Modern inexpensive flex nibs: Bluedew Flex vs FPR Ultra Flex

[ParkerBeta]

We often hear that there is no modern equivalent to the vintage "wet noodle" flex nibs of 80-90 years ago.  In recent years, some pen makers are making a concerted effort to create flex nibs that do achieve the line width variation, snapback, and lack-of-railroading of those fabled vintage flex nibs.  Some are expensive gold nibs mounted on expensive bodies (Aurora, Montblanc 149 Calligraphy, Scribo Feel), with the pen and nib together costing between $500 and $1000.  I approached the "modern flex" question out of curiosity, and my curiosity does not extend to spending several hundreds of dollars to investigate the question.

 

Instead, let us take a look at two reasonably priced (even if not quite "inexpensive", notwithstanding the title of this post) flex-nibbed pens, starting with the Bluedew.  This is a pen created by a Singaporean inventor named Jeffrey, and it is all about the flex nib.  Indeed, he founded the company to sell the nib, with a pen around it.  The pen sells for USD88, ships worldwide for an additional USD12, and as you can imagine for that price you get a stainless steel nib and not a gold one, although you do get a very nice faux-leather single-pen case that can hold a good-sized pen (and is in fact the only packaging for the Bluedew pen itself during transit).  Kudos for no-waste packaging!  Now, about the nib itself, it has long narrow tines and a very interesting pattern in place of a simple breather hole.  If you read the FAQ on bluedewpens.com you will see that everything about the nib was designed in order to extract maximum flex from it, even the embossed "B" on the nib (which is supposed to trap a small amount of excess ink under the raised "B").

 

 

The Bluedew flex-nib pen.  Multiple body colors are available, including (obviously) a blue colorway, but at the time I went to the website this translucent finish was the best-looking option they had in stock.  It has faint pink swirls in the resin, and there is a "BLUEDEW" engraved on the barrel.  The cap is unmarked.

 

The pen is 140mm capped, 125mm uncapped, and the grip section is between 10mm and 11mm in diameter.  The fit and finish of the pen are definitely in the uppermost range of what is available at this price point.  The barrel threads are precise and the pen can be easily eyedroppered (maybe with a little silicone grease applied to the threads for peace of mind), although I have only used the pen with the converter and a cartridge.  Ink flow does seem to be wetter with the converter, by the way.  Unfortunately, the converter looks like a proprietary design even though the cartridges it takes are the standard international size.

 

 

Here you get a closer look at the details of the nib.  Unlike several other flex nibs that are created from stock steel nibs by cutting out scoops from the sides, this nib was designed from scratch, according to the Bluedew inventor Jeffrey, and the interesting breather hole pattern, the two cuts (parallel to the slit) on the two sides of the slit, and the horizontal ribbing above the breather hole all testify to a novel design.  Remarkably, the feed is plastic and not ebonite, and there is an explanation for this choice in the FAQ on the site.

 

Next, let's take a look at the other modern flex-nib contender, the FPR "Ultra Flex" nib from Fountain Pen Revolution (FPR), a company headquartered in Texas that made its reputation by commissioning inexpensive but reliable fountain pens from manufacturers in India and offering sales and warranty support right here in the USA, together with excellent and responsive customer service.  (Like Bluedew, FPR is also essentially a one-person company.  It is inspiring that small companies founded by individual enthusiasts are bringing the innovation to this century-old space that the big pen-manufacturing corporations have chosen not to address.)  

 

Now, this FPR Ultra Flex nib is available mounted on a variety of pens sold by FPR, but I opted for the somewhat expensive (relative to the rest of the FPR lineup) model called the "Tanoshii."  This is also a departure for FPR in that this pen is made in collaboration not with an Indian manufacturer but a Japanese manufacturer.  There is a thread elsewhere on FPN speculating as to whether the pen is actually made in Japan or made in Taiwan by a Taiwanese subcontractor to said Japanese manufacturer, but wherever it is made, it is made very well.  This body costs around $70 and the Ultra Flex nib is an additional $14, bringing the total almost to the same amount as the Bluedew.

