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Hello everyone! First I am very impressed. I would never imagine an entire and large community would exist for fountain pen art so I am really excited! I already found help and learned a lot on the website but there is so many choice that i am confused so i allow myself to request your advice. I spent the day watching different video and review and I felt overwhelmed. That's why this title. I am ending a contract and my colleagues will offer me the traditional pen Caran d'Ache ivanhoe but I am sure I will not use it. instead of that it is a good opportunity for me to get a fountain pen with flexible nid but I do not know which one. I would like to do calligraphy and drawing with it only and not an everyday writing use. The budget is 200 - 300 Dollars. I already checked and saw the following brands: PILOT CUSTOM 912 14k falcon Noodler's Ahab Desiderata Flex Pen (no idea if i can find this in Switzerland) I also saw that it worth to check the vintage choices but since it is a gift and it has to be engraved it need to be new. I also know it is better to test before doing a choice but I do not have time. Finally I saw video like this or that made my mind blown. So I am lost :-) Thanks for your help. I am looking forward to learn more about FPN! Best Vanessa

I just receive my noodler's ahab, i really enjoy it, it's a very smooth writing fine nib, but the problem is, the nib seems like keep drying out even caped if you dont use it for a long period of time.. So does anyone know what I can do to solve this problem? it would be a shame to bench this pen cause I really enjoy using it when it's working properly.

Hello, guys. I am here today to ask you a very serious question and seek your opinions. I have planned to buy an expensive pen during the Diwali and I have started saving for that. I have two pens in mind, the TWSBI Eco and the NOODLER'S AHAB Flex fountain pen. Both are piston filler, I just love piston filler and ED types. I have seen the videos on youtube regarding the Eco and Noodlers.If anyone is here that have either or both of these two pens please share me your opinion on the basis of - 1. Durability 2. Maintenance 3. Performance. I would really like to own these two but I can't afford to buy them both, so I have to pick one between them. Thanks in advance.

Which one would you buy and why?

Hi Everyone, Purple Inky Fingers here. My new Noodler's Ahab in -- what else? -- King Philip Purple worked for the first few months (it has taken me months to get up the wherewithal to ink it**) and then it just stopped working. Because I was using -- what else? -- Noodler's Grape, I assumed that the ink had run out. I opened the pen and discovered that there was plenty of ink (now on my hands) and the feeding tube was wandering around. With great effort I have tried to reset the feeding tube and screw the pen together. And it won't work. I can set the tube, but cannot screw the body together. It's as if it's stripped. I'm now soaking everything -- and I'm sorry I can't post video, but there's no one to hold the camera! Can anyone offer advice? **Note that I have a bad temper with these pens. I was a real newbie when I bought a lot of them in 2011-12 and never was able to make them work consistently. (I had two new pens in which the nibs jammed in the caps.) I even wrote to Nathan about it, but never received a reply. Thanks all!

Ink Review: Noodler's Ink - Bad Green Gator Grade: 66.25% Paper Tested On: Norcom Composition, Staples 20lb, 85g Clairefontaine, 90g Rhodia, Post-it Note, Moleskine sketchbook. Bad Green Gator (BGG) is now the 3rd Noodler's 'warden' series ink that I have tried. I have found myself wondering why green would be chosen as one of the forgery resistant colors chosen by Nathan Tardiff. It may have something to do with the chemical composition that goes into whatever he uses to make theses inks forgery resistant; I really don't know. Nathan just may like the color, and he's not the only one. A friend of mine said BGG looks like moss, and after giving it some thought, I agreed. However, unlike my friend, I love this shade of green. I may be biased though. Green is one of my favorite colors, and moss-green is one of my favorite shades. BBG is a fast drying ink that will feather and bleed and you will get a fair amount of ghosting from the other side of the page. I see that as the trade off of using a fast drying ink. BGG is very saturated and has a good flow without feeling wet, but the color can seem muted. Which I think can be attributed to how much this ink is absorbed into the paper. BBG, like all the inks I've tried in the warden series, is a very permanent ink. It barely budged at all in my permanency tests (it did move in the chromatography test oddly enough). BGG is the easiest warden ink I've cleaned so far. BBG is very uniform in color and won't give you much shading even on good paper like Rhodia. Overall, BGG is a nice ink with a lot of special attributes. I love the color but I realize it's a shade that some people will hate. Competitive Options: Noodler's Zhivago. Just because it's so dark most people will think it's black and you will have no problem using it in a business setting.

