Noodler´s Ahab - Ease My Flex Mod

[grainweevil]

Is anyone else feeling really inadequate about the cleaning of their Ahab just about now? Because I am, and I'm really scared that my three are going to realise how contaminated they are and stop working...

 

Cheers, Al

[CloaknDagr]

Is anyone else feeling really inadequate about the cleaning of their Ahab just about now? Because I am, and I'm really scared that my three are going to realise how contaminated they are and stop working...

 

Cheers, Al

Hey Al, Cheers.

 

You don't really NEED to do all the stuff I (we) were talking about. Simply flushing a new pen with soap and water first, then rinsing it with clear water after-- is sufficient. Which I'm sure you already know judging by your tongue-in-cheek phrasing.

 

The reason I went to all that trouble to clean, polish, de-gunk, and clean some more was to be absolutely sure that gunk wasn't the issue and to give the pen a fair shot without any kind of contamination concerns. It was WAY past overkill and I never go to those kinds of extremes with a new pen. I was trying to rule out contamination as a reason for failure.

 

This whole "does the Ahab flex properly" topic is purely subjective. For some people I'm sure the pen flexes fine from the box, others will mod the pen to get a little more out of it and be happy with the way it flexes. Then there are people like me that aren't going to find the Ahab satisfactory as a flexer even after extensive work and modifications.

 

Don't get me wrong, the pen does flex and it can be forced to flex a lot the way it sits now after doing all that work. I just don't think that the way it flexes was worth all the effort it took to get it to it's current state. It was a lot of rigamarole for not a lot of return. The next time I'm shopping for a flex nib pen, it's not going to be a Noodler pen.

 

All of that said, the pen does have some other features going for it besides the flex thing. It has a huge ink capacity and had I simply ignored the flex feature and used it as a regular fountain pen- after a little bit of nib work I'd be happy with a pen that wrote well and carried that much ink. For the price with that in mind it's not a bad pen.

 

I just wish I hadn't spent all this time, effort and aggravation trying to get this thing to do some serious flexing, it's not going to do that without concentration and a lot of effort while writing. I can get a line from it that varies by a factor of between 6x and 8x thin-to-wide ratio. It flexes. It just doesn't flex easily or naturally. Even with the EMF mod and all the other things I did to it. it doesn't flex gracefully or elegantly. I feel like I'm still beating the flex out of the nib even though it does flex much better and easier than a stock pen.

[grainweevil]

Yeah, sorry about the tongue-in-cheekiness - it's a bad habit of mine.

 

My only reason for posting at all was I couldn't help but think of a newbie reading some of this and coming away with the idea that they virtually have to install a clean room in their home to use a $20 pen. I'd hate that to discourage someone from giving the Ahab a shot.

 

To be honest I think your expectations for the Ahab were pretty ambitious, but I'm sorry to hear you were disappointed in it, especially after all your efforts. Maybe toss it in a drawer for a few months and come back to it with a fresh eye and you'll like it better. Often works for me.

 

Cheers, Al

[TeaHive]

I'd just like to throw out the idea of sending all unwanted Noodler's pens in my direction, instead of the bin.

 

As for this modification, I've done it with a couple of the standard nibs to satisfactory results! I even ground the point of one down to an extra-fine to go along with the easier flex, and it makes an excellent drawing pen. The "snap-back" isn't so great for going from thick lines back to thin, so it's not the best for calligraphy. (Not as a result of the EMF modification, by the way, but from the heavy ink flow left behind after flexing.) But it serves my purposes.

 

Now, if only I could gather the courage to try it on one of the Neponset music nibs...

[CloaknDagr]

Yeah, sorry about the tongue-in-cheekiness - it's a bad habit of mine.

 

My only reason for posting at all was I couldn't help but think of a newbie reading some of this and coming away with the idea that they virtually have to install a clean room in their home to use a $20 pen. I'd hate that to discourage someone from giving the Ahab a shot.

 

To be honest I think your expectations for the Ahab were pretty ambitious, but I'm sorry to hear you were disappointed in it, especially after all your efforts. Maybe toss it in a drawer for a few months and come back to it with a fresh eye and you'll like it better. Often works for me.

 

Cheers, Al

 

(Raising an eyebrow) Yes, well, it's been my experience that folks jump to "tongue-in-cheek" (being generously mild with that description) entirely too readily and often. One would think an Englishman would prize his urbanity, but if one thought that one might be wrong. Apparently civility is a casualty of cyberspace.

