra G nib is too long and the feed sits too far back when both are pushed in, so I took my trusty Dremel tool and in two to three minutes grinded down the back edge about a quarter of an inch keeping the same rounded shape, smoothed it out with fine grit sanding paper and cleaned the nib properly. Fit the feed and nib back into the section, inked it up with Iroshizuku just to keep it all Japanese (no it's actually fantastic ink), and there you have it. I rarely have to prime it and it almost never railroads unless I'm writing feverishly fast. I left it capped (cap fits fine) horizontally for a couple hours and came back and it started right back up again and no leaks so far.

Just sharing pic of nib on a silver X750. Took about a minute to swap it out. Pretty tight fit. Now just need to work on the flow of ink.

Last night I spent a ton of time looking for a suitable, inexpensive flex pen. My first stop was, of course, Noodler's Pens, but there were just too many statements about these pens being difficult to flex properly. Coming from a dip pen background I really wanted a flexy pen, and Noodler's just didn't seem to fit the bill. My next stop was Fountain Pen Revolution. I came close to pulling the trigger on a Guru or a #6 flex nib and ebonite feed combo, but the Guru just didn't appeal to me and I wasn't sure if the offered nib and feed would properly fit into any of my pens, so I kept looking. That's when I found internet gold. It seems that several people have successfully managed to pair up Jinhao X450s and X750s with Zebra G nibs. I have a Jinhao X750 and several G nibs, so I was super excited to give it a try. Now, I have attempted to pair a Zebra G with a fountain pen in the past, but with no success (it did not fit into my Monteverde Invincia or my Regal Andrew). With past failures to point to, and several folks unable to make this mod work properly, I was a bit skeptical as to how well this process might work...but I was hopeful. This morning, as I was about to empty and flush my Jinhao X750 I thought of my Aldo Domani two tone. The Aldo Domani was a cheap pen that could be purchased from Office Depot for around $15 or $20, and while it is a nice enough pen, I never really used it much. It has a huge nib and is a fairly wet writer, so I figured that I would give it a try. I didn't particularly want to go through all of the trouble of draining my Jinhao anyway (I actually have it earmarked to receive a 0.8 stub tomorrow, so it works out well this way). I did a quick detour from my desk to my pen storage and grabbed my Aldo Domani, as I had just cleaned out this pen last week I knew that it was good to go. A quick tug on the nib and feed and I was ready to experiment. I carefully mated a Zebra G with the Aldo Domani's feed, mimicking the placement of folks who have successfully paired the Zebra G with a Jinhao. The nib stuck up in the back (which seems to be how it sits in successful pairings with Jinhaos as well), but the feed seemed to conform to the overall shape of the nib. I mentally crossed my fingers and slid the unholy union home. It seems that I had chosen wisely, as there was little difficulty in seating the pairing into the pen. I fiddled with the overall placement, and then dipped my new frankenpen into a bottle of Pelikan 4001 Brilliant black, sucking up ink with a converter. My first concern occurred after I had the pen inked, but not clean. A couple of drops of ink began to fall from the tip. Normally this would mean that the pen was leaking, and I thought that this was an indication of failure. As it turned out, once the pen was cleaned there was no further spillage. I shook the pen a bit to encourage flow, took a deep breath, and began to write. It had worked! I had successfully paired a Zebra G nib with an Aldo Domani fountain pen! I have been playing with the pen for the last hour and have discovered a number of pros and cons to this pairing. In spite of the draw backs, I do consider this experiment to have been a success. I managed to pair a flexible dip pen nib to a fountain pen and found an inexpensive way to get a good, flex pen, but it is not without its issues. I have found that this pen and nib combo eats ink like crazy. I had to advance the converter several times, and went from a full converter of ink to 1/4 full in the space of two A5 pages. I also found that the nib dries out quickly when not in use, even when capped, and can require a couple of shakes to get going. In terms of performance, I discovered that the constant ink flow made the Zebra G nib less able to return from flex to hairline. This last bit is to be expected when using fountain pen ink on a dip pen nib, and may also be a result