Noodler's Ahab Flex Pen

[Oliwerko]

This is really weird now... After having stopped, I let it sit for a while. Then I tried drawing fine line circles. I ran for about half a page with no problems. Then I did a shaded stroke, and after 2-3mm - whoosh. The flow was gone. Not even a hairline.

[scribblescrabble]

This is really weird now... After having stopped, I let it sit for a while. Then I tried drawing fine line circles. I ran for about half a page with no problems. Then I did a shaded stroke, and after 2-3mm - whoosh. The flow was gone. Not even a hairline.

 

I have discovered something with my Noodler's Ahabs. I have to run off to church for this evening's service (I'm the pastor; they'd notice if I wasn't there!).

 

 

I have 3 Ahabs--one of which isn't inked. I plan to start a new thread about what I've discovered. I think it is quite interesting and very "against the grain."

 

I'm a fountain pen novice. So, you may want to view my discovery with some skepticism, which is fine with me. All I know is that I've done this to two of my Ahabs (the inked ones) and it makes a WORLD of difference for the better.

 

Gotta run...I'll post a long article later.

 

Blessings,

 

ScribbleScrabble

[tanalasta]

This is really weird now... After having stopped, I let it sit for a while. Then I tried drawing fine line circles. I ran for about half a page with no problems. Then I did a shaded stroke, and after 2-3mm - whoosh. The flow was gone. Not even a hairline.

 

Not just you! It happens to me too ... it appears that the flow is a little inconsistent and the feed will resaturate when left to sit for a while.

[watch_art]

So weird. I haven't had any of those problems. Have you used more than just soapy water mixes to clean it with? Ammonia water plus a heavy duty scrub is a good idea in this case, I think.

[GSteer]

Got my two Ahabs from the Goulets today. Excellent service, as always. Thanks, Brian and Rachel.

 

Since I'm crazy about lapis pens, I got one in lapis inferno and one in medieval lapis. Didn't bother to change the o-rings, though I got a set of the new ones. It took me about three minutes of twisting and tugging to get the piston loosened on the lapis inferno pen. Then I sucked up five loads of water mixed with ammonia and Palmolive dish soap, followed by five loads of clear water. Filled the pen with Noodler's Eel Blue, and it wrote perfectly. (We won't mention that the ink bottle was badly behaved because only half full and turned my hands blue, will we? Not the pen's fault.)

 

Then it was time for the mediieval lapis pen. I got the piston loose on this one in only a couple of seconds and went through the same routine to clean it as the other pen. Filled it with Black Swan in Australian Roses, and it wrote normally, then stopped, putting down only a trace of a line, then laid down too much ink, then blobbed on the page, then stopped again, then wrote again. Hmmmmm! I guess this one needs more TLC. After I write it out, I'll pull the nib and feed and "brush their teeth."

 

Very odd. Two nearly identical pens with such different results. All in all, I'm pretty satisfied though. I've had more trouble from pens that cost 10 times as much.

 

P.S. These pens don't smell nearly as bad as the smaller Noodler's flex pens, let alone the kings of stink: my two Wality piston fillers.

 

Yeah that's the exact behavior related to the lubricant and/or ebonite particles interfering mainly with the top air channel, and Nathan believes mostly right over the perpendicular breather blow hole. When an air bubble meets the lubricant, it is held back (towards the nib tip end), then likely suddenly builds up enough pressure to get the bubble suddenly moving and overcoming the "lube block" resulting in that blob of ink. Another suggestion Nathan had in addition to brushing with a toothbrush (paying especial attention to that blow hole), was to lightly drag an X-acto or utility blade knife to scrape along the length of that top air channel a couple times.

 

I made it clear to him that people who have never taken a nib/feed out of a pen, let alone worked with ebonite just have no experience with any of this, so there is a learning curve. This hands on tinkering was one of his goals to empower people to know and take care of their own pen like many used to do decades ago.

 

Looks like I've got the same problem too. Flushed it (clear demonstrator) yesterday with the suggested soapy solution - removed the nib / feed with a faintly amazed look on my face which read "so that's what's in there" before filling it with Black Swan in AR - played with it and experienced just what's been described above. Allthough when it works - oh boy - I've just discovered flex and I like it. A lot.

 

I'll empty it and clean more throughly later to see if it improves. Going to have to read up on feeds to figure out how to slow it down too. It lays out the Black Swan so thickly that I'd never be able to use it in a journal, you can feel the raised ink on the page once it's dried.

[SamCapote]

Scribble, I look forward to your feedback--very much in fact.

 

GSteer, remember to consider that in some cases, people may have flexed their nib a bit much, and some problems may improve with SLOWLY, CAREFULLY, STEPWISE pressing the other side of the nib against a tablet to bend it back down an almost imperceptible amount may give better proximity to the feed and flow.

[GSteer]

Scribble, I look forward to your feedback--very much in fact.

 

GSteer, remember to consider that in some cases, people may have flexed their nib a bit much, and some problems may improve with SLOWLY, CAREFULLY, STEPWISE pressing the other side of the nib against a tablet to bend it back down an almost imperceptible amount may give better proximity to the feed and flow.