 

If some novitiate reads this thread and somehow got the idea they needed a clean room ... that person isn't reading very well or carefully. Nor would that person be terribly bright. So you can relax Al, it's not likely that a deserving, contemplative, overly sensitive novice penman is going to be traumatized so badly after reading this thread that they'll swear off of fountain pens for life or run screaming at the mere mention of a Noodlers Ahab. I'm reasonably sure you didn't really think that was likely either.

 

I could have just said "I cleaned the pen well and properly" but that wouldn't have done any good. The high detail that went into describing cleaning this beast was to forestall anyone rendering the opinion that the pen was in need of cleaning. Because I knew that the first conclusion most reasonable people would come to was that the pen isn't clean. Even then, with all that effort made, people still said "the pen isn't properly clean." It is not only properly clean, it's ridiculously anal-retentively preposterously over-clean. Put it through an autoclave and you could do brain surgery with that nib it's so clean.

 

As for someone not "giving the Ahab a shot" -- glowing reports of uber-flexiness and lack of anything resembling criticism at all isn't really being fair either. When I bought my Ahab the lady who owns the pen store did her best to politely point out that it doesn't flex that well but I figured I could do something about that. I had walked into that store that day to buy an Ahab and she knew that but still kindly and politely tried to steer me away. I had read this thread, I had researched everything I could find on making this pen work better as a flex nib writer. I was willing to make the effort. I did all the procedures correctly and carefully down to several decimal points. The end result is I'm not impressed with this pen. Other people are, that's them not me. If you want to write very carefully with a lot of concentration on getting a good flex, provided you're using top shelf paper because otherwise you're just going to make a mess, then this pen will do that. If you want a pen that flexes with grace and ease that naturally enhances and accents your penmanship, this pen isn't the one you want to "give a shot". It's only fair to include both sides of the issue and in my experience even after maximum effort the Ahab is not satisfactory to me. It's OK, it's not a total bomb, but it wasn't worth the expense, time and effort for the final result. No amount of time in a drawer is likely to make it any better than it is right now.

 

Where you might hate to discourage someone from giving the Ahab a shot, I would absolutely like to discourage them from doing that. I'll never buy another one of these pens. I refer to my Ahab as "The Aggravating Ahab". I have a couple buddies who are also fountain pen fans and they agree with me, it took too much effort to get not much as a final result. Others mileage may vary.

[CloaknDagr]

Here's the thing about this pen, this is the intention of my first post further up the page-

 

1. The pen is not a good flex writer out of the box. It's sold as a flex pen but it doesn't do that well in it's stock condition.

 

2. The stock ebonite feed is woefully inadequate to supply ink to a flexing nib without railroading.

 

3. Because of these two factors people have had to seriously modify this pen.

 

4. I did those serious modifications, all of them. I did them well. There is nothing wrong with my technique, the procedures used, or the materials I employed. The principles involved are intuitive, obvious and easily grasped.

 

5. My pen is not dirty or contaminated.

 

6. The pen flexes better now than it did when it came out of the box. It was a PITA to get to that state.

 

7. Even though it flexes better, it still does not flex very well.

 

8. I have other flex nib pens, this isn't my first rodeo. I know the difference between a good flex pen and a poor one.

 

9. I did not expect this pen to perform like an antique heirloom pen with a precious metal nib.

 

10. In my opinion a flex nib should enhance and accent penmanship in a natural, fluid fashion. My highly modified and tuned Ahab does not do that.

 

11. In my opinion no matter how much care I take, no matter how much time I spend, no matter how expertly I modify this pen it will never achieve that natural, fluid enhancement of penmanship. That basic organic ability does not exist in the Ahab.

 

12. It was very nice, very kind and very considerate for people to post their modifications so that I could avoid much of the trial and error that would otherwise have been involved in working on my Ahab. Thank you all for doing that.

 

13. I'm fully aware that others may be completely satisfied with their Ahab pens, modified or not. I'm not at all offended if someone doesn't agree with my opinion of the Ahab. You all should not be offended if my opinion doesn't agree with your opinion either.

 

14. I'm not attacking the Ahab pen, I'm relating my own personal experience with it and my subjective opinions. I wasn't in here asking for help, I posted my experiences and conclusions. That experience has been largely negative and disappointing. Don't take that personally. There is no need for anyone to defend it because it's not under attack.

