Introduction to Stub and Flex Nib Fountain Pens 

I am an 8 grader. Feeling proud I have learnt calligraphy and I really like the longhand cursive font.

Some things that should be part of this discussion. I've used various sizes of stubs, I haven't noticed much difference between say a 0.6mm and a 1.1 mm (almost twice as wide!) stub nib. I can measure differences, but practical use: no difference. If you want line variation in your normal writing, get a stub nib (or an italic), flex nib line variation requires you slow way down. Wedding invitation? Yes. Daily journal? No. In day to day use a stub gives you variation (and I think helps improve handwriting) while a flex is wonderfully springy but no significant line variation except when you slow down. Stubs and flexes usually lay down more ink, so cartridges and converters can't keep up. For me a cart/convert are deal breakers. Eye dropper conversion, piston or vacs--only. (The Vacs I've found are more trouble then they are worth) Standard measurements and definitions: One company's 'stub' is another company's italic, 'calligraphy' etc.. I would like to see a standardization of measurement as in the X-company's 1.1 stub is 1.1mm wide, .4mm deep with deeply rounded corners. (less rounded corners get it closer to an italic). Also I'm a big fan of stub nibs having started with the Nemosine 0.6mm, 0.8 and later the TSWBIs 1.1mm, (all of these nibs are made by the same German company. Feeds are a critical issue. Mix up your feeds while cleaning several different nibs from the same company and you'll wonder why your stub skips so much). I now either just use a 1.1 nib or DIY italics I grind in the most bootleg manner you can imagine. I'll grind an italic out of a stub by making it flatter and then knocking off the corners until it stops digging into the paper. This is pure backwoods bootlegging, not for the faint of heart or sensible person. I've got experience sharpening wood shop tools which translated to messing around with nibs. My advice to anyone who likes fountain pens but isn't sure what to do next: buy cheap pens, buy extra nibs, have fun. Try everything. Finding the perfect flex nib when you've never used one is like buying the best pair of pants before you know what size you wear. Find the most affordable (cheapest but one) nib/pen before spending a lot of money. If you own fewer than 3 fountain pens you haven't learned Rule #2 of Fountain Pens: your favorite pen is either: one you haven't used in a couple of months, the one you use every day, but now you've taken the time to give it a good cleaning and lube.

Team Flex here! I love a vintage Waterman fountain pen with a flex nib. How I wish that someone could go back in time to see what the metallurgista did with the nibs to give them such flexing talent.

Looks like I'll start with stubs. Thanks Tom, super informative for a newbie (not new to writing with fountain pens, but new to modern fountain pens - and the myriad options and brands!). like me.

Excellent video! Straightforward and informative with great descriptions and writing samples. Thank you!

3:43 - I wish! In Europe (or Poland, to be more precise), where I come from, we all start with a manual gearbox and the automatic transmission, from what I know, is not fully respected when it comes to driving licence exam. Hence, maybe it's time I got my flex nib ;) All best to you! Great video!

I would recommend a stub nib. Something like a Pilot Pluminix with the B stub nib makes most people's handwriting look better. Only £7. Your advice to flex learners to not use any pressure is good. I have a Fountain Pen Revolution Indus with the full flex nib and a Pilot Custom heritage 912 with the fa nib for full flex. £35 and £150 respectively. The Indus is a piston filler so you can tweak the knob to get more in when full flexing. Very handy. I use the Pilot as my everyday writer as the Con 70 converter holds a lot of ink and with normal writing it produces a nice fine line The Gnib is best kept for a dip pen ime. The nib soon corrodes.

With my last name and my beginner status - it is a no-brainer to opt for a Pilot Metropolitan Fountain Pen 1.0 STUB nib.😁

I'm only 1 year into my fountain pen journey. I have not tried a flex yet but I find my 1.1 stub to be a wonder! I guess a flex may be in the future!

Great analogy, Tom

Your so correct, I just need to slow down and keep practicing.

