M800 nib flexibility

[stric75]

I’m wondering if anyone has any experience with Pelikan’s  M800 broad nibs. I’ve used a M800 series fountain pen with medium nib and that’s by far one of the finest pens I’ve ever tried. That medium nib was sublime. Just flexible  enough ,  very consistent in terms of ink flow, beautiful line quality.  Now I’m considering to get a M800 with a broad nib but I’m interested in it’s flexibility. Any users with M800 broad nibs?  How do they write? Are they very stiff. Any writing samples with M800/805 broad nibs?

thank you. 

[Geert Jan]

I don't think a Pelikan M800 nib shows any flexibility, but is pretty rigid.

 

I don't have mine inked right now (been quite a while), but the broad nib I have is rigid, slightly stubbish, and suffers somewhat from baby's bottom. If that weren't enough, my middle finger just rubs against the cap threads. Even though the threads aren't sharp (at all), I find the feeling pretty uncomfortable. Bottom line: it's one of the least loved pens in my collection

[Bromio]

What age is your medium Pelikan M800? I own a modern fine nib and it is not flexible at all. Maybe old nibs were springier.

[sirgilbert357]

None of my M800's are flexy or even "soft" -- all are rigid. I have four, from fine to broad, one is from between 1987 and 1997 (has the brass medallion on the piston knob), the rest are modern (less than 10 years old).

[Uncial]

Hard as nails. They can have expression though, which comes from a slight stub aspect (strongly refuted by some on this forum, but one of these days I'll be bothered enough to demonstrate its truth).

[sirgilbert357]

2 hours ago, Uncial said:

Hard as nails. They can have expression though, which comes from a slight stub aspect (strongly refuted by some on this forum, but one of these days I'll be bothered enough to demonstrate its truth).

 

I have a medium that is very stubbish. It is perfectly obvious when doing certain strokes. But that's only one out of four...sadly. I wish they were all that way.

[carlos.q]

I have a Pelikan M800 with a 14c nib that is delightfully soft but not flexible. I had a modern 18c (1 chick) that was hard as nails. I have found that an older 18c (2 chicks) with PF imprint is somewhere in between. YMMV

[stric75]

On 4/26/2022 at 12:39 PM, Bromio said:

What age is your medium Pelikan M800? I own a modern fine nib and it is not flexible at all. Maybe old nibs were springier.

I purchased that M805 around 2005. So it's not that old. Perhaps I used a wrong word. I should have said it's soft, rather than flexible.

[amberleadavis]

On 4/26/2022 at 5:39 AM, Bromio said:

What age is your medium Pelikan M800? I own a modern fine nib and it is not flexible at all. Maybe old nibs were springier.

 

I think they were, but then you are looking at pre-1980s nibs.

 

See this: 

On 4/28/2022 at 10:07 AM, sirgilbert357 said:

None of my M800's are flexy or even "soft" -- all are rigid. I have four, from fine to broad, one is from between 1987 and 1997 (has the brass medallion on the piston knob), the rest are modern (less than 10 years old).

 

I think you are right, but my PF nibs are soft.

 

[bunnspecial]

No discernible flex whatsoever on my M800 bought in 2020, both from the original M nib on it and from the B nib it was swapped to.

[Uncial]

I haven't found any Pelikan nibs to be flexible to be honest.  Soft, yes. Flexible, no. Some of the vintage nibs I have are lovely and I very much enjoy them, but I couldn't in all honesty recommend them as flexible nibs. I know some also claim the steel nibs as flexible, and maybe I've been unlucky but it seems like a bit of pot luck when it comes to getting one with expression and even then it takes a bit of pressure to make it work.

[SpecTP]

the only flexible nibs that I've encountered are the 400nn. I have 2 can flex from Fine to B. All the other Pelikan's 100,200,400,800's are all springy, but not flex.

 

800

 

200

 

400nn

 

[TitoThePencilPimp]

Have 5 modern M800s. All are nails. 

