The Hunt for Fountain Pens with Flexible Nibs (ft. Greg Minuskin the Nibmeister)

[@Detman101]

Oh wow, nice to finally see the man behind the website and fountain pens! I've come a hairs breadth from buying one of his pens for sale...but they sell so fast that I couldn't actually read up on them fast enough to buy one!

[@Drewscape-art]

Yes that was my experience too! That is the excitement of the chase! :)

[@undekagon2264]

I am a big fan of (old) fountain pens for drawing. its so much fun. I love different colored inks and doing ink washes with them by going over my drawings with a waterbrush

[@aoerel11]

Great and very helpful video . Thank you for sharing

[@henry1050]

I initially started a journaling hobby, which led to my fountain pen hobby, which in turn has led me to a (new) hobby of sketching. That sterling silver ringtop pen made me drool when he flexed that nib 😂 Super happy to have found your channel

[@Drewscape-art]

Nice! Inverse of you, I started with sketching, fountain pen hobby, then journaling😂 pen flexing can be very tempting!

[@sebastiancudicio2904]

Thank you very very much! This was excellent. I use a Pilot custom 742 for drawing and always on the look for a vintage wet noodle. I knew about Greg, but never heard him talk about pens. Thanks again. From Italy, ciao!

[@Drewscape-art]

Welcome. Thanks for watching! Ah I have the 742 too. It's a good one. I should dig it out to use it again. Yes, I seldom hear him talk about pens online so I thought this would be nice way for us to hear his thoughts on pens:)

[@sebastiancudicio2904]

@@Drewscape-art Thanks! keep up the great work

[@techstylemom]

Thank you very helpful video, I contacted Greg and purchased my first vintage pen! So pleased with my Mabie Todd.

[@Drewscape-art]

That was fast. A Mabie Todd too. Nice! Hope you enjoy your pen!

[@sheuhauchow]

Thank you very much for making this video！ it is so helpful. I too have been looking for such flex nib for drawing and encountered similar problems you have faced. Now I know who I can approach to get the right tool and stop wasting more money for making mistakes.

[@Drewscape-art]

Hello! Well vintage fountain pens are quite an investment too. So have to choose wisely. I suppose you will be using them for sketching. So I’d recommend eye droppers. But also note that eye droppers will burp ink when the air in the barrel is a lot more than the ink in it. So usually I keep the ink topped up. Sometimes, I still go with dip pens for fast messy art. It can be more care-free.

[@marielouiseweeksb33attitud33]

My first fountain pen had the lever filler system …. I can still remember the colour and smell of it. Pens are a vital part of life in my opinion

[@Drewscape-art]

Which model was it? Do you still have it?

[@marielouiseweeksb33attitud33]

@@Drewscape-art it was an italic nib for writing . I got it about 1968 as we prepared to go to secondary school. No I don’t have it now …… only vividly in my memories.

[@marielouiseweeksb33attitud33]

@@Drewscape-art Osmiroid 65

[@Drewscape-art]

Wow That was many years ago, Marie. I know which pen that is. Someone gave me an osmiroid 75 some years ago. It’s similar. Decent pen. So yours was the italic one. I managed to find a flex nib for it on eBay. So it’s a flex pen now.

[@Drewscape-art]

My drawings with the osmiroid 75 drewscape.blogspot.com/2014/08/the-people-and-places-in-my-head-in.html?Feed:+blogspot/NwtlI+(wibble+wibble)&m=1

[@Flexperiments]

With the right modification you can get EF to 8mm of flex with modern stainless steel nibs. That being said, vintage nibs are a lot more flexible when unmodified, plus I think the vintage pens look a lot nicer!

[@Drewscape-art]

Oh wow, I do see your videos with the arrowflex nib experiments. That is amazing. Will study them more. Really like your tinkering:)

[@donnabuttons1]

This was fascinating. I've been thinking about flexible nib fountain pens. What a treat to hear a master I his field. Thanks so much for putting this video together.

[@Drewscape-art]

Thanks for the comment. Yeah, they are fun. But a lot of variations to decide on. Depending on how you like to draw, you might prefer a nib that isn't too fine if you draw fast. Because a really fine one is sharper. But if you like to draw careful beautiful lines, a finer one with flex works for me.

[@donnabuttons1]

Good points...

[@martham9980]

This is a fantastic video, thank you! I wish I had seen something like this years ago. I also have turned a few vintage sacs to mush with Carbon Ink!

[@Drewscape-art]

Were you able to remove the section to change the sacs?

[@martham9980]

Yes, but boy are those sections hard to get out of those old pens!

[@Drewscape-art]

@@martham9980 yeah… hair drying and not trying to crack the section. Gosh. But once it’s loose, it’s easier to change the sacs the next time.

[@hartr33]

Very cool and informative video! I like Conklin personally.

[@Drewscape-art]

Thanks:) A crescent filler? That's one pen I don't have. Though I almost gave in!

[@hartr33]

@@Drewscape-art yes, the crescent filler. interesting mechanism. decent flex.

[@debsmith7050]

Very interesting! Thanks Drew.

[@Drewscape-art]

Thanks Deb. A bit niche I know, but fountain pens are so fun :D

[@_quique72]

Great information! Thanks!!! 😊

[@Drewscape-art]

You are so welcome!

[@davidhunden120]

I bought a Noodlers Ahab Jade with flex nib and tried it on some hard-surfaced 120gsm paper. It laid down ink well, but the nib tore the paper (!!!) when I attempted to get line variation with some very modest pressure. Very disappointing! I am used to getting some very nice line variations when I swirl flourishes on calligraphy with dip pens, but the Ahab flex pen I have is like writing with a nail when trying to get line variation.

[@Drewscape-art]

Yes it does flex. But a rather stiff when new. It does get softer over time. But it needs quite a lot of tinkering to get it softer. Without tinkering, i don’t find it very useful. Dip pens will still have their own feel. They are usually more flexible than most flex pens and they give sharper lines because they don’t have tipping at the ends. Only some modified pens with Spencerian or extra fine nibs that are flexible might come close. Fountain pens with flex are delightful, but sometimes, I still enjoy flexible dip nibs.

[@davidhunden120]

@@Drewscape-art Thank you for the advice. I'll keep working on the pen. Additionally, I haven't disassembled the nib section of the pen to see if I could slide the nib out a bit to perhaps provide some flex.

[@Drewscape-art]

@@davidhunden120oh what I did was more major. I cut into the feed to reshape the channels and also shaved the nib. It requires some special tools like a dremel and such😄

[@davidhunden120]

@@Drewscape-art Oh, That explains much. I'm quite new to standard fountain pens (not those designed for calligraphic purposes which I've used for years) and when I bought the Noodlers Ahab with flex nib I expected a flex nib (how naive...though I am learning). Thank you for your reply.

[@Drewscape-art]

@@davidhunden120it’s a nice start. The pen does will still work though the nib is stiff. A simple way to soften it is to shave down the sides of the nib. Simplest way is perhaps with sandpaper.

[@Tom_Samad]

Fun fact: George S. Parker, founder of the Parker Pen Company, used to be a salesman for the John Holland Pen Company in the late 1800s. The poor quality of those John Holland pens made George want to make fountain pens that would be more reliable than the ones he was selling. And the rest is history as the saying goes.

[@Drewscape-art]

That’s interesting, the history behind these pens. I did not know that. Thank you. You must be an avid pen collector:) I do have a John holland fountain pen as seen in the video. And Parkers. The history does make me appreciate these pens more:)

[@Tom_Samad]

Yes, i am a pen collector and a trainee pen maker from Birmingham, England. 🙂​@Drewscape-art