Reliability of modern fountain pens

[patrik.nusszer]

Dear FPNers,

 

Here is a link elaborating on the matter in greater detail:

https://www.indy-pen-dance.com/are-modern-pens-as-good-as-old-ones.html

 

I also summarise what is written in the article:

- The geometry (shape) and the air channels of the feeds of modern fountain pens is such that it restricts inkflow on purpose. That is because modern pens are deliberately designed not to blot. It is stated that this compromises writing quality, and it is argued that this is why today's pens write dry, feeds do not keep up with writing

- The feeds are also made of plastic instead of hard rubber, which by nature does not conduct water well, but it is said that feeds now are coated with a material that solves this issue: so the change of the material of the feed is not actually a problem

- Finally, nibs of inexpensive fountain pens are not ground at all and therefore write scratchy and dry. But it is also said that more expensive pens that are ground may actually be "overground" causing baby's bottom, which will cause the pen to start hard. It is also concluded that very few companies (which are not being named) pay extra cost for nibs that DO WORK out of the box

 

I can see people satisfied with their fountain pens but I also see others and myself getting pens that just do not write like it is generally an expectation of a pen to write:

 

- I have bought 2 Lamy Lx fountain pens (M nibs). They just do NOT keep up with extensive note taking. I have to disassemble the wretched pen and force the ink down to the feed in the middle of writing session so that I can get it to write wet again.

- I have a TWSBI Classic fountain pen and it writes a lot wetter, it is true. After 2 pages, though, it becomes uselessly dry and I have to twist the piston on the pen to force ink down to the feed.

- My Parkers (Sonnet stainless steel and an Urban) seem to have been best so far, they sort of keep up and seem to work well, but they also happened to be trouble earlier. This is the second nib in my Sonnet because the first one was EXTREMELY dry.

 

I agree if people say that I am the only one experiencing these problems because I have already been given responses like "these are not normal behaviours" and "you definitely need to wash them with clear water and adjust the nibs".

But I tend to was them with water and actually nib adjustments tend to make them better but they don't always entirely solve the problem ENTIRELY.

 

What are your thoughts?

BTW which are those "few" brands that actually make their pens write out of the box?

Or companies that do not have this perversion of restricting ink flow in change of pens that do not blot?

 

I actually don't care about whether I should take care not to shake a pen in order to prevent blotting so long as it writes distressingly smooth, laying down a crazy amount of ink. That is all I want from a fountain pen.

 

[maclink]

After reading the article, correlating it with your experience, and also finding no solution from fellow users who claim your experience is unusual while suggesting solutions which haven't worked for you, it seems clear that you will likely find joy with a vintage pen that was properly made. There are many to be found, and at reasonable prices too.

 

Although I do own a number of vintage pens, I haven't found that they are any wetter as such except for the semi-flex Pelikan.  But then, my Pilot Custom 912 with FA nib and ebonite feed, is also a wet writer.  There are some modern brands that tend to write wetter than others.  Pilot and Pelikan pens tend to write on the wetter side. 

 

M nibs should be less likely to have problems with flow, especially with TWSBI pens.  I have a TWSB Eco with M nib and it's a wet writer.  Hmmm.  Ink and paper also make a difference.  What inks do you prefer using?  Although I mention the ink and paper factors, they shouldn't be responsible for a pen that writes well initially and then runs dry.    I doubt the FP community would be a thriving one for modern FP's if your experience was typical.

[Paul-in-SF]

Some converters can contribute to ink-flow problems if they don't have anything inside the converter to agitate the ink, which overcomes the tendency of the ink to cling to the sides of the converter instead of flowing down. This might be the cause if you have to use the converter piston to drive the ink towards the nib. Among the things that manufacturers have put into converters for this purpose are little plastic balls and little metal springs. I have a couple of pens with this problem, but I haven't tried to do anything about it yet. 

