Noodler's Boston Safety Pen - Chestnut
The Noodler’s Boston Safety Pen is made of ebonite, a traditional material used for vintage safety pens. Safety pens are designed to help prevent any ink from leaking while capped. Unlike traditional fountain pens that seal around the grip when closed, the safety pen helps to create a seal right at the ink reservoir. They are not as vulnerable to pressure changes when traveling. They also start right up after periods of non-use due to the fact that the nib and feed stay submerged in ink when retracted. Please note that all Boston Safety pens will now come with a metal core made of surgical stainless steel.
When you first open it, you will notice that the nib is completely retracted into the barrel. To expose the nib, simply push and twist on the back of the pen, keeping the pen in a vertical position with the nib facing up. This is important! Otherwise the entirety of the ink supply will pour out of the pen. Slowly twist and push all the way up.
To fill this pen, retract the nib fully back into the barrel of the pen, and fill using an eyedropper or an ink syringe with no more than 1ml (to avoid overfilling and spillage).
To close the pen, you will need to retract the nib back into the barrel, keeping it vertical with the nib facing up, before screwing the cap back on.
We strongly recommend that you watch Nathan’s video below on best practices for using and filling this pen, as it is unlike anything else we carry.
It uses a #2 flexible nib, the same as the Noodler’s Nib Creaper flex pen.
The Noodler's flex pens were designed for the hands-on tinkerer - they are made to be taken apart and adjusted. The nib and feed pull right out and can be adjusted and heat set for optimal performance. Don't be afraid to get a little ink on your fingers while you learn how to use this pen.
As a simple rule of thumb for writing with a flex pen, just apply slight pressure on your downstrokes, which will spread the tines and increase the line width, achieving that optimal line variation. Make sure to go slowly so that the ink can keep up with your writing. As with any flex pen, it just takes practice!
Due to the residual machining oils used when cutting the feeds for these pens, we highly encourage you to give the pen a good flush before use. We recommend any of the following options: distilled water, water with a touch of dish soap, a pre-packaged pen flush, or a solution of 10% clear ammonia to water. This should resolve most ink flow issues!
Click here to download the printable PDF instruction sheet for the Noodler's Boston Safety Pen.
- Condition
- New
- Brand
- Noodler's
- Type
- Fountain Pens
- Color
- Black, Brown
- Demonstrator
Whether or not the barrel of the pen is translucent, allowing you to see the ink and filling mechanism inside.
- No
- Body Material
- Ebonite
- Cap Rotations
For pens with a screw-cap closure, how many rotations it takes to uncap/recap the pen.
- 5
- Cap Type
How the cap is opened/closed from the barrel of the pen. Some common options include Snap-Cap, Screw-Cap, Magnetic Cap, or Capless (no cap).
- Screw-cap
- Compatible inks & refills
Which ink this pen will accept. Choices include bottled ink and various styles of pre-filled ink cartridges.
- Bottled ink
- Filling Mechanism
How the pen fills with ink. Click here to watch our video tutorial on common filling mechanisms.
- Eyedropper
- Grip Material
- Ebonite
- Nib Size
- Flex
- Nib Color
- Silver
- Nib Material
- Steel
- Postable
Whether or not the cap fits securely onto the back of the barrel when open.
- Yes
- Retractable
Whether or not the nib/tip can retract into the body of the pen (usually for click or twist-open style pens).
- Yes
- Diameter - Body
- 10.7mm (0.42in)
- Diameter - Cap (without clip)
- 12.6mm (0.50in)
- Diameter - Cap (with clip)
- 16.3mm (0.64in)
- Diameter - Grip (mm)
Measured from the place most people choose to rest their fingers, which varies with each pen.
- 9.3mm
- Length - Body
The measurement from the back end of the barrel to the tip of the nib.
- 134.9mm (5.31in)
- Length - Cap
- 49.8mm (1.96in)
- Length - Nib
The measured length of the visible portion of the nib when it is installed in the pen, from grip to tip.