 

 

As you can see, the pen is strongly influenced by the Delta Dolce Vita down to the black cap with orange body and gold plated trim.  The thick cap band (obscured in this picture, but visible in the close-up photograph of the nib below) is also decorated with a motif just like the no-longer-made Dolce Vita by the now-defunct Delta.  The clip seems to have a little roller but the roller appears to be fixed and does not actually roll.  In contrast to the Bluedew pen, the Tanoshii design is a flat-top and slightly shorter (135mm capped) but the section is slightly girthier (10.5mm).  Again, fit and finish are in the 90th percentile for a pen in this price range (although unlike in the Bluedew, the barrel threads do not screw into the section with such tight tolerance that I would be entirely comfortable with eyedroppering it), and the orange resin looks lovely.  You can also get it in black, or with a light blue barrel, or with a red barrel and a white cap (the only option without a black cap).  It is also a C/C filler that accepts standard international sized cartridges, but the included converter is not as "premium" feeling as the one on the Bluedew.

 

 

Here you can see the cap band design and more importantly, a close-up of the nib.  This nib, also made of stainless steel, is of a more conventional design for a modern flex nib, being cut by hand (by Kevin, the founder/owner of FPR) from a stock steel nib.  Note the very deep slit and the two cut-out scoops on the two sides.  If purchased on its own, this nib can be acquired paired with an ebonite feed, but when acquired as an upgrade option with the Tanoshii, the Ultra Flex nib comes with a plastic feed.  Kevin says it keeps up with flow requirements pretty well and the writing sample below will confirm that. 

 

Now, on to the writing test(s).  I have previously written a couple of converter-fulls with both of these pens, but for the tests today I took the lazy route and used a "mystery" cartridge (that I think is Monteverde Purple Reign) on a Doane Paper Utility Notebook with the Boxcar ruling.  This paper offers a great textured surface suitable for all nibs, but it is absorbent and has severe bleed through with most inks.

 

 

Clearly, the FPR nib is much, much wetter than the Bluedew nib.  On the other hand, the Bluedew nib, maybe because it is drier, actually shows the line-width variation one expects, although it railroads before hitting the 1.5mm BB limit as claimed by its manufacturer (I did get close to that limit using the converter, though, but I don't have evidence of that today).  The FPR nib actually dumps so much ink on the page that it caused severe feathering (clearly visible above in the figure-eights) and bleed through (not shown), while also obscuring the full range of line-width variation possible with this nib.  My experience with both cartridge and converter is that the FPR Ultra Flex nib does not actually get down to EF thinness while the Bluedew can.  On the other hand, the FPR nib gets to BB thickness easier than the Bluedew nib does.

 

As for the pressure required to get flex, this is where I think we are finally approaching parity with the vintage flex nibs, and this is great news.  Both nibs flex under little to light pressure, though I would say that the Bluedew nib flexes even easier than the FPR -- to be expected, I suppose, from a nib that was designed as a flex nib from scratch.  I must say that I have not tried the expensive gold flex nibs on Aurora, Scribo, or the Montblanc 149 Calligraphy pen, but I have tried (once, briefly) the 14kt "quill" nib on a Pineider, and from my recollection, both of these steel nibs (Bluedew and FPR) flex more easily and with lighter pressure than that (significantly more expensive) Pineider nib.  This is genuinely impressive and cause for celebration.

 

In short, you won't go wrong with either one if you want to explore a modern-day flex nib without breaking the bank.  The FPR Ultra Flex requires a bit more pressure to begin flexing than the Bluedew, so if you want to only occasionally flex in your normal, everyday writing, the FPR nib may be a better option.  On the other hand, the Bluedew nib exists for one, and only one purpose, so you had better be prepared to flex with every letter you write with it.  The good news is that it will do so pretty much on its own if you just write with normal pressure as you would with a non-flex nib.

[sambam]

Interesting review and comparison. I had heard of the Blue Dew pens but didn't actually realize they had their own nibs since the overall profile looks a lot like Manga G dip nibs from a distance. The FPR nibs are a fantastic all arounder in my opinion since they're pleasantly smooth writers but you can still get a LOT of line variation if you want it. 

[ParkerBeta]

The inventor of the Bluedew nib was probably inspired by the Manga G dip nib, but the Bluedew nib is a real fountain pen nib -- there is a section of the FAQ on the Bluedew website explaining why this is not just a dip nib inserted into a fountain pen body.

