Do You Use Several Nib Sizes?

[Ergative]

I prefer the Japanese Fines, but I've recently started playing with the idea of getting a western Medium back into play, because I do like seeing nice shading in my inks. I couldn't go up to a broad. I've played with those, and at some point they stop being a pleasure and start being a hindrance to comfortable writing.

[Runnin_Ute]

I have from EF to 1.1 mm italic - I mostly use F and M

Pelikan-EF, F, M, M

Esterbrook-EF, F, F (9550/1555/Venus F)

Parker-F/F/M (the M is 14k)/another M

Waterman -M

Pilot-M (western F)

True Writer-F

Lamy - 1.1 mm/F

Noodler's (Konrad) - B/Flex

 

The B and 1.1 I use for some correspondence and journaling, but mostly to have fun with, not everyday writing. Just not practical. F is my sweet spot, but I enjoy being able to go up and down easily.

[SkylarKnight]

I love seeing how much variety there is in what you people use. Makes me want to try and get out of my comfort zone and explore the world broader than my Fines and Fine Stubs

[Lou Erickson]

I just discovered that the nibs for the Pelikan M205 I just got aren't very expensive. A Fine and a Broad to go along with my Medium would be easy, and let me try them all.

[Floreat]

It's super-easy to switch nibs on Lamy Al-Stars/Safaris/Vistas Skylar, it's not even messy when the pen is full of ink. I tried this for the first time last night and was amazed at how simple it was! They are so cheap here in the UK, hopefuly they are where you are too - you should totally get a selection if you can, and play around with lots of different sizes

[tinysnail]

Yes!! What Floreat said. I have EF, F, M, B, and 1.5 Lamy steel nibs now. I switch them often. It's fun to compare how an ink will look in the EF vs B vs 1.5.

[NotRosie]

I tend to use and prefer finer nibs since my handwriting is small. The broadest nib I've ever used was the medium on my Jinhao X450, and I even found that to be too broad for my tastes. I also have yet to try an italic nib wider than 0.7mm, although I think I'd like broad italics/stubs more than I like broad round-tipped nibs.

[penrivers]

Of course I do Skylar, actually I have a penchant toward f and xf, but not definitely, after a couple of years my curiosity for ample arrogants wet lines start again like a weather season.

Skylar, beware of a man of one single nib, I supost they could be really boring.. Greetings from México.

[senzen]

Mostly F with Lamy and Muji, the Pelikan m400 and Waterman Laureat F look much broader, my Platinum PGB-3000A-05-M is a tad finer. Some inks seems to come out better with broader nibs so I just swapped Kon Peki to the Pelikan - wow!

[Lou Erickson]

I'll comment that yes, the Lamy nibs are easy to swap. I have a Vista with a full set of the nibs and when I do an writing sample I write in the ink with each size, EF - 1.9. I don't like the Lamy nibs much, but they have a nice selection of sizes and are easy to change.

 

Looking at them now, I wonder if the reason I don't like them much is that half of them are not aligned properly. I'll have to look at that before I use them next.

[abritdownunder]

I keep a Pelikan M200 F with me all the time at work, as I have to fill in forms which require rather small writing. I also have with me a 1.1 italic, which I just love to write with. Most of my pens are broad, with a few mediums thrown in. The pen/nib I use will depend on the writing task, by preference I would use a 1.1 italic or broad nib.

[Blade Runner]

XF through BB. Choice depends on the job, mood, and paper.

[SujiCorp12345]

Like tinysnail, I do alot of math at school, so I'm pretty much restricted to Western XF. I do have some Fines and a few Broads for titles in notes, and for journaling.

[Fox Point]

I use the lot, though I have yet to try an italic! My finest is a 70's pilot cavalier with the most insanely fine soft XXF nib, which can make anything shade as light pressure pushes it to a wet Japanese XF. The fine line is easily finer than the reverse side of a sailor xf nib. It is stunning with Noodler's Habanero, but flexy writing is really tricky at that size. Thankfully denser writing covers up little twitches! On the larger end I have my Noodler flex creapers and my absurdly long sailor Fude calligraphy pen (recommended by FPN, cheers!), which can get 4.5 mm. All of my nibs are used forwards and backwards to achieve greater line variation (the fude has a nice xf italic on the reverse; the western f noodler reverse was my daily notetaker for a term) and I generally use at least three sizes in any piece of writing. Capping and recapping takes a while, though, so I dream about a flex pen as fine as the pilot and as broad as the fude or creaper, or broader! A favorite trick is creating shading on my larger letters by writing in even caps along the appropriate sides with one of the little ones. It's a good way to fit in comments or afterthoughts.

[Icywolfe]

JP Fine, EEF, Medium. And 6mm.

 

I have Jowo: M, B, and 1.1 Stub. And it's too thick to fit in the lines of of the page.

[Vlad Soare]

one side effect of so many people typing everything in some word processing program and printing it is that so many young people think they have to write that small when they use a pen...drives me nuts! Fine or extra fine nibs are great if you want to write in a 10 or 12 point font, but things written in a normal sized handwriting look strange to me in that thin a line

 

That looks like a reasonable argument, but I just happened to see yesterday in a local museum some handwritten pages from one hundred years ago. They were all written in a super-tiny script, apparently with a flexible nib.

So, tiny handwriting seems to have been around long before the advent of word processors and printers.

[SkylarKnight]

It's super-easy to switch nibs on Lamy Al-Stars/Safaris/Vistas Skylar, it's not even messy when the pen is full of ink. I tried this for the first time last night and was amazed at how simple it was! They are so cheap here in the UK, hopefuly they are where you are too - you should totally get a selection if you can, and play around with lots of different sizes

OOOOH! I might need to order some of these! I haven't yet tried to take a pen apart at all, but if you say it's simple, I might as well try

I actually find that my Lamy's EF nib shades..somehow. I have Diamine's Gerbera in it, and the shading is beautiful. I don't see that in my other pens though, filled with the same ink.

 

 

That looks like a reasonable argument, but I just happened to see yesterday in a local museum some handwritten pages from one hundred years ago. They were all written in a super-tiny script, apparently with a flexible nib.

So, tiny handwriting seems to have been around long before the advent of word processors and printers.

With flexible nibs? How much precision does one need for that! If I write with a flex nib I tend to write a bit larger.. Haven't had too ,uch practice with them yet n-n"

[WateryFlow]

 

OOOOH! I might need to order some of these! I haven't yet tried to take a pen apart at all, but if you say it's simple, I might as well try

You may find this useful Skylar. Brian from Goulet pens shows how - use sellotape to slip the nib out, slide another one in, and continue writing.

I've got a Lamy studio with a full range of nibs, so this is what I do too

[SkylarKnight]

 

You may find this useful Skylar. Brian from Goulet pens shows how - use sellotape to slip the nib out, slide another one in, and continue writing.

I've got a Lamy studio with a full range of nibs, so this is what I do too

Nice, nice Gotta get the nibs first, haha!

[WateryFlow]

Nice, nice Gotta get the nibs first, haha!

 

They're super cheap so don't worry. You can get them for about £4.50(about 7USD) on ebay