My Quest for Flex. A heroic epic. With pictures.

[mhwombat]

I got into fountain pens in 2007, give or take a year. Soon after that, I started searching for a true flex nib. I share my story in case it helps someone else in their journey. It's also offers a comparison between some of the flex options currently available.

 

I'm not into calligraphy (yet?), and I don't even write in cursive, only print, so it might seem strange that flex was important to me. However, I find that a softer, more flexible nib encourages me to hold the pen in a more relaxed way instead of the death grip that used to come naturally. Also, I like the touch of character that a bit of line variation gives to my writing.

 

It took me a lot of experimentation to figure out my personal requirements for a flex nib. Your requirements might be very different than mine, but considering these points might help you figure out more precisely what you want in a nib.

 

1. I want a nib that flexes at the slightest pressure. A nib might offer a lot of line variation, but if I have to lean into it to get that variation, it's no good to me. I'm looking to get some line variation in my normal writing. (If I were doing calligraphy or any sort of intentional flourishes, I'd probably be willing to put more effort into the process.)

2. I want a smooth nib.

3. I need a nib that can write at a high angle. I'm willing to adjust my hand position a little to accommodate the nib, but if I have to write in an unnatural way, I won't enjoy the process.

 

At that time I started looking, the only options for real flex were vintage pens or dip nibs. You could also get some "soft" nibs that were a little flexible but didn't offer much line variation. Those were pretty much your only choices. So naturally I bought a vintage pen. It was lovely and flexy on the downstroke, but on an upstroke the nib would catch on the paper. The only way to avoid the problem was to hold the pen nearly horizontal to the paper. Being new to vintage nibs, I assumed it was all my fault, and that vintage pens just weren't for me. (Spoiler alert: it wasn't me, it was the pen.) I assumed vintage pens just weren't for me.

 

At about the same time, I got a Pilot Heritage 91 with a soft fine nib. I loved it, and I still love it. It has been my main writer for over a decade now. I did yearn for a bit more line variation, though. I wanted to try the Pilot FA nib, but every time I tried to look for one it was only available on much more expensive models that you had to order from Japan. Reviews differed about whether or not there was much difference between the SF and FA nibs. I wasn't willing to risk paying that much more for a pen when I might be disappointed.

 

When the Noodler's Triple tail became available. The pen is reasonably priced for what it is, but by the time you add customs and shipping to Ireland, you're paying a lot more. And it was a big disappointment to me. At first I thought that they had forgotten to add the slits to the nib, because I couldn't get it to flex. Finally I did get it to flex, but it required a positively ridiculous amount of pressure.

 

Fast forward to the beginning of the pandemic, when I started working from home full time, instead of just a couple of days a week. I had more money, and was also willing to invest a bit more in fountain pens because I wasn't taking them to the office where I might misplace them. So I started searching for that FA nib, but couldn't even find it on Japanese sites. Possibly this was just the result of one of the many shortages at that time.

 

But I was determined to try to get flex somehow. So I ordered a pen with a 14K gold flex nib from Fountain Pen Revolution, a full flex steel nib from fpnibs.com, and a Leonardo Officina Italiana Momento Magico with an elastic flex nib, and two vintage pens all within the space of a week! The shotgun approach.

The Fountain Pen Revolution nib was smooth, but had little line variation, so that was a purchase I regretted. The Leonardo elastic nib was smooth and bouncy. It didn't have a lot of line variation, but it was so much fun to write with that I was very glad I purchased it. As for the full flex steel nib from fpnibs.com, I put it into a TWSBI 580 and suddenly had a dreamy flex pen. I love it so much that I purchased several more, both #5 and #6 Jowo nibs to transplant into other pens. It flexes so much that even for normal writing you can see the ink shading. The vintage pens were equally delightful, with no catching-in-the-paper on the upstroke.

 

And then about a week ago I decided to look one more time for a Pilot pen with an FA nib. Lo and behold, I found it, and on the more modestly priced Heritage 912. (For some reason I prefer the look of a pen with a flat top and bottom over a cigar-shaped pen.) I got it today (that was fast!) and guess what: It's dreamy!

 

So now I have an assortment of flexy pens with different characteristics that I love. And she and her pens lived happily ever after.

 

Below are some writing samples from some of the pens mentioned in this story.

