Noodler's Ahab will not write! - My simple,, easy fix.

Don't give up on your Noodler's Ahab or Nib Creaper! If it only writes a sentence or so before it stops writing altogether, this "how to" video will help you to fix the problem so that it writes consistently.
The Noodler's Ahab IS a good fountain pen, but it does require some additional work to get it to write how you would like it to.
It is often said that the Noodler's Ahab is a pen for "tinkerers", which is true, but it's worth noting that the Noodler's Ahab fountain pen does not typically write or perform very well straight out of the box - The Noodler's Ahab DOES usually require some work to avoid various ink flow problems: This is all covered in this how-to video guide.
My in-depth review of the Noodler's Ahab fountain pen can be found here: • Noodler's Ahab fountai...

[@BlacksmithTim]

Kudos! Years back I was returning to fountain pens and picked up an Ahab. It wrote beautifully and long enough that I fell in love and got a second. And then the troubles began. I have fought with the things on and off for more than 5 years trying everything but the surgery suggestions to get the kind of flow and consistent writing experience. I'm hardly a snob: Noodler's Ahab after accidentally winding up with a bottle that included a Charlie which I liked, if small, seemed something near to what the old Schaeffer school pens used to be. I didn't want fancy, just reliable and relatively inexpensive. So I happened to pull one out, the Bumblebee like the one in the vid, the other day and loaded it because I have all this ink ... and as before nothing worked. Before I completely gave up I figured I'd check again if someone had come up with a reliable way to adjust the things. You did. "What the heck? I gotta clean it when I dump the ink anyway." I thought. So started the electric kettle (yes, we have those in the US, can you get the glass ones that light up where you are?) gave it a scrub with detergent, heat set, loaded it back up and ... it writes as reliably as the $60 pen I sprang for last month. Huzzah! Thank you! Now to give the Amber the same treatment. It wrote a full page right after filling without a blob or stop.

[@FountainPenJourney]

Thanks Timothy, I'm really glad that my video helped you 👍

[@SiaN.N.]

Thank you much .just bought an Ahab and was about to trash it. HATED It, untill watched ur video and now it works like a charm! I am grateful to you. THIS IS THE WAY !

[@FountainPenJourney]

You are very welcome! I’m really happy to hear that my fix for the Ahab helped you.

[@lagalamx]

Thank you very much Rob, I followed your recommendations and my Ahab is working as expected. I was beginning to worry about all the work that would have to be done on a new pen just to get it to write as supposed to. I can't thank you enough, you provided a simple and efficient solution.

[@FountainPenJourney]

Thank you, I’m glad that I helped you with your Ahab.

[@jogrebe]

Thank you so much for making this video. I knew that the Ahab had a reputation of needing work so I searched KZbin before trying to use it. After watching your video I followed your advice and my Ahab was writing perfectly on my first try. You are right they are great cheap pens.

[@FountainPenJourney]

I'm happy that I could help you out 👍

[@eoaresearch]

Thanks a lot! Hard to imagine that all my pens needed was a good bath. Now my pens and I are nicely writing together.

[@FountainPenJourney]

I’m glad that my video helped 😀

[@The0rbiter]

I just want to add that my Ahab didn't work when I heatset it using a lot of preassure when pressing the nib and the feed together (it skipped afterwards). So I tried again with mild preassure and it made the pen perfect. (The best pen I have and my daily carry actually) Ebonite should be able to be heatset practically infinitelly many times. If you don't get it right after the first heatsetting, you can try again and maybe try different technique/preassure. Thanks for the video. You made me a great company while commuting.

[@FountainPenJourney]

Many thanks, and I am glad that my video helped you to get your Ahab writing really well. Enjoy your pen!

