Very Fine Italic Nibs?

[SockAddict]

Hi! I've been lurking here on and off for a while. I have a lot of fountain pens, though few nice ones. I also write very small (female with small hands), and dislike larger nibs -- usually the mediums on up.

 

I am enjoying the italic nibs I have, but they are mostly good for larger writing. I just purchased a .6 mm italic nib from Nemosine (the Singularity) and I quite like it as a basic pen, but I'd like to find a higher quality pen and nib combo. Does anyone know of other .6 or so italic nibs? I can't seem to find any.

[georgeb]

One option is to buy a pen that allows you to swap nibs and whose nibs are available for purchase separately.

 

There are several sellers that come to my mind: richardspens.com , gouletpens.com, isellpens.com

 

For instance, I have a Gate City Belmont from richardspens.com with a .5 mm stub, a .6 mm stub, and a .8 mm stub which I swap at my pleasure. I prefer the .6 mm stub for regular writing.

 

Existing nibs can be ground and / or retipped as you wish. Some commonly referred to nibmeisters are John Mottishaw, Greg Minuskin, Mike Masuyama, Richard Binder, etc.

[SockAddict]

Thank you for your advice. I had completely forgotten about the possibility of replacing nibs, and of having them custom ground. I've been looking into various choices.

 

(Sorry for the late reply!)

[Water Ouzel]

My wife and I recently got a pair of Pelikan M205s (white for her, black for me ... to keep me from using hers, I'm certain), both with EF nibs, from Pen Chalet's recent sale.

 

And they're nice (I adjusted mine to write a bit drier, but it's just right now).

 

Today a new pair of nibs arrived from richardspens.com: 1) for her an XXF Waverley (she has a very small hand, and pretty small hands, for that matter), and 2) a .9mm ItaliFine (.9mm cursive italic, flipped over an F, closer to EF).

 

A little adjustment to the latter to be a little drier, and we're happy as clams. For now.

 

I'm very impressed with how smoothly the XXF writes, and I think I'll be happy with the ItaliFine, but I'll probably add a .6mm ItaliFine before I'm done. For the moment, anyway.

 

Effectively four pens for a bit more than the cost of one, assuming one may be satisfied with one pen/nib configuration at a time.

Edited September 22, 2014 by Water Ouzel

[brunico]

The Pilot Plumix EF, F and M are nominally 0.32mm, 0.44mm and 0.58mm italics. All very precise, but possibly not accurate, as the M is a little narrower than the Lamy 1.1, but by no means half the width. I've never had any interest in measuring the actual lines, but I suspect an F might be a good choice, the Plumix itself is inexpensive (if you can get one in your market) and you can put these nibs into several other Pilot pens, including the Prera (a shorter than average pen, and quite stylish, I think).

[Octo]

My narrowest italic nib was created by the nibmistress at Pendemonium from a Cross Solo F. The Cross Solo nibs were made by Pilot, so the nib started as a western EF. I like it and use it often. The line variation is subtle at that width, but still adds character to my writing.

[RudyR]

If you like the .6mm nib, John Mottishaw of Nibs.com can provide it for you. He mentioned to me that this was a practical everyday nib. Remember though, the nib cut may not be exactly .6 mm. It may be off by +/- .1 mm. He will cut it right away if you buy the pen (which he gives great prices on) from him.

[benincanada]

If you like the .6mm nib, John Mottishaw of Nibs.com can provide it for you. He mentioned to me that this was a practical everyday nib. Remember though, the nib cut may not be exactly .6 mm. It may be off by +/- .1 mm. He will cut it right away if you buy the pen (which he gives great prices on) from him.

I use a 0.6mm stub (started as a medium Pelikan steel nib) at work and find it very useable.

 

http://i.imgur.com/Gh7f2Vr.jpg

[BBU]

The Pilot Plumix EF, F and M are nominally 0.32mm, 0.44mm and 0.58mm italics. All very precise, but possibly not accurate, as the M is a little narrower than the Lamy 1.1, but by no means half the width. I've never had any interest in measuring the actual lines, but I suspect an F might be a good choice, the Plumix itself is inexpensive (if you can get one in your market) and you can put these nibs into several other Pilot pens, including the Prera (a shorter than average pen, and quite stylish, I think).

 

I thought non-medium sizes of the Plumix were sold only in France. If anyone knows where a North American could buy a F or EF, I would be happy to know. My 0.6 mm Nemosine Singularity is still going strong as a practice pen (which I bought for the same reason as SockAddict), but it's ever so slightly broader than I'd like and I am still not quite ready to make a $200+ investment for a customized CI.