[inkstainedruth]

I haven't read the article in full.  But knowing the Indy-Pen-Dance folks (and having had them repair a number of my vintage pens and done nib work for me on others) I figure that they have pretty good experience especially with the vintage ones.

It would be interesting to get input from some of the other repair people and nibmeisters to get their take as well....

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[MidSouthern-Dad]

I wrote a bit about ink flow problems in my TWSBI here, and how I solved it.

With a piston filling pen such as the TWBSI Draco, there is no need for a back wall and nipple for the converter to attach to the back of the feed collar.

I took a 3.5mm drill bit and removed the back wall of the feed collar entirely.

Now, it writes wet, and never starves until it has truly run out of ink.

 

Which big fountain pen companies have the best and worst quality control? - Page 2 - Fountain & Dip Pens - First Stop - The Fountain Pen Network

 

[Karmachanic]

2 hours ago, MidSouthern-Dad said:

I took a 3.5mm drill bit and removed the back wall of the feed collar entirely

 

Thank you @fountainbel

 

[scrivelry]

I have been having these problems across the board with my pens, including Eversharps with feeds that at least look like they could channel the Thames.

In at least one case, I think the sac is too long and is crumpling in the barrel, thereby making it more difficult for my ink to come out.

In other cases I can't account for it at all.

[sandy101]

Not all of my modern pens have written well out of the box first time, but after two weeks fo constant use, they have developed into excellent writers. I had this with an S TDupont and a Montblanc Writer's Edition. The S T Dupont was incredibly fruustrating to start with, but after two weeks it seemed to settle into a routine and has remained a great writer since. 

 

If a pen isn't in constant use, it will take longer for it to "bed in". Not using it also means the ink just dries up in the feed and causes further problems. 

 

 

I have ordered pens from The Writing Desk. They check the nibs before they send them out and as a result all the pens I have had from them have written out of the box. 

 

The most reliable modern brand I've had has been Platinum. I have a number of their pens and they've all written well out of the box. A broad nibbed Platinum pen should see you through. I have also found my newer Sonnet to be a great writer - the 2018 make dry up less than the previous ones. 

 

However, not all vintage pens came out  perfect - and the article you quote from alludeds to this. I remmber the days before keyboards took over the world. If your pen didn't write well out of the box, you took it to the shop next time you were in town and they fixed it for you whilst you waited. I remember taking Parker pens to the counter, someone took the pen out the back and adjusted it for you. 

 

With the demise of this infrastructure, I think it is difficult to say that vintage pens were more reliable - it was just easier to get an unreliable pen fixed. 

 

Not blotting is not a perversion. It also prevents large amounts of ink escaping into the cap, so your pen is primed to put ink everywhere once the cap is removed. If FPs kept on blotting, then FPS would be even more obscure, as ballpoints and roller balls would be even more dominant. 

 

However, maybe the answer for you would be to get a vintage pen and use that? 

 

A Parker Senior or Maxima might just do the trick. 

 

 

 

 

[peroride]

13 hours ago, patrik.nusszer said:

What are your thoughts?

BTW which are those "few" brands that actually make their pens write out of the box?

 

Sorry for your pen troubles, I can sympathize but have been very very lucky with very few pens not writing well based on my rather large sample size mainly on the extreme F to M and less so with B and above.

 

TL;DR: Modern design however mediocre are just-good-enough 

 

Caveat: My practice for new pens or pens that need re-attention is

1. Flush first, if stubborn with pen flush or 10:1 water / windex or ammonia
2. Use easy dye based ink of known quality: Aurora, Waterman, Parker Quink, Pilot/Namiki
3. Good paper

This practice has worked surprisingly well for both Bock 250 and JoWo #6

 

Lamys: Aion, Studio, LX, Safari, CP1, 2000, Dialog CC (gold) have all been surprisingly good out of the box (OOB) with poor matching between marketed size to actual line output, that is EF similar F but can get a M finer than EF?!