 

15. If you like the Ahab pen that's fine with me. I'm not impressed with it. Please don't tell me I did something wrong, that my expectations are unreasonable or any of that other drek. You may not realize it but in doing so you're calling me inept, incompetent and/or ignorant. I'm none of those things, I just don't really like this pen. I'll still use it, I'm not so disgusted with it that I'm going to toss it, I'm just underwhelmed by this pen even when it is configured to it's maximum potential. If you don't agree with that I don't see that as a flaw in your character. The proper thing to do would be to reciprocate that same respect for me.

 

16. I love this forum; it's a wonderful place to discuss my love of fountain pens, to get information from knowledgeable people on topics I am not as well versed in as they are, to get valuable tips and pointers benefiting me with the experience of others, and it's generally but not always one of the last bastions for the exchange of thoughts and ideas on the internet where snarkiness and trolling are the exception not the rule. Kudos to you all, the vast majority of you are very fine folks and yes, I notice that about you all.

[CloaknDagr]

I'd just like to throw out the idea of sending all unwanted Noodler's pens in my direction, instead of the bin.

 

As for this modification, I've done it with a couple of the standard nibs to satisfactory results! I even ground the point of one down to an extra-fine to go along with the easier flex, and it makes an excellent drawing pen. The "snap-back" isn't so great for going from thick lines back to thin, so it's not the best for calligraphy. (Not as a result of the EMF modification, by the way, but from the heavy ink flow left behind after flexing.) But it serves my purposes.

 

Now, if only I could gather the courage to try it on one of the Neponset music nibs...

 

I had been considering taking the stock nib width down to a fine or extra fine. Mine is still more-or-less medium, I polished it but didn't otherwise change the geometry width-wise. One of the things about this pen that fails to impress me is the lack of a natural feel and obvious flex in the script -- and some of that is likely due to the medium width nib. As in there just isn't that much flexing going on between the heavy medium line and the flexed line.

 

That will be my next effort after I get over all the bother it took to get this pen modded up to where it's at now. It was very helpful of you to mention your success with altering the nib to an extra fine line. Thank you.

 

I'm not going to toss my Ahab, it's a useful pen it's just underwhelming in my opinion. Who knows? Turning that nib into an extra fine might make all the difference. The way things stand now I can't see that there's much likelihood of making it worse rather than better.

[Ink-mark]

I'm a newbie at flexy nibs and last year before I broke both wrists badly was all set to run out and buy an Ahab. Pterodactyl's EMF mod looks like a lot of fun to try, and the Ahab is only $20 and gets a lot of raves on FPN. Then I read CloaknDagr.....he makes a lot of sense, but he may just have had the one lemon off the production line, but the guy is as scientific as you'll find on this forum, so I am less enamored with the whole idea.

 

CloaknDagr--thanks, you did leave a wealth of great info in the thread---I may go back, collect it, and produce a tech note.

 

I have a couple of dumb questions....I am a newbie, but I own 9 very good fountain pens, so I do know the basics about writing pens and lettering pens. My broken hands will delay examples of my penmanship which may never get back to standards.

 

Dumb question #1: are there different grades of acceptableness for flex writing, or is everyone trying to achieve vintage Waterman 92 wet noodle quality from a $20 pen? Who has better solutions in the economy price range for pens? Has anyone tried to modify the Namiki Metropolitan for instance?

 

Dumb question #2: does the nib size make a difference to the range of line width in flex writing? In italic writing and calligraphy, nib size is one of the controlling factors, but in the Ahab discussions, nib size never enters the conversation??

 

My interest is still in trying flex writing, I'm just doing research on economic entry till my hands heal.

[CloaknDagr]

I'm a newbie at flexy nibs and last year before I broke both wrists badly was all set to run out and buy an Ahab. Pterodactyl's EMF mod looks like a lot of fun to try, and the Ahab is only $20 and gets a lot of raves on FPN. Then I read CloaknDagr.....he makes a lot of sense, but he may just have had the one lemon off the production line, but the guy is as scientific as you'll find on this forum, so I am less enamored with the whole idea.

 

CloaknDagr--thanks, you did leave a wealth of great info in the thread---I may go back, collect it, and produce a tech note.

 

I have a couple of dumb questions....I am a newbie, but I own 9 very good fountain pens, so I do know the basics about writing pens and lettering pens. My broken hands will delay examples of my penmanship which may never get back to standards.

