Flex or not?

[Abhishek Gulshan]

Hi everyone, 

 

I was always curious to know if someone can tell whether the nib on a fountain pen is flex or not by merely seeing a few pictures online? 

 

For example, I am looking for a good vintage flex nibbed fountain pen and I mostly check ebay but sometimes, the sellers don't mention because they're unaware. 

 

Is there a way to know if it is a flex or not by seeing pictures of posted pens without having that kind of information implicitly stated in the post?

 

Any guidance here would be greatly appreciated :).

 

Thank you

Regards

Abhishek

 

PS : I hope I have posted this in the right forum. 

 

[Karmachanic]

1 hour ago, Abhishek Gulshan said:

Is there a way to know if it is a flex or not by seeing pictures of posted pens without having that kind of information implicitly stated in the post?

 

Probably the same way you can tell if a glass of liquid is sweet or sour by seeing a few pictures 

[Bo Bo Olson]

"""""""""""""""""Is Flex???"""""""""".................... something not a nail or semi-nail. There are springy regular flex, semi-flex, maxi-semi-flex and superflex; which has three levels.

 

For later if you wish, I do have a system of telling flex....but off my thumbnail, or writing.

It is a system of halves.

 

 

By normal looks, I can't tell, semi-flex from normal springy regular flex on say an MB. It doesn't have the distinctive Pelikan 4 comb feed that a semi-flex nib would have to 98%. (There were marked H & D hard nibs).

 

 

I've a lot of German semi&maxi-semi-flex nibs that look just like springy regular flex nibs. Pelikan I can tell semi-flex by the 4 comb feed, '50-65 ('30's-54 had 3 combs on older models; Ibis, 100, & 100n). The nib is stubbed.

Semi-flex is soft ++, Maxi-semi-flex is soft +++.

Looks pretty much but for often old style lettering like the next generation's nibs. 

 

Regular looking horizontal combed feeds from '1982-97, have a teardrop tipping. They are nice springy regular flex nibs. A comfortable ride. Soft +

 

'98 to now, double ball tipping. 400-600 semi-nail, 800 mostly nail. 1000 can't tell at all that the Bock nib made from 1998 to @ 2010-12 is semi-flex (tested one in my B&M). And when Pelikan took it back in-house, they turned it into just a springy regular flex nib.

 

I would really have to look/research at the feeds and know nothing on my semi-flex and maxi semi-flex MB nibs. '48-69 for them. Look like regular nibs.

MB '70- @ 1990 seem to be springy regular flex, at least into the late '90's. My 2006 Virginia Woolf, could be semi-nail....is fat. Some time in the late '90's MB started making a fatter nib. My Woolf B=BB. Fat, but you can't see that. 

 

You have to go by the years/eras. I know German, not US or English, in I live in Germany. 

 

I do know there were some semi-flex Shaffer Snorkel pens in the '50's, early '50's Snorkels. I was looking for one until I ran into the following. I had a maxi-semi-flex Snorkel from Australia that looked like any other Snorkel.

 

At an indoor flea market. My English made Parker semi-flex Jr. Doufold looked like any other standard nib, and I was shocked when I tested it on my thumbnail. In I had assumed Parkers after the War to be nails, and am thankful I tested it for the hell of it. Had it been a nail, I'd not bought it. 

Same flea market, I ran into a springy regular flex English made P-45, and not in the semi-nail-nail of the US. Both Parker and Shaffer had to have a bit more flex in England and some parts of the Commonwealth because of the grand range of flex Swan had.

..............

I had an English Wyvern that was a delightful little semi-flex, but I couldn't have told. I swapped it with a passed English pal for a semi-flex Osmia, in I had a small collection of them.

 

I have antique superflex nibs....there, yes. They are longer tined. Have flat feeds.

.......................................

German Ebay. 

A lot of German professional sellers price their bids in German Ebay at US double and tripple prices. Ie To me a 400 could be fairly priced at €90-120, which he has priced at $285.

Even the noobies in the auction only are starting to ask €50-60 instead of a start bid of €1.00.

Look in advanced/erweitert for what the item sold for.

Let me take a quick look to see what pens could go for...Osmia in they are as cheap sometimes as before and Geha 790..