 

More consistent has been the big Japanese 3: Pilot, Sailor and Platinum in that too close to tell order. They outclass most brands in OOB experience. I can only recall a Sailor Slim/Standard 14K EF writing like a scratchy needlepoint that takes trained patience.

 

TWSBI Jowo #5 also has been pretty consistently great smooth troublefree OOB: Swipe (love this pen), ECO, Draco

 

Pelikan M200/2005 extra fine steel is wonderful and almost outclasses the sloppy gold.

 

That's all I can think of off the top but I'm sure there are more.

 

As for the meat of the article about modern nib/feed vs days of old, I can only report my experience that my vintage pens really write with a different and sometimes "better" feel than the modern versions, that is Waterman 52, Parker 51, Sheaffer Balance, etc. I'm not sure what it is nib/feed/delivery but it works.

 

The problem I have which the article does not address is vintage designs have filling mechanisms that are not as convenient for me as the modern equivalents except for eyedroppering.

 

Funny enough my Bock #8 spare CONID nib had to be worked on to get more consistent, less dry output by Mr Masayama and the article's mention of the feed design was a welcome insight, not sure if that was the actual cause but I did learn something new. 

 

One can always change the experience by nib grind or a different model/make. In the Lamy modern feed/nib example, I can really tell a difference OOB between the EF steel versus gold and prefer the latter, but given the expense, steel is just-good-enough for the EDC Lamys.

 

Lastly, I think there is an under appreciation of vintage writing feel and also nib professionally adjusted by the likes of Linda Kennedy and other fellow pros. Modern designs and new pens saturate the market. The novelty of modern writing with today's ink and paper however mediocre is sufficient that most will not complain unless there is a problem.

 

And when that novelty wears off and one searches for more, there are cases where modern design matches or surpasses vintage, I'm feeling my Sailor KOP, Scribo Feel 14K flex, Pilot CU #30, etc - idealism satisfied.

 

Why fix a modern design that is not really "broken"?

[A Smug Dill]

On 12/4/2021 at 9:42 PM, patrik.nusszer said:

What are your thoughts?

On 12/4/2021 at 9:42 PM, patrik.nusszer said:

I can see people satisfied with their fountain pens but I also see others and myself getting pens that just do not write like it is generally an expectation of a pen to write:

 

I disagree that either your, or my, personal preferences and expectations of how a pen writes can be considered authoritative in the hobby, or representative of fountain pen users globally, or otherwise “generally” how a pen ought to write in terms of the user experience. If it puts down ink marks on the page continuously, in line with the pen's movement when the nib is touching the paper surface, then the pen fulfils what is “generally” what is expected of a writing instrument as a class of functional objects.

 

On 12/4/2021 at 9:42 PM, patrik.nusszer said:

That is because modern pens are deliberately designed not to blot. It is stated that this compromises writing quality,

 

I disagree with that statement.
 

On 12/4/2021 at 9:42 PM, patrik.nusszer said:

It is also concluded that very few companies (which are not being named) pay extra cost for nibs that DO WORK out of the box

 

That conclusion makes no sense, when it is not a valid assumption that the industry norm is to order generic nibs from the same common source as every other manufacturer, and then make a considered decision as to whether to either pay someone (which could be a third party, or the nib manufacturer) additionally for custom finishing, or add to overall production costs by performing that work in-house; thus there is “extra cost” to be incurred above the cost of acquiring the generic nib.

 

The alternative framework of assuming there is a “standard” cost of production for all fountain pen nibs irrespective of make and type, and that nibs that cost more than the statistical mean to produce imply the pen manufacturer has paid “extra cost”, also doesn't make sense.

 

Now, just to be clear, I'm assuming what I quoted were not your statement and your conclusion, but you were only paraphrasing someone else who I think made some questionable assertions. Whether you actually agree with them is irrelevant; it's nothing personal, and I'm only disputing the statement and conclusion as conveyed.