 

Dumb question #1: are there different grades of acceptableness for flex writing, or is everyone trying to achieve vintage Waterman 92 wet noodle quality from a $20 pen? Who has better solutions in the economy price range for pens? Has anyone tried to modify the Namiki Metropolitan for instance?

 

Dumb question #2: does the nib size make a difference to the range of line width in flex writing? In italic writing and calligraphy, nib size is one of the controlling factors, but in the Ahab discussions, nib size never enters the conversation??

 

My interest is still in trying flex writing, I'm just doing research on economic entry till my hands heal.

 

It is entirely possible that I got a lemon. I say that because I only have the one Ahab and that is my only Noodlers pen. Thus I have nothing to make a personal comparison to or with. As sampling goes mine is a miniscule sample and may or may not be an anomaly. It's not possible for me to say because I'd have to go buy more Noodlers pens to test, modify, and tinker with. After my experience with this Ahab I'm not going to buy any more Noodlers pens, at least not for a while. I'm fussy about brands and do not generally reward a brand I don't like with more of my money.

 

That said, I love Noodler's inks and I have nothing but respect for Nathan Tardiff. I personally just don't like these pens and I've gone into great detail why that is. I'm not alone in that dislike. There are lots of threads on FPN about people not being happy with Ahabs but then there are a lot of threads about people not being happy with pens I'm perfectly pleased with. The whole realm of instruments that write in the manner of fountain pens is fraught with subjectivity and that's another of the fun things about fountain pens. One of the irritating things is that people jump to the conclusion that you must be doing something wrong (or that there's something wrong with you) if you don't like something as much as they do. There are probably few things in human experience that span a wider range of individuality and preference than the topic of fountain pens.

 

Rendering my own opinion here, I would say that the acceptability of "flexiness" is totally subjective. One of the interesting and fun things about handwriting be it with a flex nib or not -- is that it is unique to each individual. So much so that a signature even in this high tech age is considered binding and acceptable on commercial and legal documents. We haven't gotten to the point of requiring thumb prints or a personal hash yet and frankly I hope we never do. Clearly from the discussion in this thread what is acceptable to me and what is acceptable to someone else is not the same thing.

 

I'm not demanding that a $20 pen behave like an antique "wet noodle". I am looking for a certain experience with a flex nib and while others are happy with the Ahab I am not. The Ahab didn't get me where I want to be even at a minimum though I must say that TeaHive's comment about fining down the nib has given me some encouragement that maybe I haven't done every last possible thing to this Ahab and there may still be some hope. In fairness to the Ahab and in gratitude to TeaHive when and if I do that I'll come back and comment on the result. This incidentally addresses your second question.

 

Thus I would have to say "no, there's no standard for acceptability in a flex pen".

 

I also have some good, heirloom and antique flex nibs that are a pure joy to write with because of the script they render. Some are not particularly well made by the standards of their day, some do not fit my hand all that well or feel as good as other pens when I write with them. But all of them are fun to use because of the character of the line they lay on paper. I'm looking to expand that kind of experience with a modern and easily procurable pen. This is a quest I will continue. If I have to tinker with it to get there that's fine with me but I'm not going to go hacking and modding on a Mont Blanc grade pen, so the pen has to be on the lower end of the cost scale for me to experiment with it. Which means that I'll leave answering the rest of your first question to others and no doubt in this forum there are others who know more about what you're asking than I do.

Edited January 11, 2015 by CloaknDagr

[joly1]

I bought a Ahab more than three years now, I use it nearly every day to doodle or draw, as I push hard on the tines to obtain thick lines, I noticed as time goes by ,that the nib flexes in a more easy way than when it was new, I opened the feeder slit to improve the ink flow, turned it an eye dropper pen ,and finally tinkered an overfeed , made from the tin of an aluminium beverage can, cut to the right size with scissors, and clipped on the sides of the nib ,the flow is now generous, no rairoading , the flex is in no way comparable to a vintage wet noodle, but for 20 dollars, what a fun !

[Brooks MT]

Ink-mark. I'm sorry to hear about your hands. I hope they heal; I've had good luck working with a physical therapist when I had shoulder and, later, knee trouble. A couple sessions, and a sheet of suggested exercises, and I was all fixed up. I was flabbergasted at the results - my knee practically crippled me, no stairs, etc....but now I'm back to good as new.