Thank you so much for this video! Btw, that ink is lovely!

I'm totally new to fountain pens, and I have just ordered a pen with EF, medium and a stub nib, so I don't know what team I am LOL but I can't wait to find out. Thank you for this video, now I know what kind of nibs there is :)

DESIDERATA PENS! The feed Pierre makes is awesome. Beautiful work. Zebra nib + running hand = magic.

I have a Pilot Custom Heritage 912 with the FA nib. The stock feed was woefully inadequate, and no matter what I tried railroaded constantly. A three-groove feed from The Nib Factory solved all the problems, and now it's one of my favorite pens. Pilot really needs to address this issue with a wetter feed.

Man, you've got some fancy handwriting sir, ha ha, Im new to the game but find writing and practicing caligraphy a good way to chill and relax, thanks for sharing with us your knowledge.

Vintage flex is the way to go. I have a red ripple Waterman 52 that is just fabulous. However I think there is a place for both flex and stub. I use the Waterman when I writing letters but I use a Lamy 2000 or TWSBI 580 or Visconti Rembrandt when I'm taking note or other writing so I don't have to remember not to flex. :) I'd say my writing is a probably a 7. What Tom said about fountain pen improving your writing is 100% true. My handwriting, both cursive and print, has improved 1000% it used to be maybe a 1 at best.

Great video, Tom! I haven't practiced enough with a flex nib to be proficient, so I'd have to say #Stub. However, my favorite nibs are a variation of the calligraphy nib, the cursive italic. They provide better line variation than the stub, but don't get scratchy or catch the paper like a true calligraphy nib. Also, you can maintain a faster speed than would a calligraphy nib. Thanks for the great video - you have great penmanship with both types of nibs!

Love it, your right on it🖋

Thanks for this explanation!

My favorite I have is the TWSBI ECO with a 1.1 stub nib - so creamy and smooth! I want to get a broad flex nib pen…

Just got a flex nib in the mail today.. Knowing how to use a calligraphy pen, definitely helps with the concept of the flex nib.. just need to work on the line width, but it’s pretty simple and fun to use over the basic calligraphy pen.

I have a TWSBI Eco with a 1.1 Jowo stub nib and I just discovered that the Platinum 66 F vintage model I purchased has a bit of flex to it and now enjoy both of them!

Don’t always like your reviews, but I found this one most excellent and satisfying. Thank you.

My first love is stub & Italic nibs because it takes less effort to enhance my writing, but I do like a flex which I occasionally use.

Tom, the reason I wanted a fountain pen was to do copperplate and it seems the only is the flex nib. I am actually having quite a bit of fun with my Noodler's nib Creaper though. But thanks for the advice!

#foreverflex all the way! I'm a vintage flexer baby!

Me at 0. 😂😂. Sometimes even i can't read my own writing.

I much prefer the 'chicken scratch' sample and I've been writing with fp's since the sixties. All cursive does NOT have to be spencerian or palmerian at all. It needs to be legible, as the purpose is communication. Having studied graphology for many years I learned that indeed people's personalities can be connected with their cursive writing.

I am clearly a flex nib man! BTW, great voice! Presentation was great. Semper Fi

MANUAL TRANSMISSSION ALL THE WAY!! REV THAT ENGINE!

Thanks for good video. I have ordered a Waterman Carene fountain pen with a stub nib. I’m hoping it will give me some automatic variation in line thickness, slightly italicised I guess, what do you think about this combo?. Also, what paper would you suggest for ordinary letter writing (I live in the UK). Grateful for your views please.

As an artist, I am ...addicted to flex. Queue the music.

Good video with much information. Only improving handwriting has more to do with practise than with fountain pen, can be done with any pen or pencil. Lots of youtube fountainpen channels around with hosts that have terrible handwriting to prove this. If you have bad handwriting, line variation from stub or flex nib will only makes things look worse.

