What is your most recent MB acquisition?

[NoType]

1 hour ago, Bo Bo Olson said:

My system of halves is subjunctive, and it helps to have both a regular flex and a semi-flex nib to fully understand it.

Folks tried electric scales but that worked even less than my horseshoe close system.

 

Nail-manifold nib, not tine spread 1X.

The P-51, the post '97 Pelikan 800.

Semi-nail = when mashed 2 X tine spread,

the P-75, post '97 400&600.

 

Regular flex, semi & maxi-semi-flex are in a three X tine spread set. Just requires different pressure to max the nib or to 3 X.

If one pushes a semi-flex more than 3 X that is Nib Abuse. Semi-flex is a flair nib, not a calligraphy nib.

It will give you that old fashioned fountain pen script with out you doing anything at all.

 

Regular flex when well mashed 3 X tine spread. Soft +.

The Pelikan 200 and Japanese 'soft' nibs. Regular flex in many pen companies use to issue this flex with their pens. Some Sheaffer in the early 50's and perhaps later, Esterbrook made a nib in this flex, Wearever were in this flex.

 

Semi-flex needs half that pressure to reach it's max of 3 X tine spread. Soft ++.

There are some early '50 Sheaffer that are semi-flex, Esterbrook made a hard semi-flex nib, Whal Eversharp make semi-flex in the '40's. There were some semi-flex made in England; Swan, even English made Parker and Sheaffer.

But mostly in Germany they made factory stub semi-flex. Easy to get from '1950-65 for Pelikan '72 for Geha, About '69 for MB.

 

Maxi-semi-flex = half the pressure needed from a semi-flex or 1/4th the pressure needed to mash a regular flex. Soft +++

Osmia had both semi-flex (small diamond nib)  and maxi in Large diamond and or Supra or both. It is the only company where one has the chance of choosing. A couple fine collectors who have many more than my 8 Osmias tell me, That it's not awlways.

Degussa the German Gold producer, took Osmia's nib factory for debt, but continued making Osmi'as nibs and same in their own brand. IMO having made both semi&maxi gold ribbon wheels sold to which ever company wanted a gold ribbon with out differentiation. My WAG is 1 in 5 is a maxi.It is an explanation of why other companies didn't brag it's maxi-semi-flex nibs.

I have maxi-semi-flex nibs in Osmia, MB, Pelikan, Geha and no names.

I have 35 semi-flex and 15  maxi-semi-flex. But then again I sit on the wall of the German well.

 

Superflex has a tine spread of more than 3 X, and an ease of tine bend makes it superflex.

Superflex has occasional 4 X nibs....I may have one, maybe two. But mostly 5-6X tine spread nibs.

7 X is rare unless you are buying pre-sprung for your convenience nibs on Youtube Nib Abuse Channels or the same in Ebay. (Do read Richard Binders fine article on metal fatigue in his site.)

This, my superflex division is for noobies to superflex. Maurcio a superflex expert don't care much for my division.....in the more superflex pens you have or sold, the more the borders blur. He is right.

How ever, my system of halves gives an @ approximation instead of total ignorance.

It takes experience to know when one has maxed a nib. One of the reasons I suggest working one's way up the flex ladder instead of springing into the deep end of the pool with out one's water wings.

And it don't really matter a bit in hell if the nib goes 5 X or 6 X in the end. So make your light line, do a 3 X line and try wider in steps.

And then remember where it felt  too much...it could be 5 x or it could be 6 X...remember that and strive to never take it that high again. If a 6X XXF-B is or EF-BB is a wide spread.

Personally I sweat to write at XXF, think to write at EF, so scribble merrily along at F.

 

Back to the chase.

What I call Easy Full Flex, requires half of the pressure of maxi to 3 X, 1/4th the pressure needed for semi to 3 X, or 1/8th the pressure needed to mash a regular flex to 3 X.

A fun nib to scribble with or even learn a bit of calligraphy......I'm a scribbler still.

If you take a hard semi-flex Ahab and grind half moons into the nib shoulders in the Ahab or Pilot Mod, you will end up with a nice fun Easy Full Flex nib. I do have a  Pelikan 100n that is a 5 X Easy Full Flex. In I have read Richards advice strive not to take the nib over 4X.