[sambam]

I'd be interested to see if the Blue Dew nibs fit in the purpose-built Zebra G franken pens like Ackerman, Desiderata or Osprey. The dimensions look almost identical, I might have to buy their replacement set since $35 for two comes out to less than $18 a pop, that's very reasonable for such a novel nib and it's even a little cheaper than buying the equivalent FPR nib. 

[Drone]

On 14-February-2022 Stephen B.R.E. Brown posted a review of the $125.00 USD Aaron’s Pens Beta Flex Fountain Pen in Deep Ocean (Blue) Color.[1][2] This appears to be a marked-up BlueDew pen; either that or at-least the nib is certainly a transplanted BlueDew. In Stephen's review the nib is as expected, far too dry, like a Zebra-G Comic flexible dip nib mated with a crummy plastic feed.

 

Despite the rhetoric to the contrary on both the BlueDew or Aaron's Pens web sites, these BlueDew nibs really do need an ebonite (hard rubber) feed to improve flow. The proof exists in the form of pens with ebonite feeds being fitted with Zebra-G nibs. If the nib is fitted properly, the poor flow problems with light pressure vanishes while flow is still sufficient to keep up with the nib when it is flexed. There are plenty of examples of this on the web; Noodler's Ahab and Konrad pens [3], Ranga pens from India, all of which come with ebonite feeds, and miscellaneous pens fitted with ebonite feeds from the likes of Kevin at Fountain Pen Revolution.[4]

 

I own a couple of Noodler's Ahabs fitted with titanium coated Zebra-G nibs.[5] The flow is excellent, and with adequate practice very easy to control. The retrofit entails shaping the Zebra-G nib's curvature so it mates closely with the #6 (6mm dia.) ebonite feed. A set of drill bits acts as a source of bending mandrels. A pair of Jeweler's Round-Nose Pliers helps to fine-tune the fit.

 

Another example where having an ebonite feed with a flex nib makes a big difference is my Pilot Custom 743 pen with a flexible FA nib.[6] I replaced the 743's factory plastic feed with an ebonite feed manufactured by Mr. Joey Grasty of the Flexible Nib Factory LLC.[7] Replacing the plastic feed with ebonite made a difficult to use flex pen into a daily user with controllable line widths from hairline to almost 2mm.[8] At my post time the ebonite feeds for the Pilot 743 from the Flexible Nib Factory cost $27.00 each plus shipping.

 

Where the Pilot 743/FA nib really outshines either the Zebra-G or BlueDew dip-like nibs is how it writes on almost all papers. The Zebra-G or BlueDew nibs are untipped and very pointy, they snag on anything but the smoothest paper. The 743/FA nib on the other hand has proper tipping and can easily handle even cheap partially-recycled copier paper.

 

* References:

 

1. SBREBrown's review of Aaron’s Pens Beta Flex Fountain Pen in Deep Ocean.

 

https://www.sbrebrown.com/2022/02/aarons-pens-beta-flex-fountain-pen-review/

 

2. Aaron's Beta Flex Fountain Pen - Deep Ocean $125.00.

 

https://aaronpen.com/products/aaron-beta-flex-nib-fountain-pen-deep-ocean

 

3. Frankenflex! Noodler’S Ahab With A Zebra G Flex Nib

 

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/310262-frankenflex-noodler’s-ahab-with-a-zebra-g-flex-nib/

 

4. Fountain Pen Revolution - Nibs and Feeds

 

https://fprevolutionusa.com/collections/fpr-nibs

 

5. Zebra Comic Pen Nib- Type Professional - G Model - Titanium - Pack of 10 (PG-7B-C-K) 4.6 out of 5 stars 202 ratings Amazon's Choice for "zebra-g nibs titanium" $19.28

 

https://www.amazon.com/Zebra-Comic-Professional-Titanium-PG-7B-C-K/dp/B00LUD4DAY

 

6. PILOT"CUSTOM 743 / Black" (nib : Falcon) 4.5 out of 5 stars 152 ratings $259.00

 

https://www.amazon.com/PILOT-CUSTOM-743-Black-nib/dp/B001AXB8ZM

 

