Noodlers Boston Safety Pen

[Honeybadgers]

The replacement I got last year, while no longer seeping, was very tight to turn and extend and retract.

 

I finally got around to disassemble it. The section portion didn't have much clearance with the body. Took some sand paper and spun the shaft around a dozen times. The shaft moves smoothly now.

 

The nib might have baby bottom. Strokes don't start all the time. Another thing to investigate.

 

I found both of my boston safety flex nibs to have this issue, but weirdly none of my nib creapers did.

 

Worst case, grab a flex nib from FPR or go nuts and find a vintage flex nib. I love my delike frankenpen with an eversharp manifold nib, but the best frankenpen on the market right now is a waterman #2 in a noodlers boston.

 

Or go really nuts. a 3 tine #2 waterman music nib.

 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/WATERMAN-2-14K-FLEXIBLE-MUSIC-NIB/113558771489?hash=item1a70a15721:g:fQ4AAOSwsDZcPlD6:rk:42:pf:0

Edited February 7, 2019 by Honeybadgers

[wallylynn]

hee, hee. I doubt that spending on that nib will make my writing better.

 

I forget, does the nib creaper nib fit? I vaguely remember that it's not quite the same.

 

I don't write for flex, but I enjoy the "softness". When the ink is used up, I'll try fixing the baby bottom, perhaps try to thin the line more too.

 

I also noticed something interesting about the ebonite. The texture of the shaft, that contacts ink is very rough (now a little more so after sandpapering). But the ebonite of the feed is fairly polished, even though it also contacts ink. I wonder if there's a utilitarian reason, or just happenstance.

[eharriett]

hee, hee. I doubt that spending on that nib will make my writing better.

 

I forget, does the nib creaper nib fit? I vaguely remember that it's not quite the same.

 

No, it is close, but not the same. Won't work.

 

I don't write for flex, but I enjoy the "softness". When the ink is used up, I'll try fixing the baby bottom, perhaps try to thin the line more too.

 

I'm not convinced of baby bottom. People are saying that about a lot of issues, but it is not nearly the big problem it is made out to be. Frankly, the Noodlers nibs are just not smooth enough for that to be an issue -- ever. Consider other issues such as the nib's contact with the feed.

 

I also noticed something interesting about the ebonite. The texture of the shaft, that contacts ink is very rough (now a little more so after sandpapering). But the ebonite of the feed is fairly polished, even though it also contacts ink. I wonder if there's a utilitarian reason, or just happenstance.

 

I've noticed this too. I think it might be two different types of rubber. But this one is just a guess.

[wallylynn]

 

I'm not convinced of baby bottom. People are saying that about a lot of issues, but it is not nearly the big problem it is made out to be. Frankly, the Noodlers nibs are just not smooth enough for that to be an issue -- ever. Consider other issues such as the nib's contact with the feed.

 

I'm pretty sure it's not a feed issue. the pen is plenty wet. Once the stroke starts writing, it keeps writing, no railroading. If I flex immediately, it stays railroaded (blank). If I press into the paper without flexing, it writes. The not-writing happens most often when i use little pressure.

 

Might be misaligned tines, but I'm also confident I adjusted that. That and the soft flex should compensate, so long as I'm not pressing so hard to spread.

[eharriett]

Oh, no, I meant the feed’s contact with the nib. In other words, do you need to heat set it? That sounds more like the issue.

 

The reason I don’t believe in baby’s bottom for this, and probably 8 out of 10 other people who think they have it, is there’s no tipping on a Noodler’s nib. Can’t glaze something down too smoothly if there’s nothing to smooth

 

But it sounds like the ink is getting to the feed just fine, but it may not be transferring to the nib point, which was why I suspect the feed isn’t close enough.

 

Hopefully someone smarter than me can chime in here.

[wallylynn]

i didn't heat-set, though I'll be sure to do it next time, just to be absolutely certain. Probably rough it up too. Gotta find my microscope to examine the nib tipping in extreme close up. My loupe may not be enough.

 

I've never heard of noodler's nibs not having tipping. In fact, the pen webstores specifically sell packs of untipped noodler's nibs for cheaper than the regular replacement nibs. I don't know what the nibs are tipped with though.

[Honeybadgers]

Oh, no, I meant the feed’s contact with the nib. In other words, do you need to heat set it? That sounds more like the issue.

