Musings on Triumph Nibs

[Martius]

Hi folks,

 

For those of you who, like me, love Triumph nibs, here's a thought/question: do you find that most of the Triumph nibs you have give quite a bit of feedback on the page? I have 5 Triumph-nibbed pens and all of them, including the broad stub, seem somewhat scratchier than, say, the average Lifetime open nib. Not that I'm complaining - I think the feedback is part of the Triumph nib's charm: stiff, hardy, and literally a bit rough around the edges. Does anyone else have this experience, or did I just get 5 unusually scratchy nibs in a row? If you share this thought, why do you think it might be?

 

Best,

Summer Greer

 

 

[Tom Pike]

Hi Summer,

 

You'd think, with all of that structural strength, that a Triumph nib would never get out of alignment and become toothy. I love them too, but they do. I think you just found five in a row that are a bit toothy. Or, you've been really lucky in finding open nib Sheaffer pens with perfectly aligned tines.

 

I have to align tines, at least a little, on almost every pen I ever restore. When Triumph nibs are aligned correctly, they're as smooth as anything on the planet. Almost all vintage Sheaffer nibs are wonderful! Your broad stub should write like oiled teflon on buttered ice. Well, almost...

 

Take a really close look at your nibs. Use a loupe. I'll bet you'll find that the tines on each are just slightly out of alignment (one just a little higher than the other). Put them back in alignment and they'll be much better.

 

Oh, and open nibs on Sheaffers... They're nice too!

 

Cheers,

Tom

[nycom92]

Thanks for the info. I have an early Crest, lever filler, that has a F/?XF nib that is scratchy. I will look at the tines again.

[rroossinck]

Oiled Teflon on buttered ice...that's awesome! I know that I've had only one Triumph-nibbed pen, and it took a little bit of tweaking to get the tines where they should have been. But...once they did get there, the nib was really nice and smooth.

[Guest Roy]

I have two (Valiant and Sentinel TM) and both are Sheaffer-legendary-smooth nibs. I gues YMMV.

 

--Roy

[psfred]

Fine and XF Triumph nibs will tolerate quite high writing pressure for a long time, but eventually the tips bend upwards and to the left (for a right hand user). Most of the finer nibs I've gotten have had to be re-aligned, and some of them have had to have the tines straightened.

 

Once correct geometry is restored, they are VERY smooth, as all Sheaffers were out of the box. Remember, these pens were often used to write through multiple carbons, and often had quite a bit of pressure applied to them, it's not all that surprising they are out of alignment. Users probably didn't press so hard with open nibs.

 

Peter

[Martius]

Thanks for the input, folks. I will look into getting my Triumphs in good order.

[trauha]

Hi folks,

 

For those of you who, like me, love Triumph nibs, here's a thought/question: do you find that most of the Triumph nibs you have give quite a bit of feedback on the page? I have 5 Triumph-nibbed pens and all of them, including the broad stub, seem somewhat scratchier than, say, the average Lifetime open nib. Not that I'm complaining - I think the feedback is part of the Triumph nib's charm: stiff, hardy, and literally a bit rough around the edges. Does anyone else have this experience, or did I just get 5 unusually scratchy nibs in a row? If you share this thought, why do you think it might be?

 

Best,

Summer Greer

 

Exactly my experience too is that the Triumph nibs give more feedback when compared to the newer nibs. My older flat tops give good feedback too.

[georges zaslavsky]

no feedback on my triumphed nib, they are all glassy smooth and fast writing nibs

[Happy Harry]

Mine are all smooth writing, feedback varies a bit as some of my Australian ones have slight flex, of course the fully flexible ones I have give a lot of feedback but I'm not that fond of using them

[gweimer1]

I had a Statesman, and currently use a Sovereign II, and both have been smooth as could be.

[trauha]

I have only been able to compare new Targas with triumph nibs that were NOT new old stock. Anybody have any triumph nibs still within factory specs?

Maybe the old triumphs having been used has added 'feedback' along the way? Or would the smoothen with use?

Maybe I should have mine nibmeisterized. I would still call them smooth even though they have the feedback. Smoother than a new TRZ, but not as smooth as a NOS medium gold nib Targa, which is like driving a luxoboat 70's Cadillac compared to a Mercedes. (The Mercedes will give you more feedback).