Little Happy Dance, First Doric And Adjustable Nib

[KBeezie]

Got them uploaded here at the moment. http://imgur.com/a/XvxUt

 

Wahl-Eversharp Doric in a Kashmir (1931-1935) and a #3 Adjustable nib.

 

http://i.imgur.com/3UdeTg7.jpg

 

http://i.imgur.com/aQRvL07.jpg

 

Cap's a little dedicate (had two chips on the lip, third one just from gently brushing the inside with a damp q-tip), but usable.

 

It's pretty cool, I just can't decide what ink I want to use with it.

[Keyless Works]

Congrats on a beautiful pen. I briefly had one in Kashmir but got spooked by what I suspected was crystallization and returned it.

 

Would love to see a writing sample.

[gweimer1]

Beautiful pen!

[linearM]

Congrats! You just snared my grail pen.

[inkstainedruth]

Okay, I'll bite. What is an adjustable nib? Is it a flex nib, or something else entirely?

I ask because I was in an antiques mall today and passed on most of the pens I saw -- including a Wearever that looked it had an overlay of gold colored metal (not sure if it was actually 14K) across the top of the nib. Somewhat like this, only in that case it was a metal strip that was fastened to the nib across roughly where the nib slit would be.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[KBeezie]

Okay, I'll bite. What is an adjustable nib? Is it a flex nib, or something else entirely?

I ask because I was in an antiques mall today and passed on most of the pens I saw -- including a Wearever that looked it had an overlay of gold colored metal (not sure if it was actually 14K) across the top of the nib. Somewhat like this, only in that case it was a metal strip that was fastened to the nib across roughly where the nib slit would be.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

They're flexible nibs with an adjuster on it (modern example would be a Pilot Justus 95), the slider moved forward makes the nib firmer up to a nail. Pulled back allows the nib to flex more, anywhere in between can makes it basically springy or semi-flex rather than a nail or full flex.

 

The wearever pennant you speak of with an 'overfeed' is not meant for the adjusting of flex nibs, but rather as a work around to keeping the nib from drying out. More information on that here : http://www.penhero.com/PenGallery/Wearever/WeareverPennant.htm

 

The Pilot Justus I mentioned earlier has something that looks like an overfeed, but the collar by the section is twisted between H and S (hard and soft) to adjust the flexibility or firmness of the nib.

Edited May 23, 2015 by KBeezie

[KBeezie]

Added a write sample.

 

Full size (300DPI) : http://i.imgur.com/3F1tSQL.jpg

 

Inked it up with Edelstein Jade on some Environotes Sugarcane paper.

 

And when I say "effort" I'm only talking about consciously going for a bigger line, as what's shown is still quite easy to do without pushing it.

 

There does seem to be some slight dry-ness when using the slider somewhere in the middle (I suspect if not perfectly straight it'll mess with the flow in the channel a little). But full on nail, and full on flex works pretty nicely.

 

I'd say it's probably around a western EF at light hand, and easily a double broad on spreading it without feeling like it's going too far.

 

It has a bit more ease of flex than my Eversharp Skyline Demi in Silver Moire that I thought was already pretty easy.

 

http://i.imgur.com/3F1tSQLh.jpg

[Tasmith]

Beautiful pen!

[Tas]

I stupidly missed out on one ages ago on eBay and have regretted it ever since.

 

Beautiful pens and wonderful nibs. Delighted for you and thanks for sharing.

[Chef Boyardee]

Cool stuff, I'd love to have a pen like that! Are there many pens with nibs like that? Did you have to clean it up/restore it any? Are those pretty rare? DId you find it out in the wild as they say?

Sorry, I'm a newbie! Looks like i'm doing some net surfing....

[KBeezie]

Cool stuff, I'd love to have a pen like that! Are there many pens with nibs like that? Did you have to clean it up/restore it any? Are those pretty rare? DId you find it out in the wild as they say?

Sorry, I'm a newbie! Looks like i'm doing some net surfing....

Ebay auction from a seller who for the most part replaced it and gave it a rinse but not too rigorous a cleaning due to the doric celluloids being pretty brittle/delicate compared to other pens.

 

Wahl/Eversharp Adjustable nibs : no as common as just a straight nib (be it flex or firm), there's a price premium usually for one. A Modern version of this behavior would be the Pilot Justus 95 with a collar that switches between hard and soft with the bar on top of the nib, but it doesn't come close to the ease-of-flex as this Doric has.