[@MaryFeathers]

Thank you!! I do not have an Ahab, but I bought my first flex nib pen ever, the Konrad, and the Goulet Pen's suggestion to adjust the nib and feed got me nowhere. Within 5 minutes of a thorough scrub this thing writes like a dream! Also thank you for being so detailed, 9 tines on the feed showing when reinserted took all the guess work of adjusting it away. Awesome video ❤

[@FountainPenJourney]

Thank you 😊 it makes me very happy to hear that my fix for Noodler’s fountain pens is helping people.

[@Safetymanjoe123]

This video kept me from chucking the pen right in the dust bin. That comment about “9 fins” was so spot-on! After cleaning it the first time, I had pushed it in too far. BIG DIFFERENCE!!! Thanks again! 😁

[@FountainPenJourney]

I’m really glad that my video helped you 👍

[@homesteadhermits8467]

Awesome info. I read your article today before the pen arrived. Cleaned it. Nope. Would write then no ink would hit the nib, though the feed was plenty wet. I went back, watched your video. Gave myself a kick in the butt and did a big proper clean, and used a needle to scrape out each fin and the channels to move out any collections of grease and washed again. Now it's going great. Perhaps mildly too wet but I'll fiddle with feeder position, the Rhodia paper can handle it and my most bland of blue inks with minimal shading according to the reviews looks amazing. I'm thinking this pen could be my favourite, even after shelling out for a Conklin with the jowo omniflex nib. Which is basically minor flex without having to continually adjust splaying tines and pushing into the paper far too hard to get the sweet spot. Plus, the Conklin is way harder to do the fine upstrokes that don't drag the ink upwards, ruining the line variation. It feels like I have to have surgical precision to lift the pen to magically graze on an upstroke to maintain a fine line after a flowy downstroke. The Noodler is amazing now it's working. I'm afraid to go to sleep in case it stops working again. I can't have such a good experience only for it to go away! Thank you!

[@philmophlegm]

That worked for me on both an Ahab and a Conrad. Great job - thanks very much! I can see Baystate Blue on my fingertips It's going to be there until the end of time I can see Baystate Blue on my fingertips Gonna be a blue, blue, blue, inky blue day... (To the tune of 'I Can See Clearly Now The Rain Is Gone')

[@FountainPenJourney]

Glad that my fix worked for you too! Baystate Blue can lead to some bad “tattoos” 😀

[@michelleharris312]

Thank you so much for this guidance. I was about to give up on my Noodler's Ahab. I figured the heavy factory smelling residue needed a good scrubbing away but didn't know it would affect performance.

[@tylertschaeche3507]

I cannot upvote this enough, thank you. I had tried cleaning and adjusting as was just about ready to start hacking away, as it were, when I found this video. Simple and quick fix. 1 week later and it rights beautifully. So I had to take the time to go back and find this video for an upvote and comment. Thank you again. 🎉

[@FountainPenJourney]

Thank you so much for your kind and very welcome comment! I am very pleased to hear how my video of this fix helped you to get your Ahab writing well 😁

[@JoeJoe-pf3ej]

Thank you for this information and tutorial. Helped me get my Ahab writing perfectly! Keep up with what you are doing, love the videos

[@FountainPenJourney]

Thank you 👍

[@lucyjohnstone3271]

I just got two of these pens for Christmas and thank you for your suggestions as both of them work perfectly now that I've scrubbed them. The feed and nib needed adjusting a couple of times in one but the other wipe perfectly with the 9 fins rule. Thank you and Merry Christmas 😊

[@FountainPenJourney]

Merry Christmas to you too! 🎄 Thank you for commenting on Christmas Day - I'm glad that my video helped you to get your Ahabs to write well 😊

[@carolinafernandez-quintani7286]

Thank you so so so much for making my life easier with these tricks!! My new Ahabs are working as magic after following your advice. They are so enjoyable and inexpensive! :)

[@FountainPenJourney]

You're very welcome! I'm very pleased that I helped you.

[@Claudia_CG_Garza]

Thank you very much for making this detailed video. I followed your instructions to a T and it works perfectly! Weellll, except for the fact that I lost the little straw down the drain as I was gently scrubbing it. I ended up dropper converting my new beauty.