 

[frolic838]

Thanks for sharing this!  It looks like we are interested in similar things from our nibs, except I am a full-time cursive writer!  I shall take your experience into account as I look.  If you haven't tried them, the EF Ultra Flex from FPR are very fun to play with.  I have 3 of them, but no idea how they stack up to vintage flex, but have heard they are actually better than the gold nibs.  You may be able to grab one fairly inexpensively to try!

[txomsy]

Thanks for the report, it is certainly very illustrative and will be useful for all of us flex-catchers.

[CoolBreeze]

great post. Thanks for posting these pictures! So helpful!

[Bo Bo Olson]

On 5/27/2022 at 10:01 PM, mhwombat said:

I need a nib that can write at a high angle. I'm willing to adjust my hand position a little to accommodate the nib, but if I have to write in an unnatural way, ?????? I won't enjoy the process.

I do have KM semi-flex...which lets you get away with holding a fountain pen like a ball point....but it's only semi-flex  invented back in the day when folks still use a pencil and ball points were new. The 1950's. Or '30's for pencil users.

 

Suerpfex....is a real different animal............real different and you will find none that I know of that lets you write like a ball point. With out ruining the nib.

 

You have to learn how to write with a vintage fountain pen....(not a semi-nail double ball nib made of ball point users modern Pelikan...which has no flex anyway.)

To work with flex you have to hold a fountain pen...or dip pen  Behind the Big Index Knuckle and or at the web of the thumb.....Period!!!

 

Superflex has no real set borders ....If one Has Enough of them.

 

However for those new to superflex. I rate it with three levels.

 

What I call Easy Full Flex....easiest reached by doing the Ahab/Pilot mod of grinding little half moons in an Ahab nib. Only have one Ahab that was done too. Got 5 or 6 others I lucked into. But then again I live in Germany.

Then comes Wet Noodles....got three.

For well over a decade, all I could do was put down the term invented by John Swobada(sp) the English nib grinder....Weak Kneed Wet Noodle.

I finally lucked into one of them.

 

I could insert my system of half's, but see no reason to do so, in you refuse to learn to write with a fountain pen the way it needs to be to get any flex to start with.

 

You cannot control any flex you could get by holding a fountain pen like a ball point.

You would twist the tip of your nib, assuming you buy one of the Indian nibbed pens...........and you'd be spending all your time , pressing half the nib down to get it straight.

 

Once you learn to hold a fountain pen the way it should be held, I'm sure you could be helped. Until you do I see it as Mission Impossible.

But why give such info to someone who will ruin a grand rare nib, by holding the fountain pen like a BALL POINT PEN!!!!

 

OH, I'm wrong, a Pelikan 1000 has a regular flex nib with the fat and blobby double ball nib tipping you want. You could have someone not only cut half moons into it, but there are slots one can have sliced into the nib....to make a nib at least Wet Noodle....

Who knows a great nib mesiter may be able to make it a Weak Kneed Wet Noodle.....

Got to have a real light Hand, in I could see that nib getting ruined with in a  a week ,a day or an hour.

 

Best is to learn to hold a fountain pen properly and try dip pens....if you want real flex. That is the only place it is. In dip pens.

 

My Wet Noodles are in @ the 1/4 range theof Dip pen nib range possibilities.

My Weak Kneed Wet Noodle...almost reaches half, of waht a medium flexi dip pen nib will do.

My Hunt 99-100-101 are near the fabled 303/404 Gillette nibs. When there is an earthquake in California, those nibs flex sitting in the pen cup.

 

[mhwombat]

I see now I wasn't clear in the way I told that part of the story. (And maybe you were a wee bit quick to judge me?) That first vintage pen would catch on the paper on every upstroke unless I held the pen at so low an angle that the feed would touch the paper. At the time I thought I was doing something wrong. But with more experience, I now realise the problem was with that pen, not with me. I have since bought a couple of fountain pens that are equally as flexible as that first pen, maybe more so, and I have had no trouble writing with them at all.

 

I am willing to adjust my hand position, and have naturally done so. But that wasn't really the problem. I can use a dip pen just fine. And I don't hold a fountain pen like a ball point pen.

[bunnspecial]

2 hours ago, mhwombat said:

I see now I wasn't clear in the way I told that part of the story. (And maybe you were a wee bit quick to judge me?) That first vintage pen would catch on the paper on every upstroke unless I held the pen at so low an angle that the feed would touch the paper. At the time I thought I was doing something wrong. But with more experience, I now realise the problem was with that pen, not with me. I have since bought a couple of fountain pens that are equally as flexible as that first pen, maybe more so, and I have had no trouble writing with them at all.