7. Flexible Nib Factory LLC - Feeds

 

https://flexiblenib.com/store/standard-replacement-feeds/

 

8. My Pilot 743/fa With The Flexible Nib Factory Ebonite Feed

 

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/339120-my-pilot-743fa-with-the-flexible-nib-factory-ebonite-feed/

[Honeybadgers]

On 9/6/2021 at 5:05 PM, ParkerBeta said:

The inventor of the Bluedew nib was probably inspired by the Manga G dip nib, but the Bluedew nib is a real fountain pen nib -- there is a section of the FAQ on the Bluedew website explaining why this is not just a dip nib inserted into a fountain pen body.

 

"real fountain pen nib" as in this nib is made of proper modern stainless steel? Because if it isn't, then I really don't see the point.

[ParkerBeta]

Yes, I seem to recall reading on the Bluedew website that the nib is actually made of stainless steel, just like a JoWo or Bock fountain pen nib. 

[Drone]

39 minutes ago, Honeybadgers said:

"real fountain pen nib" as in this nib is made of proper modern stainless steel? Because if it isn't, then I really don't see the point.

 

This FAQ page:

 

https://aaronpen.com/a/faq

 

Says this about the BlueDew nibs: "The nib is rust-resistant, made from Stainless Steel 316, also known as surgical steel, marine-grade steel.[1]"

 

I do not know what type of steel alloy the Zebra-G nibs are made from, but it is quite flexible, maybe due to added chrome, silicon, and/or berylium. The standard chrome-tone Zebra-G nibs will corrode if not cared for. The gold-tone titanium coated (PVD [2] or CVD [3] I'm assuming) Zebra-G nibs are more resilient. But with ether type nib they are untipped and so sharp that with daily use the tips will likely wear out before the nib corrodes. My practice is to always store a pen with a dip nib completely dry. Either that or store the nibs in a vial of light machine oil or food grade mineral oil.

 

The flex nibs on the Noodler's pens and from Fountain Pen Revolution are flexible stainless steel, likely the very common type SAE 316L; and more important they have proper tipping.

 

1. 316 Stainless Steel

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Search?search=Stainless+Steel+316

 

2. Physical Vapor Deposition

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Physical_vapor_deposition

 

3. Chemical Vapor Deposition

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chemical_vapor_deposition

[txomsy]

Thanks for the links. It looks like an interesting option.

[Honeybadgers]

On 2/19/2022 at 8:22 PM, Drone said:

 

This FAQ page:

 

https://aaronpen.com/a/faq

 

Says this about the BlueDew nibs: "The nib is rust-resistant, made from Stainless Steel 316, also known as surgical steel, marine-grade steel.[1]"

 

I do not know what type of steel alloy the Zebra-G nibs are made from, but it is quite flexible, maybe due to added chrome, silicon, and/or berylium. The standard chrome-tone Zebra-G nibs will corrode if not cared for. The gold-tone titanium coated (PVD [2] or CVD [3] I'm assuming) Zebra-G nibs are more resilient. But with ether type nib they are untipped and so sharp that with daily use the tips will likely wear out before the nib corrodes. My practice is to always store a pen with a dip nib completely dry. Either that or store the nibs in a vial of light machine oil or food grade mineral oil.

 

The flex nibs on the Noodler's pens and from Fountain Pen Revolution are flexible stainless steel, likely the very common type SAE 316L; and more important they have proper tipping.

 

1. 316 Stainless Steel

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Search?search=Stainless+Steel+316

 

2. Physical Vapor Deposition

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Physical_vapor_deposition

 

3. Chemical Vapor Deposition

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chemical_vapor_deposition

 

 

The nibs corrode because PVD and CVD coatings don't prevent infiltration between the tines. That's where the nibs rust. The rust builds in the slit and as soon as the tip wears down to the rust line, it becomes scratchy and unpleasant. And the rust then coats the feed, which requires a lot of careful maintenance. They're definitely better than uncoated, but not a LOT better (enough to be worth the cost, IMO) And coatings are extremely thin so that they don't just crack right off - this means that ions such as chloride can get between the covalently bonded, 5-10 atom thick layer of PVD titanium and attack the steel underneath. That's why you can see corrosion through PVD coated knives if they're left in a corrosive environment. Most ions can slip between the lattice of much larger molecules. It's one reason why DNA is so tightly wound, it wants to keep water (a relatively tiny molecule compared to nucleotides) out of the core of the helix.

