The Eternal Nib...a Nail?

[sidthecat]

Do Eternal nibs have any flex? I've never had the opportunity to try one.

[Cob]

No,none; cf Lifetime or Duro.

Cob

[Greenie]

Nail. High quality had as a rock nib. I was also going to say it is like the Sheaffer Lifetime nib. But Cob beat me to it.

[MarcShiman]

Not necessarily. They made nibs for different purposes. Many of the really stiff ones were meant to go through carbons, but there were Eternal nibs meant to have some degree of shading that had some flexibility.

 

However, the idea of an Eternal nib is that it had a thicker slab of gold, with the idea being it would last longer (eternally) - what it means is that you don't get the full flex nibs that can be found on non-eternal nibs. But I have a bunch of semi-flex Eternal nibs.

[sidthecat]

Thanks - that clears it up.

[northlodge]

Not necessarily. They made nibs for different purposes. Many of the really stiff ones were meant to go through carbons, but there were Eternal nibs meant to have some degree of shading that had some flexibility.

 

However, the idea of an Eternal nib is that it had a thicker slab of gold, with the idea being it would last longer (eternally) - what it means is that you don't get the full flex nibs that can be found on non-eternal nibs. But I have a bunch of semi-flex Eternal nibs.

 

And of course the same can be said for the CS Duro nibs

[Effin1]

Both my Eternals have what I call soft nibs and I love them. Mind you I really don't get on with flex.

[sidthecat]

Flex is my downfall. I'd never call it a character defect, of course...that's what relatives are for.

[Effin1]

I am currently trying to update my FP data base. It's been a nightmare. I used to put each pen on after repair and write testing. The pen was described and scored. I then bought several job lots from various on line auctions and didn't get

round to write testing so they never got on the DB. I set to adding each pen without write testing but made a note on the DB so that I could test at a later date. I took several shots of each pen (approx. 1250 pics) and when I had only about 15 pics to attach the data base crashed. After hours and with the help of my PC repairer we managed to get text back but not 1 picture. I had to take an additional 1250 pics and this time I only had 5 pics to put on when it crashed again. I have managed to retrieve with pictures but it's very temperamental and crashes if I try to add any more pics. I'm trying to print hard copies off but that's very hit and miss. My intention is to sell all the pens with flex nibs once they have all been write tested. The majority will be MTs. Goodness knows when I will be at that stage though.

[sidthecat]

The husband was a database guy - they'd call him from Bangalore in the middle of the night to get the thing back on its legs. In other words, I feel your pain.

[eckiethump]

I have a Swan #8 Eternal which I was surprised find had flex when internet purchased. Speaking with a very prominent UK Swan collector, he did state he had several Eternal nibs that had flex.

[sidthecat]

There is a delightful lack of certainty with nearly any aspect of vintage fountain pens.