Has Anyone Reviewed/have Comments On The New Wahl-Eversharp Superflex Nib?

[Arctic_Wolf]

I believe it's the nib on their new Decoband series, if I remember correct. Curious if anyone has tried it yet/has thoughts they'd like to share

[Christopher Godfrey]

Arctic_Wolf, my attention was drawn by the words "super flex" in the title of your post, so I looked at their website and see that they are expecting it to sell for around $850 -- well, <that> made me sit back a bit, because my initial thought is that, for that money, I could buy a Nakaya and still afford to have John Mottishaw add more flex! Which thought made my interest wane, somewhat...

 

Another alternative might be to buy a modern pen from Mauricio Aguilar (www.VintagePens.net) with one of his vintage, flexy nibs installed?

 

Having said that, I guess it will be nice, knowing that real flex will now be available from a contemporary manufacturer; but I suspect that I shall be sticking with my vintage nibs.

[Keyless Works]

I have been hearing about this pen for a while and I have been waiting with great anticipation to see a review. People were able to try them at some pen shows but few, if any, seem to have been delivered thus far.

[Gloucesterman]

Arctic_Wolf, my attention was drawn by the words "super flex" in the title of your post, so I looked at their website and see that they are expecting it to sell for around $850 -- well, <that> made me sit back a bit, because my initial thought is that, for that money, I could buy a Nakaya and still afford to have John Mottishaw add more flex! Which thought made my interest wane, somewhat...

 

Another alternative might be to buy a modern pen from Mauricio Aguilar (www.VintagePens.net) with one of his vintage, flexy nibs installed?

 

Having said that, I guess it will be nice, knowing that real flex will now be available from a contemporary manufacturer; but I suspect that I shall be sticking with my vintage nibs.

 

hey Christopher,

Based on my experience with a few words & swipes with you Omas "extra flessible" nib I would say that one is able to get a contemporary extra flexible nib today. To my knowledge that particular nib is available on much of the Omas line $400+.

[tragique]

I've been waiting on a review of that "Super Flex" nib for some time, I hope we'll see one soon. I'm really curious how it performs, but not $850 curious.

[Drone]

$850, What? Syd Saperstein is out of his mind. Does this hugely over-priced nib have an Ebonite feed, or is the feed still plastic? There's no point putting a flexible nib on a plastic feed that can't keep up with it - at any price.

[Christopher Godfrey]

<Based on my experience with a few words & swipes with your Omas "extra flessible" nib I would say that one is able to get a contemporary extra flexible nib today. To my knowledge that particular nib is available on much of the Omas line $400+>

 

Yes, of course: I was quite forgetting that, Sid!

Edited November 15, 2015 by Christopher Godfrey

[Pterodactylus]

850$ is IMHO ridiculous, way out of any reasonable price range.

The attribute "flexibility" of the nib can't be a reason to get into that price range.

And I also don't see any handcrafted details on it which might bring it into that range (with respect to labor)

 

So I guess we will not see the pen often here.

[Drone]

Since OP didn't provide any follow-on links, here we go:

 

As of my post time and date, this is what I can scrape from this site. I hope the links work (for now). The "New" Wahl Eversharp site official Web site is really burdened by heavy scripting. So YMMV:

 

From:

https://www.wahleversharp.com/

EXTRA! EXTRA! HOT NEWS!! AND MORE HOT NEWS:

THE WASHINGTON DC PEN SHOW SAW THE FORMAL UNVEILING OF THE ALL NEW DECOBAND SERIES OF WAHL-EVERSHARP PNEUMATIC PENS! HERE'S A PEEK!

The three colors now available: Lapis Blue Marble, Rosewood and Black

https://www.wahleversharp.com/images/redactor/ccc392b5ae9ed90eea49af40a5e138c3.jpg

HERE'S THE NEW #8 SUPERFLEX NIB!

https://www.wahleversharp.com/images/redactor/f2856852390f8a36e7aaaa7869030a53.jpg

Expected Prices: $850 USA; $875 International with free basic shipping.

----

 

There's another FPN thread on this topic here (there may be more):

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/298324-new-wahl-eversharp-decoband/

----

[Keyless Works]

Considering economies of scale the price isn't horrible. Yes, it is very expensive but I can think of other brands like Goldfink and Oldwin that are similarly priced as well as ones like Astoria and Classic Pens that are much more expensive.

[sidthecat]

It may be impolite at this point to observe that you can get a flexible-nibbed pen from eBay - and a couple of canny dealers - for under a C-note. Maybe not things of beauty, but all you'd wish for as writing instruments.

[vorpal]

It may be impolite at this point to observe that you can get a flexible-nibbed pen from eBay - and a couple of canny dealers - for under a C-note. Maybe not things of beauty, but all you'd wish for as writing instruments.

