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Noodler's Ahab fountain pen review: A great, affordable flex nib pen but it does require work!
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- Опубліковано 8 кві 2020
- The Noodler's Ahab is an affordable flex nib fountain pen which is available in a range of colours.
Remember that the steel nib on this pen is not as flexible as vintage flex nibs!
Also remember that the Noodler's Ahab is NOT a pen which will usually write well right out of the box - the Ahab was designed to be tinkered with and even modified!
If you have just bought a Noodler's Ahab, or you have an Ahab which does not write properly please check out my easy fix for this problem here: • Noodler's Ahab will no...
Overall, I really love the Noodler's Ahab fountain pen. My in-depth review will hopefully help you to figure out why so many people dislike this fountain pen, whilst at the same time help you to discover why and how the Noodler's Ahab can be turned into that flex nib fountain pen that you have always wanted for less than $20.
To get rid of the small do 2 things (do everything at your own risk, worked with mine):
1. Repeated and extensive baths (4hours) into a mix of water + sodium bicarbonate (a.k.a. baking soda); every part should be bathed excluding the nib, the ebonite feed and the metallic clip
2. After 4h, wash the sodium bicarbonate away from the parts and dry them
3. UV exposure (UV nail kit or sunshine)
do at least 4 cycles. Then heat set the feeder.
The smell is gone unless you put the pen into your nostril :)
At least mine doesn't smell. It's a demonstrator/clear one, in case the type of plastic makes a difference.
Your tips for a new Ahab setup had my King Philip Purple writing like a champ right out of the box! Thanks for the great tricks for this fantastic, inexpensive writer!
So glad that my video helped you! 👍
Thanks for this comprehensive review of the Noodler's Ahab - it was one of the first new pens I bought when I reconnected with fountain pens several years ago. I don't use mine as much as I like, but I agree, if you're willing to tinker with them they're a great writing experience!
Thank you SO much for this video! I recently purchased an Ahab but since I have too many pens inked now, I will wait to ink my Ahab. I did wash it thoroughly and tried to heat set it (but ended taken it apart again). I will heat set it again before I ink it up. I can’t wait. I’m new to the fountain pen world, but the more challenging the pen - the more hooked I get! Thanks again! God bless you! 😃
Thank you 😁
Thank you!!! This is exactly what I needed to see! I look forward to the tinkering I'm about to do! It was 'railroading' all over the place and then the flow just stopped, so I am going to follow your instructions. I've got my Jinhao for every day. :)
I’m glad that my guide helped you. I’m pretty sure that if you follow it all, your Ahab will write very well.
Thank you! Had it not been for your videos (watched the shorter one as well), I would have given up on this pen but I love it now! I inked mine with Diamine Blue Pearl & I'm set to purchase a few more colors! I'll also make sure to use one of those clear make-up bags because "They wait until you're back's turned then squirt ink all over your house." Best quote [as it refers to fountain pens] ever! LOL!!! Loved it. Thanks again 😁
Many thanks for your comment, and I’m glad that I could help you 😀
Well if you do decide to carry the Ahab outside the house, I’d recommend clipping it, so nib and cap point up to the sky, otherwise you may find a cap full of ink. Great tip to use with Radiograph pens as well. But you may want to consider a super unbelievably affordably reliable TWSBI.
I used a candle like Nathan did in an old vid, and water too like in this vid to set my Ahab with a number 6 Addison Stub 1.5 and I’m so proud of myself because it came out perfect for the first time after having the Ahab for a few years.
It is like the old muscle car. We’d work on it, rebuilt engine at least twice, modify, tweak, etc. It was fun, but never reliable to be an everyday driver. Ahh nostalgia! Expensive adult hobbies and toys. A real hit at car shows, all eyes instantly on it in everywhere always. The killer metal flake paint, custom cut, molded body parts, the wing etc Glass cased pro audio components, custom built as much as I could to make it unique and original. Good thing I forced myself to finally sell it so I wouldn’t be forever poor and could move on to bigger and greater things.
This is gonna be my...