 

On 12/4/2021 at 9:42 PM, patrik.nusszer said:

BTW which are those "few" brands that actually make their pens write out of the box?

Or companies that do not have this perversion of restricting ink flow in change of pens that do not blot?

 

Most fountain pens brands do, in my opinion. Even Parker and Leonardo Officina Italiana pens will write out of the box, notwithstanding my having no confidence in their quality control, and a very low opinion of those brands on account of their being able to produce or supply nibs that are fit for the stated nib type and width grade. Never mind whether a nib writes smoothly or with lots of friction, or whether the visible line of ink laid down is ‘wet’ or ‘dry’; it is far more “general” an expectation that an Extra Fine nib will lay down a suitably thin line of ink, not the least when compared against a Fine nib of the same make and type.

 

As far as I'm concerned, Sailor, Platinum (with the exception of Preppy/ Plaisir/ Prefounte models), Pilot, HongDian, PenBBS, and surprisingly Jinhao pens are all likely to write, as one would “generally” expect for the stated nib type and width grade, without requiring any further finishing of the nibs after they roll off the factories' production lines. Aurora may be slightly inconsistent, but still much better compared to Pelikan.

 

Whether a nib writes wetly and smoothly enough for your (or my) personal, visual and/or kinaesthetic preferences cannot be treated as the yardstick of fitness for purpose when it comes to writing with a fountain pen. Remember, China produces and sells probably more fountain pens than the aggregate of all of “the West”; and there are quite likely more fountain pen users in Asia than the rest of the world; so you and I are in the minority when it comes to what is “general” among fountain pen users.

 

On 12/4/2021 at 9:42 PM, patrik.nusszer said:

I actually don't care about whether I should take care not to shake a pen in order to prevent blotting so long as it writes distressingly smooth, laying down a crazy amount of ink. That is all I want from a fountain pen.

 

That would be the opposite of what I want, including when I'm writing in English and in a cursive hand, which is >50% of my use of fountain pens even though that is not (somehow) inherently the definition of “writing” for me, much less the global collective of users and consumers who get to judge.

 

I want ink flow to be controlled, lines to be crisp, and the nib to offer a suitable and significant amount of kinaesthetic feedback to enable me to exert precise control over the pen's movements in my writing.

If I wanted to produce wet, rounded “monoline” writing I'd use a rollerball pen. If I wanted to smear or splatter ink as a celebration of colour, I'd use a brush or syringe.

[welch]

"This article and the information within are © RichardsPens.com. Used with permission."

While the article is post on Indy Pen Dance, Richard wrote it. I trust Richard's knowledge and judgement. Oh, and I have about two dozen Parker 51s. Some wrote well as soon as I got them, and I have sent others to be tuned. I nearly always write with a P-51. 

 

[vicpen123]

Too early to tell. Wait another 60 years.

 

Let's agree to meet and discuss.

[Bo Bo Olson]

It depends on what you want the nib to do, and match its feed to it.

 

Buffering slows down ink flow. Ebonite; hard rubber was swan into shape. It is therefore rougher than smooth plastic.

 

'Penenginner' worked on this problem for Lamy, is an occasional poster here. They treated their smooth plastic feeds with acid to rough them up. I've never had a reason to take apart my Safari nib to see how the hidden channels or if there is buffering here, but the outside of a Safari's feed looks as smooth or as my '20's '52's or my '50-60 medium large 146, which had a semi-flex nib on it.

 

The '30's Pelikan 100 or 100n & Ibis had longitudinal 3 comb/rill feeds. (My 100n has superflex nib, my Ibis a nice semi-flex.) The '50-65 400/400nn had four rills/combs and mostly factory stubbed semi-flex nibs. Writes with a nice clean line.

 

Their new 400 came in 1982 out with many plastic combs/rills to slow down ink flow.. Till '97 it had a tear drop shaped tipping on a fine springy regular flex nib. Giving it a nice clean line.

