High Quality Pens with excellent, flexible points?

Hey all,

While I love my pens I have, each of them fails in the same area, they
are not flexible enough for real thick and thin style
writing. Granted, I always try to find pens with enough flexibility to
give me that right feel, I haven't found one yet that really has that
delicate precision useful in my most careful and calligraphic
prose. :-)

I was wondering if you all had any recommendations? I like to have
pens that I can use, but I also like them to have a nice look and
feel, and good balance.

I have some good pens for monoline writing, and I will probably use
those most of the time, but for those times when I need to bring out
the best in say, a Spencerian style, I don't have an adequate pen.

I appreciate anything you could give me. :-)

- Aaron

--
Aaron Hsu

On Sun, 02 Jul 2006 21:37:20 -0500, Aaron Hsu wrote:

I was wondering if you all had any recommendations? I like to have
pens that I can use, but I also like them to have a nice look and
feel, and good balance.

Among modern pens the Namiki Falcon is the one I hear spoken of as
flexible. Trouble is, opinions vary about just how flexible it is.

Perhaps you should consider older pens. Among the US-made ones, earlier
Waterman, Conklin and Mabie Todd Swan pens are usually flexible, as are
British Swan eyedroppers and Onoto plunger fillers. Not all of them, of
course, because those nibs were hand-finished and their characteristics
vary, but a very high proportion of all pre-1920 eyedroppers have decent
flex as well as many later pens up to WWII. There are also some relatively
modern Japanese eyedroppers with plated nibs that are exceptionally flexy.
--
Sem

"Aaron Hsu" wrote in message
...
Hey all,

While I love my pens I have, each of them fails in the same area, they
are not flexible enough for real thick and thin style
writing. Granted, I always try to find pens with enough flexibility to
give me that right feel, I haven't found one yet that really has that
delicate precision useful in my most careful and calligraphic
prose. :-)

I was wondering if you all had any recommendations? I like to have
pens that I can use, but I also like them to have a nice look and
feel, and good balance.

I have some good pens for monoline writing, and I will probably use
those most of the time, but for those times when I need to bring out
the best in say, a Spencerian style, I don't have an adequate pen.

I appreciate anything you could give me. :-)

Hey, Aaron.

For modern pens, the Namiki Falcon fine nib will produce the effect you
want, is comfortable, well-balanced, and is available in conservative black
with gold clip. The Parker Sonnet gold nib is semi-flex so won't be as good,
but the pen is well-balanced, available in different finishes, and it's easy
to change nibs if you want to buy a variety. I've heard that Pelikans have
flex nibs, but I don't know if they're true flex or merely springy as so
many other modern pens turn out to be.

If the Falcon doesn't work for you, you'll have to consider older pens.

Sorry, I'm not about to give up any of my pens .

HTH.

--
~~Bluesea~~
Spam is great in musubi but not in email.
Please take out the trash before sending a direct reply.

Bluesea wrote:
"Aaron Hsu" wrote in message
...

snip

those most of the time, but for those times when I need to bring out
the best in say, a Spencerian style, I don't have an adequate pen.

I appreciate anything you could give me. :-)

Hey, Aaron.

For modern pens, the Namiki Falcon fine nib will produce the effect you
want, is comfortable, well-balanced, and is available in conservative black
with gold clip. The Parker Sonnet gold nib is semi-flex so won't be as good,
but the pen is well-balanced, available in different finishes, and it's easy
to change nibs if you want to buy a variety. I've heard that Pelikans have
flex nibs, but I don't know if they're true flex or merely springy as so
many other modern pens turn out to be.


If you have a good Spencerian hand, Aaron, I would stay away from
all current production because the nibs are not truly flexible in
the sense needed for Spencerian script. The only current products
I've come across that are truly suitable for Spencerian and other
ornamental scripts are steel pens, i.e., dip pens. I've seen notices
that OMAS is working on a truly flexible nib, but I don't think they
are available yet. Your best bet in FPs is to get a vintage pen with
a flexible nib. But this is just my $0.02.

HTH,
Mark Z.

mz writes:

Bluesea wrote:
"Aaron Hsu" wrote in message
...

[...]

those most of the time, but for those times when I need to bring out
the best in say, a Spencerian style, I don't have an adequate pen.

