Flexible Copperplate Fountain Pens?

[nosurlife]

There are indeed flex nib fountain pens, however, you might take a look at the Ackerman Pump Pen, a pen designed to be used with dip nibs, specifically for copperplate and other calligraphic scripts like that. They're somewhere around $25, and you can use India ink in them. Otherwise, your choices are fairly limited. I'll try to enumerate some of the better ones:

 

• Noodler's Konrad, Ahab, or Creaper ($20, $20, $14)
  
• Namiki Falcon ($140?)
  
• Waterman's 52 ($135)
  
• Eversharp Symphony ($68)
  

 

The 52 and Symphony aren't produced anymore, you'll have to look somewhere like Peyton Street Pens for them. The tradeoff for their price is that they're in the vaunted vintage flex category, which indicates that you can expect them to perform better than any modern pen. Having owned both, they're terrific value for money.

 

The Falcon and the Noodler's series are both modern. I heartily prefer the Noodler's series, the Falcon is, to me, overpriced gold for the same performance as Noodler's steel.

 

There are of course more and better options than this, but I tried to keep prices under $150.

Thanks, great list ill have a look into it.

 

Cognaticrotty is right, a nice flexible nib for an Esterbrook would be an inexpensive entry into flex.

 

In my experience, to do Copperplate, you need not just any flex nib, and not even a nib that flexes a lot. You need a nib that flexes a little, but is capable of very fine lines when unflexed. So look for a vintage flex pen (Waterman 52, Wahl, Swan) that is extra fine or extra extra fine (needlepoint). Otherwise, your lines will be too broad for the subtle line variation required for copperplate, unless you're going to write very large letters.

 

If you want a flex pen, but not necessarily for Copperplate, then a Noodler's flex pen would be really nice.

Yeh, that's what I read(about flexibility), I've heard of swans and will look into them thanks, and yes I am looking for a copperplate one.

 

Just this Monday, I wrote for about an hour and a half in a coffee shop (Peet's) using a dip pen. Might do it again today, so, it's not impossible. All you need is a little table space. Of course, you need a little table space to write Copperplate. It's not a hand well suited to writing on the run.

 

If you are more generally interested in flexible nib fountain pens, vintage pens are the superior choice.

+1. At least until you get very good at it, copperplate is not something you will be using to dash off a quick note. It requires time, and space for a flat surface and arm movement. Once you have the few moments of time and the bit of space, a bottle of ink and a bit of cloth to wipe off the nib are no great inconvenience. I think you will find it a lot easier to travel with a dip pen and a bottle of ink (or even better, a traveling inkwell) than to find a vintage pen with a sufficiently fine flexible nib that isn't too delicate to carry and doesn't leak every time you try to pack it from one place to another.

ron

Yeh, sorry I might have exaggerated about the speed but what I meant is that it's much more of a hassle with ink bottles (and spills), and you can't take a dip pen out of your pocket and start writing.

 

so that you don't have to break your wrist to get your letters angled correctly.

 

 

 

Why do you have to break your wrist when you can simply rotate the paper?! :blink:

 

For fun? I mean, some people take Dennis Rodman seriously.

 

The biggest advantage of oblique holders is being able to lower the angle at which the nib touches the paper. Rolling your wrist counter clockwise will lower it a bit (and reduce the amount you need to turn the paper), but with really sharp points, there's really no substitute for a properly adjusted holder.

Well IMO it's best to learn without a holder, though it may be harder, it will be a lot harder to try to learn without one after you have been writing with one for a while.

(yes I know he has been doing it for 25 years but it just proves that a holder is not a must).

 

Isn't it remarkable, then, that copperplate and its related hands predate the offset holder by so many decades, and that the older practitioners seem to have been better at it ...

ron

Yep, I agree, that's why I want to learn without one.

 

...this angle is difficult...not impossible, at all, but it is difficult to write with a straight pen...

 

IMO,

eo

 

The manuals I've read & used have agreed on this point.

 

Again, IMO.

Haha well isn't the entire point of forums to find out the opinions of others .

 

 

Thanks for all the replies, really helpful.

 

Thanks,

Nik

Edited March 13, 2013 by nosurlife

[Stompie]

Nik, if you wanting to do all the swirls and curls and fancy stuff that comes with Copperplate, then the time taken to get out your nibs and ink is going to be the least of your worries!

