Noodler's New Ebonite Pens

The Noodler's new Ebonite Konrads are now for sale, and while I was not very fond of the Ahab, this shares the same flex nib, where can you get and Ebonite piston filling pen with an ink window for $40?
I ordered the green one before the Goulets sold out of it. Anyone else grab one?
(picture from gouletpens.com)

I thought about picking up the mottled brown version, but my new Ahab has been such a pain to get dialed in that I decided to wait for now. The pens are beautiful, so I can't wait to hear your review on it.

I'm interested in hearing what you think about this. I like the look of the ebonite, but I thought that the Konrad was just OK as pens go. I wonder if the ebonite version is going to be more substantial? Let us know what it's like when it comes.

I like the look! When I get some more $$$, that may just make me pull the trigger on a Noodlers flex despite the negative reviews.

Nope. Too much fiddling with Ahabs and Creepers will keep me from them. A pen should not have to be re-adjusted every couple of days. Even my $7 Gui Guan is a better pen.

oc_in_fw said:

Nope. Too much fiddling with Ahabs and Creepers will keep me from them. A pen should not have to be re-adjusted every couple of days. Even my $7 Gui Guan is a better pen.

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While my Ahab is usually fine (guess I got lucky), this problem with Noodlers pens will not go away until the manufacturing flaws are treated as manufacturing flaws and not "quirks" that are there because "Noodlers pens are made with the assumption that the buyer is an experienced FP user" or whatever excuse the Noodlers fanboys use these days. Seriously, sure the pens are cheap but there's no excuse for such widespread variation and there shouldn't be need to tweak them daily.

I had one of the standard Noodlers ahabs. It worked fine and wrote every time, never leaked and the only complaint I ever had was loosing it. I guess I ended up with one of the few good ones.

Kevan said:

While my Ahab is usually fine (guess I got lucky), this problem with Noodlers pens will not go away until the manufacturing flaws are treated as manufacturing flaws and not "quirks" that are there because "Noodlers pens are made with the assumption that the buyer is an experienced FP user" or whatever excuse the Noodlers fanboys use these days. Seriously, sure the pens are cheap but there's no excuse for such widespread variation and there shouldn't be need to tweak them daily.

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If I had my way, I would sell both my Ahabs on BST- I just don't want someone to end up hating me.

I was curious enough to look on the Goulet's site, but I can't find them. Maybe they did sell out. Anyway, even if they work perfectly, I think I have enough Noodler's pens. I wonder, though, if the material is the same as on their older squeeze fill ebonite models. Those were quite attractive, if unexceptional as writing instruments.

oc_in_fw said:

If I had my way, I would sell both my Ahabs on BST- I just don't want someone to end up hating me.

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You can always PIF them. I like mine, though I am the first to admit my Preppy was a better writing pen until I lost it.

Mr5x5 said:

You can always PIF them. I like mine, though I am the first to admit my Preppy was a better writing pen until I lost it.

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I still fear someone would be pissed, or give up on fountain pens.

And here I am thinking about getting either a Konrad Flex or Ahab Flex ...

I have a green ebonite Konrad on the way. And a mottled brown one. One from Goulet, one from Todd at isellpens. (Still in stock there, apparently, though Goulet sold out very quickly.)

I don't know if I'm a fanboy or not, but I like the Ahab & Konrad & first ebonite Noodler's... guess I have a lot of time on my hands (and ink), but I'm having fun with them. Introducing a set of Knox nibs has multiplied my fun! (I'm having more trouble keeping the pens writing with the Knox nibs than with the Noodler's flexis. Go figure.)

I think one of the ebonite Konrads should be very fun with the Knox 1.1 stub ("calligraphy") nib... if it writes!

I love my ahab, I've never had an issue with it or had to adjust it. Maybe I got lucky or maybe I have lower standards. I dunno, I don't like the screw cap though, makes quick opening hard. I was on the phone yesterday and had to write some notes so I tried to open it with my teeth. all I can say is the vegetal resin is pretty soft.

Mr5x5 said:

You can always PIF them.

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oc_in_fw said:

I still fear someone would be piffed, or give up on fountain pens.

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ftfy, and you are right to be concerned.

