Has Anyone Yet Tried Fpnibs.com's Flex Nibs With Cutouts?

[steve50]

So Pablo from FPnibs.com is now offering his widely acclaimed flex modification on Jowo's 14k nibs with cutouts as you can see from this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-elHNqLrLaE.

 

The early part of the video only shows the nib prior to modification. Fast forward to around 4:00 to see the modified nib.

 

Has anyone tried this nib yet? How does it perform compared to his other flex nibs, i.e., the original one with narrow tines and the 'keyhole' nib?

 

 

[Karmachanic]

There are two nibs shown in that video, with differing characteristics. Up to 3:45 Pablo shows the Soft nib, with cutouts (modified). After that point he shows the semi-flex with cutouts, relieved shoulders and narrowed tines. He also explains the difference between the two.

 

I have the original semi-flex without cutouts, which I purchased for its softness, not for line variation.

Edited February 16, 2019 by Karmachanic

[steve50]

There are two nibs shown in that video, with differing characteristics. Up to 3:45 Pablo shows the Soft nib, with cutouts (modified). After that point he shows the semi-flex with cutouts, relieved shoulders and narrowed tines. He also explains the difference between the two.

 

I have the original semi-flex without cutouts, which I purchased for its softness, not for line variation.

The cutout nib seems gimmicky to me. Jowo doesn't seem to have given thoughts over its actual flexibility but just added the cutouts to make it a bit softer. (I think advertising these nibs as 'flex nibs' is a bit disingenuous.) I noticed that how easily tines move vertically doesn't necessarily correlate with how easily they spread. But perhaps when combined with Pablo's modification this gives a better outcome. In any case, at slightly over 100 euros, this is seems like a very good deal.

Edited February 17, 2019 by steve50

[Bo Bo Olson]

In any case, at slightly over 100 euros, this is seems like a very good deal. """

I find that expensive.

It took him an hour to do that?...or ten minutes? OK lets say he's charging E80 an hour for Master work.....one hour and a bought nib?

Bend, shave and grind.....10-15 minutes? Hello Barnum!

Yes he's well known, but that is a rich price.

 

Inflation has really hit hard....for that to be a good deal.............there is a lot of folks buying $300 pens I or you can get for E110-120.

 

Real semi-flex nib can be had on German Ebay.....Geha 790 for @ E60.

Pelikan 140- E90-100. 400/400nn E100-120.

Osmia has been going for E60 lately a great drop, but one may have to re-cork it.

No 'soft' BS....

Edited February 17, 2019 by Bo Bo Olson

[steve50]

In any case, at slightly over 100 euros, this is seems like a very good deal. """

I find that expensive.

 

Bobo, that includes the pen as well. And I was talking in terms of modern pens. But I agree that I'd rather go down the vintage route.

[Karmachanic]

The cutout nib seems gimmicky to me. Jowo doesn't seem to have given thoughts over its actual flexibility but just added the cutouts to make it a bit softer. (I think advertising these nibs as 'flex nibs' is a bit disingenuous.) I noticed that how easily tines move vertically doesn't necessarily correlate with how easily they spread. But perhaps when combined with Pablo's modification this gives a better outcome. In any case, at slightly over 100 euros, this is seems like a very good deal.

 

For clarity.

To reiterate. There are two nibs shown in that video.

Does the nib come from Jowo with cut-outs? I have no idea.

Pablo tells us that this makes the nib "a little bit flexible, soft, and shows how this is so. At 2:49 in the video: "It looks like a flexible nib, but it isn't."

The second nib, shown at 3:55 with additional work, as Pablo explains in the video, is semi-flex, and flexes double the width of the first nib.

 

Please explain exactly where Pablo is being less than honest.

 

I have one of Pablo's original semi-flex nibs. It is indeed semi-flex. Exactly as advertised.

 

Apparently you have no experience of Pablo's work, yet you choose to disparage him. Why?

[steve50]

 

For clarity.

To reiterate. There are two nibs shown in that video.

Does the nib come from Jowo with cut-outs? I have no idea.

Pablo tells us that this makes the nib "a little bit flexible, soft, and shows how this is so. At 2:49 in the video: "It looks like a flexible nib, but it isn't."