 

In my opinion :roflmho:

[nosurlife]

Nik, if you wanting to do all the swirls and curls and fancy stuff that comes with Copperplate, then the time taken to get out your nibs and ink is going to be the least of your worries!

 

In my opinion :roflmho:

Haha, if you are referring to the video, I only put that there to show that you don't need a holder, but yeh it takes time but still looks good, but for me ink seems like a pain, maybe I'll upgrade to a dip later but for now I want to start with a FP.

 

Nik

[aussielondon]

Well I am a natural left hander but I write wit my right hand as the teacher at school forced me to use my right hand, and in life I do half of things with my right and half with left and some with both, so I am guessing that if I am going to try copperplate that maybe it's time to use my left hand again for the first time in years?

[Algester]

GAAA De Ja voo topic...!!!!!

Noodler's will be a good start especially if modified, next if you want a semi flex feel you can get soft nibs by any FP manufacturer but to date the only ones I found were Japanese pens Pilot and Platinum... but I'm more biased to Pilot having really written with a soft medium <- CH91 not an elabo/falcon if you want something probably more expensive and ask a nib meister if he or she can modify the feed order a CH912, C743, C742 by Pilot with FA nib

[KBeezie]

another serious necro-bump...

[aussielondon]

Can't one just write Copperplate using a normal FP with fine nib?

[fountainpagan]

Osmiroid has a copperplate nib that fits in Esterbrooks...

here is mine.

http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s189/rcrott1/IMAG0848_zps6d58b6ec.jpg

 

This interests me.

 

Could you tell me where could I find such a nib, please?

[mirosc]

Can't one just write Copperplate using a normal FP with fine nib?

 

You could mimic the letterforms, but then it would be just a Roundhand and not a Copperplate - because Copperplate needs the typical line variation from thick downstrokes to thin upstrokes, which can only be achieved with a special tool: a flexible nib. So a normal FP with fine nib is not good enough.

[KBeezie]

 

This interests me.

 

Could you tell me where could I find such a nib, please?

 

Any of the Esterbrook "Flexible" nibs, ie:

 

 

Such as the 2048 (shaded writing) and 9128 (extra fine flexible) or 9048 (shaded writing).

 

The difference between the 2048 and 9048 is that the 2048 doesn't have tipping, rather the tip of the nib is rolled over so it would wear down faster than the 9xxx and likely to be scratchier.

 

But I don't think they were made for larger degrees of flex, just more subtle line variation (ie: 'shaded' writing).

 

Example with the Esterbrook J Double Jewel w/ a 2048 I sold a while back after restoring it:

 

http://static.karlblessing.com/fpn/esterbrookj/full.jpg

Edited September 6, 2014 by KBeezie

[fountainpagan]

Kbeezie, I know that Esterbrook nibs fit the Esterbrook pens, that is an evidence.

 

What interests me, is the Osmiroide copperplate nib that fits Esterbrook such as shwoned by Cognaticrotty.

[KBeezie]

Kbeezie, I know that Esterbrook nibs fit the Esterbrook pens, that is an evidence.

 

What interests me, is the Osmiroide copperplate nib that fits Esterbrook such as shwoned by Cognaticrotty.

 

Missed the text of his post, didn't seem like it was visually any different.

 

It looks like whatever fits the Osmiroide 65 will also fit the Esterbrook.

 

Though only "copperplate" one I could find, is clearly not the same kind of fitting.

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Osmiroid-Copperplate-Nib-NEW-OLD-STOCK-/371126060056

 

Edit: These work too, and the copperplate nib is part of the set.

 

http://www.leighreyes.com/?p=2705

 

Edit #2: Here you go (... except I'm not seeing copperplate in either):

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Osmiroid-Italic-Drawing-Fountain-Pen-Set-With-6-Italic-Nib-Units-/261580509013

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-65-Osmiroid-Calligraphy-Drawing-Fountain-Pen-Set-Lettering-Pen-Nibs-/221540390158

Edited September 6, 2014 by KBeezie

[Algester]

it was because Osmiroid apparently made nibs for Esterbrook pens before setting up their own... or so history dictated... that was why the nibs fit the esterbrook section

[fountainpagan]

Thank you Kbeezie, I see what kind of nibs to look for (I cannot buy from ebay US because of the import taxes,. They make the smallest finding quite expensive!!!! )..

But I will look aroud here, thank you, again.