[Bo Bo Olson]

On 7/29/2025 at 12:40 PM, Abhishek Gulshan said:

is flex

Osmia would require a new gasket, so that's out. 

Torpedo/Cigar shaped pens were very In, in the late '40-50-60's. Pelikan 140, Swan, Geha, MB. 

 

Luxus=B.S. cubed. I saw a Geha school pen which have nice springy F nibs...asking for €90 because he shined it up. It's a school pen, a very good one, and I got them for 12 and thought 20 was high, and som ewnat more.

WHAT EVER YOU DO, DON'T BUY A GEHA CARTRIDGE PEN. Perhaps if you take a nail or thumbtack to a Lamy cartridge's narrow end, it could work. But Geha was the first German pen to make a cartridge, so had it's own size. When Pelikan came in, it had it's. Geha put Pelikan's fitting on the other side of their cartridge. They stopped making pens and cartridges in 1972. There are may pretty regular flex school pens, that you have to use a Lamy cartridge on....and wanting semi-flex those are not for you. 

 

The Geha nib is made by Degussa, who took Omsia's nib factory for debts in 1932 and condtinued making the grand Osmia semi-flex and maxisemi-flex nibs. I have a maxi-semi-flex Geha nib, but wouldn't expect it.  A couple good posters alerted me to the fact Geha made a slightly springier semi-flex nib than Pelikan, having some of both from that era tested both and found out they were right. But I'd not worry about it. It is very minor.

At that time, Degussa was also making Sonnecken's nibs. Soennecken had been the grand German pen company that got into making ball points too late, so died. 

In the 1950's Soennecken made the best fountain pen in the world. 

 

Geha 790 is a finely balanced as good a balance as the Pelikan 400 sturdy semi-flex in 14K stubbed nibs.

1959 three true rings. Polished up better than the buy the pen, get the photo.

I got these so cheap....€19-30...and like a fool I bragged them up, wanting everyone to be happy until everyone and his brother bought them, and they are going now from between, €42-70-90. ......... The last time I looked a couple of years ago, it was 60.

'60-72 the 790 have three faux rings. I only have four of them, I sold one to an Indian friend that I set up with the 4 pens he needed. As does the medium-small 760.

No ring, a clip ring is a school pen. There are two ring Geha's. I being on a budget could never afford to see what lesser quality felt like, having my 790, 780 and a 725.

To show the three rings clearer.

The 760 if it has a gold piston ring was then a flagship, but in 1964-5? the 725 came in as flagship.

Mine is when the medium-long 760 was no longer flagship. I love that wild stripping. Fits all pockets well, being only medium-long, but posts to close to standard posted length. With the gold piston ring, costs more, was a flagship. 

Only spotted 760 one and it sold for only €51... Well, over a decade ago, at much cheaper prices, I lucked out and only paid €60...they were going for 80. 90-100 for the 760 flagship when the 790 was going for 60.

 

 

.............................this cost way back then €135 would expect 50 more today.. 780 flagship....comes in 5 or more colors. Some poster here had five, and I'd never heard of it. 

These are the two that I finished 2nd for. The ones that got away. Then I wasn't willing to pay north of €135... I rented a size 20 boot a bit later for one leg backwards kicking.

This is what a good photo of the pen looks like.

This guy is more my level.

 

 

Unless you are rich enough to burn money, stay away from BUY NOW. They have over expensive US Stateside prices; in they get it. Stay in Auction only.

 

Go in the auction section. Get a snipe program. Make one bid at no more than 10% over budget. The pen's twin brother will be there again with in a week or so. It is a Hunt, and it is exciting to lose...

I used to wait until the last 15 seconds to make my single bid. But I was in Germany, not in India. The auction normally finishes when you are asleep.

Hunt for a good price, so you save a fortune for ink. Just think how much good paper and ink you can buy for €100, you saved over Stateside prices. 

 

[Bo Bo Olson]

Total lack of thinking.

A Noodler's Ahab pen is made in India. It is a very hard semi-flex nib. No fun nib. I had a lot of real semi-flex pens. 

 

However, if a Japanese Pilot mod which turns a nail Piolt nib into a 'soft' nib somewhat stiffer than a Pelikan 200. It is worth doing; two half moons are ground by round Swiss file or Dremil into the shoulder of the nib, the Ahab Indian nib becomes a very nice, first stage superflex nib. The first stage of superflex; Easy Full Flex.