 

I don't notice a difference between the feed of my '93 regular flex 915 Hunter Toledo, 391 and Celebry that are out and inked, and my 605 from the mid 2000's...@ 2005???.

There is a difference in the nibs, those after 400/600's after '97 are semi-nails and have fat and blobby nibs that are prone to baby bottom.,,,,and do not write with a nice clean line...in the nib is a ball, and not properly shaped as a stub or tear drop.

(The modern nibs are good for making them into stubs or Cursive Italic tips.)

 

The 800 is a fat and blobby nail; when once it was it's own thinner than regular Pelikan width in a nice regular flex rate. The size pre-97 was between regular Pelikan and then fabled Waterman narrow nib......in the mean while even skinnier Japanese nibs have come in for skinny.

The 1000 is a fat and blobby regular flex....the OBB nib is 1/2 a width wider than my old small tear drop tipped  600 OBB.

 

Back to the nibs...the vintage '50-65 factory stub semi-flexes write with a nice clean line as do the semi-vintage '82-97 gold  nibs. The 200's nibs until about 4 or so years ago were also tear drop shaped tipping and great = to the '82-97 gold.

They ruined the 200's nib just recently...see my signature.

 

First semi-flex are flair nibs, they add flair to your script with out you doing anything.......they are not Calligraphy nibs; which many try to misuse them for.............committing Nib Abuse!!!

Semi= almost......so it's semi-flex not semi-flex....in many only see the word flex. So get 1+1=a over stressed ruined nib.

 

My suggestions, first go to German Ebay and only in the auction section. 140 and 400 pens.  For E-90-100 or for some reason the 400nn can cost @ E120. Those feeds have 4 long combs...they must be undamaged. That's what I consider best.

Nibs.

 

For much the same price the 400's '82-97 ('85 mid 2015 era 200's) have real nice springy regular flex nibs..........the semi-vintage 400's go for the same price as the vintage 400's in most of the sellers and buyers have no idea what it is other than an affordable old pen.

A nice comfortable nib, that is great for two toned shading inks....on 90g or better paper.

Semi-flex is often too wet for shading inks.

 

Unless you like stiff fat and blobby nibed pens, with a tendency towards baby bottom, I do not recommend any new '98 to now pens.....unless you can get a pre'2015 200.

 

Oh the Golden Rule....is take your time.....dither like a Master.

Hurry ='s opps....dam got to sell this mistake.

Dither!!!

Learn while you dither.

 

 

[Arkanabar]

Fountain Pen Revolution sells a fair number of piston fillers with ebonite feeds (Jaipur, Himalaya, Guru, and the eyedropper Muft).  They also sell their feeds and nibs individually, which encourages some to damage modify them to better suit their writing preferences.  They also sell higher-flow feeds intended for their broad and flex nibs.

 

Their Indian manufacturer has improved QC quite a bit over the years, but they still pass along a dud from time to time.  To balance that, Kevin provides some of the best customer service I've yet to see.  He is very responsive to his contact form and direct emails, and even bad reviews.

 

eta:  Their pens can be like driving a Lotus Elan S4 -- they can be temperamental and difficult, and require tinkering and work, but when they're working right, they are a joy.

[Waltz For Zizi]

On 12/4/2021 at 12:42 PM, patrik.nusszer said:

Dear FPNers,

 

Here is a link elaborating on the matter in greater detail:

https://www.indy-pen-dance.com/are-modern-pens-as-good-as-old-ones.html

 

I also summarise what is written in the article:

- The geometry (shape) and the air channels of the feeds of modern fountain pens is such that it restricts inkflow on purpose. That is because modern pens are deliberately designed not to blot. It is stated that this compromises writing quality, and it is argued that this is why today's pens write dry, feeds do not keep up with writing

- The feeds are also made of plastic instead of hard rubber, which by nature does not conduct water well, but it is said that feeds now are coated with a material that solves this issue: so the change of the material of the feed is not actually a problem

