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what's the difference between "fine vs medium" tips?


FS goldfish

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Not to be mean, but I thought it was obvious...

 

Yes.

 

The three "standard" nibs are fine (thin) Medium (as it says) and broad (as it says).

 

Others are flex-nibs, italic nibs, oblique, etc etc etc...stub...so on...so forth...

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Medium is commonly used for letter writing, if you are a tech person like me who writes mathematical symbols a fine nib works better in writing them between the ruled lines of college ruled paper. Extra fine would probably be better for clarity if you have to write lots of ratios, subscripts, and superscripts. Though keep in mind the sharpness of the line depends alot on the type of paper you are using and what type of ink. I have had alot of failures with mead brand notebooks when using noodler ink, but with norcom products it writes perfectly.

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so ''fine'' write in thinner lines than "medium"?

 

Right. Fine puts down a thinner line than Medium, and Bold puts down a wider one. Extra Fines are even finer and double Bolds even wider. We usually use letters to designate these widths with F being a Fine, M for Medium and B for Bold. Extra Fines are sometimes EF, or sometimes XF. Finer still from an XF is XXF, etc. I've never seen it designated as an EEF though. Strangely a nib wider than Bold is not an XB or EB, but a BB.

 

You will sometimes see the letter "O" for Oblique, as in OB for Oblique Bold. Oblique is a nib that is sloped to the right or left. There is some disagreement on what Left or Right Oblique is, so we sometimes use a term like "Left foot Oblique" which means that the nib is shaped like your left foot.

 

This covers most of the common nib designations, but not all. There are just too many! Hope this helps.

 

Doug

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Love and hate? Kidding, but I never find myself confortable with fine nibs, while adore generous mediums or plain broads....Depends of your writing style and tastes.

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And one pen's medium might be another pen's fine. And, of course, most vintage pen's "fine" nibs would be judged "extra fine" nibs by today's standard--in reality there is no standard.

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Maybe FS Goldfish was confused by own use of fine and medium around the board. We sometimes say "German Fine", "Japanese Fine", etc.

Montblanc 145, F nib
Faber Castell E-Motion in Pearwood, F nib
Montblanc 149, F nib
Visconti Divina Proporzione 1618, S nib
Montblanc Cool Blue Starwalker, EF nib
Montblanc Solitaire Silver Barley BP
Montblanc Rouge et Noir Coral, M nib

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I used to like fine nibs, as I like precision in my handwriting, but over the years I have been annoyed by scratchy nibs and reverted back to ballpoints, felt tips and rollers. Now I am definitely a medium nib guy, and have adjusted my handwriting accordingly. My honest belief is that fountain pens are simply not suitable for precision writing - fineline rollers like the Pilot V5 and V7 do the job much better. But for broader writing the fountain pen really come into a class of its own - that's why even diehard ballpen lovers often use fountain pens for signing.

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I used to like fine nibs, as I like precision in my handwriting, but over the years I have been annoyed by scratchy nibs and reverted back to ballpoints, felt tips and rollers. Now I am definitely a medium nib guy, and have adjusted my handwriting accordingly. My honest belief is that fountain pens are simply not suitable for precision writing - fineline rollers like the Pilot V5 and V7 do the job much better. But for broader writing the fountain pen really come into a class of its own - that's why even diehard ballpen lovers often use fountain pens for signing.

 

I hear you re: scratchy nibs. I prefer a fine but get irritated by the catching and squeaking of some fines. Sailor makes some fantastic nibs though - and their fines are smooth as silk and still truly fine. Might be worth a try.

 

Eben

Attitude: the difference between an ordeal and an adventure.

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Whenever I see a chart comparing stroke widths of various nibs, I save the image or link.

 

Fred

 

Here is a link to Richard Binder's .pdf file: Nib comparison chart

http://www.richardspens.com/images/site/exemplaria/strokewidths_t.jpg

 

Here is an old one from Pelikan:

http://www.ruettinger-web.de/nib100-klein.jpg

 

And their new one:

http://www.pelikan.com/pulse/vfs-public/img/withoutText/feathers/federbreiten_10.gif

 

And an old one from Parker:

http://www.nibs.com/www/WEBSITE%20PICS/writing%20sample%20website%20pics/writing%20sample%20Parker%20Duofold.jpg

 

 

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  • 5 years later...

For the same manufacturer and the same model pen, the M nib "should" write a wider ink line than a F nib.

However this is not always true.

 

I was frustrated enough that I took out my dial caliper to measure the width of the tips.

And what I found out was interesting.

  • Due to manufacturing tolerance (x +/-y), I had a Parker narrow Medium that was narrower than a Parker wide Fine. Talk about getting confused if you just relied on the nibs as marked.
  • I have an Esterbrook M nib that writes like a F, and a F nib that writes like a M. And the F nib is NOT worn down. The tip size is just that different. Again a confusing situation.
  • My 3 Lamy F nibs measured 0.028 to 0.030 inch wide, the same as many of my Parker M nibs. This verified what people had been saying about the Lamy nibs being wider.
  • In the other direction my Chinese Baoer M nib at 0.024 inch wide was similar to a wide Parker F, not quite a M

Tip width was just one factor, the tip profile affected the width of the ink line. A tip of the same width with a ball shape writes narrower than a cylinder shape. And the same manufacturer could have both on one model of pens. In my case my Parker 45s have both ball and cylinder tips.

 

So if you combined the 2 factors, you get more confusion. The ink line from a wide ball tip could be the same as a narrow cylinder or slab tip.

 

And we have not considered the variable of the ink and paper.

San Francisco Pen Show - August 28-30, 2020 - Redwood City, California

www.SFPenShow.com

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@PE

I too am a F nib writer. And I have been frustrated with writing paper since the 1970s. The paper surface has to be both smooth and hard to be able to handle a F or even worse a XF nib.

 

However, I have been pleasantly surprised by the Chinese nibs in their pens. Their F and XF nibs (the few that I have) can handle paper that my 1970s Parker F nibs cannot not. The tip of their nibs are round and very smooth, so is less sensitive to paper surface variation that makes my Parker F nibs irritating to unusable.

I have not tested the modern western F and XF nibs to compare to the Chinese nibs.

 

I have added Parker M and B nibs to my stable, but only for the purpose of handwriting practice on wide ruled paper.

For general writing on college ruled paper, I am back down to F nibs.

San Francisco Pen Show - August 28-30, 2020 - Redwood City, California

www.SFPenShow.com

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