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Newbie Seeking Advice For Fps With Line Variations For Journal Writing


zom107

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Hello everyone,

 

Would you guys help me out with my look for my 3rd fountain pen.

 

I love line variations that are produced by a FP.

 

I've experienced that type of line variations by the FP from MANUSCRIPT CALLIGRAPHY SET FOR BEGINNER with a FINE NIB. (this is my 2nd FP, the 1st one is Pilot Varsity Medium Point)

 

The problem of this pen is the tip of the pen doesn't provide me a smooth writing experience, it's very jaggy, scratchy. I don't know if that is the trade off for italic cursive and every FP with italic nib out there are likely the same or it's just because of my pen that has this problem.

 

Secondly, can we write with normal speed using flex nib FP? As I've googled so far, flex nibs FP; especially the Noodle ahab, produces really fine sets of words, like the title of a paragraph. But I don't know how it would do in the long run - like journal writing?

I am not talking about really fast writing like taking note, neither do I want to spend 5 hours to write a 3 A4 papers long letter, that would really cramps my hand.

 

With all of those bared in mind, I am looking for a fountain pen that :

 

1/ Can produce line variations. (Preferred Fine and Extra Fine nib, I have small handwriting)

2/ Offers smooth writing exp.

3/ Allows you to swap different types of nib. Just in case I am no longer interesting line variations but I don't want to get another FP.

4/ Is around $30.00 . Sorry for demanding so much with this low budget :(

 

Any advice would be really appreciated. :D

 

Thank you very much

 

/I am staying in Las Vegas, other than ordering online, is there any place for me to come to have some looks and feels at the pen?

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I wanted much the same writing experience as you. After trying a few different types of pens, I made a Frankenpen that works for me: A Noodler's Ahab with a titanium Comic G nib. I heat-set the feed and smoothed the tip very silightly with 12000-grit micro-mesh. I can write extremely fine with considerable line variation, and the pen is also terrific for sketching. I have not experienced any leaks or feed problems. And after a month or so, there's no corrosion on the nib. I write very lightly, so the tip has not worn down.

 

Your experience may vary. some people complain about leakage, scratchy nibs, corrosion, and having to replace the nib often.

 

There's a YouTube video about making this Frankenpen, but the lady did't heat-set the feed, so she had flow problems. Fountain Pen Revolution has some excellent videos about changing nibs , heat-setting feeds, and fixing scratchy nibs.

 

Total cost was about $30. I found the Ahab cheap on eBay and a box of 10 nibs was about $20.

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You can get line variation without using a flex pen. I recommend that you try a Lamy Safari for just a few dollars more. With a Safari, you can change the nib whenever you feel like it. I'd start with the 1.1 or 1.5 nibs. The line variation is excellent. The horizontal stroke is probably a fine, whereas the vertical stroke is much wider.

Franklin-Christoph, Italix, and Pilot pens are the best!
Iroshizuku, Diamine, and Waterman inks are my favorites!

Apica, Rhodia, and Clairefontaine make great paper!

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I sometimes use a Sheaffer calligraphy set for journal writing. The set comes with three pens with different size nibs (or sometimes you will see a set with one barrel and three nibs). These will produce line variation without your having to part your hair in the middle. Last time I looked, the kits cost around $20 US. The cartridges are proprietary to Sheaffer, but they last a long time and you can refill them many times with any ink you want.

 

Parker makes a calligraphy kit also for about the same price. I haven't used one myself but knowing Parker, I wouldn't be afraid to try it.

 

Platignum used to make a pen (Silverline) that had about 8 interchangeable italic nibs. I use one of these for journaling too. They can grab the paper, though. For fast writing, you would want to grind a little off of the nibs' corners.

Can a calculator understand a cash register?

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Not a lot of choice in that price range except the various Noodler pens (Ahab, Konrad, Nib Creaper). The Noodler's are balky, fussy pens, some work great right out of the box, lots have to be adjusted, heat set (sounds worse than it is - just some hot water is required), and generally fussed over. Smooth? No. You can smooth them with micro mesh - which I have never seen anywhere except online. EF? No. More to the kinda wide fine (fine-medium), though I don't have the Nib Creaper to compare. Hand cramps? You need Gorilla hands to flex these, though they do flex a fair amount. You can modify the nib with any basic variable speed drill (it doesn't have to be a Dremel) with a basic small grinder (search under "ease my flex") and make it much easier to flex.