I have 4 or 5 or 6 (oddly don't keep a good count...my best guess is 5) however out side that 100n, all those nibs are on no name pens.

 

Wet Noodles require half the pressure to max than the Easy Full Flex. or 1/16th the pressure needed to mash a regular flex to 3 X.

 

It is ease of tine spread that makes a Wet Noodle. To me, it has nothing to to with being mushy......that is a sprung nib. But someone known, had that as part of his definition of a Wet Noodle. I have two '52's with Wet Noodles from Maurcio, one goes 6 X the other 7X (2 stage), but my best and final Wet Noodle is a 7 X Soennecken nib in a no name pen. (Not all 52's are superflex from what folks say.)

None of them reach into flexible dip pen range. They look uncooked.

 

The term Weak Kneed Wet Noodle was invented by the English nib grinder John Swoboda.......I had just put a ??? on the term, until now. I had only run into one such nib, also on a MB Safety Pen, that was missing tipping on one tine at a live auction.

According to my 'system' the nib on the below should be half of a Wet Noodle; 1/32nd the pressure needed to max a regular flex to 3 X.  It is that indeed and perhaps more. Could be 1/64th. (So much for my system of halves....oh, well worked well up to Wet Noodle.)

It does reach into the middle of dip pen range.

Hunt 44 Round tip or a Soennecken no number;

but not as easy to flex as a Soennecken # 11, Hunt 99 or Brouse 511.

I even fiddled for a minute or three with some of the mid range dip pens I have......got to get a good free download book. Bound to be something from 1900 floating around.

 

The Important Thing is, it is a 5X nib, perhaps it 6X (sometimes it's hard to tell....and don't matter in the end anyway.)....not a 7 X or more nib..............AND it will BLOB!!!!

Don't know if 2ml was too little ink or not.

It is a very wet writing nib, and I am using R&K's Salix.

Before.

 

Bo Bo Olson,  thank you very much for this comprehensive explanation of regular, semi-, maxi-semi-, super, and easy full flex nibs, as well as nail and semi-nail nibs, and even wet and weak-kneed wet noodles!

 

I understand you to mean that 3X tine-spread means tine-spread over three nib sizes (i.e., EF-F-M, F-M-B, M-B-BB, etc), 4X tine-spread is through four nib sizes, 5X is through five nib sizes, etc, etc.

 

I appreciate that it must be difficult to describe the amount of pressure required to spread the tines in each nib type, but your “halves” system is helpful as a general guide for comparison purposes.  
 

Clearly, I must study Richard Binder’s site, but your post is a great introduction to the subject of differences in nib flexion.  
 

Many, many thanks!

[Bo Bo Olson]

You are welcome.

When I first came on the com some 13 years ago, everything was flexi that wasn't a nail.

 

As a child in the '50s-60's era I had regular flex nibbied pens, because when i went through the German Flea Market I didn't buy nails. I tested them on my thumbnail. There wasn't anything about regular flex nibs either on the com.

 

Semi-flex was rare and or not talked about much.

Just enough that wen I put a known semi-flex Pelikan 140 to my thumb nail for nib testing...I suddenly knew what the fuss was all about.

 

I started looking for a 'flexi' pen, more flexi than semi-flex. I looked in England in Swan had such a great range of nib flex. Even the best two sites carbon copies of each other might well have been Marshal and Oldfield................it was flexi, or medium flexi....and I couldn't tell if it was a semi-flex that I had or if it was a real flexi nib. Back then superflex was just coming into use.

 

Swan had very complicated filling systems in they had to get around patents. I'd decided to get a 'early '50's torpedo shaped lever pen, when I ran into a war time Predo (no name pen) with a Degussa nib on it...later rated as Easy Full flex; so I stopped looking for 'flexi' pens.

 

Almost. A Soennecken nib on a no name fell into my hand....but I had no idea what a Wet Noodle was, much less that it was one.

 

From Marcino(sp) I got first one, then later a 52 Wet Noodle.

The rest of my system fell into place in up to that rating my system worked....for me.

 

I am responsible for finding the maxi-semi-flex nib set. And will take the blame for naming the first stage of superflex Easy Full Flex.

 

 

Back then I ran into a Rupp nib still my most flexible of my maxi-semi-flex nibs but it was a 3 X tine spread nib. After muttering to my self spinning around in small circles saying "Gee that's certainly a maxi-semi-flex nib."