Cool, which of the ones you recommended is your favorite and most loved- the flex or stub (and which brand and mode, which thickness mml) Thank you. God bless.

Great Video. Thx for the Information. Greetings Gerry

Well this answers my question on your recent video

At 2:20 which nib is being used in the light Blue Scribo Feel?

What’s inks are you using. The lite blue with dark shading is beautiful

When i need flex nib, i use dip pen, but when writing normally i use stub nib. This choice is based on the absence of flex nib fountain pen in my country, even I just knew *a flex nib fountain pen* from your video.

Manually throttled? I learned to drive on a stick shift, so I get your manually throttled. I had to chuckle because thinking of "manually throttled" sounds more like pushing the pen the point of abuse. I guess my handwriting can vary anywhere from a 4 to 7. Usually it is on the neat side, but if I get trying to write too quickly it deteriorates fast. Tom, I guess that I have been buying fountain pens for about a year and a half now and watching your handwriting that is something I found myself wanting to develop. Thank you for your stub and broad nib recommendations.

What inks are used in this video? I love the shading on the blues...

This is truly an awesome video, Tom. Unfortunately, it makes me want to add a dozen pens to my collection. I love stub and flex but I think flex does more to show off inks. What was that awesome shading blue? I'd add that to my cart too.

what happens if I try to make a thick upstroke with a fountain/dip pen? I will break the nib or tear the paper or what?

I used a stub/Calligraphy nib in a college Calligraphy class. Taught the hold the nib at around a 40° ~ 45° "/" angle to the paper for the line variation. Old habits are difficult to break. Rotating my standard Medium ball nibs to that angle don't work so great. Seems to work o.k. with my one EF nib though. going to try some size 6 EF nibs. I want to try a flex nib before going back to a stub nib or a Fude nib. Can you recommend a good size 5 and 6 Flex or ultra flex nib? I can't afford gold.

What is the ink at the opening of the video? The wine colored ink?

Why can't G nibs be made to perform the same but made from 18-21k gold nibs so they are durable?

Buenas tardes. Que tinta es la que usa cuando inicia el video? Cordial saludo desde Medellin, Colombia.

I have been writing with FP's for over 60 years. I love italic and stub nibs, which are my favorite everyday writing nibs. They work wonders for my penmanship. How-some-ever, I am still a novice with flex nibs. I have no talent for using them.

what ink was being used in the zebra g writing sample?

Beautiful ink

Flex nibs for me. I plan to get a gold nib.

What is the ink and pen and nib at 3:41 ? such a pretty color and flex nib. thank you so much!!

Newbie here...in the pics was the blue pen the stub flex pen??

6:03 Does this dry up quickly? I've had so many problems with Noodler's and never been happy after all the tinkering.

What about the Noodlers flex pens? Would you recommend one of those?

3:38 - Please I would love to know what nib or pen nib you are using here - that is the best flex I have ever seen and I really would like one.

So, does the Monteverde Monza have to be green??

Great tutorial-loved the car analogy! ✒️💦👍 #teamflex

I bought a flex nib of $2 and works well.

Your comparison is very nice. The metaphor of Auto transmission vs Manual transmission is very appropriate. I understand that beginners can get used to stub nibs easier than flex nibs. Can you direct me to stub nib fountain pens below $20? Also, can you tell me the difference between stub nibs and broad/medium nibs? I ask this because in web sites, I cannot filter based on "stub nibs" but broad nibs etc. are available.

What are the inks used in the video?

Medium r jst Perfect For Calligraphy Flex Fine Nib is Best Flex Medium Nib 4 those who likes Bold Letter Italic Pen r Piece of Sheet

Re your statement that a good handwriter “should be able to write in print and cursive” - would this exclude, from “good handwriter” status, those we sometimes see: whose handwriting is observably excellent yet is, say, in the italic form of handwriting - thus falls decidedly outside (or between?) the conventional “either/or” dichotomy of “print”-versus-“cursive”?