 

I am willing to adjust my hand position, and have naturally done so. But that wasn't really the problem. I can use a dip pen just fine. And I don't hold a fountain pen like a ball point pen.

 

Just continue doing what you're doing, which is great and you're finding what works for you.

 

Unfortunately there are some in this hobby and/or on this board who think that the only way they do something is the "correct" way. That includes pen angle, never mind that some nib types-like proper music nibs-are actually meant to be held at a high angle.

 

At the end of the day, finding a nib and pen that suits YOU and what YOU want to do is the important thing. If that's a tiny pen or a huge pen, that's great. If it's a pen with a lot of flex or no flex or somewhere in-between(never mind where it falls on some arbitrary, convoluted and frankly not particularly useful scale that still gets copied and pasted all the time) and it suits you, all the better. If you find that you need a dozen pens for different purposes, great!

 

BTW, if you can, give one of the new Montblanc Calligraphy pens a try. Even a few folks who swore they'd never buy a new Montblanc(including someone here within the last week or so) have least not been unhappy with it. I actually find that my 146 seems to prefer a very high writing angle that's uncomfortable to me. Mine can write to a very fine line-much finer than any modern Montblanc EF I've used-and is very easy to use unflexed or with only a tiny amount of flex. It does not take much effort to open it up, though, and it will open fairly wide. It's no wet noodle, but to me it's kind of in the ideal spot of being useable unflexed, offering enough flex to keep things interesting if you write along without much thought about the flex, and enough to give huge line variation if you are slow and deliberate in its use.

[mhwombat]

3 minutes ago, bunnspecial said:

BTW, if you can, give one of the new Montblanc Calligraphy pens a try.

Thank you for the suggestion, I will check it out.

[A Smug Dill]

39 minutes ago, bunnspecial said:

Even a few folks who swore they'd never buy a new Montblanc(including someone here within the last week or so) have loved it.

 

Haha, did you mean me? I don't love the pen, but I don't regret buying the "expensive pen that does an OK job". Not yet, anyway.

[bunnspecial]

30 minutes ago, A Smug Dill said:

 

Haha, did you mean me? I don't love the pen, but I don't regret buying the "expensive pen that does an OK job". Not yet, anyway.

Yes, I was thinking of you!

 

Sorry to miscontrue your feelings on the pen. Would "Not unhappy with the pen" be a better wording?

[A Smug Dill]

19 minutes ago, bunnspecial said:

Would "Not unhappy with the pen" be a better wording?

 

Quite!

 

Right now I'm trying to rustle up enough enthusiasm to compare it against the Pilot Elabo SEF and SF, and Pilot Custom #5 SFM nibs, … but I got distracted writing up not-exactly-necessary FPN how-tos instead. I think that's quite telling about how lukewarm I am towards it. Actually, I haven't uncapped the Montblanc since filling and briefly testing it on Day One, even though I've written with a bunch of other pens in the same time-frame.

[TheDutchGuy]

Did you buy a 149C or 146C, @A Smug Dill? Didn’t see that coming 😉 . I’m discovering mine and it can do so much. I can write lines so fine that it makes a Japanese F seem like a B. The only it won’t do well (for me, at least) is furiously taking notes in meetings and such. This is a pen that demands my full attention and it fills my mind with zen whenever I can give it that attention. I’ll hope you’ll grow into yours.

[Bo Bo Olson]

10 hours ago, mhwombat said:

(And maybe you were a wee bit quick to judge me?) That first vintage pen would catch on the paper on every upstroke unless I held the pen at so low an angle that the feed would touch the paper. At the time I thought I was doing something wrong. But with more experience, I now realise the problem was with that pen, not with me. I

It's not what you said...what you said might not be what you meant, but I read it as not holding the pen...low to me ='s the often fault of holding a fountain pen like a ball point before the big index knuckle.

12 hours ago, Bo Bo Olson said:

need a nib that can write at a high angle. I'm willing to adjust my hand position a little to accommodate the nib, but if I have to write in an unnatural way, ?????? I won't enjoy the process.

 

Marcio (sp) has a great  blog explaining superflex....someone can correct me to his spelling. (I use to have it taped to my desk) , sells superflex pens. I have two 52's both wet noodles, one a two step nib rare 7X nib; the other a 6X nib.. My third wet noodle is a Soennecken 7X.

