I’m a woman who likes to hack things or just make them better. I loved the idea of the Noodler’s Flex pen when it first came out. The idea of having a fountain pen that flexed like the  pens I once used in high school for sketching was an enticing idea. I found a used one and enjoyed it but not overly much, flexing it was very tough on my wrists and hands. The pen was small and flexing it required a decent amount of pressure.

I read an article back then about people hacking the pens with good and bad results. I held off on hacking mine, not sure if I wanted to maybe destroy the pen. After numerous other pens had been introduced; the Ahab and the Konrad, I went ahead and decided I wanted to hack the pen I had to see if maybe I wanted to get myself one of the newer models.

I got the dremel out with a heavy cutting wheel. I didn’t use the cutting surface of the wheel but the larger flat side on the lowest speed. I held the nib in a pair of needle nose pliers and carefully trimmed about 2mm off the shoulders of the nib. I attempted to make them match up as much as possible. They mostly match, one is maybe .5mm off if not less. I shaped them so the cut area was at the same angle as the rest of the nib. I smoothed the edges and called it good. Working slowly the whole job took me less than 2 minutes.

The results are nothing short of miraculous. The pen initially while interesting and usable was not totally enjoyable. Now it’s soft and easy for me to use. I’m able to flex it to max width with little pressure. I’ve not put it through it’s paces with sketching yet, but I’m thinking it’s going to be a real treat to use. So far I’m able to use it much like my brush pen, lots of noodly line variation and it simply adds a ton of interest to the page. I’m hoping that I can  really test it out this week and report back about how it works for me.