- Finally, nibs of inexpensive fountain pens are not ground at all and therefore write scratchy and dry. But it is also said that more expensive pens that are ground may actually be "overground" causing baby's bottom, which will cause the pen to start hard. It is also concluded that very few companies (which are not being named) pay extra cost for nibs that DO WORK out of the box

 

I can see people satisfied with their fountain pens but I also see others and myself getting pens that just do not write like it is generally an expectation of a pen to write:

 

- I have bought 2 Lamy Lx fountain pens (M nibs). They just do NOT keep up with extensive note taking. I have to disassemble the wretched pen and force the ink down to the feed in the middle of writing session so that I can get it to write wet again.

- I have a TWSBI Classic fountain pen and it writes a lot wetter, it is true. After 2 pages, though, it becomes uselessly dry and I have to twist the piston on the pen to force ink down to the feed.

- My Parkers (Sonnet stainless steel and an Urban) seem to have been best so far, they sort of keep up and seem to work well, but they also happened to be trouble earlier. This is the second nib in my Sonnet because the first one was EXTREMELY dry.

 

I agree if people say that I am the only one experiencing these problems because I have already been given responses like "these are not normal behaviours" and "you definitely need to wash them with clear water and adjust the nibs".

But I tend to was them with water and actually nib adjustments tend to make them better but they don't always entirely solve the problem ENTIRELY.

 

What are your thoughts?

BTW which are those "few" brands that actually make their pens write out of the box?

Or companies that do not have this perversion of restricting ink flow in change of pens that do not blot?

 

I actually don't care about whether I should take care not to shake a pen in order to prevent blotting so long as it writes distressingly smooth, laying down a crazy amount of ink. That is all I want from a fountain pen.

 

try the cross century II. I have 3 and did no adjustments to them and they are wetter than my pelikans.

Another wet pen/brand are those from GvFC. Those gold nibs wrote flawlessly out of the box. I have 4 intuitions and all are magnificent. I don't use B nibs but one of them has one and it is a pleasure to use it.

The brand that gave me the most trouble were pelikans out of the box. More than 80% of them needed nib adjustments

[bokchoy]

On 12/5/2021 at 5:40 PM, welch said:

"This article and the information within are © RichardsPens.com. Used with permission."

While the article is post on Indy Pen Dance, Richard wrote it. I trust Richard's knowledge and judgement.

 

If that's true, either Richard Binder changed his mind or modern pens got better. He admitted to liking some of them.

 

I think the pen landscape has changed since these articles were published. I joined this forum around 2012 and read a bunch of older threads. The Pelikan M200 was being priced out of reach. People were excited for TWSBI's new piston filler at the low price of 60 US dollars! Many vintage pens could be had for less. Then the Pilot MR/Metropolitan made a splashy debut at $15. It was praised for unbelievable quality at that price. Nowadays, popular vintage pens are more expensive and a modern $15-20 fountain pen can write well.

 

In my opinion, vintage pens aren't without quirks. There were high-end vintage pens and junky vintage pens... Some of mine behave like eyedroppers without the benefit of high capacity. Below a certain ink level, they can flow erratically, alternate between wet and dry cycles, and start blotting. No shaking required.

[maclink]

If you have little experience with modern fountain pens, then yes, you may choose to trust in Binder's article.  However, if you have your own extensive experience with modern fountain pens, then there's no reason to be trusting what anyone writes about them.  It's time to share your experience.

[A Smug Dill]

1 minute ago, maclink said:

However, if you have your own extensive experience with modern fountain pens, then there's no reason to be trusting what anyone writes about them. It's time to share your experience.