[@barbarajloriordan2697]

I took this advice maybe one year go, and my Ahab has written every time since then. I feel grateful to you, since the Ahab is one of my favorite pens.

[@FountainPenJourney]

Thank you Barbara, I'm glad that my video helped you and that you now enjoy your Ahab.

[@barbarajloriordan2697]

I purchased a new Ahab recently and found that the new feeds are slightly different. When I received the pen brand new, I found eight notches of the feed exposed, and when I replaced it later after washing and scrubbing down all the parts, I was not able to make it fit to nine notches without something seeing really off. Eight notches worked well, and pushing down the feed so that six notches are exposed worked even better, allowing for more flex. At first, the writing railroaded, but it has settled down. I also tried installing the ultraflex nib from Fountain Pen Revolution. At first, that didn’t work very well; however, I kept trying and was finally successful. Once again, nine notches in the feed were too many, and six notches worked better. I now have a Fountain Pen Revolution nib housed in an Noodler’s Ahab body, and I am feeling quite happy with that.

[@BakeJake]

Gave a new life to my Ahab! I remember seeing tips on exactly this too, but must have thought it wasn't that important. The pen does what it should now! Writes very well! Thank you!

[@FountainPenJourney]

I’m glad that my video helped you 👍

[@5t4n5]

Hi Rob I have the sunset Ahab and i totally love it, one of my best writing pens. I gave it all a good scrub with an old tooth brush and dish soap, and it's never been a problem. And it's super extra fine and sooooo smooth as well. Maybe i just lucked out with the nib, but i'm totally happy writing with it. I have it inked with Diamine Pumpkin and Diamine Yellow mixed 50/50 and it shades between light orange and dark orange (depending on nib pressure and amount of ink) matching the pen as i write. I just ordered a triple tail as Pure Pens have 12% discount on them this weekend. Ends tomorrow at midnight. £44. I have my Ahab dropper style. It does burp a little when the ink gets rather low down, but as long as i keep a reasonable bit of ink in it it's super well behaved. Keep well all.

[@FountainPenJourney]

The ink you’ve mixed sounds great! Let me know how you get on with your triple tail please 👍

[@5t4n5]

@@FountainPenJourney Will do, Rob. Hopefully should be here by Wednesday.

[@maiagromann6625]

Thank you so much. That helped a lot with my Creeper. It also helped with inconsistent writing in one of my Kaweco Sports (every few words not writing for the first letter). Now they both are writing smoothly without issues.

[@FountainPenJourney]

Thank you for your reply, I'm so glad that my video has helped you.

[@archivist17]

I've just picked up a cheap second hand Ahab on a whim (I'd never buy anything Tardiff would profit directly from). I'm not anticipating any issues but, just in case, I came back to read your good advice.

[@FountainPenJourney]

I hope that your Ahab will just work without any tinkering, but thank you for remembering my video guide.

[@FriedPi-mc5yt]

LOL!! But you still wanted one of his pens. You’re missing out on some really nice inks. I just got the exclusive and limited Noodler’s “Lucky Shamrock”. Nice green color where the ink is thick but turns a teal/blue where the ink is thin. It’s crazy the way the ink shades. I’ve got 11 Ahab pens, 7 Konrad’s, 6 Nib Creeper’s and 6 or so Charlie pens. I’ll keep building my collection of Noodler’s pens. You can keep boycotting him because you’re a moral busy body that is quick to take offense when no offense was intended. You can disagree with a person on subjects without being “anti-Semitic”, “racist” or some kind of “phobe”. But moral busy bodies found out that they can force people to bend to their will by threatening their livelihood. No explanations are acceptable to the moral busy body. They demand compliance and fealty. You must lick the boots of the Jack booted goose stepping moral busy bodies. The only problem is, as the crowd of moral busy bodies evolve, you one day run afoul of the “Cult of the Offended”. When that happens, you will be given the same treatment you once poured on others. “Of all the tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It may be better to live under robber barons than omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron’s cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated, but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end, for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.” ~ C.S. Lewis

[@dmitryivanoff2799]

Thank you for your advice

[@agravar]

Very helpful. Thank you.

