Conklin Empire: Too flexible for it's own good? || Pen Review 

No.

Smile and wave boys, just smile and wave.

Hes like tiny Rick, captive inside his own body

@@peter_draws Everyone has a phrase that they write when they're testing new pens in the store. For me, it's "Help me".

"Hello! Help me! Oh please! Really!". Part of me is rofl and part of me is seriously worried. :(

it's just a good quick phrase to test the flow of a new pen.

@Van LMAO!!

@Van lol

lol

It's been 4 weeks. It's still not dried yet.

@@TheOrangeKou lol

3 months

It's been half a year, my dudes. At this point, I don't think it's ever gonna dry.

Boss lol

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

🤣

A GOOD flex pen can certainly produce fast strokes. It's just that no modern flex pen is really that good, and certainly not one with a plastic feed.

@@TheHardcoreDilettante what would you consider a good flex pen?

V L There’s the watermen 52 I think? However, those aren’t around anymore.

@@vivianloney8826 There are a lot of vintage pens at reasonable prices that have gold flex nibs. They can be had for cheaper than the Conklin Empire if you're willing to deal with a less than pristine pen body. I'll probably be doing some videos on my vintage pens this year (I currently only have 3), which all have some degree of flex. For modern pens, there are gold flex nibs, but these tend to be quite expensive: Omas/Scribo, Aurora, etc. have flex nibs. At a lower price point, the Pilot FA nib (available on the 742, 743, 823 and 912) is a *fantastic* gold flex nib. However, the feed on those isn't good for extended, heavy flex but can be modded to provide more ink. Joey Grasty at flexiblenib.com makes ebonite feeds for the 743/823 which makes those nibs work great, but he's still working on an ebonite feed for the 742/912. Also, there are "soft" nibs that aren't really flex but can provide some line variation for normal writing. The Platinum 3776 soft fine nib is nice. The Pilot Falcon has a nice soft nib. These won't provide the kind of variation you'd want for, say, copperplate, but they have enough to add some lovely character to your everyday writing. You can also get a modern gold nib modified by a nibmeister to provide vintage-like flex. John Mottishaw does these. You can get one by Richard Binder if you buy a custom Edison. Fpnibs.com has Jowo nibs that you can get modified for flex, and I've heard great things about those. Indy-Pen-Dance also does custom flex nibs, IIRC. I tried a Platinum nib modified by Ralph Reyes for extreme flex recently at a pen show that was *great*, but it was a prototype. For a budget steel option, the only flex nib I'd personally recommend as a true flex nib is FPR's Ultra Flex nib (the one with the side cutouts), which is pretty great for a cheap steel nib and can be bought as an option on any of their very reasonably priced pens for a little extra. BUT it needs to be on a pen with an EBONITE feed--I don't recommend getting it on any of their pens with a plastic feed. The Noodler's nibs aren't horrible at all, but they do require a lot of pressure to get flex, so I wouldn't really call them real flex nibs. But the pens all have ebonite feeds, which is great. The regular FPR flex nibs (just regular flex, not Ultra Flex) are similar but require a touch less pressure, and the FPR pens are all tuned before they're shipped to you, so if you're not good with adjusting nibs, setting feeds, etc., those pens are a better choice than Noodler's pens for nibs (though Noodler's has more color/material options for the pen bodies). Sorry about the long answer. But the Conklin flex nibs would be on the bottom of the list for me until they fix their issue with the nib not being the right size for their housings and feeds.

@@byehai There are a lot of companies that made flexible nib pens long ago. Waterman, as you mention. Also Mabie Todd, Moore, Aiken Lambert, Wahl Eversharp (I believe their modern pens have a flex option but they're nowhere near the the vintage flex nibs) lots of original Conklins (not the modern resurrection) have flex nibs, some vintage (not modern) Pelikans, and there are tons of generic "Warranted" nibs out there with great flex, among many others. Until about the 60s, gold flex nibs were pretty common. There are even some vintage steel flex nibs out there--I've seen them on German and Eastern Bloc pens, and Esterbrook had some "flex" nibs. When it comes to vintage pens, your best bet is to go to a local vintage pen seller or go to a pen show where you can try the nibs in person. There's no standard grade of flex, and vintage pens tend to be pretty individual from pen to pen in what kind of writing experience they deliver, not just due to how they were manufactured but also because the pens aged in very different ways depending on how they were used over the decades and whose hands they passed through.

durianhead i was just about to comment this haha

(๑˃̵ᴗ˂̵)

durianhead ayeeeee haha

I mentioned this to peter in the stream, he laughed and replied 'weird flex but not OK'. Its ya boi, obiwankandblowme

I got that reference

lol, now I see it too! Thank you : )

「Internally Screaming」 that’s what i thought when i saw it.