My Ahab went from a pain to very enjoyable.

 

There is a very well-informed Indian poster, named Hari on the com, ask him. Look up in H.

 

But any good Indian pen with some flex ... even regular flex, some tine bend and spread, even if hard mashed, to the nib, can have the half moon ground into the shoulders of the nib and make it a good at least somewhat flexible nib.

How flexible I don't know, In I don't know much of anything about Indian made pens outside that Ahab which was not Indian cheap.

I regret now not buying a few Indian eyedroppers when they were cheap or when they first started using converters. Some real pretty pens. 

I would suspect that Ahab Mod would be at least a nice semi-flex.

Look up Ahab Mod, there may be some pictures to show you how.

 

[Lam1]

The shape of the tines is a fairly decent guide.

Now, it is not foolproof by just looking at the pictures, but a decent guide. There are some that are flexible but you cannot tell from the shape of the tines, but a very elongated tine is a sure sign of flex. 

[Christopher Godfrey]

Abhishek, as the others have said, you are initially looking for long tines in a vintage pen (probably in 14ct, if looking at brands like Waterman, Parker, Pelikan, etc).  Bo Bo is correct regarding the very inexpensive Noodler's Ahab (there is another model he offers: I forget its name; but I think I have that one) and I did exactly the same thing -- with Dremel grinding tool I carefully carved out an arc on either side of the nib, just behind the widest part and the air hole and now have a <very> flexible, rugged nib!

 

If vintage Watermans are easily available in India, then look for those with slender tines; but here in The USA they are becoming increasingly costly.  Twenty-odd years ago I bought my first Waterman 52 for roughly $40: today that price would likely be three or four (even five!) times that!

 

I hope this helps a little bit?

[Bo Bo Olson]

I doubt if Waterman gold wet noodles would be any cheaper in India than anywhere else.

 

Having vintage superflex nibs, I didn't need "cheap" modern steel superflex nibbed pens.....

And Cheap is still a couple bottles of ink....so is not dirt cheap.

 

The price of Indian pens has quadrupled or more in the last 7 years. At least here in the West, there might still be cheap prices for India.

I do regret not spending $7-10 on pretty ebonite eyedroppers, or especially not buying them when they first started having cartridges. 

[Stompie]

Greg Minuskin sells pens and he gives a good description of the pen and nib plus a writing sample

[mhphoto]

On 8/2/2025 at 3:55 PM, Bo Bo Olson said:

 

Absolutely gorgeous!

[Bo Bo Olson]

I finished second on the red Geha. He at least didn't get it cheap.

It does help to be able to make a good photo.

The Green one I won.

[Abhishek Gulshan]

Hey @Bo Bo Olson @Christopher Godfrey @Lam1 thank you so much for the detailed response. I really appreciate it.

 

Sadly, the Watermans and other vintage pens aren't any cheaper here. I have bought cheaper pens off ebay US and UK but there is no guarantee at times if it is working. So once I get them here through friends and relatives, it often is the case that I have to get them working. 

 

I'll respond in detail soon sorry for being absconding. 

 

Thanks again and I appreciate the help. 

 

Regards

Abhishek Gulshan 

[Abhishek Gulshan]

@Bo Bo Olson I think I do have one or two indian eye-droppers. Let me see if I can check soon and send you images here.

 

I didn't buy them but they were gift from a friend. 

 

Regards

A

[Bo Bo Olson]

One has to start somewhere. If I put my mind to it, there is something to learn every day here.

I am a bit AR/OCD about the word 'flex'/'flexi' having grown up here on the com from the time when flex meant semi-nail or anything with more flex than a nail with no definitions. 

Do go find and read Mauricio's blog on superflex. He disagrees with my rough three levels of superflex. He's right, in the more superflex pens one has or had had, the more the borders blur.

My system of halves works just fine for noobies to any flex, nice comfortable regular springy flex, semi-flex or maxi-semi-flex is in the 3X a light down stroke set, then comes Superflex, Easy Full Flex, Wet Noodle and Weak Kneed Wet Noodle a term invented by The British nib grinder John Sorowka.

 

So we've come a long way in the last 15-18 years, from 'flexi' to six levels above semi-nail. 7 levels if semi-nail is new to one. 