of my relatively poor penmanship, but it is still worth noting. Some words of caution: dip pen nibs are meant to be disposable. They are used and abused before being tossed away. They have no tipping and are not resistant to corrosion. In other words, they are not meant to be used as permanent or even semi-permanent nibs. If you try this, keep that in mind. I would suggest emptying and flushing the pen at the end of the day to help preserve the nib. Also, if you do try this on your Aldo Domani, or any other fountain pen for that matter, you may end up killing the feed, or the nib, or even the pen. As with any modification, try this at your own risk. Pros: Cons: --Good, easy flex --Eats ink like a starving teenager eats junk food --Easy to pair --Dries out quickly when not in use --Inexpensive --Poor return to hairline --Tons of line variation --Dip pen nibs are not meant to be in constant contact with ink Here are some pictures of the mod (my phone did not want to focus, and the lighting is poor, but you get the idea), as well as a writing sample to show line variation (my broad edge handwriting is pretty good, but my pointed pen handwriting is not. So, please forgive this handwriting. I am a naturally left handed person forced by poor teachers to use my right hand at an early age...and I worked in medicine for many years, but I am working on it):

Introduction This is a review of the Desiderata Mercury flex pen. After seeing a couple of photos on FPN about a year ago, I knew I’d be getting one someday. When I saw that only one or two pieces were available on the website and no new products were in the works, I decided now was the time. After just a few days with the pen, I am really happy with it. Hopefully you’ll find this useful if you’ve considered one of these great pens. http://i900.photobucket.com/albums/ac209/jasonchickerson/_FUJ6507.jpg Desiderata Mercury pen, Purple Heart and Cherry woods First Impressions I’m sorry to start off on a low note, but here we are. Customer service and product presentation are definitely the low point in what is ultimately a great buy. Pierre ships once per week on Fridays, which I understood when I made my order. Pierre emailed me a week later stating he was unable to ship my pen until the next Tuesday as he was preparing for a pen show. When Wednesday rolled around, I emailed Pierre for an update. He responded that he was too busy to ship it and would send it as soon as he could. It suffices to say I was not impressed. In the end, it took two delays and 16 days to receive my order, though it was sent Priority 2-Day Mail. When the package arrived I (mostly) forgot about all that, so you’ll forgive the lack of a proper unboxing photo. Product presentation is a divisive subject. Some people like lots of heavy packaging, wrapped in tape and plastic. Personally I don’t see the need for a pricey box I’m going to stick in a closet or throw away. Still, while not necessarily indicative of high quality, great packaging suggests such. My pen arrived unceremoniously wrapped in brown kraft paper. I’m glad Pierre didn’t go overboard with the packaging, but some people might prefer some kind of presentation. Design and Construction What Pierre has done here is to construct a feed/section assembly that makes it possible to use (disposable) calligraphic dip nibs in a fountain pen body. His design works very well, and in normal (slow) flexed writing, performance is very good. Occasional railroading will occur when writing too fast or at the wrong angle. This is not a fault of the pen, however. Calligraphy is meant to be written slowly. http://i900.photobucket.com/albums/ac209/jasonchickerson/_FUJ6512.jpg Desiderata Mercury pen, parts exposed The Desiderata Mercury fills with a simple but effective sac. To fill, one must remove the body from the section, exposing the sac. Depressing the sac to create a vacuum, submerging in ink, then releasing will give a 3/4 fill. Pierre provides instructions via a YouTube link on how to get a complete fill, if that is important to you. The pen holds about 3.0ml of ink. Overall, I find that the relatively crude filling system does not detract from the experience of using the pen. While I would balk at any other pen filling in this way, in a calligraphy-cum-fountain-pen, I find it more than appropriate and actually prefer it over a converter setup. Although Pierre does pens of other materials, the Mercury turned from wood. Mine is Purple Heart and Cherry wood with (I believe) an ebonite feed and section. The quality of the wood is very nice. While the color combination of Purple Heart and Cherry would not be my first pick (it was the only option when I purchased