Journal Entry 2020-11-02
@@TheFutureLooksGrimm @Jason Grimm Expensive adult hobbies indeed! 😄 Not as bad as collecting muscle cars or fine wine. Although...I shouldn't say that. 🤔 Some of these pens are just as much as or more than a fine Bordeaux or a Brunello! Just bought my first TWSBI (580) & I LOVE IT! I find myself reaching for that pen more than any other. Not sure I'm brave enough to take the Ahab out of doors. I've already had a bit of unintentional art round the house. 😂 I did end up buying another Ahab as I found messing around with the 1st kinda fun! And since I love sheening Inks so much, it's certainly worth getting them to work!
Your video is like a one stop for all my questions plus more that I didn't know I wanted to ask. Big thanks.
Glad I helped you! 👍
@@FountainPenJourney got the pen today and I'm over the moon with it, can't believe it glides better than the Sonnet (the only other fountain pen I've used, for few months). Bought the rhodia notebook too, that is coping with the large ink flow so well. Also service from Pure Pen was top notch. Brilliant stuff!
Great and honest review. I wanted to try semi flex even though I have a very light hand. As I suspect flex will not suit me but curiosity wins out this is a great option. I can mess with it to my hearts desire!
Thank you for this video. My Ahab arrived a couple of days ago. My first experience with a flex nib. I knew I needed to clean it but did not understand the extent of the cleaning needed or the steps re adjusting the nib and feed. I now understand steps to take to get it where I can enjoy it.
Glad that I could help you 👍
I’d given up on these pens until I figured out what I needed to do to get them to work.
Greetings from Australia.
You mentioned Liverpool and Diamine Inks. I was born in Liverpool and did not know this.
I literally lived opposite the Swan Ink factory in Liverpool and wish I had one of those pens. They were classic pens.
However, a great video. Keep them coming. I learned something from this video and I will try Ahab pens.
I'm really pleased that I taught you something 😀
Many thanks for your comment 👍
Thank you! Mine is due in the mail any day. You went above and beyond.
Glad that my video helped you 👍
@@FountainPenJourney I will know in a few days. I am still very much a newbie, and can't afford the expensive pens, so the affordable workhorses will be what I collect. I have already tuned the nibs on my 4 pens, 3 of which I have for 15 years and quit using because they were so scratchy. I am so pumped! I also want to make some of my own inks for my dip pens so I can learn some simple calligraphy to incorporate into my card making. Keeping my fingers crossed.
Thank you for your reviews. I like Nathan from Noodler’s... the artwork, his explanation of design is so interesting. I did get an Ahab, but too early in my return to fountain pens journey. I have been confused by the hostility towards his inks. I love Lexington Grey, and the Charlie pen that came with it. My Ahab did not have an extra nib, btw.
I'm perplexed by many people's opinions about Noodler's inks, too. Inks are a very funny thing: Some people think that inks will harm their pens or perform badly... IMO most inks have their quirks, e.g. Waterman inks are well behaved and easy to clean out. Pelikan inks are dry.
Noodler's inks can be variable, but almost always perform well.
The extra/spare nib seems to be something peculiar to this UK retailer.
I love this pen and the smell of mine is very very subtle (I have to stick my nose to it to barely notice it to it is not a problem)
Great video, thank you! I love my ahab too and I always get a bit sad when I see people dismissing it...
@Elizanda Silmaeween Pandrose my heart has been feinted many times, but always drives straight forward into the target.
Truk Lagoon is actually not someplace in America. Today it is a world class dive site in Micronesia. It was a Japanese naval facility during WWII. There was a major raid (series of raids?) that sent over 50 vessels and hundreds of aircraft to the bottom where they remain today, encrusted with coral.
Blimey! I had no idea. Thanks for this information 👍
Very useful! Thank you.
Cheers! 👍
Never sniff pens. It’s like knocking at an empty house. You don’t know what you might summon.