Still hoping to get a Konrad when I see stock appear, in the meanwhile I bought an Ahab clear flex nibbed pen to see if I like the flex or not. Cleaned it when I got it, put it back together and only needed to adjust the nib once and seems to flow just fine, though wish it was more broader of a tip. Otherwise I am liking the flex more than just a standard nib. Too bad not easy to find... I'd love to test this pen with a broad flex or even a 1.1. Anyways... one thing I'm not liking is the piston. It fills with ink, as well as the stem (part you push/pull to get the ink). I tried the pen with one ink, then went to try another ink and that stem part is not the best thing to flush clean. I unscrewed the black cap on the end off expecting there to be a hole there to make it easier to run water through, but no hole. Should this stem be filling with ink? and should there be a hole at the end with the cap? On a side note, writes well, but, not a clear pen... has a sorta milky white haze swirled in it, some yellow staining around the rubber bits, and stinks of silly putty... happy to finally try a flex nibbed pen, but glad it was only $25CAD. It's an ugly stinky pen.

Hello everyone: I have in my posession 2 pens I like very much. One is a Noodlers Ahab with a medium Goulet (Jowo) nib and a Ranga 2C with their Indian fine nib. I really like both pens a lot. Both pens have ebonite feeds. I converted the Ahab to eyedropper and began to get belching of ink. I've had the Ranga about a week and it has begun to belch ink. I have heat set the feed in the Ahab 3............ that's right 3 times-- to no avail. I'm using an o ring in the Ahab as well. I haven't heat set the Ranga feed yet. So I need help desparately to know what I need to do to get these pens to behave properly, if that is possible. Thanks for any advice. Regards, Bill

Hello, this is my first post. Anywho, I think I might have found the perfect feed placement on an Ahab. Out of the box, it barely wrote at all. Tons of skipping. But after adjusting the feed and putting it a little lower, it was perfect. Here's a picture of writing before adjusting the feed and after, excuse my bad handwriting: http://i62.tinypic.com/27y8x2a.jpg Here's a picture of writing and playing with the flex after adjusting the feed. There's still some railroading when pushing the Ahab to its limits though: http://i61.tinypic.com/wmgv12.jpg Here's a writing comparison between the adjusted Ahab and a Lamy Safari with a medium nib. Both pens are using Noodler's Bulletproof Black ink. The Ahab's writing is noticeably darker and wetter: http://i61.tinypic.com/29c6t15.jpg Here's a signature comparison between the Safari and the Ahab. I like the Ahab's signature more, but that might be because the flex might have made it look a little better. But it is nicer looking and blacker than the Safari's. http://i57.tinypic.com/nmi3o3.jpg Finally, here is a picture of the feed placement on the Ahab. http://i59.tinypic.com/11wdm4k.jpg Thanks for reading.

Hello fellow fountain pen lovers! I am writing this post to request help from those of you who are familiar with flex pens. I received a Noodlers Ahab for my birthday a few months ago, and I have tried using it; however, I found my writing with it very clumsy, and I stopped using it fearing that I would damage the nib. I was wondering if there are any resources known to you all that would help me learn how to write with a flex pen? Any tips from personal experience would also be greatly appreciated. Also, any ink suggestions for the pen? I've found that Aurora black feathers even on Rhodia paper with the pen.. Thank you in advance! -Giovanni Y.

The Ahab is my first flex nib pen, and I'm really liking it even though I'm a hooked, left-handed writer... http://youtu.be/JHDjJyOdKCY