Nail no tine spread at all. Semi-nail out to 2X a light down stroke; when well mashed. A touch of flex.

.......................

I ended up not getting a 'flexi' Swan pen from either of two great pen repair men...(have their great repair book), in I knew what semi-flex was, having two or three, and wanted more flex, but not yet ready for a Wet Noodle. 

 

I ended up finding a no name German War pen with what I later called an Easy Full Flex; that took care of my 'flexi' need. Eventually I got a couple Wet noodle 52's from Mauricio, and was able to advance my system.

Maxi-semi-flex hadn't been found, or named, by me yet. That is another story.

....................................

But as I mentioned in my second post to you. Find out who made the hard no fun hard semi-flex nibs for Noodler Ahab/Charlie pens; and have the Pilot half moon mod grinds made in the shoulders of the nib (go to the bottom link..if it links, if not, hunt it.), and you will end up with a delightful Easy Full Flex nib to have fun with. 

Yep, OK, you have talked me into it....pulling out my marbled black and red Ahab with what eyeballs as EF. Great, I'm editing now and need skinny nibs.

 

Someone you know owns a Dremel and that works better than sand paper or a Swiss file.

And my slit was not enlarged. (that might increase ink flow even more. Suggest doing two nibs, one with just the shoulder grind before opening the middle of the slit on the second. 

 

If you buy an (Ahab/Charlie) or a cheaper to buy the Indian version. There are many beautiful Indian pens that are Eye Droppers, I suggest getting the 'new' Cartridge, converter versions. I was too stupid to buy when affordable; in they have added gouge the foreigner price to pens being mailed out of India. 

You can learn about increasing ink flow by cutting off some of the combs/rills. And or deeping the top feed channels. I didn't have to do that to mine, but many folks did look for more flow, by doing so.

 

You can learn a boat load by looking up old Ahab threads. 

 

The one I'm directing you to, I'd not run into. It just had a couple picture of the Pilot mod on the shoulders.

The Pelikan 200's steel/gold plated nib is a very nice springy regular flex nib; the same as the '82-97 14K Pelikan 400's nibs. Have both so know. Many folks buy a modified Pilot nib and rave about it; in they don't have a Pelikan 200. I don't have any Japanese pens, having only a German Burl Diplomat made in Japan in the '80-90's, so it's M=F.

The Pelikan 200 has a nice comfortable spring to the nib, that the Pilot, a modified nail nib can't match. But doing that grind half moons in the shoulders of the nib, give the nib much more flexibility without going crazy with shoulder grinds, front of shoulder straight line grinds etc, to get wet noodle flexiblity. 

Today from India are many superflex/Wet Noodle nibs, that you don't have to anything too.  

 

Making A Flex Italic Nib For The Noodler Ahab Or Konrad

 

 

[Abhishek Gulshan]

It will also take me sometime to understand whatever has been suggested earlier by @Bo Bo Olson  noob alert here (I am the noob). 

 

Thank you very much for all the suggestions and for addressing this for me. 

 

At the moment, I'm playing with my new Watermans 42 Safety Pen

[Bo Bo Olson]

I expect a picture of your...new Waterman 42 Safety Pen. 

Need to learn, what it looks like, just in case.

 

I have two safety pens.

 

One a pre-23 MB Safety pen. My wife was at a street flea market and talking to whomever, about his goods, and asked if he had any inkwells or pens in his house. He only had an old pen that didn't work. Because of my wife's helpful hints, he gave it to her for spare parts.

It worked, I'll explain why I knew lower in the post. 

It was a real beater.

Francis restored the top, and said polishing it was a royal b*tch. Put in a gasket too. 

I had a local jeweler make a famous snake clip, with emerald eyes, of 950 Parisian silver. Something I'd never heard of. That cost more than the restoration. With the clip the pen lacks the balance, it has with out the clip.

 

I do most of my 'buying' at local live auction houses (even if telephone bid.).

I went to check out a pen, and I'll never play poker with that woman behind the counter. My first (bleep) (Huh..bleeped, thought I said thought) was someone stole the gold nib for a three pack of beer....not only that they stole the feed.

The worth of a gold nib is not much, even at over $1,800-2000 an ounce.

 

She twisted the bottom and out rose the nib.