 

Before seeking out vintage nibs that have some flexibility I recommend picking up an inexpensive steel dip nib and a nib holder, something like a small box of Zebra-G nibs for $10 and a nib holder for around $2 (or the equivalent Speedball, etc), they're higher performance flex nibs for cheap, and will provide more than just bout any fountain pen you can get out there, but they're not stainless so after a couple of months you may have to toss it as it gets worn out. If you can write consistently without causing flex on one of those, and then practice with the line variation, you'll be better prepared to mess with an older nib that has some flex to it. (Pens like Noodler's or FPR etc are not a good indicator of flex nibs because they require so much extra pressure just to get line variation, doing the same to a vintage nib will destroy them).

[Chef Boyardee]

Awesome! I'm going to go the dip pen route, it suits my budget!

[esterbrookj]

Sweet pen, looks great. A Doric with an adjustable nib is a truly special thing.

 

-Evan

[welch]

Saw a Doric at a pen show. Pendleton Brown had just finished tuning it. All I could say was , "Wow! So THAT's a Doric! If only..." And that was the standard nib...not the adjustable nib...a great idea.

[KBeezie]

Saw a Doric at a pen show. Pendleton Brown had just finished tuning it. All I could say was , "Wow! So THAT's a Doric! If only..." And that was the standard nib...not the adjustable nib...a great idea.

It would seem the adjustables are not without their quirks, I haven't quite run across it yet (outside of flushing a little more), but friends that I know who have them and the seller himself both note that the nib can be 'finicky' and pop itself out of alignment, something I've yet to experience.

[Wahlnut]

Properly mated adjustable nibs and feeds and sections bores do not misalign. The slider has 4 tangs that are bent outward on the underside of the nib. The proper feeds all have cutouts on either side of the ink channel that provide room for the tangs to pass without interfering with the ink flow, or the contact between nib and feed ink channel. The adjustable nibs ink flow is pretty consistent throughout the 9 steps of flex gradation. If a nib will not stay aligned and pops left and right, suspect the feed may be the fault. Needle point adjustable nibs can grab paper like all needle-fine flex nibs can, but otherwise they should not be too finicky. They were invented to satisfy a wide variety of hands with one pen. They were an economical (for the company as well as the dealer, reducing the number of pens a dealer had to stock in a given color by maybe 9 times. AND, the adjustables were the then next evolution of the original Tempoint (14 nibs in 3 sizes= 42 nibs or pens in a dealers stock ) then the Personal Point which gave a dealer the option of replacing nib units to satisfy a consumer, and then the adjustable nibs to further reduce final inventory costs for dealers while satisfying many different customers with the one pen....but that may be more history than needed here.

The proper feed has crescents cut out on the sides. AND the feeds were different sizes depending on the size of the nib. Adjustables came in #3,5,6,7,9, and 10. (6 and 9 had necked shafts to fit into smaller sections).

Syd

[KBeezie]

I suspected as much Syd, I know with the one I currently have flow seems to be best around close to the tightest spot and at the last 3 (towards the back), in the middle the flow dries up a little bit, but still usable. I suspect it's probably as you say that it may not be lined up with the boring or the prongs underneath, but that's been probably the only quirk I've experienced so far. I have not yet experienced the nib going out of alignment even at the softest setting where it's more likely to happen, but I also tend to have a light hand and I've avoided any kind of twisting as some of my other pens could suffer the same 'finicky' behavior If I don't stroke them consistently.

 

Like the luck with the Silver Moire demi I have, this was another lucky break that happens to work pretty nicely. Though eventually I would like to get another (not too picky on color), preferably 2nd generation with the cap band down to the lip of the cap, and has that diamond patterned band along with the little circular wahl logo on it. And while an adjustable would be awesome to get again, I write light enough that I could handle just a straight flex nib. Probably not this year, but someday, would like to get a red, blue or gold skyline moire in standard size with a semi-flex before I get to the point of shelling out for a well treated second Doric.

[sailorboy]

Nice looking pen. I have a humble jet black Doric myself, without an adjustable nib. I am also fairly new to Wahl. I believe mine is a first generation (?), junior size?

[sailorboy]

Apologies here is the photo.

[penmanila]

^yes, that's what it is. here's the full-sized version with a #7 adjustable nib. this was my first doric, which i got in ann arbor around 1987. i remember seeing it in an antique shop and arguing with myself whether it was worth the $28 price tag (i was an impoverished grad student then, and every dollar mattered). in the end, it was just too pretty to pass up.

 

 

it's still with me, and will soon be joined by this first-gen doric set in the "morocco" color, which i got on ebay just last week for $185 BIN:

 

http://s291.photobucket.com/albums/ll296/penmanila/Morocco2_zpsu29so7jj.jpg

 

not an adjustable nib, but i have a nice spare flexible nib from another doric waiting to go on this one.

Edited June 29, 2015 by penmanila