 

For pens with dip nibs in my collection, I store the pen with the nib COMPLETELY apart from the pen. even the slightest bit of retained moisture will ruin the nib and feed.

 

The thing that stops corrosion in the metal itself is chromium. But chromium has a side-effect in steel of increasing hardness and brittleness. So the nib is theoretically going to be more prone to springing and snapping, and they won't have as strong a "snapback" as is the case with trying to make a flex nib out of a JoWo or Bock stainless nib.

 

Dip nibs are usually made from high carbon spring steel. It's incredibly tough and ductile, but the low chromium required to do this makes them highly susceptible to corrosion.

 

I might be curious enough to pick one up since they are claiming it's made from a corrosion resistant steel instead of just being the SAME steel as a dip nib, just shaped to fit a #6 feed.

[SpecTP]

I've been using the bluedew nib for several months now and have not noticed any rust issue. I leave the nibs inked up too.

 

My initial posts on this nib.

 

[Honeybadgers]

I ordered one and it arrived yesterday. I can't speak to rust yet (obviously) but I am incredibly impressed with the fit and finish. Serious attention to detail, ~1 turn cap that NEVER cross threads, posts deeply and securely, flow is good and flex is really great with solid snapback. No hard starting, nib has the "scratch" of a good dip nib.

 

So presuming it doesn't rust, I think the pen might be a real winner. 

[crosshatch]

On 9/6/2021 at 8:05 PM, ParkerBeta said:

The inventor of the Bluedew nib was probably inspired by the Manga G dip nib, but the Bluedew nib is a real fountain pen nib -- there is a section of the FAQ on the Bluedew website explaining why this is not just a dip nib inserted into a fountain pen body.

 

It's basically an exact copy of a Leonardt EF Principal dip nib (which is a favorite among many pointed pen calligraphers). In fact, if people hadn't said that it was stainless steel, I would suspect it was simply a Leonardt Principal that had been plated.

 

On 2/21/2022 at 2:59 PM, Honeybadgers said:

 

 

The nibs corrode because PVD and CVD coatings don't prevent infiltration between the tines. That's where the nibs rust. The rust builds in the slit and as soon as the tip wears down to the rust line, it becomes scratchy and unpleasant. And the rust then coats the feed, which requires a lot of careful maintenance.

[...]

I might be curious enough to pick one up since they are claiming it's made from a corrosion resistant steel instead of just being the SAME steel as a dip nib, just shaped to fit a #6 feed.

 

I would be way more impressed with the pen if the nib were tipped. As it is, I wonder how durable the nib is. Dip pen nibs wear down pretty quickly, and not just from rust. They physically wear down from friction with the paper, and rather quickly. Of course, stainless is much harder than the spring steel used to make dip nibs, so I definitely expect the Bluedew nib to last longer. BUT dip nibs wear down in a matter of weeks, so while I don't expect the Bluedew nib to be essentially disposable like a dip pen nib, I don't have a lot of optimism for its longevity.

 

I'm curious to see how people's nibs are doing in 6 months to a year of regular use. If the nibs are holding up well after that much time, I might give it a try.

[Licue]

1 hour ago, crosshatch said:

I would be way more impressed with the pen if the nib were tipped. As it is, I wonder how durable the nib is. Dip pen nibs wear down pretty quickly, and not just from rust. They physically wear down from friction with the paper, and rather quickly. Of course, stainless is much harder than the spring steel used to make dip nibs, so I definitely expect the Bluedew nib to last longer. BUT dip nibs wear down in a matter of weeks, so while I don't expect the Bluedew nib to be essentially disposable like a dip pen nib, I don't have a lot of optimism for its longevity.

 

I'm curious to see how people's nibs are doing in 6 months to a year of regular use. If the nibs are holding up well after that much time, I might give it a try.

