Self Customised Wality Flex Nib|Positive Results!

[cjpandya]

Dear FPNers and Fountain Pen tinkerers. I have something to show you today. As they say, an empty mind is the house of devil. And apparently, I believe in it! I cannot sit idle for more than 30 minutes unless the situation demands it. I am always looking for opportunities to learn something new. As it happened this morning. I was free and needed something to do.

 

 

I thought about the options i had and remembered the spare Wality nibs lying around in the drawer. Waiting for a home. I had been seeing a lot of flex nibs in action on the internet and always wanted to try modifying one of my own. Just for the fun of it.

I had seen the designs and thought, how hard can that be? However, i cannot say the same for what the nib went through in this whole process. The poor little thing sure took a hell of a beating! And let me tell you, this nib is the "Rocky Balboa" of nibs when it comes to taking a beating!

 

Anyway, i got some metal files and a wire cutter from a hardware store and knew immediately that i was in trouble.

 

Well, not entirely so! But, the metal files that i got were useless as the steel nib was apparently too hard for them. So, let me tell you that i added the flex to my Wality nib by using JUST the wire cutters and a pair of pliers. NOTHING ELSE. This proves that it is indeed possible to add flex to your steel nibs at home using a minimal set of tools. But how esthetically pleasing will the end result be is entirely a different matter! Because it will result in a crude looking nib that will appear more "Damaged" than "Customized". LOL!

 

 

But that being said, the nib wote perfectly for me with a nice amount of added flex. No problem at all in that aspect. Here are the pictures of the end result. The pen body is Oliver Matrix.

 

NOTE: This in NOT a how-to-do-it-yourself post. I just wanted to share it with fellow members that it is possible to modify nibs to your liking. And of course the finish quality of the end product will never be as good as any of the professional Nibmeisters, it is still worth trying on your inexpensive pens and get what you want. However, the responsiblity for the work you do on the pen is yours own and it will void any kind of warrenty (if applicaable).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

C360_2015-06-26-12-41-01-605_1 by Chintan Pandya, on Flickr

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

C360_2015-06-26-12-42-29-797_1 by Chintan Pandya, on Flickr

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

C360_2015-06-26-12-42-14-910_1 by Chintan Pandya, on Flickr

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

NOTE the line variation above the word.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I was finished with the nib modification in about 30 mins. Now, i enjoy a fun nib to play around with, whereas earlier it was just lying sadly in my drawer..thirsty for some ink! I hope you found it interesting and had a bit of fun. Thanks for your time in reading this.

Edited June 26, 2015 by cjpandya

[flummoxed]

Interesting modification to the nib, I've one something similar but without cutting the sides to an Wality/Airmail nib. I'll post pictures as soon as I get back home next week. Tinkering with nibs was the easiest and most enjoyable portion of the "customization" that I've been able to do so far. I've created a couple of stub nibs, though with my limited equipment, they aren't any of the standard stub nib sizes.

 

Did you have to adjust or modify the feed? Was it a plastic or an ebonite feed?

 

I had to modify one of the ebonite feeds from the Khyati pens substantially before it because useable for the flex modded nib. Even now, once in a while, there are some blobs of ink that pools with it.

 

On the other hand, here is a quick review of he flex steel nib a fellow FPNer made for me: https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/292647-kim-jumbo-with-flex-steel-nib/

[cjpandya]

Interesting modification to the nib, I've one something similar but without cutting the sides to an Wality/Airmail nib. I'll post pictures as soon as I get back home next week. Tinkering with nibs was the easiest and most enjoyable portion of the "customization" that I've been able to do so far. I've created a couple of stub nibs, though with my limited equipment, they aren't any of the standard stub nib sizes.

 

Did you have to adjust or modify the feed? Was it a plastic or an ebonite feed?

 

I had to modify one of the ebonite feeds from the Khyati pens substantially before it because useable for the flex modded nib. Even now, once in a while, there are some blobs of ink that pools with it.

 

On the other hand, here is a quick review of he flex steel nib a fellow FPNer made for me: https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/292647-kim-jumbo-with-flex-steel-nib/

 

Sure. Please post the pictures here when you get the time. Would be great to see the mod.

I started off by cutting the nib slit just a little higher up than the breather hole. But i wasn't satisfied with the flex so went ahead and cut those crude sections off of the nib shoulders. The feed was ebonite and came with the pen shown. I did not need to modify it as it already had a deep enough feeder channel. So, i gave it a try and it worked quite nicely. This being my 1st nib modification to this extent on an otherwise useless nib, it was kind of experimental. I wanted to leave no stone unturned and see how much flex i can achieve without breaking the nib! I must say i was quite satisfied. The nib shown in the link you sent looks like an FPR/Noodlers nib. Quite a decent amount of flex to it! Thanks for sharing.