- 16.4mm (0.65in)
- Length - Overall (Closed)
- 158.4mm (6.24in)
- Length - Overall (Posted)
When the cap of the pen is posted onto the back of the pen body, this is the measurement of the entire pen including the nib.
- 173.6mm (6.83in)
- Weight - Body
If a converter is included with the pen, this weight is reflected in the total.
- 28g (0.99oz)
- Weight - Cap
- 5g (0.18oz)
- Weight - Overall (g)
- 33.0g
- Max Ink Capacity - Eyedropper
The maximum volume of ink that can fit in the pen when filling the entire barrel of the pen via eyedropper.
- 1.09ml
Customer Reviews
Couldn't be happier with this pen. It can take almost any ink from India to acrylic etc and doesn't dry out. It works beautifully with a waterman 52 flex nib so now I virtually have a portable dip pen when I'm sketching on the go.
This pen is great, I love the ebonite body. I switched out the nib for a Jowo and heat set the bib to the filler. It writes beautifully. If you're looking at a Boston Safety Pen, you are likely aware that you must carefully open and close the pen. Open it incorrectly and ink is everywhere, close it improperly and you risk damaging the nib. Thus, this is a great pen, but a word or warning to the owner.
There is a learning curve to writing with this pen, but once you get used to the extra steps writing is fine and enjoyable. Since there is only one white ink on the market for fountain pens, I bought this pen so I can use write with white dip pen inks and expand my options. Using non-fountain pen inks requires a lot of patience as you have to dilute the ink enough that it flows easily down the tube and feed. The semi-flex nib is underwhelming and railroads like crazy but can be replaced with other Noodler's nibs. Really wish there were nib options when purchasing this pen.
The safety pen has some unique features. The nib retracts into the body to stay wet and in theory prevents the pen from leaking. However, this pen doesn't always live up to that. As Nathan notes in the YouTube video, sometimes uncapping causes a pressure change that causes ink to shoot into the cap and onto the threads, even if you're holding it upright. I don't experience this every time I uncap the pen, but when it did happen, it was messy. The other thing to note is that you must hold it upright to uncap it or you will spill ink out. Luckily, I've managed to avoid that so far. It is quirky to fill. You eye dropper into the barrel and very slowly draw the nib back up. Sometimes, the ink gets trapped above the nib and you have to carefully tap it to get some bubbles out. It's also very easy to overfill, making an unavoidable mess when you bring the nib back up. There are no markers or fill lines, etc., so you're going to have to wing it.Some good news for those who are concerned about Noodlers pens needing to be heat set is that I didn't have to do that with this one. The flex on this is not great and it is prone to hard breaking if you do much of it, which I wasn't expecting for a nib/feed constantly bathed in ink. The nib isn't the smoothest, but as a regular writer, it does just fine. It's a fun pen and I don't regret buying it, but it's definitely not going to be for everyone.
My first order with Goulet. As others have stated Goulet customer service is top notch A+. I received the chestnut safety pen and was wondering how I was leaving noodlers black finger prints on things. Turns out the pen was leaking. A quick interaction with customer service and a new pen was on the way and quickly. The pen. It's definitely a learning curve but overall works as expected. The only thing I'd say is you really need to disassemble the pen when switching inks to ensure it's fully clean before you make an unintended science project. Not too big of a deal but Nathan's explanation of using only your hands to take apart the pen might be accurate for subsequent tear downs but for the first one wow that thing is put together tight. Overall I'm quite happy. Very unique piece that's completely functional and very comfortable that works well. Try a sheening or shading ink. Wow, they pop! with what I would call a fine nib but wet enough for these types of ink to perform. I might need to heat set the nib for flexing. It almost immediately railroads with moderate line variation. It will do it nicely if the fees is primed but after writing for a while you really have to be patient to flex it.