The second nib, shown at 3:55 with additional work, as Pablo explains in the video, is semi-flex, and flexes double the width of the first nib.

 

Please explain exactly where Pablo is being less than honest.

 

I have one of Pablo's original semi-flex nibs. It is indeed semi-flex. Exactly as advertised.

 

Apparently you have no experience of Pablo's work, yet you choose to disparage him. Why?

Ok clarifications. I meant that Jowo (or its distributors) is being disingenuous by calling the original cutout nib as flexible. I'm not interested in that nib. Also I believe the cutouts are done in factory, not by Pablo.

 

I was curious how Pablo's semi-flex without cutouts compares to his semi-flex with cutouts. I have a couple of Pablo's steel nibs and I'm very satisfied with them.

Edited February 17, 2019 by steve50

[Karmachanic]

Ok clarifications. I meant that Jowo (or its distributors) is being disingenuous by calling the original cutout nib as flexible. I'm not interested in that nib. Also I believe the cutouts are done in factory, not by Pablo.

 

I was curious how Pablo's semi-flex without cutouts compares to his semi-flex with cutouts. I have a couple of Pablo's steel nibs and I'm very satisfied with them.

 

Around and around we go.

Pablo is a distributor of Jowo nibs. Pablo explicitly said the nib was not flexible.

Please provide a link that shows Jowo claiming these nibs are flexible.

 

I agree that the nibs appear to be factory made. They look the same as the Franklin Christoph and Montegrappa versions which are also Jowo. Both described as flexible. Perhaps Jowo is doing this. It's also possible that some other entity is modifying Jowo nibs, so I'll suspend attribution until that has been clarified.

 

Some would say that a nib that goes from 0.3 to 0.9 with pressure counts as flexible. Certainly not a nail. Granted the definition of flex these days is quite lose. Noodler's for example.

 

Interestingly I don't find the cutout nib on FPNibs Jowo gold nibs page. So perhaps it's only available with that particular pen.

[steve50]

 

Around and around we go.

Pablo is a distributor of Jowo nibs. Pablo explicitly said the nib was not flexible.

Please provide a link that shows Jowo claiming these nibs are flexible.

 

I agree that the nibs appear to be factory made. They look the same as the Franklin Christoph and Montegrappa versions which are also Jowo. Both described as flexible. Perhaps Jowo is doing this. It's also possible that some other entity is modifying Jowo nibs, so I'll suspend attribution until that has been clarified.

 

Some would say that a nib that goes from 0.3 to 0.9 with pressure counts as flexible. Certainly not a nail. Granted the definition of flex these days is quite lose. Noodler's for example.

 

Interestingly I don't find the cutout nib on FPNibs Jowo gold nibs page. So perhaps it's only available with that particular pen.

I admit that Pablo doesn't call it flexible. Anyhow my intention wasn't to disparage him, but as you said other distributors call it 'flexible' which, one might presume, is what Jowo tells them it is. But Jowo is a company shrouded in mystery so who knows.

[Bo Bo Olson]

$100 for a modern semi-flex nib is not too bad........thought it only the nib.

 

Explaining where and what cost one should pay for real semi-flex nibs is a waste of time....only took me 9 years to realize that. The first year I was back to fountain pens, I'd not run into a semi-flex, in they were more expensive than I was willing to pay.....E50/$65.....I was 'noobie' after cheap pens.

Then got a knife for pen swap at a semi-flex 140 at a flea market. A very nice now ill poster told me about the grand nibbed very well balanced and affordable Geha 790 and suddenly I was off to the races.

 

A Geha 790, a solid well made standard sized semi-flex with the normal German stub can be had if one Hunts still for E60 .............9 years ago it was only E15-19.....and it is my fault and my fault alone it is now E60....in for 9 years I've said Best Buy in Semi-flex is the Geha 790.

 

Best Buy in Regular Flex is the Geha School pen.....use to be had for E12...now E19....unless you want to buy it from a German Pirate on US Ebay for only $89.00.

 

Regular flex is lost knowledge.......New you can get a Pelikan 200 with it for @ $100.....or some sort of so called Japanese 'Soft' nib for that price. The '82-97 era of Pelikan was also regular flex.