[@gpamanuel9798]

Nathan Tardiff of Inkneedlastforever says the tube attached to the feeder is called a breather tube. Tnx for the instructions.

[@fauxshowyo]

this video saved me - I flushed and heat set twice when my new Ahab that arrived yesterday was railroading, and then it just completely stopped working at all. Was about to store it in a drawer then I tried washing with soap and heat setting again like you said and so far a page+ in with lots of flexing and not an issue, so hopefully it's all good now.

[@FountainPenJourney]

Glad that my video helped you 👍

[@nope8535]

The feed on my Charlie pen I at first flushed it then ran into problems. Pulled it apart and found a glob of silicone grease on the feed channel. A scrub with a toothbrush and soap and it worked great.

[@FountainPenJourney]

It’s great that you found out what the problem was and your pen writes well now 👍

[@aristotlejb82]

I have actually been quite lucky that three Ahab for me wrote out of the box. Just a bit of flush, ink and it wrote perfect. However, the fourth one had some issues and it just stop writing after a line and your tips here worked great. Have two more Ahab that I cleaned recently and will heat set before inking them for the first time.

[@FountainPenJourney]

Glad I could help you. You were lucky to have 3 that wrote well right out of the box.

[@lauraheller2366]

Thank you

[@6479993104]

Thanks for this. I have an Ahab on the way and this will come in handy. Question for you: once you heat set the nib and feed, does that mean they can't be taken out again? Or you will just have to heat set again next time you take them out?

[@FountainPenJourney]

If you remove the nib and feed you shouldn't have to heat set them again, but you will need to play around with the correct insertion depths for both the nib and the feed. A millimeter can make a big difference.

[@6479993104]

@@FountainPenJourney thanks for your response. I got my Ahab and I followed your directions and I find the pen is burping a bit. Any recommendations?

[@jjpuck2]

I was having a couple problems with my Ahab. And flushing it was not helping at all. I saw your video on reference from FB Fountain Pen Network. I listened closely and followed every step. Success! I am going to watch it closely because I’m concerned of ink leak from around the nib and feed, but thus far it’s all good. If it does leak around the friction setting of the feed/nib in the breather tube, do you have any suggestions? Thanks for doing this video. Video feedback given some other comments: I really appreciate how you took the time to fully explain each step AND then went on to summarize the whole process with the length of time and the number of tines to reveal. The summary was super helpful to remind me each time length as I did it on my own Ahab. Some may prefer a short two minute video and I do too sometimes as well, but in this case I appreciate all the extra information. One more thing: I’ve never felt confident enough to open a pen up fully. You and Noodler have inspired me to look at gaining skills and doing some repair and refurbishment. Thanks especially for inspiration.

[@FountainPenJourney]

I'm really happy to hear that my video tutorial helped you. Regarding the potential for ink leaking from the nib and feed, unfortunately there's not much that you can do about this because the Noodler's Ahab burps ink badly. I store my Ahabs horizontally, but even then ink sometimes ends up on the section.

[@jjpuck2]

Fountain Pen Journey I set mine horizontally as well. I’d post a pic but KZbin doesn’t allow it here it appears. Using ColorVerse glistening Hayabusa.

[@Mikey-pq4zf]

Great video

[@FountainPenJourney]

Thanks! I hope that you found it useful.

[@johnnycharles702]

I'm fixing to be a ball point pen guy 😑. This is my first fountain pen and I'm having similar issues. I'll probably give your advice an attempt first though

[@viarnay]

Need to try that. I never had a feeding problem but the flex nib is too stiff

[@FountainPenJourney]

It might help, but I guess it depends on your expectations of flex - it’s not like vintage flex.