 

Noodler pens seem to inspire love or hate. I love them. I'm an experimenter (pens, live steam models, rc squareriggers, free-running model submarines, acrobatics, gun-sights), & retired scientist (biology and computers). I enjoy learning new skills, usually :-). Noodler's are not pens for the ball-point Bic crowd, to be sure; a lot of criticism of Noodlers (on other FPN threads) appears to me to be from the Perfection w/o Effort crowd. They will Not write the way you want out of the box (unless your goal is no-flex monoline). But, if you are willing to learn new skills (Dremel, EMF, ink properties and their modification), and adapt your writing to the tool (slower than a Bic, faster than a lettering brush), they are an excellent value - at least mine are. And if you screw up, well, it's $20-40 down the drain (send your screwups to TeaHive, or me, and they'll be put to a good use, ho,ho....I repaired one and sent it back to the owner, gratis, but maybe I was lucky).

 

I have written with wet noodles, and don't like them. I've even modified Noodler and dip pen nibs to perform like wet noodles - those nibs were put back in the box; they worked, but were not my style.

 

Noodler pens, unlike Any other out there, particularly the expensive pens, can be modified to fit your writing style by You....but you have to work at it. My first efforts were not particularly sucessfull, but I kept at it and now all of them write fine. If you are not interested in that effort, then I don't have a problem with you...Its your hobby, and you can do what ever you wish.

 

Nathan Tardiff (sole owner and worker of Noodler's) deliberately made the pens easy to modify. He's been a pen expert for 50+ years, starting his career as a fountain pen repairman while still in High School. But unlike some experts, he's still willing to learn new things, more power to him. About the only valid criticism I've heard of the man is that, as a one-man-show, he can't keep up with demand. When his pens sell out, it may take a year for the dealers to get replacement stock. His inks restock faster than that, and are a bargain in price/ml (and a wonder to modify to make the ink itself perform the way You want, Yay!).

 

So, jump into the Noodler pen world if you want to learn new skills. If you stick with it and ask questions on FPN, I'm confident you will end up with a fine writing instrument personallized to your writing style.

Edited January 11, 2015 by Brooks MT

[CloaknDagr]

 

I have written with wet noodles, and don't like them. I've even modified Noodler and dip pen nibs to perform like wet noodles - those nibs were put back in the box; they worked, but were not my style.

 

 

That statement, in a nutshell, exemplifies one of the truly grand aspects of the fountain pen hobby and area of interest. Everyone can pursue their own interest and there's something interesting in the fountain pen world for almost everyone.

 

You might be a dip pen fan and cannot understand why on earth anyone would ever want to use any other kind of pen. You might be a fan of antique pens and turn your nose up at anything less than 75 years old. You might have a nib, an ink, a brand of pen or any other minutia, scruple or foible in the pen universe and you can still enjoy this hobby. You can drop a small fortune on pens or you can spend not very much at all and either way your personal satisfaction isn't diminished one bit.

 

I have real-life friends that are also fountain pen acolytes. One of them has a pen I would never even dream of owning, it's that expensive and there is just no way I'd ever spend that on a pen. He wouldn't either, his wife gave it to him for an anniversary present and it is one of his most treasured possessions. Another one is a Pilot Iroshizuku Kon-Peki fanatic. He likes to play with lots of inks like I do but at any given time the bulk of his pens are fueled up with Kon-Peki. I like Kon-Peki, I have a bottle and several other colors of Pilot Iroshizuku inks, but it's not my "go to" ink. In fact, while I like those Pilot inks there are other inks I like even better. We share our hobby, our impressions and observations ... But we are never going to be in total synchronicity with each other because we have our own individual preferences.

 

In no way do those differences and individuality reflect some flaw in the person who owns them. Not being able to get to a point by a certain route doesn't mean someone just didn't put enough effort into the endeavor. Not all experiments are successful no matter how hard you try and no matter how much you know.

 

On top of all that, there's this great place on the internet called FountainPenNetwork.com where you can go and discuss, compare, get advice, learn or even do battle (in an urbane and civil manner suitable to the dignity of this hobby) with other fountain pen fans.

 

Not everything is for everyone and a flexy script line is as much a matter of personal taste as anything else in this hobby.

 

On another note entirely --- Hey Brooks, I did a Google search for "Noodler's Nathan Tardiff" and your picture (or at least your avatar) comes up on the first page of hits returned under the "Images" section. Pretty good when you can get your picture on the first page of a search engines hits, even if you're not trying to.

