My takeaway, as I had already suspected, is that in order to get line variation from a modern "flex" nib, the thin line is just as important as the thick one. The Falcon EF shows that quite well as there is a lot of contrast between the line widths. Thanks Drew. I'll give that video 🦄🦄🚑🏀
Watching Drew "flex" his knowledge on flex nibs... a sight to behold. Plus the rating system, A+ 👌 but must you decapitate a penguin in the process ? 😆
I found this video very helpful by showing how these pens actually write. And Drew has such a humorous way of presenting the nibs! I really enjoyed it. Great job! Thank you!
While I'm not too concerned about the softness of the nibs, I can still appreciate the in-depth, scientific examination. Your dedication to the scientific method is impressive. Makes me sit up in my turkey hammock, and take notice. I give it five camels and a giraffe. 🐪🐪🐪🐪🐪🦒
In the days of dip pens, they used an even more confusing, and all-encompassing term, "Action." When even so-called "Inflexible" dip nibs still flex more than most modern "flexible" fountain pens, they needed to talk about something other than just "flexibility." "Action," as far as any coherent meaning can be derived from the uses of the term in relation to dip pens, indicated the overall writing experience, including what we would call spread and snap (how much pressure it took to spread the tines, and how quickly the tines come back together after spreading), smoothness (more important on a dip nib which is not tipped), and softness or bounce. A "stiff action" was a pen without much bounce or spread, or a pen that required more pressure to get a spread of the tines. A "superior action" generally meant a pen that was softer with decent spread and medium pressure to see spread. A "soft action" pen, was one that we might call today a wet noodle. It was a pen that took little pressure to get a good spread of the tines. These last pens are the most difficult to control, and were not very common. They were mainly geared towards penman and ornamental writers.
Fantastic! I'm in the market for a couple soft nibs so this video was very timely. Good job! This video earned three rockets and one and a half mangoes.
I propose Drew’s scoring system be used for all Goulet reviews. Well, I’d encourage Figboot to also adopt. Really, I think we all agree the industry as a whole would benefit from using Drew’s exacting scoring system.
Like many, even most, of the pen reviewers, the speed at which you write is medium to high warp speed compared with my s-l-o-w, careful drawing of each letter. I have been using FP's for over 60 years, but I never (NEVER) mastered flex nibs. My favs have been italic or stub nibs. I like italic nibs as rigid as I can find, and they reward me with wonderful line variation. "Soft" nibs? I remain unsure how well I might do with them. But young folks like you do motivate me to go through another round of experimentation with the current production soft and flex nibs. I need to count the nickels and dimes in my pen war chest to see where I might begin.
Pilot Falcon with soft fine nib is my favorite. I always have both my falcons inked up! Love seeing you making more videos, Drew! You always make me laugh and brighten my day!
@@Gouletpens another good thing about the falcon nibs is they dry it very slowly, since the feed basically seals the entire nib; there is almost no exposure of the ink to the air. I have a Fine and Broad (both the metal variant), the Falcons have really grown on me and the Fine is actually my favourite writer now.
My favourite modern flex nib is a Scribo EF flex which writes very wetly, flexes with very little pressure and is simply a joy to write with. I think we can all agree that it would be totally wrong to give it any score lower than a whole piano and a full moon. Another good one is the Santini stub flexy, which I'd rate at a reindeer, two chocolate eggs and half a cup of tea. It's too broad for everyday writing (at least for me), but so much fun to play around with.
I left the flex bote early in my personal collection history… gold flex rated astronomically high 💸💸, particularly the vintage ones. I prefer the stub, three tines or Asian bent (fude) nibs for line variation in fountain pens. Also I would like to discuss more about the differences between gold and steel in modern soft nibs.
I love the diplomat magnum. I found it super soft to write with and able to make some calligraphy capitals, it’s been a pretty fun nib for me. And the prismatic purple is … BEAUTIFUL! Thanks for the video Drew! Very interesting and helpful to understand the difference between a soft or bouncy nib and a flex nib.
It's my current favorite pen to write with. The little bit of flex and softness make it just dance on the paper. I find my hand gets tired more easily writing with a harder nib.
All my flexy pens come with an accompanying sound as well! And thank you so much for telling about Diplomat, I was incredibly impressed by the nib for this price
You can get even better ink output on a pilot FA using an ebonite feed. I’ve done this on my Pilot 823 demonstrator and it’s absolutely glorious. Juicy and every variation one could desire.
This has got to be one of the best fountain pen video in quite a while! Really good info presented in a very fun manner, and a top notch rating system!