[@viarnay]

@@FountainPenJourney It worked :- D. I always inserted the nib too deep in the body of the pen but now is flexing whitout scratching the paper Thanks!

[@FountainPenJourney]

Brilliant! I’m glad that it worked 😊

[@CyrilViXP]

What a wonderful quality control! And the cheapest Konrad in Turkey is 50$. This pen can't normally write without scratching even without flexing. I'm very sad I've bought it. Could buy 2 Pilot Metro for this price :( I hoped Ahab is made better. I guess not.

[@FountainPenJourney]

I guess that Noodler's expect that people will dismantle and work on their pens. You'll need to watch my Noodler's Ahab fix video to get the best out of your pens.

[@volcanowb]

Great video. Is it true that the Ahab has an obnoxious odor due to the cellulose acetate butyrate used to make it?

[@FountainPenJourney]

Thanks, and yes, the Noodler's Ahab stinks!

[@volcanowb]

@@FountainPenJourney Thanks for the confirmation!

[@squirrelrobotics]

@@volcanowb I got it on Christmas and the smell is almost gone.

[@volcanowb]

@@squirrelrobotics That's good! I wonder if the Triple Tail is made from the same stuff?

[@FountainPenJourney]

The Triple Tail is definitely not the same material (Nathan Tardiff was keen to ensure that the horrible smell wasn't an issue so he designed to to be manufactured from a different type of odourless resin).

[@hovawart16]

Do you need to ream out the straw/breather tube?

[@FountainPenJourney]

No.

[@James_D_]

Mine is just chucking the ink out. Any one know how to fix?

[@FountainPenJourney]

They do this. I tried using an Ahab as an EDC and within minutes the cap was full of ink. The feeds on these pens are designed to supply a really good ink flow, but it's too efficient, so regular burping when the heat from your hand causes air to expand inside the barrel is common. The Ahab is much more of a stay at home desk pen than anything else. Oh and always have a supply of paper towels nearby!

[@farrukh9710]

I tried everything in the vid but it didn't work for me...love the feel of a Ahab in my hand but it writes like dogshit

[@FountainPenJourney]

Not sure what else to suggest. Ask I can recommend is a THOROUGH clean of the nib, section and feed, etc. If this isn’t thorough enough, the problems will persist.

[@humanfirst11]

If Noodlers is aware of the issue, why don't they test the pens before shipping them?

[@FountainPenJourney]

Barely any sub £300 fountain pens are tested and Nathan clearly intends for his pens to be tweaked to their owner's personal looking.

[@IkeBrider]

Too long winded. A 1000 words where 10 would do. "DONT BUY A NOODLER BUY A LAMY OR TWSBI INSTEAD"

[@homesteadhermits8467]

Bought both. Love using them, though after tweaking this may be my new favourite. Just found two cracks in my TWSBI barrel even though I have never removed the nib and have only gently flushed with water between inks. And it leaks. And my pen cap stinks.

[@FriedPi-mc5yt]

True. If you’re mechanically incompetent, you have no business buying a Noodler’s pen. You would definitely be better off buying a TWSBI or Lamy. I do like TWSBIs though because I just ordered a new Eco, a new Swipe and a new Ahab. The Eco and Swipe are for my sisters. The Ahab is mine. I’m not mechanically incompetent. 😊

[@kaboomsihal1164]

Holy damn, how can it take so long to get to the bloody point? I've watched three minutes now and you STILL haven't gotten to the bloody point. How often can you repeat "It doesn't write"?

[@FountainPenJourney]

Did you know that you can fast forward your way through videos? It can be a useful feature that has been around since the days of VHS. Hope that this tip helps you.

[@kaboomsihal1164]

@@FountainPenJourney lol, if I need to search through your video to find useful things, I'm better off finding a different video. Good luck with your youtube career mate.

[@FountainPenJourney]

@@kaboomsihal1164 this isn't a career - I do this for fun! Whoever made you sit through my video should be reported to the police. Please do find another channel to go and watch.