 

Personally, for most people that want some line variation, I'd recommend a stub nib. Get a Pilot Metro ($15) with a fine nib and a Pilot Plumix ($7-8) that comes with a medium stub nib, and you can swap the nibs (can be a little stubborn to pull the nib sometimes but otherwise easy). Or the Pilot Prera for about $30-35 on Amazon with converter and your choice of nibs, including the aforementioned "medium calligraphy" nib directly. The Lamy also has swappable nibs - I prefer Pilots over Lamys, but that's entirely a matter of taste. The Metropolitan has a heavier brass body, and the Prera a smaller, lighter plastic body.

 

A stub nib is an Italic nib that has rounded corners, making it easier to use, if not quite as crisp and dramatic variation. It's a lot easier to get going with than wrestling (not quite literally but it's a tough one to flex) with an Ahab.

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Or you can replace the initial Ahab flex nib with a # 6 stub (1.1) from Goulet pens, Nemosyne pens (0.6, 0.8, 1.1), or Fountain Pen Revolution (1.0). Or Monteverde or ... Well, right now, there is a large business in stub nibs, most made by JoWo or Bock, two excellent German companies. The other stub-makers seem to be doing pretty well too.

 

Another pen? I'm quite happy with the performance of the Nemosyne Singularity, equipped with either 0.6 or 0.8 stubs. Their is another Nemosyne for a few dollars more that comes with a 1.1 stub, as I recall. xFountainPens carries a large list of pens with # 6 nibs and a low price tag. Including the Nemosyne and rebranded Jinhao pens.

 

Enjoy,

Yours,
Randal

From a person's actions, we may infer attitudes, beliefs, --- and values. We do not know these characteristics outright. The human dichotomies of trust and distrust, honor and duplicity, love and hate --- all depend on internal states we cannot directly experience. Isn't this what adds zest to our life?

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Guys, really appreciate for the advices.

 

I guess I would go for the stub nib option since the flex nib and all that twisting stuffs seem a bit too much for a 5-day-old newbie like me.

 

There's one thing that still confuses me a bit is about the ability to swap nib of the pen.

 

How to tell if a pen is nib-swappable, without having to modify anything?

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Guys, really appreciate for the advices.

 

I guess I would go for the stub nib option since the flex nib and all that twisting stuffs seem a bit too much for a 5-day-old newbie like me.

 

There's one thing that still confuses me a bit is about the ability to swap nib of the pen.

 

How to tell if a pen is nib-swappable, without having to modify anything?

 

The Lamy Safari is swappable. For other pens you just have to check into the individual pen (Google, FPN, company website, etc.). You really can't tell just by looking. For example, with the Safari, you swap the actual nib. For some, you remove and replace the nib assembly. Check out Brian Goulet's videos. This is swapping nibs on a Lamy:

 

Edited by Blue_Moon

Franklin-Christoph, Italix, and Pilot pens are the best!
Iroshizuku, Diamine, and Waterman inks are my favorites!

Apica, Rhodia, and Clairefontaine make great paper!

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Hey guys, I really appreciate for your helps.

You guys absolutely have broadened my knowledge about FP a lot.

 

I've decided to go for a Pilot 78G.

They come with variety of nib sides (F,M,B) on Ebay. I particularly would look for a broad nib.

 

Yet, I haven't found any alternative source for Pilot nib? I've searched quite many place with "pilot nibs" as keyword and could find none.

Incase I drop my pen and the nib breaks, how am I supposed to find another nib for replacement?

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The Pilot 78G comes in a B and BB nib. These are NOT ball tips, they are actually stubs, so you might like them. My B nib measures about 1.1mm wide.

You may have to tinker with the nib, as some are a little on the dry side, but that also depends on what ink you put into it.

 

Personally, I would NOT start off with a Noodler's. I have 2 of them, and had to tinker quite a bit with the feed, to adjust the ink flow down to a reasonable level, otherwise it was TOO WET. And as others have said, to get any flex out of the nib, you need to apply a fair bit of downward force. Also flex writing is SLOW. Not glacial slow, but much slower than what I consider normal writing speed.

San Francisco Pen Show - August 28-30, 2020 - Redwood City, California

www.SFPenShow.com

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Or you can replace the initial Ahab flex nib with a # 6 stub (1.1) from Goulet pens, Nemosyne pens (0.6, 0.8, 1.1), [...snip...]

Or try Nemosine pens. (Although I have to admit that Maruman Mnemosyne notebooks have very nice fp-friendly paper.)

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I highly recommend a TWSBI Eco with a 1.1 mm stub.

