Noodler Nib Creaper hacking

October 12, 2023

[ I don't see a lot of posts about Noodler's pens any more. I guess they're not the "new" thing any more, and other flex pens have popped up since. Nevertheless, I think they contributed a lot to the current market, and I like the fact that I can fix them, unlike my Lamy which I tossed out because there was nothing I could do with it. ]

I really like Noodler "Nib Creaper" flex pens and Charlies. I guess I like small, elegant pens, rather than my more significant Konrad. I convinced myself that I could create just as much line variation with the #2 nib as the #6, so I decided to buy another Nib Creaper rather than, say, an Ahab.

The one that I got was way too wet. It's not as though it was dripping ink all over the page; it's more that it was laying a thick line that soaks in more broadly. So I looked into fixing it.

All the posts that I could find on the subject were either to /increase/ the flow, or reduce it, but there were no solutions to the latter. Sure, there were claims that if you pull the nib and feed all the way out, it will reduce it, but I didn't see a difference.

The channel on Noodler feeds is quite wide (compared to your average plastic feed). No doubt the claim would be, "All the better to supply flexing!" Well, I don't write much calligraphy and prefer a fine line. So I tried fixing it myself.

The solution is obviously to shrink the channel. I have one feed that broke in half, and I glued it back together. It behaves fine, but I think the glue seam helps slow the ink. However, I don't think that I want to risk clogging a feed with glue intentionally.

Instead, I wanted a temporary solution, in case it didn't work. So I tried filling the channel with string. Specifically, I laid down a tiny 3/4" segment of dental floss in the channel.

Why dental floss? I didn't want cotton thread or anything that would soak up the ink. I only wanted to slow it. I didn't think that floss, which might be saturated with wax, would soak up any ink. Another candidate might be fishing line.

It seemed to help. It wasn't gushing ink any more, but it was still wide. So I added more floss. In the end, I have 3 segments stacked in the channel. It helps while planting them if the channel has a little ink in it; it makes the floss lay down and stick. But I think 3 is all it will hold.

If you do this, cut the floss so that it does Not extend beyond the back of the nib. After all, you have to stick the back of the feed into the pen, and it doesn't help when there's strings flying around.

The new behavior is fairly strange. The line is certainly thinner, but it also goes dry a fair bit. So I'm wondering if the nib is still wide in some sense.

I'll keep playing with it. It's a Noodler's; it's table stakes. 🙂

October 13, 2023

Interesting hack. Thanks. I will have to check my Creapers.

November 8, 2023

Thank you for the idea.

I have a Lamy 2000 that gushes so badly that it completely washes out the line variation I expect (and paid for) from the cursive italic nib. I have tried some other fixes, and several nibmeisters have laid hands on it, and it still gushes.

Maybe this is the required magic.