Smooth Stub Suggestions Below €500

[KaB]

Since I've added a Lamy 1.1 and 1.5 to my flock, I can't help but wondering why there are so few stub nib pens around. I'm looking for a new pen and probably will pay my B&M a visit next week. I will most certainly want to try the Visconti HS bronze age with stub. However, there are some 'mixed' reviews of it on FPN. What other pens with stub would you suggest (not over €500)?

I look for a width that allows every day note taking (the Lamy 1.1 is perfect, the 1.5 too broad already). And not a small/thin pen. And you will of course suggest nibmeisters. Well, I've read quite a lot of negative reviews on their work as wel. And the ones that get praised a lot on FPN seem to be all in the US. So unless there's a nibmeister around my corner, I'd defenitely prefer out of the box: I absolutely want to try the pen!

[Z-Tab]

€500 is enough to cover almost any non-LE pen, so you have a wide open range.

 

All of the stock Montblanc Broad nibs that I have tried have been distinctly "stubby," even though they are not advertised as such. If you're trying pens out in person, you might as well check out what Montblanc has to offer. Pelikan used to make an Italic Broad nib for the M800, but those seem relatively uncommon and may be difficult to track down. Platinum makes a Music nib, which may be stubby enough for you, in fact you should probably look at any music nib the retailers have in stock, since those are likely to be quite stubby.

[dragos.mocanu]

Why purchase a new pen? You can get at least 5 vintage fountain pens with that amount, with various stub sizes, very smooth and wet, from Greg Minuskin, check out his website! I've already purchased 5 of his pens (stubs and flex pens; 2 are still on the way, a 0.8 and a 1.0) and have been happy every time!

 

Edit: Even though Greg is located in the US, he ships his pens with priority trackable post, which reach Europe in about 10 days...and his work is art!

Edited October 14, 2014 by dragos.mocanu

[Algester]

Pilot Custom lines in the 200-300USD range except the 823? I the ones that come with the SU nib

[Bo Bo Olson]

Oxnard I think his name is here, John Swobada(sp) is in England, and can do your pen. He don't like the term nib meister when applied to himself. I've got a pen or two I'll send to him some day.

If you look there is a good nibmeister in Spain.....sorry can't help more.

[bardiir]

Grinding somthing to a stub is pretty easy and nothing a nibmeister should be able to butch. I've got limited experience and my lamy turned out quite fine with the stub nib.

 

So I'd definitely recommend grinding a Lamy Gold nib to a stub, these are just incredibly soft to write with.

[gerigo]

$700 US is a lot of money to spend on pens and you have quite a selection of bit of stubs at that price.

 

Here are the ones in my collection that I really like.

-Twsbi makes wonderful pens you can get with stub nibs. I believe both the 580 and the Vac 700 can be purchased with a 1.1 or 1.5 stub nib. What's best is they can be swapped out for other stub nibs you can buy cheaply on the internet for about $25 USD.

 

-The home grown American pen makers like Edison and Franklin Christoph make mass produced pens that can be fitted with a 1.1 or 1.5 stub stainless steel nibs. They all feature nice designs and their nibs are quite nice for casual writing. They are all about $150-$175 USD.

 

- Visconti Calligrahy set has a really nice stub stainless steel nib for not a lot of money. If you have a Van Gogh or Michaelangelo, you can swap the nib from the cheapish Rembrandt body for a much nicer body and have a great pen.

 

-Japanese music nibs are really nice broadish stubs that are very easy to use and give nice line variation. They are all $200-$300 USD and the nibs from Pilot and Platinum have a very nice 3 tine appearance. The music nibs are all 18k or 21k gold.

 

-Pelikan has an M200 that can be purchased with a stainless steel italic nib. That's pretty cheap at about $100 or so. Or you could go really up market and get the M800 IB 18k that's simply divine. I think the M800 just about hits your cost ceiling.

 

 

[dragos.mocanu]

Are you actually looking for a stub, or just a nib which provides italic line variation? I'm asking this because the term 'stub' implies that there's actual tipping material at the tip of the nib, shaped somewhat like a box with (very) smooth edges...I see that many people confuse modern untipped cursive italic nibs (which are crisper than stubs, but smoother than crisp italics) like the Lamy calligraphy nibs (1.1, 1.5, 1.9), the TWSBI italic nibs (1.1, 1.5), the Edison italics and so on, with stubs. The Visconti Homo Sapiens 1.3 and Pelikan M800 IB do indeed sport stub nibs; however, I would personally still go with a vintage pen, ground to a stub of my favorite size, but to each his own!

Edited October 15, 2014 by dragos.mocanu

[Tritonus]

I have an Aurora Talentum Stub nib that I really enjoy. Very smooth and not difficult to write with either. Also, my Pelikan M800 Medium nib writes like a stub with subtle line variation. I love this nib because it is not just a round blob that produces a boring thick line.

[pmhudepo]

Buying pens through penboard.de has been a very positive experience. People like Tom, Max and Lutz are very nice to do business with and they will be able to give you good advice as well. Although I haven't bought a stub or italic via that site, I'm sure you'd be able to find a really nice pen there. Shipping is very reasonable, and fast.

 

As to new pens: I'm still getting used to my Visconti Homo Sapiens, Steel Oversize, with stub nib. Sometimes a bit of a start-up issue, but otherwise pretty smooth, wet, a joy to use. Beautiful lava + resin material.