  I looked through my then 20 semi-flex nibs and discovered five of my nibs were maxi's.

 

That's when my system started. Half less than regular flex was semi, half less than semi was maxi....and so on.

 

 

When one doesn't know of Regular Flex or Japanese 'soft'. (((** Later because the tines spread and bent...when one was a heavy handed nail using noobie; some thought regular flex was semi-flex in the tines did spread and bend.))) When one is 'young' one is Strong!!!

 

If one knows there is stages of flex, one can advance through those stages, with out leaving a field of pretzels behind.

 

 

[Toll]

10 hours ago, mmks said:

The recently launched Elizabeth Taylor fountain pen, the lacquer is very beautiful on this pen and I think looks better than in photos. A comparison photo with other pens I own from Muses collection.

 

I was in the MB Boutique in NYC today — on Madison Avenue — that blue-purple lacquer is stunning. Congratulations! 

[invisuu]

7 hours ago, NoType said:

Bo Bo Olson,  thank you very much for this comprehensive explanation of regular, semi-, maxi-semi-, super, and easy full flex nibs, as well as nail and semi-nail nibs, and even wet and weak-kneed wet noodles!

 

I understand you to mean that 3X tine-spread means tine-spread over three nib sizes (i.e., EF-F-M, F-M-B, M-B-BB, etc), 4X tine-spread is through four nib sizes, 5X is through five nib sizes, etc, etc.

 

I appreciate that it must be difficult to describe the amount of pressure required to spread the tines in each nib type, but your “halves” system is helpful as a general guide for comparison purposes.  
 

Clearly, I must study Richard Binder’s site, but your post is a great introduction to the subject of differences in nib flexion.  
 

Many, many thanks!

 

Since you're new here I'm going to say this, otherwise I'd just ignore him, like I do already...you should understand you're dealing with a "special" person here. He has no experience whatsoever with these pens and has no idea what he is talking about. His nomenclature is his subjective own. I'd welcome you to the 149 calligraphy thread, where you can get info from people that know much, much more than me, and definitely him, also.

 

The 149 calligraphy nib does 6x spread easily, I measured, by the way. Just for reference.

[NoType]

On 10/30/2021 at 9:51 AM, Bo Bo Olson said:

You are welcome.

When I first came on the com some 13 years ago, everything was flexi that wasn't a nail.

 

As a child in the '50s-60's era I had regular flex nibbied pens, because when i went through the German Flea Market I didn't buy nails. I tested them on my thumbnail. There wasn't anything about regular flex nibs either on the com.

 

Semi-flex was rare and or not talked about much.

Just enough that wen I put a known semi-flex Pelikan 140 to my thumb nail for nib testing...I suddenly knew what the fuss was all about.

 

I started looking for a 'flexi' pen, more flexi than semi-flex. I looked in England in Swan had such a great range of nib flex. Even the best two sites carbon copies of each other might well have been Marshal and Oldfield................it was flexi, or medium flexi....and I couldn't tell if it was a semi-flex that I had or if it was a real flexi nib. Back then superflex was just coming into use.

 

Swan had very complicated filling systems in they had to get around patents. I'd decided to get a 'early '50's torpedo shaped lever pen, when I ran into a war time Predo (no name pen) with a Degussa nib on it...later rated as Easy Full flex; so I stopped looking for 'flexi' pens.

 

Almost. A Soennecken nib on a no name fell into my hand....but I had no idea what a Wet Noodle was, much less that it was one.

 

From Marcino(sp) I got first one, then later a 52 Wet Noodle.

The rest of my system fell into place in up to that rating my system worked....for me.

 

I am responsible for finding the maxi-semi-flex nib set. And will take the blame for naming the first stage of superflex Easy Full Flex.

 

 

Back then I ran into a Rupp nib still my most flexible of my maxi-semi-flex nibs but it was a 3 X tine spread nib. After muttering to my self spinning around in small circles saying "Gee that's certainly a maxi-semi-flex nib."

  I looked through my then 20 semi-flex nibs and discovered five of my nibs were maxi's.

 

That's when my system started. Half less than regular flex was semi, half less than semi was maxi....and so on.