 

The reason I don’t believe in baby’s bottom for this, and probably 8 out of 10 other people who think they have it, is there’s no tipping on a Noodler’s nib. Can’t glaze something down too smoothly if there’s nothing to smooth

 

But it sounds like the ink is getting to the feed just fine, but it may not be transferring to the nib point, which was why I suspect the feed isn’t close enough.

 

Hopefully someone smarter than me can chime in here.

 

You do know that all noodlers pens come with a tipped nib, right? Only the art nibs are untipped, and they are purchased separetely.

[Honeybadgers]

i didn't heat-set, though I'll be sure to do it next time, just to be absolutely certain. Probably rough it up too. Gotta find my microscope to examine the nib tipping in extreme close up. My loupe may not be enough.

 

I've never heard of noodler's nibs not having tipping. In fact, the pen webstores specifically sell packs of untipped noodler's nibs for cheaper than the regular replacement nibs. I don't know what the nibs are tipped with though.

 

All noodlers pens come with a tipped nib. You can purchase untipped nibs from noodlers separately (the "art nibs" but the ones that arrive in a pen are ALWAYS tipped. Nathan has four factory nibs in his pens, all tipped. The three tine "vishnu victory" music nib (don't get one, they're a nightmare to tune and use) the standard #6 flex in the ahab and konrad, the #5 flex in the nib creaper and boston safety, and the fine rigid nib in the charlie. They all have tipping.

[fountainpen51]

Boston Safety Urushi seirei-nuri Up-grade

[SoulSamurai]

That's very interesting!

[wallylynn]

Nice. I just polish with car polish. Doesn't get rid of the scratches though. Some grit got under the sleeve, so i have a few spiral-arch scratches from the twist-pull motion.

[fountainpen51]

That's very interesting!

I think Boston Safety is a big pen, and even more so for the price it has. I had to remove the boring black.

Edited February 15, 2019 by fountainpen51

[fountainpen51]

Nice. I just polish with car polish. Doesn't get rid of the scratches though. Some grit got under the sleeve, so i have a few spiral-arch scratches from the twist-pull motion.

In the barrel I did not use urushi for that reason, the conduit is very narrow, scratches with the increase of the layers ...

[wallylynn]

I couldn't look at the tip well enough to see baby-bottom or not. Not enough mag, too tight a focal point, abberation, improper light and reflections, whatever. I just couldn't see it clearly.

 

Regardless, I think the number 1 culprit was that the tines were too tight together. So although there was ink down the slit, little to none was at the tipping. Spreading the tines, and a bit more force during heat setting is keeping it open now. (too much and it's too wet)

 

A second might have been one tine was slightly rotated. I'm not sure if it was this way, or if it's something I did.

 

It's writing much better now though I'm not ready to call it fixed.

[wallylynn]

I'm now ready to call my safety pen nib fixed. I straightened the tines more. Made sure the tines were aligned evenly. And last resort, a dozen swipes on some sandpaper. Barely the weight of the pen, I was deathly afraid of spreading the tines of the flex nib and making the baby bottom worse. Wrote right away. Over and over. Just a bit rough, a lot of drag. A little polishing on the emory board and now it's just about perfect. I've been writing the whole week without any problems at all, where as it used to be hard-start every other word. For the first time, I'm ready to EDC two pens.

 

I'd like to reduce the gap back down a bit. I think the pen is getting empty and wanting to burp, the feed is very wet, the writing correspondingly wet, not something I particularly like. And/or narrow the tip from medium-fine to fine, or x-fine.

[WarrenB]

Been idly playing with my safety pen, on and off, since I got it last year. Now I'm getting ready to use it in earnest, and...

 

One thing that's narked me off then and now is that it's built to accept no other nib except Noodler's nibs. The tines on Leonardt Hiros are forced together and over eachother for some reason, and there's a gap between the nib and feed so that the flow stutters and stops completely. I've ruined a couple trying to splay them out a little or otherwise modify to fit. No other dip nibs I have remotely fit the pen, let alone the feed. I ordered a Zebra G nib specially for it, and caveat emptor, more fool me, because it's a massive chunk of metal that will never fit in the opening.

Maybe I could've carried out that heat-setting trick, but it's a bit moot because the tip of the feed just now snapped off in my hand. So on top of everything else I have to try to carve some kind of shape back into it, or chase up Pure Pens for a replacement.