 

Please provide some links for this. All of the ones I've seen hover around 3-5 C-notes. Excluding stuff like Noodler's and other inexpensive pseudo-flexies.

[rwilsonedn]

Of course if the issue is really just that you want a very flexible nib, dip pens sell for dollars, not hundreds of dollars.

ron

[ac12]

Here we go again.

As was mentioned by KW, the problem is manufacturing cost.

For ONE pen manufacturer to make a special nib will cost a LOT of money. And if he cannot sell a lot of those nibs, the unit cost goes up. If the manufacturing cost is $100,000 and he can only sell 500 nibs, the unit cost is $200. The less he sells, the higher the unit cost. This is simple cost accounting, and no amount of complaining will change that.

 

As for the cost of manufacturing, here are just some factors:

- R&D to design and make the nib. Most of the old flex nib makers are long dead. So much of the knowledge has to be reinvented.

- cost to make prototypes. One big cost here is just getting the raw material in the required alloy (metal mix) and thickness, in a small/tiny quantity.

- cost of the punches and dies. From what I understand, this stuff is NOT cheap. And it is a one-off item, so there is no economy of scale to make it.

- cost of the roll of gold made to the specs needed for the nib. He cannot buy just a 50 foot roll of the gold, unless he is willing to pay the gold manufacturer a LOT of money. Small lots are uneconomical and a hassle to make. This for the gold itself to be made into the specified alloy, then to have someone roll it into a thin strip at the specific thickness.

- how many nibs can be made out of that roll,

- how many nibs can be sold,

- cost to have a nib manufacturer make the nibs,

- etc, etc.

 

Personally, I did what Ron, has implied. I wanted flex at an affordable price, so I went with dip pens, and accepted the limitations of using a dip pen.

Edited November 16, 2015 by ac12

[Pterodactylus]

Here we go again.

As was mentioned by KW, the problem is manufacturing cost.

For ONE pen manufacturer to make a special nib will cost a LOT of money. And if he cannot sell a lot of those nibs, the unit cost goes up. If the manufacturing cost is $100,000 and he can only sell 500 nibs, the unit cost is $200. The less he sells, the higher the unit cost. This is simple cost accounting, and no amount of complaining will change that.

 

As for the cost of manufacturing, here are just some factors:

- R&D to design and make the nib. Most of the old flex nib makers are long dead. So much of the knowledge has to be reinvented.

- cost to make prototypes. One big cost here is just getting the raw material in the required alloy (metal mix) and thickness, in a small/tiny quantity.

- cost of the punches and dies. From what I understand, this stuff is NOT cheap. And it is a one-off item, so there is no economy of scale to make it.

- cost of the roll of gold made to the specs needed for the nib. He cannot buy just a 50 foot roll of the gold, unless he is willing to pay the gold manufacturer a LOT of money. Small lots are uneconomical and a hassle to make. This for the gold itself to be made into the specified alloy, then to have someone roll it into a thin strip at the specific thickness.

- how many nibs can be made out of that roll,

- how many nibs can be sold,

- cost to have a nib manufacturer make the nibs,

- etc, etc.

 

Personally, I did what Ron, has implied. I wanted flex at an affordable price, so I went with dip pens, and accepted the limitations of using a dip pen.

 

You are totally right ac12, but nevertheless the sells will be quite low at that price.

 

For me it would make more sense to develop this flex nib for a mid-range pen in his sortiment, so that even with the developing costs of the nib the pen is in a range between 300-400$.

The sells would be dramatically higher (and probably also the commercial success) in such a price range, instead of putting it into their "Flagship" pen.

Big pens do not cost really more to manufacture, they are just sold at a dramatically higher price, but this seems to be widely accepted by most people.

 

So this nib will remain a curiosity, sold in homeopathic amounts....... it´s a pity......

 

 

Nevertheless I would like to see a detailed review especially taking the flex capabilities into account (everybody can write "Superflex" in his shop but this has to be proven first (not by the manufacturer))

[Keyless Works]

Perhaps if this pen is successful a cheaper model with the "superflex" nib will be available down the road. Sort of like an S Class Mercedes; they always have the newest technology and then eventually it trickles down to the economy cars.

 

If the nib turns out to be good I hope all the rich pen aficionados will order one...then one day maybe everyone will be able to afford a pen with this nib.

[Nanor]

Way out of my price range, but if I was spending that sort of money on a new pen the Decoband would be a front runner; to my eye it is absolutely stunning.

[Tweel]

Way out of my price range, but if I was spending that sort of money on a new pen the Decoband would be a front runner; to my eye it is absolutely stunning.

 

An exact ditto on my part!