 

I'll remember that Sam - but I don't think I've put much pressure on it (at least my thickest lines look thinner than other samples I've seen) coming from using firm nibbed pens - I'll give your suggestion a go too - allthough at the moment I'm not getting any flow whatsoever and the feed "looks" dry.

 

Cheers, Greg.

 

Update: Ok, so I've flushed it again with soapy water, re-flushed with clean water, refilled and it wrote... and then stopped. Holding the pen vertically for 20seconds and then gently riding it over the paper seems to get it flowing again but returning to a normal writing position it runs out of juice after a few setences. Having just noted that this thread is in the Pen Review forum I'm not sure I'm posting in the right place. I'll make a new thread in the normal forum tomorrow.

Edited December 22, 2011 by GSteer

[Oliwerko]

Regular soap and dish soap are pretty much the only things I have for removing grease that are not aggressive. I also have benzine, but I was not confident enough to use it on the feed. Do you think it would make any difference?

 

This is really weird now... After having stopped, I let it sit for a while. Then I tried drawing fine line circles. I ran for about half a page with no problems. Then I did a shaded stroke, and after 2-3mm - whoosh. The flow was gone. Not even a hairline.

 

Not just you! It happens to me too ... it appears that the flow is a little inconsistent and the feed will resaturate when left to sit for a while.

 

Strange. Did you come up with any solutions?

 

 

I most definitely cleaned the whole thing completely. I left it soaking in clear water AGAIN this night. So it's been like 3 or 4 toothbrush with soapy water sessions, 3 flushes using the piston, and 2 soakings in both soapy and clear water. Plus I ran the xacto through the channels.

 

I'm out of ideas. I'll take it out from the water now, ink it, wait until tommorrow. Any ideas what to do next? Opening the first (or the first two?) channel perhaps?

 

EDIT:

Just checking - is it ok when the breather tube is full of ink? When I fill the piston, the ink goes through the tube to the top piston compartment and stays there. I guess this is normal behavior, but again, I want to rule out everything so I ask.

Edited December 22, 2011 by Oliwerko

[JonB55198]

Just checking - is it ok when the breather tube is full of ink? When I fill the piston, the ink goes through the tube to the top piston compartment and stays there. I guess this is normal behavior, but again, I want to rule out everything so I ask.

 

This happens on mine too and I have no issues. In fact, the ink in the top piston compartment never seems to descend at all. This makes changing ink colors more of a challenge. I have to really take a squeeze bulb (that is used for flushing ears, available at pharmacy) and squirt some water under pressure up in there to clean it properly.

 

-Jon

[Oliwerko]

I found another way of doing it. Fill the piston half with water, put your thumb at the end and push the piston in. The air will compress and push the water into the upper part

[watch_art]

I took my converter out and filled the barrel.

 

It's AWE - wait for it - SOME!

[Oliwerko]

did you notice any different behavior when it comes to flow/performance?

[chupie]

It's not just you, the ink level drops. I think this is more common than you might suspect, but not as obvious on a pen with an opaque filler/barrel.

 

I was going to say, it happens to just about ever pen I own.

[PacificCoastPen]

Eek, I just ordered a black Ahab today. I bought (and quickly sold) the Noodler's Creaper. Ugh, the smell of the creaper? Smelled like belly button jam. Not pleasant. Nowhere near Play Doh which smells good. I hope the hype of the Ahab lives up to it's nib.

[Oliwerko]

The smell is almost gone on my pen after a few days. I can only smell it when I put it directly under my nose. But I don't find it that bad...

[PacificCoastPen]

I wish someone would make a pen body that could accommodate dip nibs with a feed and a cart or piston fill. I hope Noodler's come out with a steel wet noodle at some point.

[PacificCoastPen]

I wish someone would make a pen body that could accommodate dip nibs with a feed and a cart or piston fill. I hope Noodler's come out with a steel wet noodle at some point.

 

I happened upon this very good analysis of the Ahab construction and how to take it apart, fix, and put it back together again. I have no interest in the Noodler company.

 

http://noodlersink.com/whats-new/noodlers-new-ahab-is-almost-here/

[rmizrahi]

Sam: Maybe you can check my post under Writing Instruments and help me figure out why I can't get a great response from the Ahab like everyone else seems to.... ?

 

Thanks!

 

R

[Caifanito]

Hey you guys, what could be causing this:

 

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f226/Caifanito/02012012230.jpg

 

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f226/Caifanito/02012012229.jpg

 

 

I was using my blue ahab as usual and when I was drawing a line across some numbers I saw this SPRAY of ink....i really never had this happen before so I was surpriced. It happens mainly when I draw long lines across the page (and because of that I usually put a tad more pressure on the nib). The pictures show two lines, but the "spray" happened on the first horizonal line, I tried to reproduce the spray with the second line but didn't happen. All I've done on the Ahab is clean with JB penflush about two weeks ago. Is this normal?

[watch_art]

Happens every now and then with some pens of mine. I think the paper, nib angle, and Saturn all have to be in perfect alignment or something.