Remember to unlatch your precordial sockets before any excessive stretching.

What is a riblet

@@mr.e3609 a baby rib

Man i wish, I almost dislocated my shoulder trying to reach my toes

I first read this and I thought u said ribs and I thought to my self how the fuck is this guy alive 17 fucking ribs 😂😂

Plz do

Platinum as a brand is underrated. The 3776 is also a great choice from the same brand.

Technically you never lost it

WOW. Thank you lady.

Are you practicing writing like a doctor? :D

1:33

He blinks

Sentualemon e

7:12

@Prashant Regmi why not become a patron and help support Peter and get early access to his content and SO much more! :-)

Gary Cooper it’s almost like asmr lol

@@CausingChaos. his voice is really relaxing

A lot of people actually have trouble with Conklin's omniflex, I almost got it before I saw all the bad reviews.

This comment just butters my biscuit! Great advice!

so, you have a leech farm?

The Terrible Animator who told you about my leech fa-- i mean. nothing! who? i've never heard of her

@@munafruit Boys, we found the freak, lock 'im up.

The Terrible Animator pls no. they'll only last like maybe a year without my sustenance

WE all need help escaping from the nonsense obligations of society

OxxyJoe “I’m14andthisisdeep.”

@@schlubenno3827 you know nobody older than fourteen is named Jaden. So did you accomplish what you wanted to here? Or are you a spy from the nonsense obligation society?

OxxyJoe I’m a female so it cancels out the perceived childishness of the name. ;)

@@schlubenno3827 I'll believe you. I only know about Will Smith's son Jaden, but yeah Cool :)

Doesn't write because he foamed the ink when he shook it. That piston is full of foamy ink. Not good.

"I want my casket to be half this nice" Art Jesus don't play.

pcrana1 Art Jesus 😂😂😂

“Help me” “Really, please do” is peter really ok...?

Yeah, the trend seems to go in that direction, but maybe once you start spending more, they're also just more specialized, and it's a possibility I'm just more of a "sturdy nibbed" penthusiast.

I recently started collecting Japanese Gold nubs. The sellers on Rakuten seem to be doing pretty well with international shipping now so you can get Platinum/Sailor/Pilot 14K nibs for about 2/3 what you would pay locally. Get the trio of the Pilot 742 in Music nib, and the Platinum 3776 in Coarse nib (Juicy!), and the Sailor 1911 in Zoom nib. You will be if FP heaven. The Sailor nib is the most dry, but I only got the regular 1911 and not the Large so maybe I just need the larger nib. The Platinum 3776 in C-nib is definitely the best bang for your buck. (Been shopping at Pen Gallery Hogado)

These were my exact thoughts. I always stick with older established inks when trying out any new pen.

@@aen9321 Why?

Well I did just try this same ink in another pen (Moonman V2) and it worked just fine, no problems at all. Could be this super-flexible type of nib just isn't for me.

Mattias Wirf They're just very reliable inks that work with every pen. Once you know those work, you can try more adventurous things.

​@@aen9321 and @ François THX1138 I don't buy that the age of the brand has a direct relation to the reliability, eventhough I see that repeated again and again ;) When I make a quick search on the Monteverde ink in the video an opinons seems to be that it is flows too well / is too wet. Monteverde is an established brand. If a normal (not pigmented and not irongall) fountainpenink don't work in a pen, I have a hard time believing the problem lies in the ink. I can understand this advice is for old vintage pens with sensitive ink sacks, where you are afraid that the ink will hurt the sack. Also, eventhough I understand all of you were talking about the flow in the pen, I just think this is an important part to mention: As an artist I wish that more penusers would be aware or talk about that these inks mentioned (like Watermans) are not resistant to fading. So in that sense, they are not reliable at all. Make a drawing with it, sell it to someone who hangs it on a wall with lots of light - the drawing could be gone in quite short timespan (depending on the paper and ink). If one are ok with that - fine, but one should be aware of it. This is however something that is not as easily tested in a pen/ink review video, so you don't see it discussed as much. Off course, you could make a drawing with an ink like that, scan and print it, that would work fine.

