Nib brands

[pvdiamon]

It would be great if someone with a lot of FP writing experience could list the major FP brands, and how the nibs tend to perform (narrower lines, wider lines or something like that). I've seen statements about Japanese vs. European nibs, but it gets confusing to keep straight. I know it would help me choose to try certain pens and certain nib sizes if I knew this in advance. If anyone is willing, I would think a comment about the following would be real helpful: Aurora, Namiki, Sailor, Waterman, Sheaffer, Cross, Lamy, Pelikan, Hero, Wality. It would serve as a great reference for some of us less experienced with different pens.

[chainwhip]

John Mottishaw has a table with some of this information:

 

http://www.nibs.com/Tipping%20Sizes%20page.htm

 

There are probably others out there as well.

[pvdiamon]

THANKS for that site, that's the type of comparison I'm looking for. It would be nice to see more brands, and if its not easy to get the precise width in mm, at least the subjective "thinner" or "wider", in reference to Pelikan for example, would be great too.

[antoniosz]

Actually although this information (in Mottishaw's site) is useful, it is often not-correlated to the line created on the paper by the pen. Shape of the nib and flow characteristics, and ink type affect the line width even on the same paper...

[John Cullen]

I am willing to make a few generalizations based on my limited experience. I don't know if any of these will help you, and I suspect there is a lot of variation within one model and also within one company.

 

Having said that:

 

Aurora nibs on the optima and 88 tend to run on the thin side, not as thin as Japanese nibs but thinner than most European nibs.

 

Visconti nibs tend toward the thick and wet side of things.

 

Sheaffer Legacy nibs tend toward the thin side of things.

 

Sheaffer modern balance Fine point is fine, whereas the medium is a generous medium.

 

modern MB nibs on the 149 tend to be thick and generous.

 

Bexley 18 kt fine is a generouos and wet fine; older Bexley 14kt nibs are stingy on flow and on the thin side.

 

Carene fine is a real fine.

 

Edson fine is a thin fine; edson medium is a middle of the road medium.

 

Lamy 2000 nibs run toward the broad side of things

 

Parker 100 nib tends to be a bit generous.

 

Stipula nibs are usually toward the generous side of things.

 

Platinum nibs, being Japanese, are on the thin side. Same for PIlot/Namiki.

 

Never used any hero pens?

 

My two Omas mediums are generous mediums OOTB (out of the box)

 

One Dani Mikado nib I have is a firm medium and it is VERY smooth and writes a middle of the road medium, not overly thin, with a hair of softness. This is a really nice nib!!!

 

 

 

Again, these are nothing but my limited experiences and I am sure somewhere there is someone who bought a fine optima nib that flooded the page.