What Happens When You Mount A Gold Nib On A Twsbi Pen?

[ToasterPastry]

What happens when you put a 14K gold nib on a TWSBI pen?

 

The TWSBI Diamond 530 in many ways reminds me of the Esterbrook, an over-engineered pen, where every detail has been honed out to produce an extremely well-designed pen at a very reasonable cost. Whereas Esterbrook was primarily a nib company that produced a pen to accommodate their nibs, the TWSBI’s pen is a well-designed pen that needs a good nib. Fortunately, the TWSBI was designed to be completely disassembled.

 

http://i303.photobucket.com/albums/nn130/ToasterPastryphoto/TWSBI_pen.jpg

 

The nib can be easily removed by simply grabbing the nib and feed and twisting back-and-forth to pull it out. I have an assortment of nibs around the house. I wanted a gold nib with iridium tipping that had a small degree of flex. I immediately chose a Sheaffer nib, but it was too large for the pen. A John Holland nib seemed to fit, but the flow was poor through the nib. I came across a Pencraft nib, essentially a noname brand. But it seems to do the trick.

 

One of the design issues with the Diamond 530 is that it accommodates only smaller nibs; the cap is too small to allow the larger nib, something that TWSBI hopes to accommodate with the Diamond 550. Essentially, the 530 is a big pen with a small nib. From a personal standpoint, there seems to be a better writing balance when using a large nib. This is what I wanted to achieve by trying to shove an old Sheaffer flat-top Lifetime nib into the pen.

 

http://i303.photobucket.com/albums/nn130/ToasterPastryphoto/TWSBI_gold_scan.jpg

Writing sample

 

So what happens when I mount a 14K gold nib on a TWSBI pen? Without a doubt the nib is much smoother than the original Bock steel nib. There is more expression with this semi-flex nib. I find myself using this pen repeatedly for daily use, even when I have several other favorite pens to choose from. What do I give up? Unfortunately everything can’t be perfect. About two to three times per day, ink flow will stop with writing. I can restart it again by simply turning the nib over and rubbing the flat against the paper. This never happened with the original nib. Even though the ink flow is generally smooth, I believe that the tines on the nib are slightly out of alignment. I’m going to need to remove the nib and smooth it out on a nib block. It may be that the flow of ink is restricted a bit. Perhaps not enough air can get through the feed. I have tried mounting the nib multiple times, and I have tried different inks, and I still haven’t been able to solve the problem. But for now, it works okay. Obviously, I love writing with the pen so much I’m willing to put up with this idiosyncrasy. But I’m not going to put up with it forever.

 

http://i303.photobucket.com/albums/nn130/ToasterPastryphoto/TWSBI_pen_regular_nib.jpg

Original nib

 

http://i303.photobucket.com/albums/nn130/ToasterPastryphoto/TWSBI_pen_gold_nib.jpg

Gold nib replacement

 

If you plan to mount a gold nib on the Diamond 530, you need plenty of options. Therefore, it takes a whole box of nibs to finally find the right one. But for me, the trade out was worth the effort. I can always go back to the original nib.

[saskia_madding]

I found the same thing - it was well worth the effort. I put the cursive italic medium nib from my Honey Tortoise Pelikan onto the pen and it writes incredibly now. No flow problems, nothing. It took a while to seat everything just right, but I am so pleased with the pen now, I'm not sure it will EVER leave rotation.

 

http://i997.photobucket.com/albums/af97/Saskia_Madding/TWSBI/DSC07879.jpg?t=1291737507

 

http://i997.photobucket.com/albums/af97/Saskia_Madding/TWSBI/DSC07878.jpg?t=1291737507

[jde]

What happens when you put a 14K gold nib on a TWSBI pen?

 

You get a TWGOLDIE?

[skipwilliams]

So a standard #4 vintage nib will fit a TWSBI? Is that right? Or is it a #6?

 

Skip

[ToasterPastry]

Probably a #2. Maybe a #4. Definitely not a #6.

[Malcy]

What happens when you put a 14K gold nib on a TWSBI pen?

 

You get a TWGOLDIE?

 

In my case I got a Twsikan or a Pelibi or even a Twelikan. :roflmho:

 

p.s. I reversed the way that I seated the Pelikan nib by bending the nib back to the original alignment and heat seating the feed. It hasn't made any operational difference but is probably the better way with an expensive or fragile gold nib rather than the cheap steel one that I used.

