Wahl-Eversharp Nibs

[Margana]

What is the difference between a Wahl-Eversharp manifold nib and a Wahl-Eversharp signature nib? Are there other designations?

[wdyasq]

What is the difference between a Wahl-Eversharp manifold nib and a Wahl-Eversharp signature nib? Are there other designations?

The world ... Most Manifold nibs are stiff. The Wahl Signature or Flexible nibs are real flexible. Each nib is a bit different but I have found Wahl/Eversharp are either really flexy, simi-flex or siff.

 

If you are looking for flex, don't forget the warrented nibs. Wateramn also made very flexy nibs also.

 

Ron

[Wahlnut]

OK, if your are under 50 years of age, you may have to use your imagination. Before carbonless duplicate papers (or sometimes called NCR papers - No Carbon Required), People put carbon coated papers between sheets of paper to make copies. To make copies, you needed to transmit enough pressure through the various sheets to make the carbon on the carbon paper transfer to the paper beneath it. It was not unusual to make 4 or more copies in this manner,

 

Manifold nibs were made to do this job. They were stiff and were sheaped with a small angled peak to add more reinforcement. Mani=many Fold= a part doubled or laid over another part . These are Webster's Dictionary definitions.

 

During it's time Wahl made over 18 different nibs for different purposes. Not just running from flexible to stiff, but from ultra fine point accountant and stenographers nibs as well as italic, stub and oblique nibs for righties and lefties. They took the "business end" of the pen very seriously and made it for real day to day business purposes.

 

Wahl had its own gold department where they made their own alloys and stamped out the nibs and did everything from scratch. (pun).

 

Syd

Edited December 2, 2006 by Wahlnut

[Margana]

Good to know. I'm interested in finding a nib that has a small amount of flex rather than a nail. A super smooth fine would be good, too. (Syd, the green moire may require too light a touch for regular use so I reckon I need a third Skyline. ) I was just looking for a little information to help me choose the best nib designation for my needs. If "signature" nibs are really flexible, then I should look for a very smooth fine nib. I like truly flex nibs for fun more than daily use.

[Wahlnut]

Good to know. I'm interested in finding a nib that has a small amount of flex rather than a nail. A super smooth fine would be good, too. (Syd, the green moire may require too light a touch for regular use so I reckon I need a third Skyline. ) I was just looking for a little information to help me choose the best nib designation for my needs. If "signature" nibs are really flexible, then I should look for a very smooth fine nib. I like truly flex nibs for fun more than daily use.

Margana,

"Signature" nibs are in the middle of the "nail-flex" range. They are sometimes referred to as semi-flex to describe their middle of the road characteristics. I have a large number of loose skyline nibs here in many different "strengths". It is way more fun to go alooking for a new pen in order to get a pen with a nib you like, but at the current prices for kylines, Iit might make more sense to find the pen you like and have a nib installed that fits your taste.

 

Problem is that while Skyline nibs were available with more or less flex, the Skyline nib itself is not marked that way, so it is hard to tell what you have without being able to the Thumb Nail Test.

 

Syd

 

P.S. for the history buffs, there was a Wahl Pen called the Signature Pen and at that time there was a wide variety of nibs available one of which was the "Signature" nib (Semi-Flex). There remains some confsion about the pens from the same era without signature nibs being true signature pens, but they probably all are.

 

I know. More information that you need.

[wdyasq]

Syd,

 

This may be best addressed by someone else but, is there a 'torque test' to 'quantify' various nibs?

 

I know I have ballistic nibs, nail nibs, springy nibs, sorta-flex nibs,semi-flex nibs, pretty flexible nibs and "wow I didn't realize I flexed the thing but I guess I did from the line width" nibs. I can see how one could build a pen holding jig and apply a certain amount of tip pressure and get a flex 'rating'. I don't know how others would know what it would mean unless they had a similar nib testing machine and/or procedure.

 

A ham handed guy like me can make a plowshare flex.....

 

Ron

[Wahlnut]

Good thing I put my glasses on. I thought you wrote tongue test! Now a nib would really have to be a super flexy to pass that test! I have never heard of a torque tester for nibs. Seems to me that when the nibs were made new, they knew the specific alloy, the shape, the thickness. All very controllable when the factory is in charge. Our problem today, is that we don't know what we have without testing somehow.

 

I guess everyone knows this, but for me the thumbnail test is fairly reliable. The amount of pressure applied to the thumb nail by the nib while observing how much the tines separate under that presssure is pretty sensitive. Your brain seems to be able to distinguish slight changes in degrees of pressure applied, and for those without nail polish, you can see the color of the thumb under the nail change from pink to whiter as the pressure increases.

 

Syd

Edited December 4, 2006 by Wahlnut

[Margana]

:ltcapd: You guys are great. I really needed that laugh tonight. Thanks.

 

Syd, your idea is great. I'll look around for a pen and then we can talk about a nib.

 

Oh, you didn't provide too much data. The more I learn the better and I'm sure others will benefit, too.

Edited December 6, 2006 by Margana