My new Noodler's Ebonite Konrad arrived today from the Goulets. I gave it a good cleaning first with water and dish soap, then clean water, then JB's pen flush then water again. I read that sometimes there is a lot of oils left in the feeds. I hope that cleaning did it. It is drying now then I will ink it up.
First impressions, the quality is not top notch, granted it is a $40 pen. I guess I cannot hold it to the standards of an Ebonite pen made from Brian at Edison. There are machining marks from one tip of the barrel to the other. I even thought I was being too critical, and asked my wife if she saw anything, and she noticed all the "scratches." It looks like it needed to be polished a little more. The clip is also sitting a bit off center, and ring on the top of the clip is being squeezed by one side of the finial. I cannot unscrew it to center it. The piston mechanism seems to work well, and looks like it will hold a good amount of ink.
I will let you guys know how it goes when it is inked up.

Sorry to hear about the build quality, but I am looking forward to your review on how it writes.

So I let the pen dry out and then inked it up with Black Swan in Australian Roses. I have to say that the first writing test experience was a pleasant surprise. When I cleaned the pen, I took out the nib and feed. When i reassembled the pen I adjusted the nib and feed and inserted it just like I would any other pen. I was worried after I inked it up that I would have ink all over my hands for and this is waterproof so it would be around for a little.
When I put the pen to the paper it wrote first time. Using the pen to write normal gives you a extra fine to fine line.

The pen wrote fine. Then I started pushing it! I was trying to write using the flex to see if the feed would run out of ink. It seemed to keep up very well. How many times can you write the quick brown fox... The pen skipped once, but I think I may have had the nib turned at an angle.


So then I started pushing it more. I tried to get as much flex as I could, and write quickly when I wrote the alphabet. You can see some railroading, but like I said, I was not letting up for the feed to saturate again.


I did not have to adjust the feed or nib once! I did have an Ahab, and I would never have thought this pen would have performed this well with no tinkering.
So, maybe Nathan changed something. I know he was QC'ing every pen, but I thought they said that about the first Ahabs too. I will let the pen sit for a couple of hours tonight and then see how it performs, and then let it sit over night and try again tomorrow. I will let you guys know if anything changes.

re my green ebonite Konrad - I filled it as soon as it came out of the box - I didn't clean or flush the pen, or adjust the feed/nib - just filled it... and it wrote! Very fine line without pressure, not as much variation with relatively easy pressure as some of my messed-with Noodler's flexies.

The finish on my pen is not as rough as Dave's - my disappointment is that the "pattern" is so different between the cap and barrel. A small quibble.

This morning I flushed the pen, scrubbed the feed, dried everything up - and swapped in a Knox OB nib. I filled the pen with Noodler's Sequoia (a quite dark green - laid down wet, it's nearly black - a nice match to the dark-mottled green ebonite). She's writing very smooth, very wet (again, I've not spent any time trying to adjust the flow).

Starts right up... we'll see how it goes after a night's sleep.

I like the feel of the ebonite - and this is somewhat larger than the plastic Konrad.

I'm enjoying it so far.


OK, I'm in the Noodler's FanBoy Club.

bythbook said:

re my green ebonite Konrad - I filled it as soon as it came out of the box - I didn't clean or flush the pen, or adjust the feed/nib - just filled it... and it wrote! Very fine line without pressure, not as much variation with relatively easy pressure as some of my messed-with Noodler's flexies.

The finish on my pen is not as rough as Dave's - my disappointment is that the "pattern" is so different between the cap and barrel. A small quibble.

This morning I flushed the pen, scrubbed the feed, dried everything up - and swapped in a Knox OB nib. I filled the pen with Noodler's Sequoia (a quite dark green - laid down wet, it's nearly black - a nice match to the dark-mottled green ebonite). She's writing very smooth, very wet (again, I've not spent any time trying to adjust the flow).

Starts right up... we'll see how it goes after a night's sleep.

I like the feel of the ebonite - and this is somewhat larger than the plastic Konrad.

I'm enjoying it so far.


OK, I'm in the Noodler's FanBoy Club.

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You will probably like the feel of the Ahabs, too. Hope your luck is better than mine.