Or the pen nib is wayyyyyyyyyyy too flexible for its own good. Too much flex can be really bad.

nah that's really naive to think that. there is no such thing as a pen that is too flexible for it's own good. you're pushing down too hard and that's it. the only way too much flex is a bad thing, is if you're a massive noob that has never handle a flexible fountain pen. which of course we all are at some point. but if you ruin your nib that's up to you.

Thats alota damage!

False.

Understandable.

I want a sprite

Month too late my dude.

Same

its incredible

Thanks for the tips!

Piece of metal

Why not pull out at 60, exactly? The rest is wasting time.

Well in my humble opinion, if you pull out at 60, you're not going to have any idea how the car handles, and thus are likely to crash at the first turn. Whereas if you take your time to feel it out, you'll have a better idea of how far you can push it before it starts to underperform or break. I think it's a principal that applies to most things that are new and specialized when you're unfamiliar with them. But I suppose if you don't want to waste time with familiarizing yourself, at least you can be prepared to deal with the higher risk of incident. I still enjoyed the video 👍

He is tho

Yeah, but for $150 you would expect a reliable product. The tool for an artist should not control the style in which he, or she produces art. The artist controls the tools not the other way around, if the pen cannot handle the way he draws then it's a bad product plain and simple. Even if the pen was made just for writing you image ones surprise if it were to stop working just because you were a little too rough with it.

@@obsidian1612 *smashes sharpened pencil into paper* Ah yes it is the product that's wrong

@@AmandaDuncil If people want to buy a pen FOR 150 DOLLARS! that breaks just by adding pressure be my guest.

@@obsidian1612Sorry, but I have say that's ridiculous. A lot of fine instruments require finesse.

@@betford2 that's dumb.

Carson Gentile By aliens? Abductee by humans, more like. Poor alien Peter.

@@TheHardcoreDilettante Yeah. I actually sent the lady who'd sent me the replacement nib a message about how this is a faulty product. Because the nib separated from the feed and got misaligned just like with the first nib and with Peter's nibs. And I asked that if I could still get a new nib I'd want a normal one. All Conklin nibs seem to be poor quality but from what I've read the normal ones at least work. Do you know if the Conklin pens fit nibs from other brands though? And what's Yafa? :p

@@TheHardcoreDilettante Ohh okay. Thanks. This'll clearly take some digging but there's a chance I might find a nice nib for my most expensive pen then. :)

@@Gnomereginam This may be helpful. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-tkNUmx9lGL4.html FWIW, I find Goulet nibs to be excellent. They're Jowo, which means they write well and smoothly and quality control is good. Bock nibs (often sold as Karas Kustoms units) are also great. A little springier and a little more feedback than Jowo, IMO.

@@TheHardcoreDilettante Ohhh well of course I've missed this. Thanks a lot! I'll check it out

I don't think he put too much pressure on the nib. But maybe because he's so used to pens working he didn't treat this one delicately

just move along. nobody cares

@@Oxxyjoe assuming youre a fountain pen user, if you have any experience with a gold nib or a flex nib, you know you dont just spring it on and on without carefully testing it. That is, unless you dont care for the pen. Whether the pen was flawed from the start or not, a first attempt on nib should be with more care

@@colinnoble1899 well you seemed to care enough to leave a comment, so please dont go around sharing negativity for no reason

I haven't ever used a fountain pen. I do like to draw, although I've not done much of it in some time. I'd like to try it

So true ^^

Nyana Chase drawling.

You're too flexible for your own good?😆😆😆😆👍👍👍

@@x-changex-outx-oner8224 apparently 🤔🤔

@@Ambern 😆😆😆😆Too funny!!

Or maybe an expensive pen should function just fine whatever you do. If if doesnt work properly the price is not warranted. Its not that is particularly fancy in other apsects. Looks nice but not tat special. I remember my Lamy in school had alot of flex and worked just fine. That is because it was produced to work not too look good.

Nope, packaging matter. Without it company cannot jack up the price so high. Also many use this kind of pen as a gift, so package matter

To butter up your butt cheeks in prep for the girth of the price. For me a 150 dollar fountain pen should be made of wood burl or straight quality metal of some kind.