Hahahaha! 😁
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
I have a couple of these - Hudson bay fathom and Maximillian emerald green. I am only really starting to dabble with them and have yet to fully learn and appreciate the nuances of this. However I find the filling systems interesting. The idea of filling the inside of the plunger rod feels quite innovative. The refillable cartridges are an odd one. I hear Nathan Tardif is notoriously anti-cartridge so I suppose these are different enough from a traditional cart to get away with - I consider them more as a portable resealable reservoir I guess. I have a love/hate relationship with my two Ahabs so far, which may improve with time, but what I'm really interested in is the Triple Tail. I write musical notation so the idea of getting an affordable pseudo-music nib is enticing. They also seem to have better flow characteristics than the Ahab (subject to tuning/hacking the latter). One thing I do like about Nathan is that his products are almost aimed at hackers. They have disassembly and fiddling around practically built into the whole ethos. I like that.
Nathan isn't anti-cartridge. Nathan is anti-disposable cartridge.
Waiting for mine to arrive...great video... perhaps it smells like catfish...lol
Edit: Watched till the end. I will follow your advice about cleaning it. Cartridge filler looks a bind. Love the idea of the eyedropper. Is it easy to unscrew pen when ink is depleted?
I've just bought an TWSBI Eco that comes with silicone grease ( I haven't attempted to remove that nib!) although I'm now concerned about leakage issues. I did ask pure pens to test nib before sending.
Diamine shimmering...Eco is blessed with Tropical Glow and I'm waiting to use Arabian Nights in my pink...very girly..yah...Ahab...and Rockin' Rio in another Noodlers pen what name escapes me at present. But it was cheap. I have serious mental issues with FP's, inks and stationery in general, so you are not alone!
A very enjoyable video. Many thanks. I found out a few things about the Ahab I didn't already know. I own just one Ahab. The colour is called 'Jade' and it looks gorgeous. I find the pen extremely comfortable to hold and a great writer. I have read a lot of adverse comments about the Ahab yet the example that I bought (from Pure Pens) is superb. No complaints. Regarding the additional nib. I might be wrong but doesn't the pen come fitted with the flex nib and the loose nib in the box is a standard non-flex nib. So you have two options when using the pen.
Hi David, the Ahab gets a lot of bad press, but if you're willing to fiddle with it, it's a great pen. Some people are lucky to receive pens which write well out of the box.
I'm not sure about the spare nibs: I've never tried them (something for me to do later!) so you could be correct in them being non flex. I'm not aware however that these pens are typically supplied with additional nibs.
Glad that you found this video useful.
I have used a lemon scented kitchen spray on one pen and a tea tree oil shampoo on another from FPR. (Similar smell I believe.) The kitchen cleaner did seem to dull the shine a bit but I got them at half price. Since I am really sensitive to smells I figured it was worth it. Absolutely no smell now.
I am really curious to try the Ahab. Thanks for the review.
Glad that your fix worked 😀
Is it possible to fit a screw or squeeze style converter to these pens? The only problem is when it dries out a bit there's no way of squeezing half a drop of ink to the nib.
I bought the pen by the way for messing around with ancient German shorthand where you need thick strokes to represent certain vowels but mostly I use it for drawing. Noodlers Heart of Darkness makes a great fountain pen equivalent to Indian ink.
I got a nice free pen with the Noodler's ink bottle, but same problem. You can't refresh the nib and that's half the reason I prefer bottled ink to cartridges. Apart from the low cost and choice of inks.
The piston converter that is (should) be supplied with each Ahab is about as close as I think you’re going to get to this.
I like the sound of that German shorthand! Very interesting 👍
Mine only smells if ya get really close, keeping them in a bag probably amplifies it briefly. Nice video 👍
My Ahabs are temperamental. I have four. Two work well, and two are troublesome no matter how i try to adjust.
I've got a Triple Tail (from pure pens too), that burps the same like Ahab (with Diamine and other wet inks). I've found that using dry inks like KWZ IG Green Gold, it becomes almost like a normal pen !
After this video I think I'll try and Ahab demonstrator too :-)
Very nice video, thank you !
Thanks for the info about the Triple Tail. I've yet to be convinced by it and the limited choice of colours hasn't helped.
