Where To Buy Vintage Flex?

February 20, 2016

Hi all,

I've been wanting to purchase a vintage flex pen for a while now, but can't seem to find any reputable places that sell them. Does anyone have any suggestions?

February 20, 2016

I recommend Mauricio Aguila @ http://www.vintagepen.net. I have bought a couple of pens from him, including a wet noodle Waterman 7 with a pink nib.

February 20, 2016

Watch for posts here (on FPN) in the classifieds by obnubilator. There should be some offerings today. I've purchased several pens from him and found him to be a reliable seller. He gives very good descriptions of his offerings along with a sample of the writing each pen is capable of. You might try Greg Minuskin's site, but I would suggest looking at past offerings on his site to get a sense of what's there and watch the sight for a while. I've purchased a number of pens from him. Another good source is vintage pen.net, as mentioned above. He has some beautiful collector level pens and his prices are usually higher because of it. Again he has excellent descriptions of his offerings.

Don't think you need a wet noodle right away. And don't feel that you must flex the nib of the pen you purchase to the max. Take it easy until you get the feel of flex writing.

Edited February 20, 2016 by linearM

February 20, 2016

Thanks for the suggestions guys!

February 21, 2016

Are you jumping directly from a normal nail-rigid, semi-nail pen into SuperFlex? Or are going IMO go the wiser course and get a semi-flex first? Working your way up the flex ladder.

Superflex requires a real, real light hand that nails or semi-nails do not prepare you for.

You can easily ruin an irreplaceable superflex nib by trying to make it do Olympic splits with out the experience to to know the limits of that Superflex nib. Some are only 4X, many are 5X, some 6 X and rarely 7X tine spread a light down stroke. If you try to take a superflex nib that can do 5X and try to do 7x=ruined nib.

I have a 100N in Superflex that can spread it's tines 5X, I only go 4X in I don't want to break the nib, but causing metal fatigue. I have if I could write light enough a rare xxf/ef to BBB Waterman 52, I strive never to take it to max of BBB, but not more than BB....and my BB is going to be narrower than yours, in I have mostly vintage pens, which were a 1/2 a size narrower than modern.

Do go to Richard Binder's site, there is a great article he wrote on why nibs end up sprung.

It costs $$$$ to get a sprung nib 'repaired' and it's never quite as good as it once was.

So before jumping into a Waterman 52, please try dip pens and the Ahab Mod first. Vintage Superflex nibs are irreplaceable .

I suggest first getting some dip pen nibs of various flexes.....Hunt 99-100-101 make wet noodles look uncooked....and if you ruin one as you learn, no big deal.

Superflex to use properly requires Calligraphy study. so you learn draw the letters.You do have to learn to draw the letters first or it's a waste of time.

It requires work. Many jump into the deep in of the pool, looking for a Wet Noodle rather than a Superflex Easy Full Flex...the flex step under that. Many jump out of the pool and run back to nails ASAP. Some are respectable posters not "just" noobies.

I would suggest getting an Ahab with its semi-flex "Flex" pen. It is a lot of hard work in semi-flex for a Superflex nib. It is though a good place to start.

After a week or so, you can get the Ahab Mod done to your nib. Look it up in search, in one of the two Pen subsections. It could well be you could do that your self, or contact Pendelton Brown.

That will bring the nib up to Easy Full Flex. I had that done to mine, and it went from in the box to always in Rotation.

Easy Full Flex is fun....and does prepare you for Wet Noodles.

You would not want to go to your grave with the last words of "God forgive me; I ruined a superflex nib."

February 21, 2016

You can always trust Mauricio (mentioned above) and David Nishimura or Ron Zorn or Frank and Sam at Pendemonium or John Mottishaw.

February 21, 2016

Peyton Street Pens (Teri Morris) in Santa Cruz is another source. I have bought a number of pens from her and have found her to be warm, honest, and knowledgeable.

February 21, 2016

You may want to check out ebay as well...A lot of vintage Eversharps and Watermans will have flexible nib...Look for a reputable seller and ask questions wherever you look

February 22, 2016

Are you jumping directly from a normal nail-rigid, semi-nail pen into SuperFlex? Or are going IMO go the wiser course and get a semi-flex first? Working your way up the flex ladder.

Superflex requires a real, real light hand that nails or semi-nails do not prepare you for.

You can easily ruin an irreplaceable superflex nib by trying to make it do Olympic splits with out the experience to to know the limits of that Superflex nib. Some are only 4X, many are 5X, some 6 X and rarely 7X tine spread a light down stroke. If you try to take a superflex nib that can do 5X and try to do 7x=ruined nib.

I don't want to contradict your advice, but I would like to offer a slightly different perspective.

Early on in my pen collecting hobby, I went onto eBay and found a listing for a tiny black Waterman Thorobred with a full-flex nib, fully restored, and the writing sample to prove it. I had no experience with flex pens, and I was still a pretty heavy-handed writer, but in my ignorance I bought it.

And... For me, it was wonderful. I instantly fell in love with the way it wrote, even though it took some adapting, and I very quickly had to learn to lighten up. I don't think I ever came close to damaging it, and it's still a favorite. But here's the catch: I never tried to do calligraphy with it. I never tried to produce "copperplate" writing with it, or test how wide I could spread it. I just wrote with it.

And that remains my philosophy. IMHO they were made for writing, not performing stunts.

EDIT: Also, if you get a chance to go to a pen show, that's the best possible way to find one you'll really like.

Edited February 22, 2016 by tonybelding