FLEX NIB FOUNTAIN PEN
I am currently doing an English calligraphy course with Domestika, and have been using a dip pen with an angled pen holder. The nib has a reservoir which means I don’t have to dip so often but the results can be a bit hit and miss.
I wondered whether it was possible to get a fountain pen with the sort of flex nib that you require for the “thicks and thins” characteristic of this style of calligraphy. You could get vintage pens with gold nibs which had the necessary flexibility, and these are still available, but are very expensive. My researches revealed that technology has moved on and there are now many fountain pens with steel flex nibs which do a good job.
My researches
There are so many reviews, videos, comparisons and so on, and I had no idea that the fountain pen world was so huge, or that people could get so obsessed with pens! They collect them, alter them, add parts from other pens… I often wonder whether this is actually for the purpose of improving their writing skills, or whether it’s simply all about the pens! Back in the day, before digital music, there were people who were obsessed with hi-fi equipment and would spend thousands on it, always seeking after the latest model, the best sound quality, the greatest amp output, whatever it was, and there was a whole jargon associated with it. How many of these people actually enjoyed listening to music?!
Anyway, what I was after was a good, reliable fountain pen with a fine nib and good flexibility, but within my budget. Prices vary tremendously. I came across a US website, Fountain Pen Revolution, which unfortunately does not have an importer here in the UK. Their QuickDraw pen seemed to meet all my requirements, and it often came out near the top, on various reviews and comparison videos. I decided to go for this pen, and put up with the expensive shipping to get it here. It arrived a few days ago.
Unboxing
This pen comes in a variety of colours. I chose black, which looked a lot more sophisticated than the other colours. The steel cap has fine vertical lines engraved on it, and it snaps into place with a magnet, which is immensely satisfying! The pen has some weight and substance to it and feels well balanced and very pleasing to handle.
The nib.
This looks very pretty with its engraved lines. I chose the extra fine option, and paid a little extra for the ultraflex with ebonite feed. The feed is the part underneath which holds the ink as it flows down into the tip of the nib. Ebonite is apparently better than plastic for the high demands of a flex nib which is going to need a greater flow of ink for the thicker strokes. The brushed steel feels lovely and appears to be quite non-slip for the writing experience.
The pen is filled with a piston converter which operates by screwing the tip. I’ve read good write-ups about this method of filling. I appears to hold quite a bit of ink too, so I shouldn’t be constantly filling it.
Testing the pen
The moment of truth! Some time ago I was recommended this ink as a very good – Platinum Carbon fountain pen ink from Japan.
It is ultra-black, and I’ve filled my old fountain pen with it and it writes well. That pen is a Schafer and I’ve had it since school days. I thought I had lost it, but I was clearing out a drawer in my desk recently and discovered it in a box with other stuff. It has a rubber ink sac filler and I was amazed that this was still intact and not perished. I was able to clean out the pen and fill it very satisfactorily from my ink bottle. The nib is a little thicker than I prefer these days but it’s nice to have access to a fountain pen for normal writing once more. One’s handwriting definitely improves with a fountain pen! My writing isn’t nearly as good as it used to be, after a lifetime of ball point pens. My hubby has always been keen on fountain pens and had to use one for a certain aspect of his work, so he’s never been without. He recently bought himself a new one which is gorgeous to write with, too.
Calligraphy sample with the new pen
This pen is amazing! I am getting beautiful “thicks and thins” with it and you can see the tip of the nib visibly flexing as you write.
Verdict
Definitely the way to go. For me the whole dip pen thing is too unreliable, and it’s really hard to find a nib that works for you. There’s so much choice, in both price and quality, and getting a job lot of nibs from Amazon wasn’t the way to go. The quality of some of them wasn’t that good. I had two identical ones with reservoirs which both worked well, but I have no idea what brand they were, or whether I could get any more.
The fountain pen does what I would expect any flex pen would do, and it is a lot more convenient than a dip pen, and much more reliable. It feels like really good quality and it’s a pleasure to use.
