Flex Dip Pen Nib?

[skipperhughes]

I am trying to find a good flex dip pen nib and holder to use trying out new inks does anyone have any suggestions on nibs, holders, or places to buy them?

[USMCMom]

Our member, jbb, can help with this. She uses a dip pen just about daily and has a lot of knowledge and expertise. She also offers nibs and holders (sometimes a combination) in Classifieds. I've dealt with her several times and she has helped a great deal. I'd bet she'll see this thread and jump on in here.

[rwilsonedn]

Our member, jbb, can help with this. She uses a dip pen just about daily and has a lot of knowledge and expertise. She also offers nibs and holders (sometimes a combination) in Classifieds. I've dealt with her several times and she has helped a great deal. I'd bet she'll see this thread and jump on in here.

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/index.php?/classifieds/item/9114-dip-pen-with-10-vintage-assorted-nibs/, for instance.

ron

[RodneyOK]

eBay is also an excellent source for dip nibs. You can often get NOS high quality nibs for low prices. I have purchased dozens from there, and spent very little.

[xxloverxx]

How flexible do you want it? You can get anything from "mildly flexible with some encouragement" to "brush" (and still have it be made of metal).

 

Holder: Heavy/light? Wood/metal/something else? Thick/thin? Oblique or straight?

 

Before buying online, check out any stationaries nearby - that's where I first discovered dip pens.

[andybiotic]

Do you want steel dip nibs or gold ones? Steel ones are very cheap and I recommend the Nikko G or Zebra G nibs as they are less prone to rust, tough, give nice hair line, responsive and equal to about full flex. For super flexible, go for Gillott's 404, for superflex with very thin hairline (scratchy and catches paper on upstroke, used for calligraphy) Gillott's 303.

 

Gold ones are much more expensive, and not always very flexible and can't guarantee the line width, just like a fountain pen nib.

 

First time users, I recommend the plastic speedball holder for less than $5, if you are only going to use it to test ink, there is no need for a oblique holder. Wooden ones are slightly more expensive... these holders will fit most of the nibs above quite well... the 303 may be slightly loose but manageable.

 

I also recommend buying a few reservoirs (make sure they fit, the G nibs are larger than the Gillott's nibs mentioned above) to increase the ink capacity by about 3 times in one dip.

 

Everything can be found in Johnnealbooks.com, under Tools & Materials ---> Calligraphy & Illumination or Paperinkarts.com

Edited April 28, 2012 by andybiotic

[DanF]

Skipper --- The problem with your plan as mentioned is that many fountain pen inks will be too wet for dip pen nibs, especially flex nibs. If they do work, the ink will likely be much darker than through a fountain pen nib, and will often flow on the the paper at an unmanageable rate. So it's not really a very good test of the ink.

 

On nib that I can recommend with which most fountain pen inks will work nicely is the Esterbrook #314 Relief nib. This is about a medium stub, that is flat at the tip. For some reason, inks flow onto the page just about the same as they would from a fountain pen, so would give you a more accurate idea of what they will actually look like from a FP. Unfortunately they don' flex much however. They can often be found on EBay.

 

Flex dip pens can be used with fountain pen ink, but usually require dilution with water and addition of some gum arabic to lessen the flow, in order to appear the same as when used in a fountain pen.

 

One exception to this would be some of the iron gall fountain pen inks, which do generally behave fairly well without modification.

 

I would agree with Andy that the Nikko or Zebra G nibs are a good place to start if you want to learn to write with dip flex.

 

Dan

Edited April 28, 2012 by DanF

[xxloverxx]

About dip pens making inks look darker - I'll say that's partially true. Did some writing with Pelikan Brilliant Black, a Nikko G, Lamy 1.1 and Pelikan M200. The first 2 looked black (with the Nikko darkest), while the Pelikan was pretty grey (and very dry).

[NeelsK]

Paper Ink Arts

Kalligraphie.com

 

Two places I order my nibs from

[mik86]

how does this compare to the speedball set?

 

http://www.amazon.com/Speedball-6-Nib-Calligraphy-Lettering-Set/dp/B000BYQLT4

[jbb]

Our member, jbb, can help with this. She uses a dip pen just about daily and has a lot of knowledge and expertise. She also offers nibs and holders (sometimes a combination) in Classifieds. I've dealt with her several times and she has helped a great deal. I'd bet she'll see this thread and jump on in here.

Yup, I've got a basic set that might work:

Dip pen & nibs

[Sakisaki6]

Our member, jbb, can help with this. She uses a dip pen just about daily and has a lot of knowledge and expertise. She also offers nibs and holders (sometimes a combination) in Classifieds. I've dealt with her several times and she has helped a great deal. I'd bet she'll see this thread and jump on in here.

Yup, I've got a basic set that might work:

Dip pen & nibs

 

 

Is it safe to use iron gall inks with these?

[jbb]

Our member, jbb, can help with this. She uses a dip pen just about daily and has a lot of knowledge and expertise. She also offers nibs and holders (sometimes a combination) in Classifieds. I've dealt with her several times and she has helped a great deal. I'd bet she'll see this thread and jump on in here.

Yup, I've got a basic set that might work:

Dip pen & nibs

 

 

Is it safe to use iron gall inks with these?

Yes, but let me elaborate. Vintage steel dip nibs eventually rust or corrode as a matter of course but that is true whether you use iron gall ink or modern fountain pen ink. Among the nibs of the set I'm selling there are a few silver alloy and gold metal nibs that were touted to "resist corrosion" -- so those will last longer. Iron gall inks will excellerate the corrosion though.

[wellapptdesk]

Jet Pens stocks a couple nice, modern pen holders in the comic/manga section and an assortment of nibs including some G nibs.

 

Dip pens may not be the most accurate way to test how a color will perform in your fountain pens but at least it will give you a ballpark. I use dip pens for my own ink records so that I can at least reference what color is associated with each name on the bottles.