Wet Noodle has more to do with ease of flex than width...IMO.

 

It is only on lets 'spring a nib' you tube  and pre-sprung for your convenience  Ebay that all those nibs go 7X. I tend to think there are many more 5-6 X superflex nibs....and a hell of a lot of mushy, Olympic Split veteran sprung nibs.

 

The guys that can write...not me....want fast snapback, not width of letter.

 

 

You get much more bang for your buck with dip pens....and there is a guy who mounts dip pen nibs in an Indian pen. D-something or another. And there are other 'new...in the last 4 or so years,' superflex Indian pens to look for.

In I have a bunch of old pens, I didn't look. If I'd not lucked into my superflex pens; I would have.

[A Smug Dill]

6 hours ago, TheDutchGuy said:

Did you buy a 149C or 146C, @A Smug Dill?

 

It is the Meisterstück LeGrand, so I suppose it's a 146.

 

6 hours ago, TheDutchGuy said:

it fills my mind with zen whenever I can give it that attention.

 

For me, that role belongs to my Pilot Hannya Shingyo with a ‘humble’ regular F nib.

 

6 hours ago, TheDutchGuy said:

I’ll hope you’ll grow into yours.

 

Thanks!

[Addertooth]

When I first got interested in flex writing, I bought an ahab.  It totally Shania Twained me (It don't impress me much).  Fortunately, I was also interested in vintage pens.   With the whole "luck of the draw factor", I ended up with some nice flexy pens.  

 

With vintage pens, there are no guaranties you will get a flexy pen, but there are things you can do to stack the odds.  A Waterman Keyhole Red/Pink nib has a high probability of being quite flexy. An Eversharp adjustable nib will be quite flexy.  About two thirds of the Waterman #2 nibs I have (which are not marked yellow/purple/manifold) are quite flexible.

 

I leave you with a picture of a Waterman Ink Vue pen with a Red Keyhole nib.  As a reference, the dots on the paper are 5mm apart. The black ink is via another Keyhole Nib pen. 

 

[mhwombat]

1 hour ago, Addertooth said:

I leave you with a picture of a Waterman Ink Vue pen with a Red Keyhole nib.

Wow! 🤯 That's some serious line variation!

[Bo Bo Olson]

The Ahab with an Ahab/Pilot mod; ie little half moons ground into the nib, makes it a fun first stage superflex nib.

With out that the Ahab is a hard semi-flex, and no fun at all.

It is or was back then a place to start with semi-flex to flex.

 

So I see the Ahab as a sturdy pen with a nib to modify...dremil or round Swiss file and make it a fun first stage superflex.

 

I really got to dig out my modified  superflex Ahab and put it back into rotation.

[Detman101]

On 5/27/2022 at 4:01 PM, mhwombat said:

I got into fountain pens in 2007, give or take a year. Soon after that, I started searching for a true flex nib. I share my story in case it helps someone else in their journey. It's also offers a comparison between some of the flex options currently available.

 

I'm not into calligraphy (yet?), and I don't even write in cursive, only print, so it might seem strange that flex was important to me. However, I find that a softer, more flexible nib encourages me to hold the pen in a more relaxed way instead of the death grip that used to come naturally. Also, I like the touch of character that a bit of line variation gives to my writing.

 

It took me a lot of experimentation to figure out my personal requirements for a flex nib. Your requirements might be very different than mine, but considering these points might help you figure out more precisely what you want in a nib.

 

1. I want a nib that flexes at the slightest pressure. A nib might offer a lot of line variation, but if I have to lean into it to get that variation, it's no good to me. I'm looking to get some line variation in my normal writing. (If I were doing calligraphy or any sort of intentional flourishes, I'd probably be willing to put more effort into the process.)

2. I want a smooth nib.

3. I need a nib that can write at a high angle. I'm willing to adjust my hand position a little to accommodate the nib, but if I have to write in an unnatural way, I won't enjoy the process.

 

At that time I started looking, the only options for real flex were vintage pens or dip nibs. You could also get some "soft" nibs that were a little flexible but didn't offer much line variation. Those were pretty much your only choices. So naturally I bought a vintage pen. It was lovely and flexy on the downstroke, but on an upstroke the nib would catch on the paper. The only way to avoid the problem was to hold the pen nearly horizontal to the paper. Being new to vintage nibs, I assumed it was all my fault, and that vintage pens just weren't for me. (Spoiler alert: it wasn't me, it was the pen.) I assumed vintage pens just weren't for me.