I think 4 T Rexes for the Konrad is a bit of a stretch. I'd give it 3 T Rexes and a dirty sock, although to be fair, the latter is more for the pen than for the nib.
Well, the acrylic Konrad (like the one I used here) doesn't have the same dirty sock smell. And who knows what T-Rexes smelled like? Perhaps it's spot-on! ;). - Drew
@@Gouletpens Maybe it is! :-D I haven't even tried the non-acrylic Konrad because I knew it would be bad. I sold my acrylic one because while it was fine when closed, the smell was still very off-putting when using the pen, and I have much better flex pens.
So we had a wind-and-lightning storm last night that fried my well pump and tore my roof up. I came in to make insurance calls, and happened to watch this video while I was waiting on a call back. Drew, I wouldn't have thought anyone could make me laugh today, but you did it! And I finally have a better grasp of what flex nibs are all about. I'm seeing a new well pump, a new roof and a new Pilot Falcon with a Soft Fine nib in my crystal ball! 😄 My rating? 🍀🍀🍪✒🎈
Michael, it means so much to me that we could send some positivity your way when it sounds like you needed it! I hope that your repairs go as well as can be expected! I'll be here when you need me! Haha! -Drew
Drew took a topic that could easily have been a 💩🎟 and handled it in such a way that it was a 🎉. That was worth🍍🍍🍕. (Although, others may not like that as much as I do.)
I used my Pineider Alchemist for the first time this week with a new ink and while it writes like a dream. I also noticed how wet it wrote but I think the additional dry time is well worth the joy of using this pen.
I already knew that I enjoy nibs with a little bit of flex and bounce, but what really impressed me in this video is how well the ink flow is adjusted to the Pilot and Platinum pens. It's not wet like a flood but also just have enough ink to not skip or railroad. I'm so curious about the difference in their feed under the nibs of these pens.
Happy squirrel, bunny, ice cream cone, and two fire trucks Drew! Great video on flex, softness, and line widths from many of the fountain pens. I only wish I had half of them. LOL> "Turkey Hammock."
I got a Ritma with the omniflex this week. It does put down a TON of ink, but it's a really great daily driver just the same. I'm a tiny bit disappointed at the lack of variation, but I really liek the pen, so I'm calling it a win.
What a wonderful demonstration -- three Hallelujahs and an Amen! (I am a priest, after all.) Prof. D on Inquiring Minds would be gratified that you included the E95s, and, indeed, how could you not? I'll note that Chinese gold nibs are getting more and more interesting. Relative to what you carry, my Conklin Endura Abalone (M) after tuning writes with very satisfying line variation -- and that with a steel nib! I have the Conklin Herringbone with their pre-Jowo Omniflex. It took weeks of use to break in, but now delivers splendid line variation. I have as well (also from Goulet in 2020) a Jinhao 8802. I may go a few weeks at a time without inking it for work; but even so, it too is developing more and more line variation. I guess the takeaway from my musing is this: out of the box flex is great! But, so too is using a pen enough to let its character develop.
Great video! I enjoy using bouncy and flexible nibs on birthday cards, Christmas cards, etc. It makes my writing look fun and festive. An inexpensive alternative is a steel dip nib (Zebra G, Brause Blue Pumpkin, etc.) These work surprisingly well with ordinary fountain pen ink.
I've determined that I'm going to use Drew's rating scale for everything. If some random person understands what I'm talking about they will immediately be my best friend lol
I would love to see all of the writing samples you did, all together to compare! I've been thinking my next pen would be an e95s but you may have convinced me to go the falcon route instead 🙈 I gotta sleep on it lol this was the exact video I needed though, thinking a lot about soft vs. flex nibs recently. Thanks Drew!
Video gets 4 rhinoceros, 2 banana splits AND 3 protractors! I have 4 of the same pens (Pilot 912 SFM, Metal Falcon SF, Justus 95 and the 3776) and strangely enough, I have them all inked up at the moment! Did I miss what ink was used?
Hold up, hold up... Are these premium quality engineered-for-fountain-pens Drewlet toothbrushes, or just regular old drug store toothbrushes? It obviously makes a huge difference to the score for the E95s.
You raise an excellent point. I've recently seen "smart" toothbrushes for sale for over $500. Personally, I think a toothbrush that's $500 worth of "smart" should qualify as a dentist, but that's just me.
Triple tail got a spoon and Saturn? That's ludicrous to me! It obviously deserved a Neptune at minimum. Great vid Drew, thanks for the demonstrations and mostly spot on grading of each nib. 😉
Hi, just that you should do one for Pelikan M200/M205 steel nib, because that nib is also famous for a bouncy steel nib, so would really interesting to see one in action. Maybe you can slot in a small session in the weekly pencast! And remember to assign a Drew's rating after that!