Glad that my video was helpful 😀
@@FountainPenJourney regarding flex the 3tail has very soft tynes, they flex very easily. (Compared to a Creeper that I have). But they put a lot of ink on the paper - my guess is more than Ahab - that rhodia paper sometimes can't handle ... so, a very dry ink is my solution so far.
And I thought that the Nib Creaper and the Ahab could lay down too much ink!
Dry inks sound like the best option!
@@korax67
Just out of curiosity, what dry inks do you use? I have Pelikan 4001 Brilliant Black and Brown. Thanks for any feedback.
Baking soda/powder is what I use for my Ahabs. I keep the pen in a small ziplock bag filled with
baking soda for 2-3 weeks. After that the smell is 85-90% gone. I have that bag zipped up and
ready just in case I purchase another Ahab. I swap nibs for Goulet or Knox #6 medium and 1.1
stubs. I am not into flex writing. I own 5 Ahab pens (including the yellow one). I don't find the
clip "sloppy", but each of us has our own personal taste. Clip works nicely on my jackets. That
piece needs to be straight. How did you twist it up so bad? No wonder it is a bit of a pain. (LOL)
Let's not blame Nathan for that!!! Thank goodness I did not have a problem with ink pouring
out all in the cap when I first purchased my Ahabs. Also did not have any problems with
them writing. Thank goodness. I would have been pulling my hair out!!!!
Many thanks for your tip regarding the baking powder, Kelley. 2-3 weeks is a lot longer than I would have thought to do this for! 👍
I see you have a huge collection of Ahabs and you have not said a word about it's brother Konrad nor their triple tined cousins. Are these issues with all of them? Are the solutions similar? Did you try the Konrad and go back to the Ahab and if so, why? I am thinking of buying one to play with, but I am not sure which one to start with.
With all my nibs and feeds I washed them all (dish soap and a little bit of ammonia ) and scrubbed them with a nylon brush, then let them air-dry.
Great video
Thanks! 👍
What would consider to be a decent paper for fountain pen?
There’s plenty of brands. Rhodia, Clairefontaine, Oxford, etc
Don’t have ahab yet. May order one. Where to order those sealable converter cartridges.
Pure Pens.
mine had NO smell when it came out of the box.....it is very , very slight........after using "fountain pens" for 60years I find this a delight , easy to use & with the flexible nib great for writing.......I have other pens I use for art & calligraphy including radiograph & Rotring tech pens that are a P.I.A. If it gets lost or broken it's not a deal breaker....extremely affordable.... Pen & Inks are made in the USA
You’re one of the lucky ones!
Maybe they have changed the material formula to make it less malodorous.
Can you express how much pressure is needed to flex? Is not about how much flex one can get but how little pressure it takes to get the flex. Does it flex automatically on the down stroke?
If you’re expecting vintage flex, you’ll be disappointed, but saying that I hate vintage flex pens because they are too soft. You need a moderate amount of downward pressure to get these nibs to flex.
The shop I bought them from must have aired them out, mine didn’t smell at all 🤷🏼♀️
You’re lucky!
I heard Penboyroy say in one of good podcasts that even the Triple Tail smells a bit, when it’s not supposed to.
great video, thanks Rob! Also for answering the comment with a provided link for those interested in getting the converter cartridges. i don t know how i missed it and trust me i searched knowing pure pens would be the place to go. i personally have 4 of them and would use them more due to this discovery because i hated the plunger thing and don t do lots of ink at once in a pen because i like to ink up lots of them at a time... hehehehe. Thanks again, i am on my way to get a pack of 5 , now !
Glad that I could help encourage you to use your Ahabs more, and buy more pens... 😉
So both of these videos where very helpful. But mine still doesn't write more than a sentence or two before it stops working I have done the amonia wash and sponge bath plus heat setting it twice. And now it writes but only a sentence than I have to tap the bottom end of the pen to get it to write I did notice that the main feed Grove is shorter than some of my other pens including other Noodlers pen. Could it be that the feed was cut slightly improperly and I need to carve that grove out a bit to flow a bit better. 20 dollars to me is a ton of money. It means I have to work an hour and a half just to buy this pen.
You could try carving the feed channel very carefully with the tip of a thin, sharp blade, but you'll have to do this at your own risk.
