It only took me a few months to recognize that Pelikan made pens I'd love. They came in enough sizes to fit my wife's small hand (M200 and M400) as well as my larger hand (M800). Piston fillers meant not having to run for the ink bottle in the middle of a long meeting. Pelikan has both new pens that haven't compromised the quality of the vintage and a long history of vintage pens to satisfy any collector. Of the 15 pens I now own, 7 of them are Pelikans!

But, for me, the best part of owning my Pels are the nibs. I've enjoyed every nib that came stock with the pen but the absolute best part is that the nibs are so easily customized. My collection now includes stock OBB, OB and round Fine and three custom nibs from Richard Binder. The first was an LF Oblique with a stroke of approximately .5mm...very smooth, but with a bigger iridium and "rounded shoulders"....if I"m off here I'm sure Richard or others will improve the technical aspect of this description. Today I received a .5mm LF oblique true stub which seems flatter than the previous nib but equally smooth with a nice sweet spot....more like a cursive italic...but once again i'm getting beyond my technical knowlege. The last is another variation on the stub, a .6mm left oblique "music stub". Richard's site defines the music stub as "A nib that is relatively flexible and has a tip shaped like a broad stub italic with very soft edges (illustrated to the right) to allow for extreme freedom of use, especially at very high angles of elevation relative to the paper, as when a composer or arranger writes on the music desk while sitting at a piano."

What a joy to be able to change the character of a pen you love simply by changing the nib. And, what a wonderful writing experience to "see" and "feel" the difference different nibs of even comparable stroke can make to the line on paper. In fact, on of the truly enjoyable part of business meetings these days is a decision of which nib to use!

So far the nib I'm most intriqued by is the music stub. It seems a impart much more character to the written line...more variation in the vertical and horizontal strokes. Don't get me wrong...I've written with some flexy nibs on Waterman's I've owned...to the point where my firm hand seems to be twisting and turning the nib and resulting with a less disciplined line. This stub stays under control...even with my large mitt driving it.

For those new to Pelikans I commend Richard Binder's site to educate you on nib differences. Those who own Pels probably already know the they can either send nibs to Richard for customization or simply buy additional nibs already customized...and without the wait. Richard is truly a joy to work with as he seems more than willing to work with you, via email, to clarify what you want before committing to spending the money.

Please don't take this post as a commercial solicitation for the purchase of Pelikan pens or Richard Binder. I'm just a happy consumer of both!

Randy in Florida

I'm a real fan of Pelikan too.
There are about 5-6-7 advantages here and there but especially over a lot of other brands.
ONE very big advantage, as you say, is that you cn exchange nibs yourself. Great for the variety of nibs to be used but also good for cleaning too.
Yes, Richard Binder's data on who fits into who is great. And the sizes too. I only have 2 Pelikans but my next 2-3-4 are going to be Pelikans as well.

Mike

I love my Pelikans, M1000 Black/gold and M805 Blue striated. Love them. Did say I love them.......I took great pleasure signing my new hire contract just a couple of days ago. I went deep and used the great big juicy M1000... The nibs on mine are buttery smooth. Oh and of course if one has need, one has the absolute "model of service" in Chartpak- I applaud Abi's oustanding commitment.

Did I mention I love my Pelikans.....

Stubnut

I've got a flock of birds and beaks. I love 'em.

Since pelikan's live in groups i have a bunch of them too . Pelikan was the first pen that really worked for me after a lot of disapointments. No skipping, no drying out. They just work and i love the nibs. The run a bit wide sometimes but they are always smooth. Yup, i love pelikans too.

My birds certainly saved me from what was becoming a serious FP addiction that started with a Waterman Charleston, to one of Richard's M450's (that I gave to my daughter), then a Toledo (that I gave to my wife). I've currently settled on a M800 which I plan to outfit with a complete set of nibs. There's a M1000 in my future, but for now I'm satisfied.

Quite so. At the risk of causing your addiction to broaden, at some point you may also like to try some vintage Pelikan nibs (400s and 400NNs from the 1950s are old enough for this purpose). The factory oblique (OF through OBBB) and stub (confusingly merely called B-BBB) nibs they made back then were quite different from their modern counterparts, providing far more line variation; they were often flexible as well (really flexible, that is, unlike their modern counterparts). (Combine these two traits and the line variation you can get is remarkable.) They perform really well, too - wet writers with excellent ink flow (the distinctive feeds, which look quite different from their successors, doubtless have something to do with it).

Simon