[dcwaites]

Having tuned my TWSBI nib ( aligned the tines and opened them up a tad to let a little more ink through ) I find that my current nib performs absolutely perfectly. Filled with Visconti Blue, it compares well with my Sailors and Parker 51s.

 

I would suggest to those who are less than happy with their TWSBI nib to either tune it themselves or to get it tuned. Then see if you want to change it.

 

 

The only way I could improve my nib is by getting one with a different size/shape, i.e. Medium or Italic. I would love a Fine Naginata Togi nib on a TWSBI. Perhaps when I get a Vacuum fill TWSBI...

[ToasterPastry]

I chose the gold nib not because it was gold, but because it has some flexibility. My writing demonstration doesn't show it, but the nib has a lot of character. I believe that the feed can't up with the flexibility of the nib. So, I've restrained myself a bit. For fine point work it's excellent, but it also has that extra flexibility for flourishes. If it was another manifold nib, I would have stuck with the original.

[ToasterPastry]

--Too much button pushing. Don't need to read this twice.--

Edited December 8, 2010 by ToasterPastry

[jniforat]

wow...if only i had a nice spare nib

[opus7600]

I chose the gold nib not because it was gold, but because it has some flexibility. My writing demonstration doesn't show it, but the nib has a lot of character. I believe that the feed can't up with the flexibility of the nib.

 

I think watch_art adjusted the flow in his TWSBI by hacking at the channel with an xacto knife.

 

Ah, found it. Start from post #26 here.

 

So maybe that would give you the flow you need to actually *use* the flex you've now got available.

[IonutZ]

To those of you who have already fitted your TWSBIs with gold nibs, do you think a Pelikan M400 nib

 

http://cgi.ebay.com/Pelikan-M400-14-k-two-tone-nib-Fine-Smooooth-/260706705734?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3cb354a146

 

Would fit the TWSBI?

[ThirdeYe]

A Pencraft nib was made by the Michael-George Co. in the 20s/30s, right? I have a Yankee 2 nib, also a Michael-George Co. product, and it's a fantastic nib. I might have to consider doing this if I get a TWSBI. The Yankee pen accompanying my nib is unfortunately missing part of the cap, so it dries out quickly leaving the pen useless until I gently pull the lever to prime the feed with ink.

Edited December 13, 2010 by ThirdeYe

[Claver]

I found the same thing - it was well worth the effort. I put the cursive italic medium nib from my Honey Tortoise Pelikan onto the pen and it writes incredibly now. No flow problems, nothing. It took a while to seat everything just right, but I am so pleased with the pen now, I'm not sure it will EVER leave rotation.

 

http://i997.photobucket.com/albums/af97/Saskia_Madding/TWSBI/DSC07879.jpg?t=1291737507

 

 

Absolutely fantastic.

 

Did you use just the metal nib (if just the nib, how did you remove it?)? Or, did you use the whole pelikan nib unit?

[Malcy]

You remove the Pelikan nib from it's holder by knocking the locking collar back - FPN member Watch-Art did an illustrated how-to. You should be able to find it with a quick search.

 

The Pekikan 200/400 nib fits straight into the TWSBI nib module, however you may find that flow only lasts a short while as there is a small gap between the end of the feed and the nib. This is easily resolved by putting the feed in water from the kettle for a short while and pushing it upwards to close the gap. It will set in position when it cools.

Edited January 8, 2011 by Malcy

[Safari_Camo]

Claver, lovely picture! amazing.

[saskia_madding]

I just wanted to note that I didn't need to heat set the TWSBI feed for it to work perfectly with the m400 nib. There was someone who put an m600 rhodium plated nib into the TWSBI and that size did neat heat setting. The m400 should be fine without it.

[dnb]

I just want to second - for people who don't need to flex and will use a standard nib, the OEM nib can be tuned to write beautifully. It is one of my better writers now. I smoothed and opened the tines ever so slightly for more flow. As an wide EF now, the feed handles it perfectly.

I just don't like it because the dang thing is too skinny!

Edited January 8, 2011 by dnb

[stacybean]

Question: Has anyne tried t fit a P381 nib on a TWSBI? Comments and suggestions please? The nib is lovely and the pen is way to thin for me.Thanks

[fjf]

http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c112/fj1121/twsbi.jpg

http://www.thegoldennib.com/bmz_cache/b/bd57ab1961e41adbfb168326a17022cb.image.733x550.jpg

 

You can purchase this 1.1 mm stub here

Edited January 8, 2011 by fjf