Long-term storage of ballpoints

"Jimmy" wrote in message
...
"Aaron W. Hsu" wrote in message
...

How flexible is the nib? :-) That's my biggest complaint on a lot of
modern pens. They don't have a soft or springy enough give to make
writing nice. They all feel like writing with chisels, or at least, most
do.

Although some of my pens have flexible nibs, I don't have the skill to use
them well. Hard-as-nails, glassy smooth nibs can be a lot of fun, though.
I tried a Waterman Carene, and loved it, but not its price-tag.

I've heard you can get springy titanium nibs - have you experimented?

'Scuse me, gentlemen. A point of order:

A springy nib is not the same as a flexible nib and the terms should not be
used interchangeably.

A flexible nib has tines that spread apart and yield a line of variable
width according to how much weight is applied making each person's writing
unique. Most flex nibs are found on vintage pens. The only modern pen with a
flexible nib in the Namiki Falcon. There are others that are semi-flex such
as gold nibs for some Parker Sonnets and Pelikans. A few years ago, however,
Parker started making the gold nibs for the Sonnet stiffer.

A springy nib is one that gives as you write without varying the line width.

Thank you.

--
~~Bluesea~~
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Please take out the trash before sending a direct reply.

"Jimmy" wrote in message
...

How many fps have you got? I have about 30 altogether; I haven't counted
recently.

Last count was 98.


--
~~Bluesea~~
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Please take out the trash before sending a direct reply.

"Bluesea" wrote in message
...

"Jimmy" wrote in message
...

How many fps have you got? I have about 30 altogether; I haven't
counted recently.

Last count was 98.

Buy two more then, and make it a round number. Good excuse!

"Bluesea" wrote in message
...
'Scuse me, gentlemen. A point of order:

A springy nib is not the same as a flexible nib and the terms should
not be used interchangeably.

A flexible nib has tines that spread apart and yield a line of
variable width according to how much weight is applied making each
person's writing unique. Most flex nibs are found on vintage pens. The
only modern pen with a flexible nib in the Namiki Falcon. There are
others that are semi-flex such as gold nibs for some Parker Sonnets
and Pelikans. A few years ago, however, Parker started making the gold
nibs for the Sonnet stiffer.

A springy nib is one that gives as you write without varying the line
width.

Thank you.

A fair point.

Flexible nibs feel springy, but springy nibs don't have to be flexible.
My Parker Duofold Junior (~1972) has a springy feel, but the line width
doesn't vary much.

Time to fill and use that one again.

According to this article,
http://www.richardspens.com/?page=re..._materials.htm
titanium isn't as good as14K gold.

--
Alan

"Jimmy" wrote in message
...
"Bluesea" wrote in message
...

"Jimmy" wrote in message
...

How many fps have you got? I have about 30 altogether; I haven't counted
recently.

Last count was 98.

Buy two more then, and make it a round number. Good excuse!

LOL!

The last I remembered was that I had 105 fps. Your question made me realize
that I hadn't added several new pens to my inventory - just a simple list in
a Word document. Now, I'm at 104 and wondering which pen I forgot.

--
~~Bluesea~~
Spam is great in musubi, but not in email.
Please take out the trash before sending a direct reply.

"Jimmy" wrote in message
...
"Bluesea" wrote in message
...
'Scuse me, gentlemen. A point of order:

A springy nib is not the same as a flexible nib and the terms should not
be used interchangeably.

A flexible nib has tines that spread apart and yield a line of variable
width according to how much weight is applied making each person's
writing unique. Most flex nibs are found on vintage pens. The only modern
pen with a flexible nib in the Namiki Falcon. There are others that are
semi-flex such as gold nibs for some Parker Sonnets and Pelikans. A few
years ago, however, Parker started making the gold nibs for the Sonnet
stiffer.

A springy nib is one that gives as you write without varying the line
width.

Thank you.

A fair point.

Flexible nibs feel springy, but springy nibs don't have to be flexible. My
Parker Duofold Junior (~1972) has a springy feel, but the line width
doesn't vary much.

Time to fill and use that one again.

According to this article,
http://www.richardspens.com/?page=re..._materials.htm
titanium isn't as good as14K gold.

I guess another way to look at it is that flex nibs move laterally while
springy nibs have vertical movement.

I haven't encountered a titanium nib. Most of my pens have stainless steel
nibs or some version of gold.

--
~~Bluesea~~
Spam is great in musubi, but not in email.
Please take out the trash before sending a direct reply.

"Bluesea" wrote in message
...

"Jimmy" wrote in message
...
"Bluesea" wrote in message
...

"Jimmy" wrote in message
...

How many fps have you got? I have about 30 altogether; I haven't
counted recently.

Last count was 98.

Buy two more then, and make it a round number. Good excuse!

LOL!

The last I remembered was that I had 105 fps. Your question made me
realize that I hadn't added several new pens to my inventory - just a
simple list in a Word document. Now, I'm at 104 and wondering which
pen I forgot.


Oh, now you've done it! You'll need to buy another 895 or 896 to reach a
round number now.

--
Alan

"Bluesea" wrote in message
...

"Jimmy" wrote in message
...
"Bluesea" wrote in message
...
'Scuse me, gentlemen. A point of order:

A springy nib is not the same as a flexible nib and the terms should
not be used interchangeably.
snip
A fair point.

Flexible nibs feel springy, but springy nibs don't have to be
flexible...
snip
According to this article,
http://www.richardspens.com/?page=re..._materials.htm
titanium isn't as good as14K gold.

I guess another way to look at it is that flex nibs move laterally
while springy nibs have vertical movement.

I haven't encountered a titanium nib. Most of my pens have stainless
steel nibs or some version of gold.


I've not tried a titanium nib either, but guessed it might be incredibly
springy. According to the quoted article, though, it is easy to deform.

I wonder if anyone has tried beryllium copper.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beryllium_copper
It's used for non-ferrous springs, is resistent to wear and corrosion,
and is even an attractive colour. The tiny head springs in good quality
cassette tapes used to be made of BeCu. I suppose the toxic dust might
put nib-makers off.

I've often wondered if industrial ruby or sapphire could be used in
place of the so-called "iridium" - the problem would be bonding the
tipping material. Hard material; tough to google effectively, too.

--
Alan

"Jimmy" wrote in message
...

I like the Space Pen, but I'm not convinced it's better than the
Papermate.

Come to think about it, I like the way Parker bps write a tad better than
the Fisher Space. However, the Fisher is reliable; I can count on its
writing when others won't: defying gravity, on pen-unfriendly paper, in the
cold. That's why it became my favorite, go-to, bp.


--
~~Bluesea~~
Spam is great in musubi, but not in email.
Please take out the trash before sending a direct reply.

"Jimmy" wrote in message
...
"Bluesea" wrote in message
...

"Jimmy" wrote in message
...
"Bluesea" wrote in message
...

"Jimmy" wrote in message
...

How many fps have you got? I have about 30 altogether; I haven't
counted recently.

Last count was 98.

Buy two more then, and make it a round number. Good excuse!

LOL!

The last I remembered was that I had 105 fps. Your question made me
realize that I hadn't added several new pens to my inventory - just a
simple list in a Word document. Now, I'm at 104 and wondering which pen I
forgot.


Oh, now you've done it! You'll need to buy another 895 or 896 to reach a
round number now.

ROTFLMHO!

Are you related to Adrian Monk?

--
~~Bluesea~~
Spam is great in musubi, but not in email.
Please take out the trash before sending a direct reply.