Oh! I forgot to mention the flex nib pens are relatively difficult to find. Many thanks!

What is the pen at 3:51 minutes? It seems a dip pen nib but non flexible which im looking for and cant find it.

That blue ink @3:50 what is that? I need to order some of that now!

In Europe, most people drive manual transition.

Pilot parallel is also a good stub nib and not Very expensive

I learned to drive on a manual car LOL that's all I drove until 25. If you want to learn on flex, go for it!

You recommend the Monteverde over Noodler's Ahab for under $30?

I have several stub nib pens but only one flex nib pen, the Pilot Falcon. I don't know if being left-handed is an issue or if it's just I haven't practiced with the flex nib, but the stub nibs take less effort/knowledge/skill to improve my handwriting. I vote STUB.

Most of the recommended "flex" nibs are actually just "soft" nibs. If you "flex" these nibs, you might ruin the tines. If you want to pratice writing with flex nibs, go with disposable dip nibs while still saving for vintage flex fountain pens.

good and useful video. tried to fit zebra g nib in jinhao x450, not easy. 14k gold flex nibs are good. Conklin good looking pens have poor quality control. FPR flex nibs pens are acceptable and value for money with good experience. pilot pluminix nibs are cheap best natural line variation option.

At 3:34 is that blue pen an Edison Beaumont, and is it a 1.1mm stub nib? I love the line, I want to call Dina and order one on Monday!

The problem normally is the paper. No matter how sharp is you're italic nib, if you touch the paper softly you will have a nice result. When the problem is not the paper or a not sharp need, it is on the writer. If you are with the right material you can see bark of the potential no matter how new you are. Sometimes is not possible to get there in the regular writing. But, you can feel the potential.

What is that stunning bright blue ink?

how do you buy that costly pens

What kind of ink is that 2 tone blue ink?

5:24 pen recommendation

Will someone be kind enough to tell me which were the inks used in this video? That teal, blue black and dirty red omg! Thanks everyone!

Damn, I should have bought the stub nib for pilot metropolitian TT now I need to use it and then buy the stub TTTTTTT

Cursive italic, custom ground.

Good video! I am ‘bi-‘ on this one!

9 and prior to fountain pen 6 but i got into fountain pens after a car accident that permanently damaged my writing hand. A college professor/ Lawyer saw the inability to take notes with ballpoint pen after the accident and cast removal and let me use his to give it a try before buying a fountain pen. I went from only being able to write for 10 minutes before the pain hurt too much to about an hour and a half with the fountain pen. And yes it improved my decently good handwriting. Even if you have good handwriting a fountain pen can improve on that good writing.

А что за чернила вначале видео?

I like round nibs. Stub and flex make my handwriting very slow. I am not that patient, I like my mind and hand to be in sync. I think my handwriting is okay, not very artistic but readable. Others don't have much problem with it

"most new drivers learn on cars with automatic transmissions" - most people outside the USA: "huh?"

What is the purple ink at 3:35 please?!?!?! Its beautiful!!!!!

I might be 4. Yep definitely 4

2020

6.5

Me 4 to 6

4:04, what pen is it?

I am a stub person.

May be around 4-5. Check out here and let me know ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-711iiJLfs4k.html

It's a shame the Omniflx nib has so many feed problems.

Jajajajajajajaja...that is a tricky question...🙈 but Ivan write cursive and bold perhaps my notes can’t be read and understood not because my handwriting...

You (and most people who talk about it) neglected to mention one thing, and that is how the handwriting lend itself to one type of nib or the other. I use both types of nib, but writing with italic comes to me more naturally. I dont have to adapt my style to the nib. When I use flex nib, I have to change my way of writing to get the variation. I can use italic or stub as a daily writer, but I cannot do this with flex as it requires more attention. I have a friend however, whos style of writing means that she can use a flex nib with more ease that an italic or a stub.

Do LAMY fountain pens have a flexible nib ? ( lamy safari - joy)