Noodler's Ink Piston Fill Flex Nib Clear Demonstrator Medium Point Fountain Pen - ND-17000

I love this! Mine had a horrible smell at first, but after I washed it and let it air out, the smell went away. But the flex nib at affordable prices? Sign me up! I want to get an Ahab with a flex nib next!

The media could not be loaded. I had to give it a star since it would not let me leace it blank with 0 stars. This pens is not worth the price. It's hard to start the ink flow once you stop it. I have been trying for 30 min with no luck. The only thing it did do was collect the ink in the bottom but would not go down towards the nib. It's not as flexible as I thought it would be. Thumbs down on this fountain pen. 👎🏼

The war on cursive writing may have started with the typewriter, but for a few decades, when the choice was between the fountain pen and the manual typewriter, there was, at least, a writer's intimate connection with the sheet of paper, a connection that depended on some measure of physical skill and an even larger measure of desire to be read easily, and to be understood. Even then, the most challenging, but in many respects most fruitful, way to apply ink to paper was the flexible-nib pen. If you've used a vintage pen with such a nib, you've seen how it can exaggerate even the slightest change in pressure or direction; how it can detect flaws in the stationery, sometimes ruinously, as it splatters ink when it snags on a rough spot. And you may, sadly, have seen how easily those nibs can be rendered useless by an unfortunate accident or even by being used too aggressively.Why, then, when Noodler's introduced the first really affordable new flexible-nib fountain pen in years, does it sell out within days, batch after batch? Curiosity, of course, is one reason. The popularity of the Noodler's inks with their memorable if not alway evocative names, is another. And then there is the creative self-deception that goes with so many purchases of things of the past, a personal myth-making that portrays us to ourselves as finally writing that lyrical love-note, moving sympathy letter, or sincere apology, not to mention The Signature. Some of us still imagine ourselves putting our John Hancock on a document in a way that looks like the "John Hancock" on the Declaration of Independence. A line that widens and narrows with each change of direction and with the perfect pressure of the ever-so-steady signatory hand. And to think that Hancock himself used a piece of a bird to achieve that line. At least, I guess that's what he used. If so, he was well-named.If you've already mastered writing with a flexible nib, and if you are blessed with the kind of patience that permits you to experiment until you find the right ink with the proper flow characteristics, and to take the time to make sure that the ink is flowing reliably before you begin to write something important, or if you enjoy endless doodling, waiting to see how long a pen can go without skipping, the Noodler's will not disappoint, even if it does occasionally irritate. If you want to learn to write those visually evocative cursive lines, but you'd rather do so with a steel nib that can forgive things that the old gold ones will not, you can use this pen with confidence. If you prefer a thicker pen to a thinner one, however, search for the Noodler's Ahab. (I hesitate to include a link here because I don't want take you to another "unavailable" pen.)But this pen should not be your first fountain pen, nor your second. Maybe your fifth. You need to be the sort of person who is just fine with ink on your fingers. Who is willing to take the time to accomodate your writing to the instrument you are using, to find the right paper and the right words. Do those things, and you will not only have a pen that is a pleasure to doodle with, but with which you will, with some effort and practice, be able to produce signatures, love notes, or letters of condolence worthy of the feelings you put into them.

I do think the Konrad and the Ahab are better pens, but if you like thin and small and still want a piston filling demonstrator pen with a flexible nib, this is where the money's at.I have two, one that I ground the feed out to gush ink, and this one, which I kept stock.Noodlers pens DO REQUIRE SOME FIDDLING. DO NOT BUY THIS AS A FIRST PEN. You will have to likely adjust how deep the nib and feed are in the body (further out = more flex, closer the feed is to the tip of the nib, more inkflow) and maybe use a razor blade to cut the ebonite feed a bit, but this will take any standard #5 nib as well, and is a proper piston filler.The biodegradable vegetal resin isn't as crystal clear as a TWSBI's plastic, but it's still quite clear, and it's tougher than any other plastic you can think of. Nathan Tardiff of Noodlers has a video of himself driving over a konrad (Same material) with his car twice and it wrote fine, and then firing one out of a shotgun (it survived) It does have a VERY strong odor out of the box, some people HATE the smell, so if you don't like the pen's odor, stick it in a drawer for a week and it will dissipate quickly.It's a very thin, light pen with a good posting cap.The nib is nice, will flex very broad (western EF to about a 1.1-1.5 stub) though it does require way more pressure than a "vintage" flex pen, if you want to write bold and broad, this will do the job, no problem. It will get tiring to do after 10-15 minutes, unlike a vintage flex pen, but that isn't this pen's intent. It does write like a slightly springy gold nib when writing normally, which I really like (not like a soft nib, but softer than regular steel nibs)Piston mechanism is smooth, simple, and reliable, and it holds a good amount of ink (2.5ish ml)The only issue I have with these nib creapers is that the cap has no inner seal, so it can't be sat in a drawer, inked, like a platinum with a slip and seal cap or even a jinhao. The konrad has an inner cap and the ahab seems to not have much issue (my neponset is ebonite without an inner cap but seems to not have trouble either) it will dry out if left for a week inked and unused. So only ink this pen up when you want to use it, and the rest of the time, keep it empty, and you won't have any issues.Overall, if you have a few dollars more and don't desperately want the thinnest pen you can find, I suggest the ahab, or if you need something a little smaller, the konrad, which are a bit more versatile and have a more easily swapped #6 nib. But for what it is, this is a solid little flex pen.

The supposedly flexible nib has no flex. The pen skips and railroads—when it writes, which is rarely. I bought this five years ago, tried multiple inks, cleaning techniques, etc, but nothing worked. So I put it away, forgot about it, and just found it again recently. Tried it again with Noodler’s La Reine Mauve ink. Skips. Railroads. Then tried it with Wordsworth & Black Mysterious Black ink (which I believe is actually Monteverde’s black ink), a very wet, lubricated ink. The pen still skips, railroads and misses many downstrokes. Don’t buy this pen. It’s horrible, one of the worst I’ve ever owned. It’s shameful Noodler’s still allows it to be sold.

I don't understand how the package came crushed inside an intact amazon box! It has a good ink flow, easy to handle. But the smell, has no explanation, it's a pungent organic rancid buttery smell. I like the pen but the smell contaminates your fingers, ink, everything that's in contact with it.