I know it's not exactly the same, but how long do untipped FP calligraphy nibs last? (especially the smaller sizes)

[crosshatch]

3 hours ago, Licue said:

I know it's not exactly the same, but how long do untipped FP calligraphy nibs last? (especially the smaller sizes)

 

You mean like an untipped stub nib or something like an Esterbrook untipped nib? I've seen vintage Esterbrooks with untipped nibs that show enough wear on the tips that someone who does not write at the same angle as the previous owner would feel uncomfortable due to the wear pattern on the nib not being a good fit for how they hold the pen. But you could just kind of reshape it on some micromesh or something, and it would take longer than a lifetime, probably, to lose enough material to make it hard to use unless you needed a very fine point. As for the untipped stubs that are really common these days, I don't know for sure that they'd survive for generations the same way as, say, a tipped stub or cursive italic, but I'd expect they last long enough for a single lifetime, at least; there's a lot of material there, the nib material is very thick, and the steel doesn't undergo much stress during use.

 

These Bluedew nibs, however, are clearly waaaaay thinner than most untipped nibs sold for fountain pens, and they undergo a completely different kind of stress, and much more of it.

[DiveDr]

If you are looking for a real Flex nib I would tell you that in addition to the Fountain Pen Revolution options there are tipped steel nibs available from Kiwi Pens of the Kanwrite brand.  These are available in various tipping configurations unlike the FPR options so in a medium number six nib you have the option of going with a medium tip, fine or extra fine. I have a medium Kanwrite Ultraflex on a standard ebonite feed in a FPR Himalaya V2.  Very springy, some Flex with normal pressure and F to BB with good pressure.  No railroading, naturally wet nib.

 

Now the 14kt gold FPR Ultraflex is a completely different story.  Massive flex with very little change in writing pressure with tremendous line variation.  Requires a flex ebonite feed and is very wet.  It does not spring like a vintage nib but it does really flex massively with normal writing pressure.  This is for sure NOT for hard writers.  The attached samples are on Clairefontane Triomphe paper.  Kanwrite inked with Noodlers Navajo Turquoise and FPR gold with Waterman Harmonious Green.

 

I am VERY curious to try the FPR standard flex gold nib and am waiting for the holiday sale! 😁  Will post an update when I have procured one!

 

One caveat here, none of these pens faithfully duplicate the experience of my vintage Waterman or Wahl flex nib pens from the 20s and 30s.  That for me is the Holy Grail as it were.  I am strongly considering one of Syd's modern Wahl Eversharp Decoband resurrections with the superflex nib, mind you, that's an $800 pen...  I am prayerfully optimistic the 14kt FPR standard flex lands somewhere between the Kanwrite steel and the FPR gold Ultraflex.  Stay tuned for an update as soon as available! 🎄🌟🎄

[Gloucesterman]

I had, and have since sold, an 18K Santini Flexy cursive Italic nib and found it a wonderful flex writer pen/nib. I admire and respect Syd's work and what he has done with the new Wahl Eversharp brand so you are on the right track (imho) to check out his offerings.

 

If you are not quite ready, for whatever reason, to spend the bigger bucks for a new W/E, check out the Santini. A nice acrylic pen with the an 18K (choice of styles) flex nib can be had for between $300 and $400 the last time I looked.

You can find out more at santini-italia.com/

 

Enjoy you journey in the flex world.

[Detman101]

Nevermind.
Same as the first edition.
Scratchy and doesn't fit JOWO pens.
Ugh...ah well...that's $70 I can't get back.

[Honeybadgers]

I'm gonna give this a little necro bump with an endorsement that after two years of occasional use...

 

the nib still hasn't rusted or gotten scratchy. Unbelievably good. Cap still has a great seal, too, so it's quite resistant to drying out.

 

This really is the be-all for artist g-nib style pens, IMO. The guy figured it out. The nib has been wearing very, very little. I find the zebra nibs tend to go dull partly because of the corrosion - as the tip gets oxidized, it's going to flake/wear away more rapidly. It's been quite good with my occasional use, still sharp as new.

[txomsy]

Thanks, that is very good to know. I have a bunch of Ti Zebra-G, and after reading your experience, I am going to try one of them on a Jinhao to see if it lasts longer than the standard Zebra-G.