 

Top is mine; different chasing, then there is, with permission from Penboard.de, a professional picture of a 1930s Fendomatic made in Milan, Italy. 18k RG...rolled gold overlay. Only a nice semi-flex, not superflex. Still very nice.

The top/final is so lovely.

 

I started out as a bottom feeder in the Pen of the Week in The Mail Club.

Then Pen of the Month...... Pen of the Quarter got so much better pens. That was mostly auction houses, for the last decade.

 

Getting out of Ebay, I started going to live auction house and picking up an old good to better pen for reasonable prices. With 15 years of collecting, can come up with grail pens or even just pretty as hell once third tier pens. An Ebay buy.

My @ #5 for pretty, an Italian Columbus 1948-52 piston pen. Replaced 'gold colored' semi-flex nib. Think it was an Auction house live auction lot win.

One repair lot, of Pens repaired by Francis. The 'gold' colored one...may be gold in it never tarnishes. And I've had it for 10 years. Semi-flex and medium-small, but I like it too. That 1948-59 Medium-Large 146, noticeably better balanced than the '70-now Large 146. It was such a beater, I'd hope only for the maxi-semi-flex nib to be saved, if it came down to it. And it came back looking near new.

[Penguincollector]

  OP, have you tried the Magna Carta 14k flex nib made in India? I’ve tried a 600 and a 650, and they are both very close to vintage flex. A place that has been recommended to me in  the past for vintage pens in India is Antikart. They seem to have a good selection, but I didn’t actually buy from them so please ask around about them to make sure they are a good store. They also hVe some modern pens with different flex nibs available.

[Abhishek Gulshan]

15 hours ago, Bo Bo Olson said:

I expect a picture of your...new Waterman 42 Safety Pen. 

Need to learn, what it looks like, just in case.

 

I have two safety pens.

 

One a pre-23 MB Safety pen. My wife was at a street flea market and talking to whomever, about his goods, and asked if he had any inkwells or pens in his house. He only had an old pen that didn't work. Because of my wife's helpful hints, he gave it to her for spare parts.

It worked, I'll explain why I knew lower in the post. 

It was a real beater.

Francis restored the top, and said polishing it was a royal b*tch. Put in a gasket too. 

I had a local jeweler make a famous snake clip, with emerald eyes, of 950 Parisian silver. Something I'd never heard of. That cost more than the restoration. With the clip the pen lacks the balance, it has with out the clip.

 

I do most of my 'buying' at local live auction houses (even if telephone bid.).

I went to check out a pen, and I'll never play poker with that woman behind the counter. My first (bleep) (Huh..bleeped, thought I said thought) was someone stole the gold nib for a three pack of beer....not only that they stole the feed.

The worth of a gold nib is not much, even at over $1,800-2000 an ounce.

 

She twisted the bottom and out rose the nib.

 

Top is mine; different chasing, then there is, with permission from Penboard.de, a professional picture of a 1930s Fendomatic made in Milan, Italy. 18k RG...rolled gold overlay. Only a nice semi-flex, not superflex. Still very nice.

The top/final is so lovely.

 

I started out as a bottom feeder in the Pen of the Week in The Mail Club.

Then Pen of the Month...... Pen of the Quarter got so much better pens. That was mostly auction houses, for the last decade.

 

Getting out of Ebay, I started going to live auction house and picking up an old good to better pen for reasonable prices. With 15 years of collecting, can come up with grail pens or even just pretty as hell once third tier pens. An Ebay buy.

My @ #5 for pretty, an Italian Columbus 1948-52 piston pen. Replaced 'gold colored' semi-flex nib. Think it was an Auction house live auction lot win.

One repair lot, of Pens repaired by Francis. The 'gold' colored one...may be gold in it never tarnishes. And I've had it for 10 years. Semi-flex and medium-small, but I like it too. That 1948-59 Medium-Large 146, noticeably better balanced than the '70-now Large 146. It was such a beater, I'd hope only for the maxi-semi-flex nib to be saved, if it came down to it. And it came back looking near new.

That MB is a crazy buy! Thanks to your wife

 

MB Safetys are extremely expensive. Good that atleast you have auctions to attend. Sadly, there is no such concept in India as of now. There are auctions but pens would hardly make the cut. 