 

At about the same time, I got a Pilot Heritage 91 with a soft fine nib. I loved it, and I still love it. It has been my main writer for over a decade now. I did yearn for a bit more line variation, though. I wanted to try the Pilot FA nib, but every time I tried to look for one it was only available on much more expensive models that you had to order from Japan. Reviews differed about whether or not there was much difference between the SF and FA nibs. I wasn't willing to risk paying that much more for a pen when I might be disappointed.

 

When the Noodler's Triple tail became available. The pen is reasonably priced for what it is, but by the time you add customs and shipping to Ireland, you're paying a lot more. And it was a big disappointment to me. At first I thought that they had forgotten to add the slits to the nib, because I couldn't get it to flex. Finally I did get it to flex, but it required a positively ridiculous amount of pressure.

 

Fast forward to the beginning of the pandemic, when I started working from home full time, instead of just a couple of days a week. I had more money, and was also willing to invest a bit more in fountain pens because I wasn't taking them to the office where I might misplace them. So I started searching for that FA nib, but couldn't even find it on Japanese sites. Possibly this was just the result of one of the many shortages at that time.

 

But I was determined to try to get flex somehow. So I ordered a pen with a 14K gold flex nib from Fountain Pen Revolution, a full flex steel nib from fpnibs.com, and a Leonardo Officina Italiana Momento Magico with an elastic flex nib, and two vintage pens all within the space of a week! The shotgun approach.

The Fountain Pen Revolution nib was smooth, but had little line variation, so that was a purchase I regretted. The Leonardo elastic nib was smooth and bouncy. It didn't have a lot of line variation, but it was so much fun to write with that I was very glad I purchased it. As for the full flex steel nib from fpnibs.com, I put it into a TWSBI 580 and suddenly had a dreamy flex pen. I love it so much that I purchased several more, both #5 and #6 Jowo nibs to transplant into other pens. It flexes so much that even for normal writing you can see the ink shading. The vintage pens were equally delightful, with no catching-in-the-paper on the upstroke.

 

And then about a week ago I decided to look one more time for a Pilot pen with an FA nib. Lo and behold, I found it, and on the more modestly priced Heritage 912. (For some reason I prefer the look of a pen with a flat top and bottom over a cigar-shaped pen.) I got it today (that was fast!) and guess what: It's dreamy!

 

So now I have an assortment of flexy pens with different characteristics that I love. And she and her pens lived happily ever after.

 

Below are some writing samples from some of the pens mentioned in this story.

 

Awesome post!
Thank you for the info on the FPR 14K flex nib...i'd considered picking up one of those about a year ago.

[Pamp]

I loved reading about your pens with flex nibs. I absolutely love writing with flex nibs. One thing to note about the FPR nibs is that they have a couple of different sizes. The #5.5 size ultra flex nib that fits on the Jaipur V1 is not nearly as flexy as their #6 ultra flex nib. (I like the Jaipur V1, but the 5.5 nib does take more pressure to flex. I still like it though.)  I have both a Jaipur V1 with the #5.5  ultra flex nib, but mine is the steel ultra flex, and an FPR Himalaya V2 pen with the #6 steel ultra flex nib, and the #6 is amazing and much flexier.  It's a wonderful nib, so smooth and doesn't take much pressure to flex.  I have a post at my blog about doing modern script calligraphy with fountain pens, and I talk about my experiences with a few different flex nibs and pens in it.  Here's the link, if you'd like to read it: https://anartfulmom.com/2022/03/modern-flex-fountain-pens-for-modern-calligraphy.html    I also wrote a review of the Himalaya V2 with the #6 flex nib at my blog. (I don't get a commission if you buy the nib or pen. I just love it.) Here's the link if you want to read that blog post: https://anartfulmom.com/2021/09/fpr-himalaya-v2-chrome-ultra-flex.html      I sing the praises of FPR all the time because I finally am able to practice pointed pen calligraphy with their pens, without having to drag out the dip pens. (I am lazy, haha.)  Of course, you don't have to do calligraphy with them! I just love flex.

 

Pam

Blog: https://anartfulmom.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/anartfulmompam/