I appreciate anything you could give me. :-)

For modern pens, the Namiki Falcon fine nib will produce the effect you
want, is comfortable, well-balanced, and is available in conservative black

[...]

If you have a good Spencerian hand, Aaron, I would stay away from
all current production because the nibs are not truly flexible in
the sense needed for Spencerian script. The only current products
I've come across that are truly suitable for Spencerian and other
ornamental scripts are steel pens, i.e., dip pens. I've seen notices
that OMAS is working on a truly flexible nib, but I don't think they
are available yet. Your best bet in FPs is to get a vintage pen with
a flexible nib. But this is just my $0.02.

Hm, well, not like I am really good with Spencerian, yet. :-) But I do
like to practice more or less, and I intend to get a lot better than I
am. The main issue I have is my travelling habits, which don't always
lend themselves to nice transportation of a set of steel nib dip
pens. :-) I was hoping that someone out there still made a good
flexible nib FP that I could reasonably use for travel, so that I
would not have to lug around a box for dip pens and ink.

I guess I am not really experienced enough to know what's good and
what's not in the vintage markets. Heh, well, I guess I'll just have
to check out my various options and see what I come up with.

- Aaron
--
Aaron Hsu

"Aaron Hsu" wrote in message:

I guess I am not really experienced
enough to know what's good and what's not
in the vintage markets. Heh, well, I
guess I'll just have to check out my
various options and see what I come up
with.

Hi Aaron... I agree with Mark Z. that vintage is the way to go if you want a
truly flexible nib, but I wouldn't go so far as to say that only steel dip
pens will give you the result you want. I've seen a number of folks write
beautiful Spencerian/Copperplate script using fine flexible gold nibs from
the early 1900s (1900-1930 or so). The holder (body of the pen) is much less
important than the nib itself. So you could find a beat up hard rubber pen
from the early 1900s that'd do the trick. There's no substitute for trying a
pen out in person, so if you have a vintage shop nearby or can get to a
show, that's what I'd recommend. You could also contact John Mottishaw
(www.nibs.com) and see what he has. He modifies modern pen nibs (including,
as Sem suggested, Falcon nibs) for added flexibility. IME, these nibs tend
to be softer and less flexible than truly flexible nibs of yore, but people
actually get nice Spencian/Copperplate script from them (... and a lot of
training and practice, of course). Here's a sample of writing on John's
customized Falcon page... http://www.nibs.com/NamikiFalconPage.htm

Have fun hunting... B

In article ,
Semolina Pilchard wrote:

On Sun, 02 Jul 2006 21:37:20 -0500, Aaron Hsu wrote:

I was wondering if you all had any recommendations? I like to have
pens that I can use, but I also like them to have a nice look and
feel, and good balance.
snip
Perhaps you should consider older pens. Among the US-made ones, earlier
Waterman, Conklin and Mabie Todd Swan pens are usually flexible, as are
British Swan eyedroppers and Onoto plunger fillers. Not all of them, of
snip

FWIW the venerable Waterman 52 (and the slightly larger but equally
venerable 55) in simple BCHR is an excellent inexpensive pen with an
unbelievable nib. The #2 14K nib probably sets the standard on vintage
controlled flexibility. There are plenty of pens from the same era with
truly noodle-soft nibs but the Watermans have a great balance between
firmness and flexibility.

A friend of mine who draws comic books for a living bought two 52s from
me after trying one out for about 5 minutes. One is a ringtop that he
ties to his sketchbook, the other is a clip-cap he keeps in his shirt
pocket. He went from pilot razor points to waterman 52 overnight and
hasn't gone back.

Hope this helps,

Jon

jon fabian wrote:


FWIW the venerable Waterman 52 (and the slightly larger but equally
venerable 55) in simple BCHR is an excellent inexpensive pen with an
unbelievable nib. The #2 14K nib probably sets the standard on vintage
controlled flexibility. There are plenty of pens from the same era with
truly noodle-soft nibs but the Watermans have a great balance between
firmness and flexibility.


For those who might not be familiar with them, only some of the No.
2 nibs are flexible. Like most nibs of the era, they could be
purchased as extremely rigid manifold nibs to the flexible with a
range in between. Make sure what you're getting is a flexible nib
and not something else.

HTH,
Mark Z.