 

Attaching a picture of the watermans 42 safety pen. I had bought this from someone in Calcutta but when he sent it to me, the cap was leaking so I sent it back. Now he has changed the cap and added a made in india clip on it. However, even now the Safety screw isn't in place as he says that the grip section has shrunk a bit so he would recommend keeping the pen vertical, but that beats the purpose of a Safety. One plus of a Safety pen is that the nib is always immersed in ink inside for it to be wet enough to write with. Now I have to work with this flaw sadly and I'm still in the market for a good Safety but it's costly. So I've decided to keep this one. This one wasn't cheap other, it costed me INR 15000 (~$180). 

 

Anyway maybe, sometime in the future, I might get my hands on a good flex Safety. 

 

Offlate I've been very interested in vintage watermans flex nibs and I've heard great things and I've seen great things on the Watermans 12 eyedropper. Let's see if I can get one cheap. 

 

Regards 

Abhishek 

 

 

[Abhishek Gulshan]

13 hours ago, Penguincollector said:

  OP, have you tried the Magna Carta 14k flex nib made in India? I’ve tried a 600 and a 650, and they are both very close to vintage flex. A place that has been recommended to me in  the past for vintage pens in India is Antikart. They seem to have a good selection, but I didn’t actually buy from them so please ask around about them to make sure they are a good store. They also hVe some modern pens with different flex nibs available.

Hi, 

Thank you for the suggestion and yes I've used one which is owned by a friend. It is still pricey than the old vintage ones I have so I've avoided it

 

Thanks again

Regards

Abhishek 

[Bo Bo Olson]

I have a little seven-year-old Indian friend who lived in our apartment building, I've known since he was a baby, who hung out at our apartment often. Surfing with me, (good for me too, showing him things I knew, besides Tigers.) learning things, and learning not to be a sore loser playing child board games with my wife. I sent him a letter just after he left, some 2 and a 1/2 months ago, and the letter never came in.

My ex-neighbors said that was par for the course for India. 

 

Having given him a nice Pelikino, expected to write letters to him, so his cursive would be of use. So from my point of view, if a normal regular letter can't get delivered, so much for plan A. Plan B, now to learn how to use What App or What Up or what ever it is, I just got my first Handy/cell phone and am lost in the jungle without a compass.

 

I use Francis Gossens, in Belgium for my pen repair, and he is a long time Master. He charges a fair price, and if possible, he could fix your safety pen. He fixed both of mine. The rolled gold overlay Safety Pen needed a new spindle built, because the previous 'repair' was someone who tried to superglue the spindle together, which didn't work out.

PM me, I'll give you his address, if you want to go Fed-X, or UPS with your pen. I have no idea of the cost of that, having used UPS only once for some documents.

.......................

You have real nice solid handwriting!!!  It is a superflex nib.

It's nice to have a nib that does all the work. 

 

Right now out and in use, I'm using both that Ahab with an Easy Full Flex narrow F nib and that Waterman 0554 Gothic 1918-mid '30's. Wet Noodle F. It writes a quite abit easier/smoother than my Weak Kneed Wet Noodle '27 Parker Sr. Doufold, which is in one of my two inked pen cups. 

 

With antique pre-WW2 nibs one don't want to do much if any smoothing. Nib tipping was perfected in WW2. 1940 and before has tipping that is lumpy, bumpy and chunks can or have fallen out.** So I use a feather weight when trying to get such a nib a slight tad smoother.

I have a feeling that antique Parker will always have a bit of tooth to the nib. I can live with that. Just not compare it to that Waterman too often.

 

** Somewhere on the com, is a fine thread about pre-WW2 tipping, it's lumpyness and chunks falling out**, and that Waterman was after only 3X tine spread in the '30's, so that would also be on the now 7X tine spread of such as the fabled 'Pink' nibs. That was a real eye-opener.

 

**Those lumpy nibs, of pens no one knew about having repaired without it costing, got melted down in the '80's when gold hit $800 an ounce, or now at $2000, so we now end up with the best surviving nibs of the time,.

We now have nibmeisters that can re-tip...thankfully.

 

One can wonder how it would be if 'we' did repairs when needed, instead of cheaping out. The best example is fountain pens. Something for your next philosophy evening discussion. How the whole world rotates around ... a fountain pen???