 

Also very nice, and certainly very smooth: Delta Fusion 82. Looks great, too, or at least it did until the gold bit of the Fusion nib dropped off, into a bottle of R&K Alt-Bordeaux.

 

I think the following holds: the Fusion stub is smoother than the VHS stub, but the VHS is crisper. But I haven't yet done a proper side-by-side comparison. This is from memory regarding the Fusion and one week of using the Visconti HS.

Edited October 15, 2014 by pmhudepo

[KaB]

Wow, lot of interesting suggestions. Can't find the pilot nor the platinum with music nib around here. But the Edison and the Pelikan sure are interesting suggestions. And the Delta Fusion, never saw it in 'my' store, yet they do offer it.

 

And on the technicallities, I use the word 'stub' probably in a wrong way. I just mean: as smooth as regular (allowing lots of writing and normal speed writing) but with line variation.

Edited October 15, 2014 by KaB

[Uncial]

The TWSBI Vac in stub is great and it holds a massive amount of ink. Lovely and smooth too.

[View from the Loft]

Oxnard I think his name is here, John Swobada(sp) is in England, and can do your pen. He don't like the term nib meister when applied to himself. I've got a pen or two I'll send to him some day.

If you look there is a good nibmeister in Spain.....sorry can't help more.

 

John Sorowka is know as Oxonian on this board.

 

OP, your budget is quite healthy, and gives you a whole range of options from vintage to modern. I have some wonderful vintage stub and italic nibs on vintage pens from both Parker and Conway Stewart.

 

Modern pens, well, your budget is healthy enough for a Pelikan either with a factory IB on an M800 or an M600 or M800 custom ground for you. Don't be put off by the modern Conway Stewart having gone into administration - if you can find a retailer with stock left, try their medium or broad italics. I have a modern CS100 with an IB nib that is an everyday writer for me. Or even a modern Onoto. If you ask for a stub or italic, they will send the pen to John Sorowka to be ground (I have a couple of Magnas with italic nibs, again, daily writers for me).

 

So healthy budget equals many options - and we can't help you decide. Please, go and have fun, and try some out.

 

Edited to correct appalling spelling.

Edited October 15, 2014 by View from the Loft

[parnesh]

Get a pen you want with a custom grind. Can't go wrong. My last purchase was an Aurora Optima with a factory stub. It has a bit of a baby's bottom so is going back for tweaking. However, once it gets going, its a wonderful nib.

[purplepen]

I love my Platinum 3776 MUSIC NIB pen. You might want to give that a try.

[wetnoodlepens]

Second John Sorowka if you're in the UK.

 

You can also just buy a pen from TWSBI or elsewhere, and have it sent to a nibmeister such as Pendleton Brown or etc, then have them send it to you.

 

I've done that before.

 

Why wouldn't you go with a nibmeister? A large majority of people would recommend that.

[Gilberto Castaneda]

I am surprised that I did not see anyone recommending Francis Goosens (Fountaibel) as he is almost your neighbor.

Try him, he is a GENTLEMAN.

Moreover he has designed very interesting pieces, including an option with Titanium nib. The Conid bulk filler see here: https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/index.php/topic/225920-conid-fountainbels-bulk-filler-ltd-demonstrator/

 

Good luck, please say hello to Francis, I owe him a report on my visit to him last Summer. As close to paradise as I have ever been.

 

Groet,

 

 

G

[_Stormin_]

For a (high end) stub I'm pretty much addicted to custom grinds. The stock stubs on pens I have that hit or exceed your price ceiling aren't that much better than the ones on hundred dollar pens. For seven times the price there should be at least a noticeable difference, but there just isn't. My favorite stub that's stock is on a TWSBi that set me back less than a couple bottles of the ink I put inside of it... The ones that I have with custom regrinds (including my new favorite, a cursive italic from Mottishaw) all are far superior to anything I've gotten "out of the box."

Edited October 16, 2014 by _Stormin_

[Tritonus]

Hi there, this is just a quick post to show you the line variation between the pens I mentioned about . I've also included a custom grind MB 146 by a well-known nibmeister in USA who turned a nice but boring F nib into a slight oblique stub for me (it took two goes because the first time it was pretty scratchy!). It is now one of my favourite writers but bear in mind custom grinds can be a little fiddly since they are based on a very personal hand angle. I learnt my (expensive) lesson with my MB but the end result was a good outcome. No fault of the nibmeister whatsoever really, it was because I was trying to put into words what I wanted from Australia to someone in USA on paper and via email. My request originally was for a smooth cursive-italic nib but when it came back to me I hated the scratchiness and how it caught on the paper. It was sent back and Mr Masuyama requested for pics of my hand holding the pen and that is where the slight oblique stub nib was borne...I had NO idea I could write so comfortably with an oblique nib (I always shied away from them because I thought they were more for people that turned their nib to the side when writing). I am happy to say it is in my daily rotation of pens now and I love it to bits. If you want a custom grind, I would probably do it at a pen show in front of the nibmeister and communicate exactly what you want.

The other two pens were factory nibs and were very smooth out of the box.

Please excuse the untidy scrawl as I was in a hurry. The paper used is Rhodia Dot pad and the ink in the MB is Montblanc Midnight Blue (iron gall)

Edited October 16, 2014 by Tritonus

[KaB]

Wow, the list keeps growing! I'll have to book half a day at my B&M penshop to try things out! (And, I've stopped ruling out nibmeisters and vintage in the mean time as well)

 

THX!