 

It's the pen that's always clipped on my daily carry notebook. Plenty of line variation and very smooth.

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Hi guys,

 

It's me again.

 

I've just received my Nemosine Singularity Demonstrator 0.6mm nib, with some Monteverde cartridge today.

The pen looks beautiful, but the nib disappoint me greatly.

 

This is my 1st time using a stub nib instead a calligraphy, I can tell that the nib itself is rounder than the Manuscript Calligraphy pen but the experience that the nib bring to me is really "slow and tire some".

 

The Nemosine 0.6mm nib feels like the nib sink to the paper and it would take effort to writing. The nib is smooth though but there's a lot of friction between the nib and the paper.

 

You know the feeling when you are riding a bicycle slow but grab the brake mildly at the same time? the bicycle still runs smoothly but you need to put more force to the pedal. The same goes for the Nemosine nib, smooth (not jaggy at all) but ...feel like a lot of friction in between the nib and the paper.

 

If Pilot nib varisity smoothness is 10, then the Manuscript 0.85mm calligraphy nib is 8/10 and the Nemosine nib is 6/10.

 

What should I do? :(

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First, look at the nib closely, under magnification. Are the tines evenly aligned? Is there a small gap between the tines? Usually, I've found the Nemosyne nibs are evenly aligned but a bit too close together. A bit of nib flossing with a thin brass sheet, a bit of pressure to regap the tines, and the flow improves. That is often all that is needed to get the stub to work better. Warning: these are procedures that can harm your pen, be sure to research videos on aligning tines and improving flow before risking your pen.

 

If the pen has adequate flow and is still scratchy, well, break out the nail buffer and smooth the tip LIGHTLY. Again, caution is a great idea here.

 

Best of luck,

 

PS: I have cursive italics on three Nemosyne Singularities, love the pens and keep a variety of inks rotating through them. Each one did require minor adjustments, as do most pens I have acquired.

Yours,
Randal

From a person's actions, we may infer attitudes, beliefs, --- and values. We do not know these characteristics outright. The human dichotomies of trust and distrust, honor and duplicity, love and hate --- all depend on internal states we cannot directly experience. Isn't this what adds zest to our life?

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Somebody is likely to hook you up with the Las Vegas Pen Posse; as far as I can tell, member (and Ink Inc. moderator) Amberlea Davis is a central part of that group. And I do believe there's a subforum for just this sort of thing.

I would suggest the Nemosine Singularity with the 0.6mm stub/calligraphy point. I have one of Nemosine's 0.8mm stubs, and I really like the nib (need to buy a pen to put it in...). Nemosine is sold primarily by xfountainpens.

I have a Sheaffer Viewpoint with a 1mm calligraphy nib, and it's rather broad for me. The individual pens can be had for under $10, and the cartridges can be refilled using a blunt tip syringe.

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@zom

 

Without seeing it, it sounds like drag.

But first, I would do as Randal said, check the nib for alignment, to eliminate that as a problem.

 

I would then get a magnifying glass and watch the ink line as you write. My suspicion is that you are not getting enough ink flow, so there is not enough ink to provide lubrication for the nib. Do a Google search on making a pen write wetter.

 

BTW, you should not be pressing the pen into the paper. The pen should write with just its own weight. Excessive downward pressure on the pen is like applying the handbrake on your bike, you are increasing the braking friction.

Edited by ac12

San Francisco Pen Show - August 28-30, 2020 - Redwood City, California

www.SFPenShow.com

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You could also try a wetter ink. You can get ink samples (like from gouletpens.com) online. I would try two or three different inks before trying to modify the nib. Basic Pilot Blue is pretty standard on the "wetness" scale and might be a good place to start. Also, some papers are smoother than others. I have a couple of composition books that my nibs just glide across and other 1-subject notebooks that feel a bit "sticky" by comparison...just depends on the paper. After awhile I stopped noticing so much; I just adjust on the fly now.

 

Goulet also sells micromesh sheets that can smooth a nib out if it is scratchy, or you just want that "glassy smooth" feel. No affiliation, just a happy customer.

Edited by sirgilbert357
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Another thought, are you writing cursive?

If so you need to watch the diagonal and side strokes, such that you are NOT driving the corner of the nib into the paper. So be careful that you do not rotate the pen as you write. A stub/CI/italic nib needs to be kept FLAT on the paper.

San Francisco Pen Show - August 28-30, 2020 - Redwood City, California

www.SFPenShow.com

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