@@FountainPenJourney yeah I am a little nervous about doing the mod
@@Kevinthewiseone go carefully and gradually. It can work wonders!
I like the smell of the Ahabs......yeah, I must have a nasal and neurological crossed wire somewhere. I like your description of trying to explain the smell😆😆😆😆.
They stink! But I can handle the smell 😀
If this is not a beginner friendly flex pen, which pen you would consider as one (still being affordable being a condition).
Honestly, I would recommend seeking out a vintage flex over any modern flex (cheap) pens. eBay tends to be the best chance of finding a bargain, but you'll lose out on plenty of auctions before you snag one.
@@FountainPenJourney Thank you for your prompt answer. I 'll try my luck in ebay.
Good luck: you will find one eventually and have a good experience with it 👍
Nathan includes the extra nib
so the pen will last even longer .... ✌🏾♥️
Noodler's nibs are made in India by Kanwrite.
Some are made of acrylic however the plunger piston converter system inside is made of the vegetal resin which smells really foul like something decomposing. However, leaving the pens apart and laid in direct sunlight for a day or two will eliminate the Oder almost entirely. Otherwise over time the smell dissipates on its own once it’s not sealed airtight any longer. Eventually you won’t smell it at all, unless you stick your nose right against it and try to smell it on purpose. Great pen all around I own 1 and gifted 1 to a friend. They hold a lot of ink in the plunger piston and a MASSIVE amount of you eye dropper fill it. I adore mine. You can even put G nibs into them if you really want to
When I bought my Ahab I was not aware of the other colours so mine is a boring flat blue.
Teoh was saying that the Noodlers pens stunk. 😂😂 I thought he was possibly hypersensitive as am I being #ActuallyAutistic 😂 Guess it is just a stinky pen 🖋 ✒️
What is it with you fountain pen people and sniffing your pens?
It’s not so much about sniffing this pen - the odour drifts everywhere
The smell is like a variety of ink colors, but for the nose.
It is a stinky pen though, when you first get it, and once you realize stinky pen is a thing that can exist, you start to wonder if all pens are stinky and maybe you just never noticed. It becomes an all consuming paranoia, and you can’t even trust your sense of reality any more.
Other than that, it’s a cool pen.
If a pen requires that much work... It's not a good value no matter what the price is...
Vintage pens...?
Surely when you get to the bottom of a perfectly written page the eyedroppered pen will burp. Worse if the ink leaks into the cap and body. Sorry Nathan, gotta pass on this pen.
If you use the piston converter or the refillable cartridges the heat from your hand won’t cause burping. The trick on eye dropper pens is to keep your ink level above about 1/3 rd of a fill. Noodler’s pens aren’t for the mechanically incompetent. You really need to be the type of person who likes to tinker and doesn’t mind getting inky fingers. So if you’re not interested in these pens, that’s probably a good call on your part. You would likely become frustrated with it and end up throwing the pen away. You’ll probably be happier with a Lamy Safari or a Pilot Kakuno that you can put a cartridge in and just start writing. There’s nothing wrong with that if that’s where your comfort zone is. I own multiple Noodler’s pens. I get a lot of joy out of them because I’m a tinkerer. It’s fun for people like me.
Smelly, leaks and burps...hmmm...it doesn't sound too good. 😆
i've followed your advice, and advice on other videos, and i could not get this thing to consistently work. it would only write 1 in 5 lines that i wrote. If this is what fountain pens are like, then i want no part of this hobby. I'm taking this pen downstairs to smash it with a hammer. such a waste of time and money.
The Ahab really isn't a pen for the impatient or a beginner. There are so many better fountain pens available which will work out of the box.
@@FountainPenJourney I've calmed down. I didnt take a hammer to the pen. But I did get the pilot metropolitan. That pen is amazing. I may come back to this pen after a while. Sorry. I was just really frustrated at the time.
@@tastykimchi2720 don't feel bad, or sorry. sometimes it just happens to me--and i can't say i regret it. i've taken the old flogging iron to a couple of watches that were beyond reasonable repair and the experience was not without satisfaction.