[N1003U]

On 5/2/2022 at 3:00 AM, TitoThePencilPimp said:

Have 5 modern M800s. All are nails. 

My experience as well. Lovely pens, the M800s, but stuff nibs. Very smooth also.

[JulieParadise]

Yep, out of the about 3 dozens M800 pens I got to try at meet-ups or grind the nibs I found none that was flexible in any way. All were rigid nails. (Which can be a good thing, sometimes.)

[A Smug Dill]

1 minute ago, JulieParadise said:

All were rigid nails. (Which can be a good thing, sometimes.)

 

Especially when Pelikan gold EF and F nibs of that form factor are not apt to write precisely, crisply, or finely enough for the stated width grade.

[bunnspecial]

On 5/1/2022 at 5:21 PM, Uncial said:

I haven't found any Pelikan nibs to be flexible to be honest.  Soft, yes. Flexible, no. Some of the vintage nibs I have are lovely and I very much enjoy them, but I couldn't in all honesty recommend them as flexible nibs. I know some also claim the steel nibs as flexible, and maybe I've been unlucky but it seems like a bit of pot luck when it comes to getting one with expression and even then it takes a bit of pressure to make it work.

 

I'll be upfront and say that even though I've had a fair few Pelikans although now have two(a 205 that was one of my first "nice" pens" and a vintage 100) I've never really clicked that much with them.

 

To flex-most of my vintage ones-400/N/NNs and 100s-have had nicely "bouncy" nibs, albeit all of those have been in OB or larger sizes. I've also had 80s/90s 400s in M and F that I'd call springy. I had a pair of white tortoise 400s at one point that I think were pre-2010(they had the black cap finials), one in F and one in M, and they were quite stiff, as were both the factory M and exchanged B on my 2020 M800. My B 101N was stiff. My 205 is springy , but I don't really feel it when I write with it now(it was more in my early days of really learning to write with an FP).

 

I've had a much broader range of flex in my vintage MBs and Soenneckens, although I've not owned many of the latter, than in Pelikans.  My MBs have been all over the place, although 50s/60s ones seem on the whole slightly softer than Pelikans I've had of the same age. There are exceptions, like my celluloid 149 that "everyone" says should have a flex nib and even though it WILL flex, I never do because I find it too stiff to do comfortably. I don't feel any "spring" in normal writing with it. My 142, since sold, was definitely bordering on wet noodle if not all the way there, and I sold it because I found it too small to comfortably control the pressure that nib needed. The most reliably flexible 149 nibs I've found seem to be 60s tri-tone 14c ones, although a lot of them are still only a bit springy.

[sansenri]

I own 3 18k B M800 nibs, they are on the stiff side, not exceedingly rigid as nails, they have a very slight give, but it's far from being bounciness, let alone flex... They do have a slight stubbish character, one more than the others. They are all modern nibs.

[carola]

My Pelikans are mostly fitted with B nibs and I would call my modern M800s nails and rather round than stubby. Yes, there might be a bit of line variation, but compared to the vintage Pelikan nibs it is hardly noticeable. My vintage nibs bring some flex into the equation, but what is a lot more important is the stub grind that was a standard for the B nibs of the time. I am missing that stub grind on the modern nibs and also the flexibility that makes the vintage nibs more comfortable than the modern ones in my experience.

 

Nevertheless I do like the modern nibs, too. But if I had to choose, my heart clearly says: Go for the vintage B nibs!

 

 

As you can see, it is mostly the diagonal strokes from bottom left to upper right that are a little more on the fine side. This doesn´t show a lot when writing though. 🤷‍♀️

[OMASsimo]

I have in my Pelikan collection at older M800 with a B nib (from the 80s or 90s) and the nib is not flexy, at most springy. But it‘s an awesome writer if you like modern pens. It‘s a reliable writer but there is hardly any line variation. It‘s very different to the earlier B nibs produced till the 60s, which I‘d prefer.