 

I struggle with what, how, and how much to share to fit my vision of good ‘citizenship’ as a fountain pen enthusiast who is keen for the hobby to flourish in today's world. At the end of the day, it's inextricably tied to money — specifically, consumer spending, and profit to be made from such — and so an inherent goal is to strike the right ‘balance’ of showing others more to want (because, in perfect honesty, there are plenty of genuinely nice things that can be bought) and/or lowering their inhibitions with regard to spending more of their money pursuing the hobby, while protecting them from burn-out or such singular disagreeable customer/ user experiences that they just walk away from exploring and delving further.

 

I mean, on the whole, modern pens in current/recent production are reliable writing instruments out-of-the-box (with the caveat of flushing the parts first with mild detergent) for ‘everyday’ writing — not left inked, capped and undisturbed for months on end; not ‘flexed’ to produce special effects that a rollerball pen cannot; et cetera — even with cheap, <US$10 Chinese-branded pens. What I think some enthusiasts look for (rather particularly) in vintage pens is not what is commonly sought, whether it's a particular (celluloid or ebonite) material or look, or a particular set of nib ‘performance’ characteristics that have no place in defining what writing with a pen is or how the user experience ought to be. How many people in the world who still put pen to paper, in order to capture information content, actually find ‘flex’ or line variation high on the list of desirable traits in everyday writing, without an actual nod to wanting to do Everyman's elementary version of calligraphy without proper training and practice?

[DvdRiet]

49 minutes ago, A Smug Dill said:

a particular set of nib ‘performance’ characteristics that have no place in defining what writing with a pen is or how the user experience ought to be. How many people in the world who still put pen to paper, in order to capture information content, actually find ‘flex’ or line variation high on the list of desirable traits in everyday writing, without an actual nod to wanting to do Everyman's elementary version of calligraphy without proper training and practice?

 

I think this is a very good point and I would have to agree that the number of people apparently chasing the 'flex' (judging by the number of sellers who put it front and center) is not exactly what the fountain pen hobby and writing, or even drawing, with fountain pens is about. I do also look at it a bit from the other direction these days, however. When I first started buying fountain pens last year, I had only modern pens - of various but mostly European plumage - with an M nib because that is 'how I write.' But once I had acquired a handful of pens and wanted to keep track of which inks were in which pens, I wrote with each one side-by-side and noticed how incredibly boring they all looked - all exactly the same with zero line variation, only the color was different. It wasn't until I got a few pretty vintage celluloids with gold nibs that I saw how nice the little bit of line variation from the softness of the nibs is. The less consistent line width gives the letters just that tiny bit more character, I find. Then when I started buying pens for a collection going back over the decades by model and with little regard for which style of nib was on there, I really started to enjoy the variety of 'looks' that the assorted nibs I now have give to my handwriting. So, I would argue that there is also plenty of variation for everyday writing in the 'standard' nib types, not to mention different inks and papers, without having to push a nib to do something it wasn't built to do.

 

That said, if I wanted to do calligraphy or the ubiquitous 'handlettering,' I think I would use a calligraphy pen/nib...

[Bo Bo Olson]

4 hours ago, A Smug Dill said:

How many people in the world who still put pen to paper, in order to capture information content, actually find ‘flex’ or line variation high on the list of desirable traits in everyday writing, without an actual nod to wanting to do Everyman's elementary version of calligraphy without proper training and practice?

I like the built in 'flair' of the German '50-70 semi-flex pens. I am not much into calligraphy, so don't train, and don't over stress nibs not meant IMO for calligraphy....the semi-flex nibs.

 

The problem comes for the vague definitions of what exactly is flex, and when and where.

 

One can get 100% line variation with a stub or CI nib.....and if one has too light a Hand, semi-flex's line variation On Demand....won't get demanded.

A problem I see is many attempt to use a semi-flex nib as a calligraphy nib....in they see only Flex in the world semi-flex.

 

All the advice in the world about trying dip pen nibs just don't work.

But in the last 4-5 years modern cheap or affordable superflex pens have become available.

 

I will admit to having superflex pens that I just scribble with.....being too lazy to practice drawing letters.