I received a new Sailor 1911 M witha 14 K nib two days ago from my favorite ebay store in Japan. I own two full size 1911s as well as a Sapporo. The new one was many rungs down the ladder in nib quality. It took me several sessions with mylar to smooth the nib. It is still not as good as the others but is now acceptable. I never ever expected a less than perfect nib from Sailor. I guess i should not be so hard on Omas for making my Emotica and my arte Italiana 1930 pens with baby bottoms.
So far Pilot has never let me down nor has Platinum. I guess into every life a little rain...
b

You should give Sailor another chance. Sailors are great pens for a lot of reasons, maybe you just got a bad nib on a bad day. Don't give up, Sailors are the pens for you!

James, you are crazy.

Hmmm , I am surprised. Its very unlike Pilot (Japanese) quality......

I think James is in a strange mood. He just said the exact opposite in the other sub section where the poster repeated their rant about Sailor.

For me the new sailor 1911 nibs have functioned fine, but I can't stand the new 21 K coating they put on them. They look so cheap.

Oh really? Well, why don't you just chuck the fountain pen in my general direction. I'm all cheap...so I can take any cheap Sailor pens ;-)

My Sapporo with MF nib requires lower writing angle to get the 'sweet spot.' I heard this with broader Sailor nibs from others, too.

My Sailor 1911M arrived 'bout a week ago - and I am still in amazement over how smooth the nib is and how well it performs! My first Japanese pen and its great!

I have a new 1911m with an M nib, also a bit toothy when you leave the sweet spot, which feels fairly unforgiving. Under a loupe, the nib appears flattened. It looks like it's designed to meet the paper at a 45-degree angle, which is a problem for me, because I tend to hold the pen at a steeper angle. I have an older 1911M that's also a bit toothy, but not as bad. I think these nibs undermine the reputation of Sailor nibs as being silky-smooth.

Wow! I'm starting to feel mine is an anomaly, rather than the common...

I have ~20 modern Sailors, and all of my nibs are wonderful and smooth. Some are too wide for me to use daily, but the rest are great. There is a reason I have so many!

Wow, another anomaly!

Joking aside, maybe there's a recent (sporadic?) quality control problem?

I'm away from my collection, but I probably own over thirty Sailors, and I've never had any problems with how they function: smooth, nice flows, reliable, and so dependable. A few of the Pro Gear nibs are peerless in my view. My six 1911's all write flawlessly and smoothly, no toothiness in any of them. Maybe the disgruntled user is more the anomaly

Or perhaps the way you hold your pens is tuned to Sailor nibs?

Have you looked at any of them closely? Are the nibs sort of flattened? I'm curious to see if this is a general feature of Sailor nibs or just a recent quality control problem.

It's hard to say. I tend to hold pens upright, but when I pick one up to dash something off, I notice it's at a more acute angle. In either case, I've not noticed the problems some have been having.

Since I have the opportunity, I'll try asking one of the knowledgeable sales staff at fp counters over here in Japan about these matters.

--j

That would be very helpful. Thanks!

I recently bought a Sapporo from an FPN member as I just wanted to try something else and it was a good deal at the time but the darned thing has the sweetest and smoothest medium nib I have ever experienced in all my 51 years. I keep putting it down because I really want to concentrate on another one of my pens but come back to it every time because it just makes me smile whenever I write with it - and for me, that's what it's all about!

My first post!
I have just purchased my first ever Sailor pen, a Sapparo with a broad nib. I bought it because of their reputation for SMOOTH nibs. I was quite a let down. Just toothy and not symetrical. So I will not be in a rush to buy another one.