 

 

When one doesn't know of Regular Flex or Japanese 'soft'. (((** Later because the tines spread and bent...when one was a heavy handed nail using noobie; some thought regular flex was semi-flex in the tines did spread and bend.))) When one is 'young' one is Strong!!!

 

If one knows there is stages of flex, one can advance through those stages, with out leaving a field of pretzels behind.

 

 

Bo Bo Olson, this is a fascinating journey of discovery of nib flexion that you outline above, which makes very interesting reading.  As you so aptly observe, “if one knows there are stages of flex, one can advance through those stages, without leaving a field of pretzels behind.”  That is the importance of your contributions here, in a nutshell.  Thank you!

[stoen]

Just a short hello to everybody.

 

After 46 years of writing with my lovely Meisterstück 149, I came across this nice little celluloid Masterpiece 142 with telescoping piston (early 50s), and decided I should have it.

Now I’m happy to have both, the biggest and the smallest “members of the 14* family”!

🙂

[como]

On 10/30/2021 at 3:55 PM, Bo Bo Olson said:

 

 

@Bo Bo Olson That's a beauty! Congratulations!

[Tashi_Tsering]

Montblanc 236 (1938-40), stub steel nib, telescopic piston, celluloid body. 

[Tom Kellie]

~ @Tashi_Tsering: Thank you for posting such beautiful photos.

 

May your new acquisition provide many years of writing pleasure.

 

      Tom K.

[Bo Bo Olson]

Very nice looking pen,

How's the nib write, semi-flex or superflex?

[Tashi_Tsering]

2 hours ago, Bo Bo Olson said:

Very nice looking pen,

How's the nib write, semi-flex or superflex?

Non flex at all. Ink flow is medium-wet, smooth nib. 

[Wael El-Dasher]

Gorgeous! Use it in good health. 

 

Cheers

 

Wael

[Arcadian]

This most serious and elegantly masculine of pens decided to partner up with me yesterday. I love it 😍 

 

 - P. 
 

[Toll]

4 hours ago, Arcadian said:

This most serious and elegantly masculine of pens decided to partner up with me yesterday. I love it 😍 

 

 - P. 
 

Ah, the Purdey. I have had the chance to buy it on several occasions in MB boutiques, most recently in NYC, and passed. This photo is making me question the wisdom of that decision—very nice!

[como]

9 hours ago, Arcadian said:

This most serious and elegantly masculine of pens decided to partner up with me yesterday. I love it 😍 

 

 - P. 
 

@Arcadian I find this pen absolutely gorgeous, with its superbly done wood and metal works. Congratulations! Enjoy it in good health and good time!

[Wael El-Dasher]

15 hours ago, Arcadian said:

This most serious and elegantly masculine of pens decided to partner up with me yesterday. I love it 😍 

 

 - P. 
 

Congratulations! Looks stunning. Use it in good health.

 

cheers

 

Wael

[maclink]

I just got myself a Calamus Fountain Pen.  Well made with a well tuned fine nib that writes great with Namiki Blue ink.

[Tom Kellie]

 

1961 Montblanc 22 OF

[agentdaffy007]

Was browsing online and found an ad on kijiji about an old AD that closed his door in 2015 and that I bought multiple Montblanc items at 50%.

 

Well, he had a few items left and need to get rid of because he sold his building. I was able to get a MB inkwell, a MB ink blotter and 5 new MB ink bottles for $200 USD.

 

The only thing is that there is a small crack in the cap of the inkwell. I will fill it with Capt. Tolley's crack cure and I'll be in business.

 

Life is about being at the right place at the right time. I hardly ever search on kijiji and it just so happen that the seller posted the day before.

[Wael El-Dasher]

On 11/25/2021 at 8:57 PM, agentdaffy007 said:

Was browsing online and found an ad on kijiji about an old AD that closed his door in 2015 and that I bought multiple Montblanc items at 50%.

 

Well, he had a few items left and need to get rid of because he sold his building. I was able to get a MB inkwell, a MB ink blotter and 5 new MB ink bottles for $200 USD.

 

The only thing is that there is a small crack in the cap of the inkwell. I will fill it with Capt. Tolley's crack cure and I'll be in business.

 

Life is about being at the right place at the right time. I hardly ever search on kijiji and it just so happen that the seller posted the day before.

Congrats! What a great find. Use them in good health.

 

cheers

 

Wael