I've come to like regular flex, very good for shading inks, a nice comfortable ride with a clean line.

 

Regular flex use to be the normal flex issued on pens in the US....like Esterbrook, Wearever and some Sheaffer pens. One could find them also in England and Germany, like the Pelikan 120.

It depends on if someone wants to know or not, and most don't.

There have been folks that thought regular flex was the fabled semi-flex, in the tines both bent and spread. ...and that was the first time they had ever seen such. Nope.....not quite but in the ball park.

[Honeybadgers]

the cutout nib is a standard JoWo offering. They're available on a bunch of pens, including edison, franklin cristoph, and montegrappa. From the factory, they're soft, not flexible. barely, barely count as semiflex.

 

I don't know if pablo modifies them further (I'm sure he'll grind the tip as fine as you want but I don't know if he adds flex)

 

I do know that his real 14k superflex nib is the most insane thing I've ever written with. My next purchase from him is going to be a 14k semiflex. The man knows how to make tines spread.

Edited February 20, 2019 by Honeybadgers

[steve50]

I don't know if pablo modifies them further (I'm sure he'll grind the tip as fine as you want but I don't know if he adds flex)

 

I do know that his real 14k superflex nib is the most insane thing I've ever written with. My next purchase from him is going to be a 14k semiflex. The man knows how to make tines spread.

Watch the video - he modifies it like he does a standard Jowo nib. BTW with your superflex, I imagine you made a special request for that? I don't see that option on his website.

[steve50]

 

Regular flex is lost knowledge.......New you can get a Pelikan 200 with it for @ $100.....or some sort of so called Japanese 'Soft' nib for that price. The '82-97 era of Pelikan was also regular flex.

I've come to like regular flex, very good for shading inks, a nice comfortable ride with a clean line.

 

 

Where does Pilot FA nib lie on your scale Bobo? I'm quite pleased with it. No dramatic line variation, but that's because I don't push it hard. I like when subtle line variation shows without conscious pressing down.

[Honeybadgers]

Watch the video - he modifies it like he does a standard Jowo nib. BTW with your superflex, I imagine you made a special request for that? I don't see that option on his website.

 

It used to be on the website, he did discontinue it for a while due to how long it took him to make, but I did also request it directly, full flex, keyhole cutout, "as much flex as you can manage" XXF point and a customized TWSBI vac700R for it to go into. Total cost was around $350.

 

Result

 

 

A pilot FA is a nice soft semiflex.

 

 

Quite a bit firmer but still very soft compared to the superflex, and about a BB line. Pablo's nib goes to a BBBB easily.

Edited February 21, 2019 by Honeybadgers

[steve50]

 

It used to be on the website, he did discontinue it for a while due to how long it took him to make, but I did also request it directly, full flex, keyhole cutout, "as much flex as you can manage" XXF point and a customized TWSBI vac700R for it to go into. Total cost was around $350.

 

I wonder how durable these modified nibs are. Will they survive years of hard flexing like vintage nibs did? I guess there's only one way to find out.

[Sicblades14]

I just ordered one xxxf-full flex as they were on his website - can't wait for it to get here

[Honeybadgers]

I wonder how durable these modified nibs are. Will they survive years of hard flexing like vintage nibs did? I guess there's only one way to find out.

 

I've got about a year on mine, no problems yet.

[Sicblades14]

I just got notification that mine are on the way, should be here Friday, I'm all antsy about it.

[steve50]

I just ordered one xxxf-full flex as they were on his website - can't wait for it to get here

Is this the 'number 6 size, ebonite feed' one? Because I believe that's the nib on which he does the full-flex mod. For normal Jowo nibs, there's only a semi-flex option.

[steve50]

 

It used to be on the website, he did discontinue it for a while due to how long it took him to make, but I did also request it directly, full flex, keyhole cutout, "as much flex as you can manage" XXF point and a customized TWSBI vac700R for it to go into. Total cost was around $350.

 

Honeybadgers, on your first video, the nib is mounted to Twsbi but it appears to be the 'number 6 ebonite feed' version nib. Which feed/housing are you using there? I'm a little confused because there're two versions of Jowo size 6 nib on Pablo's website and it seems like he offers full flex mod only on one of them.