[Plusfoursmax]

Hi Pterodactylus, I eased my flex on my Ahab some moths ago, and it leapt in my hand like a spawning salmon, and produced a lovely line variation with little effort. However, it was really only good for text bigger than 1" high, as the nib at rest produced thick hairlines. So for normal handwriting sized text it was still a bit frustrating. I read about how others have ground their nibs finer, and after having rescued my Parker Falcon (https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/index.php/topic/282364-grinding-a-broken-parker-falcon-nib/) this weekend I thought I'd give it a go.

One suggestion was to wrap sandpaper round a dowel and use it in a power tool to do the initial grinding. This struck me as risky, as the small diameter of the dowel might run away with you, especially if it is rotating. I searched for a cylinder about the same diameter as the curve of the nib, from shoulder to tip, and found a perfect match in a length of vacuum cleaner extension tube; It measures 32mm across and was a pretty perfect fit. This allowed me to run the grind both by rotating the tube against the whole nub shoulder (as if the tuber were on a power tool) and also very gently up and down in a sawing motion. Because it was backed against the whole shoulder, I was able to remove material from the tip in a very controlled manner, and cut stuff from both sides (although the nib started as slightly asymmetrical and worked fine). I also ground the bead off the top of the nib,and some off the back of the bead to reduce its overall size, by gently rubbing it with a doubled over length of orange mylar abrasive, the bet mylar being stiiff and curved enought o gently press agains the back of the bead.

Tickling up with some white mylar on a mirror and lots of inky fingers, followed by a pretty thorough clean with dish soap and ammonia, and reassembly with the feed quite far forward to the nib, and it now writes much finer, and I can write quite small. It is so much a better pen now, and although I would love to get my hands on a gold nibbed wet noodle at some point, and probably feel this thing is a car wreck in comparison, I will know what to look for.

 

 

Now uploading using Upload Button!

 

 

 

Max

Edited January 12, 2015 by Plusfoursmax

[Sinistral1]

What beautiful handwriting!

 

Flex writing is not for the timid, nor is EMF or reshaping a nib to a fine point. Good job!!

[Ink-mark]

Ink-mark. I'm sorry to hear about your hands. I hope they heal; I've had good luck working with a physical therapist when I had shoulder and, later, knee trouble. A couple sessions, and a sheet of suggested exercises, and I was all fixed up. I was flabbergasted at the results - my knee practically crippled me, no stairs, etc....but now I'm back to good as new.

 

Noodler pens seem to inspire love or hate. I love them. I'm an experimenter (pens, live steam models, rc squareriggers, free-running model submarines, acrobatics, gun-sights), & retired scientist (biology and computers). I enjoy learning new skills, usually :-). Noodler's are not pens for the ball-point Bic crowd, to be sure; a lot of criticism of Noodlers (on other FPN threads) appears to me to be from the Perfection w/o Effort crowd. They will Not write the way you want out of the box (unless your goal is no-flex monoline). But, if you are willing to learn new skills (Dremel, EMF, ink properties and their modification), and adapt your writing to the tool (slower than a Bic, faster than a lettering brush), they are an excellent value - at least mine are. And if you screw up, well, it's $20-40 down the drain (send your screwups to TeaHive, or me, and they'll be put to a good use, ho,ho....I repaired one and sent it back to the owner, gratis, but maybe I was lucky).

 

I have written with wet noodles, and don't like them. I've even modified Noodler and dip pen nibs to perform like wet noodles - those nibs were put back in the box; they worked, but were not my style.

 

Noodler pens, unlike Any other out there, particularly the expensive pens, can be modified to fit your writing style by You....but you have to work at it. My first efforts were not particularly sucessfull, but I kept at it and now all of them write fine. If you are not interested in that effort, then I don't have a problem with you...Its your hobby, and you can do what ever you wish.

 

Nathan Tardiff (sole owner and worker of Noodler's) deliberately made the pens easy to modify. He's been a pen expert for 50+ years, starting his career as a fountain pen repairman while still in High School. But unlike some experts, he's still willing to learn new things, more power to him. About the only valid criticism I've heard of the man is that, as a one-man-show, he can't keep up with demand. When his pens sell out, it may take a year for the dealers to get replacement stock. His inks restock faster than that, and are a bargain in price/ml (and a wonder to modify to make the ink itself perform the way You want, Yay!).

 

So, jump into the Noodler pen world if you want to learn new skills. If you stick with it and ask questions on FPN, I'm confident you will end up with a fine writing instrument personallized to your writing style.