mine), woodwork is well done and the pen is beautiful in its simplicity. If scrutinized, I can see the lathing marks, but for me, this says handmade and not low quality. The wood is well-sealed against staining and the hand-cut feed on my pen looks the part and keeps up with the high flow requirement of the Zebra G nib. The nib/feed fits precisely into the section with high tolerance. As another reviewer pointed out, the major failing of the Mercury is in the finishing. When unscrewing the pen for the first time, the threads between the cap and the body showed fine curls of ebonite left over from the cutting of the threads. This causes resistance when replacing the cap. The same is true of the threads between the section and the body. These could have been easily removed and this finishing would improve the apparent value of the pen. Nibs The Mercury is designed around the Zebra G comic nib, which is a good, solid nib that is well-suited for calligraphy and drawing. The standard nib is chrome-coated and a titanium-coated nib is available. If you are unfamiliar with calligraphy dip nibs, I suggest you buy a few G nibs and a suitable straight holder and see if this is something you are interested in before you purchase a Desiderata pen. The experience is very different from using a standard, modern fountain pen nib or even a vintage super flex nib. Fountain pen nibs, even those capable of a great deal of flex, are much, much smoother than writing with a true calligraphy nib. The Zebra G, like all other nibs of this type, will seem very scratchy to the uninitiated. Some tinkering with the nib/feed assembly and insertion depth may be required before you get the perfect flow for flexed writing. The pen is compatible with a number of other nibs, including the Goulet, Pilot and Nemosine nibs. I purchased a Nemosine Broad nib with my pen and it wrote a very wet line when tested with a notably dry ink, Rohrer und Klingner’s Scabiosa. http://i900.photobucket.com/albums/ac209/jasonchickerson/_FUJ6514%20copy.jpg Desiderata Mercury pen with titanium Zebra G (left) and Nemosine broad (right) nibs Cost and Availability I purchased my pen at www.desideratapens.com. Pierre is a one-man show and his website is the only place you can get his pens. My pen cost $100 and was a “second.” The regular price for these pens is $120. That is, when you can get one. Like any hand-made item, manufacturing is slow and these sell out fast. Ask Pierre when he’ll be making new pens and he’ll happily point you to his extensive FAQ, which basically states, “who knows.” At the time of this writing, there are no pens available. However, you can sign up for the mailing list if you want to be apprised of new stock availability in the future. http://i900.photobucket.com/albums/ac209/jasonchickerson/_FUJ6519.jpg Copperplate sample with Rohrer and Klingner Scabiosa ink Conclusion Aside from initial hiccups with the ordering process, I’m very impressed. The pen does exactly what it is supposed to do, which is provide a dip-free calligraphy experience. This will not be a pen for everybody, or even for most people. It is finicky, requiring a precise positioning of nib/feed for proper flow, and I’m not sure I’d trust it in my pocket. But for carrying in a bag to the coffee shop for a little copperplate practice, I could not be happier. http://i900.photobucket.com/albums/ac209/jasonchickerson/_FUJ6520-1.jpg Get Well Card, drawn with Desiderata Mercury pen, Parker Quink Black and Iroshizuku Chiku-rin inks on Original Crown Mill Pure Cotton paper

In a panicked, nervous state and unable to sleep, I thought I'd calm myself by trying out a few pens. I've been torn with the idea of which pens I want to keep and which I want to sell. I have a few vintage pens and though they are all nice in their own ways, I've been looking for a low cost, high quality way of getting the most out of the inks I love. I like an ink that gives strong shading characteristics. So, the ideal pen for me is a flex pen that actually doesn't write too wetly. My Noodler's Ahab (which I've modified as described here) gives nice flex, but it doesn't really "do" anything like hairlines, returns are a bit slow for my tastes, and it writes so wetly that you don't get a chance to really do any shading. You just get a fat, wet line. Anyhow, these are 5 different samples I did with Noodler's Golden Brown (sample 1 must have had a little leftover blue in it). I'd like to know what you think of each pen and why specifically. Note: Please excuse the overall sad quality of the scan and the handwriting. This is my first post! I think I'll take a note from everybody else and just do a photograph in the future for this sort of thing.