I've got a Pelikan M200 and I'm thinking about buying one of those Richard Binder's Specialty nibs... But I don know, which one crisp / cursive / stub - is most suitable for everyday "nornmal" writing... Is it worth getting the "oblique" version?

I own one Pilot 78 with Italic nib and writing with this pen is very comfortable for me, so I'd like to have one similar pen more, that I can change colours..

Richard Binder's site expresses that "crisp" is NOT suited to everyday writing. It has sharp edges and will be prone to snagging, especially on upstrokes. Personally I would not choose a crisp for writing normally.

Oblique does two things. It lets (requires) you hold the pen with the nib at something other than 12:00 and it puts the thinnest part of the stoke on an o or 0 at an angle (like 10:00 and 4:00) rather than top (12:00) and bottom (6:00).

Put another way obliques put the narrowest and widest strokes on the angles and the verticals and horizontals are in between in width. Plain italics make the angles mid width and the widest on vertical lines and narrowest on horizontals.

So it depends on where you want the thin strokes to be in your writing if you want an oblique.

I'm trying to think this through....(can you smell the wood burning?)

I hold plain italic nibs so that the "blade" is at a 35 to 45 degree angle to the line in any case, so the way my writing works out is that the thinnest stroke is on the angle. I learned how to write in italic when I was young, and this is basically how I was taught to hold the pen. I tend to hold all pens like this now, actually. I don't have any obliques.

I am now using a Binder cursive 0.7mm italic as an everyday writing pen. I don't think I could write with anything sharper than this at this speed!

I have used two stubs made by Richard Binder and they are wonderful, and I have absolutely no calligraphy talent at all. I did learn the cursive italic handwriting from the "Write Now" book, and it looks nice with the stub. I think the stub nibs are easier to manage than italics because they have more rounded corners. I think a stub works very well as a daily writer.

I would also recommend asking Richard's opinion. If he knows what you are looking for, he will be able to give you a personalized recommendation.

Sorry should have made it clear it does depend on how you hold the pen. I was assuming the pen was aligned (or close to) with your writing arm. For you a regular acts like I've said an oblique does...

Cursive Italic.

I like the 0.6mm stub for general writing. It shows some line variation and is pretty smooth. If you want something with a bit more line variation, then I would recommend the cursive italic. You can write pretty fast with it, but if you write small, I would request a smaller width as the 1.1 can make small writing illegible. You can always send Richard a sample of your writing beforehand to get his input.

Al

Thanks, this seams reasonably!

Like Alriel, I have the 0.6mm stub and love it. I'm not a calligrapher but use it for everyday writing. It's smooth, easy, and makes my writing look more special than it is. It's now on an M200 clear demonstrator, but I'm thinking of switching it to my new red stripe M400 that I bought for editing. Even inks look better with this nib! Highly recommended.

If you are not familiar with italic nibs - stub, crisp italic and formal italic - you are about to enter a wonderful world of writing possibilities. Richard's interpretation of the formal or crisp italic is very sharp, very knife like, hence a poor choice for someone trying this class of nibs for the first time. I would definitely join the others in suggesting that you try a stub or cursive italic for the first time. M-200 nibs are not overly expensive, and it might be nice to try both a stub and a cursive italic to see which one suits you. The Pel nibs are interchangeable, and this is a good situation to take advantage of that characteristic.

A writing sample is always a good idea. I always send one with my custom nib request.

An oblqiue nib is a whole different ball game. After 50-years of FP use, I have never caught on to obliques. They require that I hold a pen in a manner that is completely alien to me. I will suggest trying an oblique nib at a store or pen show before getting into them.

Good luck.

I recommend the Stub but my wife likes the cursive Italic better. Here is an article where I compared the two:

http://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/in...showtopic=11348

Maybe I can help to clarify what obliques are about. They are NOT for the purpose of producing line variation -- that's the province of the italic, which may be either neutral or oblique. The ONLY purpose for which I recommend an oblique nib, either round or italic, is to compensate for the writer's tendency to rotate the pen. Observe these three drawings:



The first and third are exaggerated for clarity, but the point is clear. If you are the middle picture, you do not need -- and in general should not use -- an oblique of any type.

Apologies for resurrecting this thread, but I recently acquired a right-foot round oblique on a Parker 51 Special. I definitely have to turn the pen clockwise (I'm right handed) for the pen to write optimally.

If my grasping style is the middle picture, I'm interested in knowing why it's generally not recommended to use an oblique. Am I in danger of messing up the nib? Or is it more the inconvenience of always needing to rotate the pen when I don't normally need to?

Oblique nibs are made to write with a rotated pen.
They write smooth and with good ink flow if you rotate the pen. This way it feels comfortable to write with an oblique.

I always rotated the pen anticlockwise and therefore I feel more comfortable with an oblique nib. Some normal nibs - especially fine or medium - do work as well, but a broad nib forces me to hold the pen at 12:00 and this feels pretty much unconfortable to me.

So if you have an oblique nib and you are holding the pen at 12:00 it will feel uncomfortable and the nib may be scratchy to write with. The nib may even skip. But there is no danger to damage the nib as long as you do not apply extraordinary pressue or the nib is xf.