Hi Brooks!

 

Thanks for your inspiring words of encouragement. I'm in! The things you said that triggered my heightened interest were the ideas of experimentation and learning new skills--two absolutely riveting concepts for an engineer; and oddly something I'd never associated with the 'out of the box take what you get from the manufacturer' mentality I'm trapped in when I spend hard earned money buying fountain pens. Thanks for moving my mind set out of that box! (Pun intended). FPN is a great place to learn all kinds of new things, even fabrication tricks!

[dhosh]

A bit of a resurrect on this topic ...

I have an Ahab I'm working on mod-ing the nib for better flex. I read this post, then forgot about it .. and did a different mod .. putting slits on the side of the nib, rather than the ground side 'divots'. It does flex better, but is catchy on the paper. That, I think I can smooth out.

 

I may have to cut a deeper feed in the ink feed material, although I did a bit. I came back to here to see how far up/down the feed nib/fins, the metal nib should be placed. Seems the newly ground nib stands off the ribbed feed nib material too far??

 

Thanks for any suggestions ... back down to the dungeon to dink around with it some more.

[dhosh]

PS ... I love when folks take the time to PEN a post or reply, photo it, then post up. It's the best of both worlds! One gets to write more, we get to see more examples ... and STILL with the speed if 'da Net'..... ;-)

[Brooks MT]

The nib often gets distorted while modding, resulting in incomplete contact between nib and feed. If the nib is wavy, gentle bending of the tines up/down may straighten it. I often have to do this bending after modding a nib.

 

Once the nib is as straight as you can get it, heat setting the ebonite feed to that particular nib should solve your problem. Heat will soften ebonite. Holding the nib against the softened feed will allow the feed to conform to that nib, solving the "gap between nib and feed problem you see. I usually heat set whenever I mod a nib.

 

Brian Goulet has a video on heat setting using hot water. Be sure to read the comments for tips and warnings.

http://blog.gouletpens.com/2014/03/heat-setting-noodlers-ebonite-feed.html

 

Nathan Tardif also has a video on heatsetting; he uses the heat of a tea light candle to soften the ebonite. I've used the tea candle method successfully. I have not tried the hotwater method. Originally, Nathan recommended only the candle method, but I guess he's softened, and now approves the hotwater method too :-).

 

Unfortunately, Goulet pen changed their blog, and my url showing Nathan's video on their blog doesn't work any more :-(. However, this video is available, though (look for url on post#5)

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/index.php/topic/273498-question-for-ahab-hackers/

Edited March 12, 2015 by Brooks MT

[Pterodactylus]

 

(Serwex MB - flex EMF ..... ESS Registrars Blue/Black)

[Drone]

The nib often gets distorted while modding, resulting in incomplete contact between nib and feed. If the nib is wavy, gentle bending of the tines up/down may straighten it. I often have to do this bending after modding a nib.

 

Once the nib is as straight as you can get it, heat setting the ebonite feed to that particular nib should solve your problem. Heat will soften ebonite. Holding the nib against the softened feed will allow the feed to conform to that nib, solving the "gap between nib and feed problem you see. I usually heat set whenever I mod a nib.

 

Brian Goulet has a video on heat setting using hot water. Be sure to read the comments for tips and warnings.

 

http://blog.gouletpens.com/2014/03/heat-setting-noodlers-ebonite-feed.html

 

Nathan Tardif also has a video on heatsetting; he uses the heat of a tea light candle to soften the ebonite. I've used the tea candle method successfully. I have not tried the hotwater method. Originally, Nathan recommended only the candle method, but I guess he's softened, and now approves the hotwater method too :-).

 

Unfortunately, Goulet pen changed their blog, and my url showing Nathan's video on their blog doesn't work any more :-(. However, this video is available, though (look for url on post#5)

 

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/index.php/topic/273498-question-for-ahab-hackers/

 

I can't get this bloody forum to simply post links, but here are all the heat-setting videos I know of... David

 

Nathan Tardiff's Ebonite Feed Adjustment Video (Open Flame, starts at ~16:30)

 

 

FPR's (Kevin) Ebonite Heat Setting Video (Hot Water)

 

 

Brian Goulet's Heat Setting Video (Hot Water)

 

Link Updated Jan 2015:

 

http://blog.gouletpens.com/2014/03/heat-setting-noodlers-ebonite-feed.html