One "problem" with modern finer nibs I've found is they can be pretty unforgiving of inaccuracies in your handwriting and they are prone to making the lines look a bit sharp. So while the line variation can look nice it doesn't always make for prettier letters. I like what you got with the pineider the most in this video despite it not being the finest nib, and it's probably versatile enough to be a daily driver as well. I personally like dip pens when I wanna be extra fancy since it's much easier to get that sharpness under control even with an extremely fine nib.
You're killing me Drew: I'm on a keto diet. Happy Muffins here, Happy Muffins there, Happy Muffins everywhere! I bet you wrote with Chocolate Brown, or something-Pecan. Sigh... I'm hungry :(
Between Noodler's Triple Tail and Neponset, which one should I choose? My preference *Maximum line variation *Continuous smooth ink flow *Less railroading/skipping/hard start Thanks in advance
Nonsense? Nay Nay! Who can possibly critique 3 hedgehogs and half a taco. Tells me everything I need to know. I have most of those nibs. They are fun to write with.
Nice comparison of all different modern 'flex' nibs! I sometimes get lost when people talk about flex nibs because each one can be very different. By the way, which was the ink used?
Great video, very informative! What I really missed was the pricing info. It appears that the range is extremely wide starting at around 10 to couple of hundreds of bucks. Although I realize it was not the main point it still is important especially for those, who - like me - are in the process of trying to decide purchasing one of these (or sg else? like the Faber Castell Basic - wonderful bouncy steel nib and cheap!).
Thank you for this amazing insight I had bought pilot custom 74 SM nib thinking it to be a flex nib alas that wasn't the case though the softness does make writing a pleasure...Alas I did not know when I bought the pen that SM nib will not provide line variation. For Flex pen I used a Chinese pen and kept pushing it beyond the envelop after a few weeks and pages it has become a flex pen and gives a good deal of line variation....oh yes I did damage a quite a few nibs before one actually worked
I have the Innova with the Omniflex nib - for me it resend a -3 rotten tomatoes. I had to push down so hard that I was afraid of springing the nib. That being said, without pressure it writes pretty well.
The pen with the highest regard is not the one most aesthetically pleasing, functionally overachieving, or spiritually overflowing - but rather the pen that you like the most. Thank you.
Love my Diplomat Magnum, so I guess I'll search for other pens that rate hedgehogs and tacos...Goulet pens does have a search option for that right?!? 😂
As a person who has been drawing and doing art work with regular dip pens that were certainly not expensive, why is it that as soon as they are put in a fountain pen, they have to be gold before they can flex properly?
my 3 funnest pens are flex pens: - Noodler's Ahab Flex - Fountain Pen Revolution Himalaya Ultra Flex - Osprey Madison Zebra G of the three, the Osprey with the Zebra G easily has the most line variation by far.. they all look good but feel somewhat cheap. i have a Pilot 912 FA on the way.
Well, that was a lot of fun as well as being informative! The one drawback (similar to all Goulet and Brown videos): I know want to dash off an order for a couple more pens to Virginia! Could I have a lotto jackpot, please? Rating: 🤴🥂🥂🥂🎻🎻
The one thing I enjoy is the bounce even if I don't flex my "flex" nibs I enjoy the softer writing experience you get from a flex nib. And of course adding some flair every once and a while just comes with the territory.
Drew!!! I really appreciate your review!!!! Those are nice nibs for new pens! But I'll always go for my vintage fountain pens.....if they could ever duplicate those old nibs!!!! I give your review 4 buttons 2 socks and 1 tire pump . I noticed you weren't drinking your " coffee" 😊 alrighty than ....that is all.
pilot kakuno is also a bit soft In my experience :3 after a light re-shaping of the nib to be less stub and more round it becomes my fav nib on all my pens even more expensive ones not as flexi as the diploma (never had one but I'm assuming) but still more flexy than most steel
I have the Omni flex nib as my first flex nib and I was wondering if I was doing something wrong because I wasn’t getting the line variation I wanted, though I mean I still love the pen. I will rewatch this video before buying another flex nib. I really appreciate you doing this!
I'm pretty sure I'd put my Custom 823 Medium in here but not sure if I'd give it 2 ambulances and 3 turkey hammocks, or go for broke and award it an iPhone charging cable and a slab of blutack. Decisions decisions!
Well Drew I am going to give you the 👍🏼 for your efforts. Not sure that your rating system is as deserving, but it got your video a comment nonetheless! Thank you for sharing your opinions on flex nibs with us. Oh my favorite flex is still the TripleTail from Noodler’s!
