To those who have use WM and Speedball do you have a preference based off performance? I would like to get some smaller nibs for writing and calligraphy practice, right now I have speedball c-4 as the smallest.

Any advice is appreciated.

matthew

Hello, in my opinion when it comes to finer sizes than mitchell nibs are better - much better in fact - but it really is a matter personal taste. I think you have to find out yourself whether you like soft (mitchell nibs) or stiff (brouse nibs) or even some third variant (speedball, tape or tachikawa c nibs). You can get all of these and more for example from http://www.paperinkarts.com (go under supplies - pens - nibs...). Luckily the prices of single nibs allow for experiments...

Hope this helps. Zed

Thanks for your reply and the link. Do you find that the WM nibs handle thicker inks better or worse than the speedball? The WM nibs seem more traditional with only one slit in the nib.

matthew

I cannot really comment on this as I do not use inks that would be so thick that they could have potential flow problem... In fact I mostly use j herbin fountain pen inks even with my dip pens. Besides their characteristics I like the fact that they are easily removable from the nibs even when they get dry...

Regards Zed

PS The e-shop I posted link to above sells j herbin ink too.

I have used everything from William Mitchell, Esterbrook, Bruase, and of course Speedball.

I use a combination of each.

I find that the Esterbrook Text Writers / Manuscript pens are some of the best (they are similar to the William Mitchell)

The Speed Ball, especially the vintage kind, are not too bad. The older the better. The Newer ones seem to scratch the paper and I have alot of difficulty with them.

However, the Esterbrook Drawlet Pens are something of a disaster.

Thanks for the help, I bought some WM nibs today.

Speedballs seem fine in the larger sizes (C-3, C-2, C-1) -- one of my calligraphy teachers commented that her own calligraphy teacher, who trained in England, loved Speedballs when she discovered them here in the '80s and that she felt the double slits helped flow. For the smaller sizes, my teacher liked Tape nibs for beginners, as well as Brause and Mitchell. She thought the Mitchell's greater flexibility might cause trouble for beginners, but mine have worked fine -- the Brause and Mitchells use different reservoir attachment areas, I seem to recall? It's been awhile. Anyway, they both work fine. I can't comment on the Tape, except to say they are extremely oblique (tried one distributed in class at the urging of my instructor, but I am lefthanded and use left obliques, and the Tapes don't seem to be available in that cut). Paper & Ink Arts is a great supplier, as is www.johnnealbooks.com.

I bought a set of 10 nibs from paper and ink arts with the reservoirs. I'm sure I will be happy with them, I really want them for writing letters and in my journals so the smaller the better.

The speedball do work great in the larger sizes, I just addressed an envelope yesterday...the only problem is I picked to big a size.

Does johnealbooks have WM nibs, I searched but books and pilot pens came up.

That's great -- hope you enjoy them! Yes, John Neal Booksellers also carries Mitchell nibs -- I've ordered from both JNB and Brenda and both vendors are great to buy from. http://www.johnnealbooks.com/prod_detail_list/16/2 -- The path is "Tools and Materials" - then "Calligraphy and Illumination" -- then "Broad-Edged Nibs" -- then p. 2. Noticed the first page has Hiro Rond nibs as well.