My Noodler's 12/25 Ahab just came in the mail. I highly recommend Isellpens for online orders. The pen shipped VERY quickly and Todd included a courteous thank you note with the package. I am not a calligraphist, but I'll attempt calligraphy sometime soon for letter writing and pure fun. So feel free to make fun of my awkward line variations in the writing sample. Actually, many of those jumps between thick and thin lines were unintentional since I'm getting used to this pen. Before I get to the pen itself, I have to say that the pen's box is really really cool! I love the whole whaling theme! Maybe someday soon I'll get around to reading Moby Dick while taking notes with the Ahab. Aesthetics: Dark red with swirls of dark dark dark green striations. This will be a pen I'll especially use for the winter holiday seasons. Honestly, I can't help but think of Christmas decorations when I stare at this pen. I like the silver cap ring and clip. There's nothing overly fancy about them, they're labeled "NOODLER'S INK" and nothing else. The steel nib has the same labeling. Contrary to the many review I've read about the Ahab's clip, I actually like the clip's whale themed design. Here is a picture of the pen with my other "Christmas color" pens (is blue a holiday color? oh well) http://24.media.tumblr.com/265229da2827e979312d382a015a0b2f/tumblr_mnomnnBu0m1r4c920o1_1280.jpg Weight: Feathery light. Functionality: The cap clip is springy and won't fray the material it's clipped onto. The vegetal resin certainly doesn't feel as durable as my stainless steel pens, my acrylic pen, or my plastic Lamy Safari. I read on a review somewhere that the material is dentable with a fingernail. I tested this by pressing my fingernail against the pen with plenty of pressure and did find a dent, but the dent was very shallow. Actually, I'm looking at my pen now and I cannot find the dent. Perhaps I cut into some dust or overlaying oils (I touched the pen after eating some chips, forgive my slobbiness). This pen is definitely wide and thick. This may turn off people with small hands, but the pen's girth really isn't a problem when you account for this pen's nearly non-existent weight. I heard about Noodler pens leaking so I did a "leak test". I put the pen nib-facing-down in my pocket and walked around my neighborhood and ran up and down the stairs of my house while doing some chores. The pen did not leak for some reason, this gives me some confidence in using this pen as a daily writer without having to worry about getting ink all over my clothes. The pen will cough up a few drops of ink if you shake it a few times with your hand, but you have to shake the pen with a conscious effort. I think this is normal behavior for many pens. My Japanese Sailor-Sheaffer and USA Sheaffer 440 pens will spill a few drops of ink when shaken vigorously up and down. I wouldn't worry about using the Ahab as an edc pen. The ink won't spill if you're walking around town. Just don't do any activities that involve shaking a lot like mechanical bull riding or jumping jacks. Writing performance!: Oh boy, this is where all the calligraphists shake their heads at me. I was expecting some scratchiness with the nib. After all (I think), this pen was designed for flex and not daily writing. To my delight, the Ahab's nib is actually very smooth! Flexing wasn't an issue for me, I actually ended up flexing the nib on accident quite a few times. I guess I don't have a light writing hand after all. Well, it's either that or this nib is easy to flex. I wouldn't classify this nib as "rigid" or a "nail." I did 30 short downstrokes with this pen to test for railroading instances. Only 2 out of the 30 instances expressed railroading. (not the most scientific way of testing a flex pen, but I'm new to these kinds of pens) http://24.media.tumblr.com/6a0d7bf13cdcf38b39ac60e27ce2009b/tumblr_mnon4y6jlY1r4c920o1_1280.jpg Since this pen doesn't have serious leaking problems, I wondered if I could use this pen for note taking and math scribbling. I wrote with less pressure to achieve a fine line and compared the Ahab's fine line width capability with my Japanese Sailor-Sheaffer's fine nib. http://24.media.tumblr.com/14b04b0f1bffa2dcdd9eb515f7239327/tumblr_mnon4y6jlY1r4c920o2_1280.jpg I enjoy smooth and wet medium nibs for notetaking outside of the lecture hall. I love sitting back, listening to music, and taking my time with my studies (even if I find my studies to be BORING, at least fountain pens make studying pleasurable). I compared the Ahab's thicker line capabilities (requires very little pressure, no strain on the hand was felt) to my medium nib pens. http://24.media.tumblr.com/8c70d0210b5306d5c0aa55aa006f1885/tumblr_mnomnnBu0m1r4c920o4_1280.jpg Here is a picture of the pens altogether, just for the heck of it. http://25.media.tumblr.com/77fe16a7dc0bf6a245f37bffccb478c5/tumblr_mnomnnBu0m1r4c920o5_1280.jpg Verdict/Summary: This pen does require patience. I spent a loooong half-hour setting the nib and feed to my liking. However, the time spent getting to know this pen is worth it. After tinkering with this pen you'll gain some knowledge on nib/feed setting, eyedropper conversion,and nib swapping. If you're seeking a cheap daily writer and you don't care about line variation, then at this price point I recommend NOT buying this pen. If you're like me and you're looking for a cheap gateway to flex pens, then I highly recommend buying this pen. If you care about line variation but at the same time desire a daily writer, then this pen is suitable but you'll have to be careful to not vigorously shake it. And by vigorous, I mean shaking the pen in the same way mad dictators shake whatever is in their hands when making violent gesticulations during rants. I love this pen. My desire for more pens has diminished greatly ever since I got a hold of this beauty. I have my workhorse pens and a pen with enough flex for my preferences that can also double as a daily workhorse.