 

The daft thing is that I bought it under the impression that it'd be more convenient than dipping a pen every couple of seconds. Not even portability, just convenience. Convenience! It does it's advertised job, keeping india ink wet and clog-free: I hadn't used it in a couple of months and this morning the india ink still flowed after a slight dry start... but trying to get that wet ink onto the page through anything other than a creaper nib with a planet-sized ball on it's tip is making my temples pound. I've given Nathan Tardiff's 'pens to be tinkered with' line the benefit of the doubt so far, but now that it's finally bit me in the rump, I'm beginning to wonder. With the amount of cash I threw at it, I thought it might be just a wee bit more accomodating.

 

There are a couple of other things I can try, but at the moment I'm wondering if that money was wasted. I'd considered buying a second at one time, but now I might wait for the Indigraph, or see what Desiderata is offering.

[SlowRain]

I just finished reading this whole thread. The discussion has been very interesting. I'm kind of surprised how few reviews there are for this pen from the regular pen Youtubers and bloggers. I get that Noodler's is a small company, but this seems like such a unique pen that I thought pen people would be oohing and ahhing over its potential if nothing else. There are also precious few writing samples with it.

[Honeybadgers]

Been idly playing with my safety pen, on and off, since I got it last year. Now I'm getting ready to use it in earnest, and...

 

One thing that's narked me off then and now is that it's built to accept no other nib except Noodler's nibs. The tines on Leonardt Hiros are forced together and over eachother for some reason, and there's a gap between the nib and feed so that the flow stutters and stops completely. I've ruined a couple trying to splay them out a little or otherwise modify to fit. No other dip nibs I have remotely fit the pen, let alone the feed. I ordered a Zebra G nib specially for it, and caveat emptor, more fool me, because it's a massive chunk of metal that will never fit in the opening.

Maybe I could've carried out that heat-setting trick, but it's a bit moot because the tip of the feed just now snapped off in my hand. So on top of everything else I have to try to carve some kind of shape back into it, or chase up Pure Pens for a replacement.

 

The daft thing is that I bought it under the impression that it'd be more convenient than dipping a pen every couple of seconds. Not even portability, just convenience. Convenience! It does it's advertised job, keeping india ink wet and clog-free: I hadn't used it in a couple of months and this morning the india ink still flowed after a slight dry start... but trying to get that wet ink onto the page through anything other than a creaper nib with a planet-sized ball on it's tip is making my temples pound. I've given Nathan Tardiff's 'pens to be tinkered with' line the benefit of the doubt so far, but now that it's finally bit me in the rump, I'm beginning to wonder. With the amount of cash I threw at it, I thought it might be just a wee bit more accomodating.

 

There are a couple of other things I can try, but at the moment I'm wondering if that money was wasted. I'd considered buying a second at one time, but now I might wait for the Indigraph, or see what Desiderata is offering.

 

 

What?

 

I've fit at least a dozen nibs to it, including #1, 2, and 3 vintage nibs. Right now it has a #2 waterman ideal wet noodle in it.

 

Proof

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UNorUSZvbSU

Edited September 29, 2019 by Honeybadgers

[eharriett]

I just finished reading this whole thread. The discussion has been very interesting. I'm kind of surprised how few reviews there are for this pen from the regular pen Youtubers and bloggers. I get that Noodler's is a small company, but this seems like such a unique pen that I thought pen people would be oohing and ahhing over its potential if nothing else. There are also precious few writing samples with it.

I tend to agree with you. I have 5 of them (two black, one walnut, a clear demonstrator, and one of the new blue ones). They’re very enjoyable pens and they are worker pens — not just pens I pull out for variety. It never really occurred to me to do a review of them, frankly. No real reason. I guess I tend to think if you know what a safety pen is, you’ll know if you like it. But I guess that isn’t correct. The younger crowd going after the PenBBS and Pilot metro may not want this one for its complexity. The vintage guy generally has problems with Noodlers (although there’s a lot of vintage guys like me who enjoy the product). So this pen always seemed to struggle for its audience. An audience which, I am indeed one of and love mine.

 

I like mine so much I just got an original Moore safety in the style the Noodlers is based off of. Have not yet tried, but looking forward to.

[SlowRain]

It never really occurred to me to do a review of them, frankly. No real reason. I guess I tend to think if you know what a safety pen is, youll know if you like it. But I guess that isnt correct.

I tend to do an abnormal amount of research before I buy something, and I'm struggling with this one.

 

See. I didn't even know there was a blue one.

Edited September 29, 2019 by SlowRain