 

If anyone cares, I heard that some of the Rotring Artpens and Manuscript pens come in fine sizes, but I don't know exactly how fine, and if they look like art project pens then they may not be appealing for general purpose writing.

[Ted A]

I think you could pull the nib off the Nemosine and put it on a Noodlers Konrad or Ahab and some of the Monteverde pens. It seems that the Nemosine is a #6 nib so interchangeable with other pens using the 6.

[ajoffe]

One thing to keep in mind is that the finer the grind, the less italic character the nib will have (i.e. the difference between downstrokes and cross strokes won't be as noticeable).

[SnorriRafn]

The manuscript F is around 0.85mm if I remember correctly. It is not suited for general writing though as the edges of the nib are quite sharp

[Bigeddie]

I have a 0.4mm stub for a Pelikan M400 that is a fantastic nib, custom grind by Richard Binder. A little too precise for anything long, but for writing my journal it's ideal.

[Sandy1]

Hi,

 

Esterbrook offered Italic / Stub nibs in various widths. Their 9968 is a very nice pick : not too wide and not too sharp.

 

I also have a 0.4 CI from the well regarded Mr Binder, and a 0.3 from Sam at Pendemonium. As I generally use M+ nibs for personal writing, those beauties don't see all that much use, though they're a treat when they come out to play, and are particularly good at generating shading, which is often lost when I use narrow nibs.

 

It seems to me that if you want a narrow nib that has a fairly good ratio of down-stroke width to cross-stroke width and runs smoothly, a hand ground nib is the way to go. That said, perhaps some of the special Japanese nibs could give you the variable line shape you desire.

 

These previous Topics provide interesting discussions of narrow shaped nibs, and have very good written samples:

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/index.php/topic/11965-two-ultra-fine-binder-nibs/?p=109806

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/index.php/topic/32136-xxxf-and-xxxxf-round-and-italic-points/?p=296056

 

Bye,

S1

[SockAddict]

Thank you everyone for your replies so far! I'm not planning to make this purchase for a couple of months, so I've got plenty of time for research. More suggestions are always welcome.

 

Sandy1: Thank you so much for posting those old threads. My writing is not as small as Laurel's, but I really liked seeing that there was still some variation in the stubs and italics she uses.

 

SnorriRafn: I have the Manuscript F, and have used it a little to get the feel of the size. I have a (very) little bit of calligraphy practice, so I can use the crisp italic pens, but I don't think they'd be the right choice for a more everyday pen.

 

Ted A: Though I'm really thinking of a cursive italic rather than a stub, I hadn't thought of trying to find a nicer body for my Nemosine nibs. Thank you for the suggestion!

 

I also second BBU's request for info on a US source for the finer Pilot Plumix nibs/pens.

 

Right now I am leaning toward a custom grind, either on a new pen, or on my Parker Sonnet M, but like I said, it's still a couple months away.

 

Thanks again!

[da vinci]

I use a 0.6mm stub (started as a medium Pelikan steel nib) at work and find it very useable.

 

http://i.imgur.com/Gh7f2Vr.jpg

That looks lovely nib - surprised at the line variation given the nib width

[Friar Whently]

I use a 0.6mm stub (started as a medium Pelikan steel nib) at work and find it very useable.

 

http://i.imgur.com/Gh7f2Vr.jpg

What ink are you using, if you don't mind my asking?

[benincanada]

That looks lovely nib - surprised at the line variation given the nib width

 

 

Thanks - the Binder stub is very smooth. I like the 0.6mm size a lot.

 

What ink are you using, if you don't mind my asking?

 

Iroshizuku Kon-Peki on a Rhodia Dot Pad

Edited September 23, 2014 by benincanada

[Octo]

As mentioned in post #6 above, my cursive italic nib started life as a Cross Solo F (by Pilot, so really a western XF) and was ground to cursive italic. The photos below show that even mundane script becomes a bit more interesting even at that width. The papers are HP 24# laser paper and cheap 3-ring notebook paper from WalMart. The ink is Texas Pecan.

 

 

[da vinci]

I have a 0.4mm stub for a Pelikan M400 that is a fantastic nib, custom grind by Richard Binder. A little too precise for anything long, but for writing my journal it's ideal.

 

Bigeddie, is there any chance of a writing sample?