Can You Feel The Difference Between Larger And Smaller Nibs?

[Merlin676]

Hi all,

 

I am currently looking at getting either a Pilot Custom Heritage 91 or Custom Heritage 912 in with a SFM nib. The only differences that I can see between them are a slight size difference, price difference and differences in the size of the nib - with the CH91 being a slightly smaller Pilot #5 nib and the CH912 being the larger Pilot #10 nib.

 

Would you say that you will be able to feel a differences between the two nibs as a result of their size, and do you think that it would be worth paying the £50 (~$71) for?

 

Thanks a lot!

Merlin.

[ArchiMark]

Don't know regarding the specific two pens you mention, as I've never had them.

 

However, I can tell you that with other pens I've had from Pelikan, Montblanc, Montegrappa, Delta, etc, I do notice the difference between #6 and #8 or larger nibs.

 

Doesn't mean the smaller nibs are not good. Just that there's a hard to describe in words, but more luscious feel to the larger nibs....at least that's my experience.....

 

Mark

[Bo Bo Olson]

IMO depends more on if the Pilot is a soft nib or not.

I normally use standard pens with 3 or 4 1/2 size and notice no real difference.

 

I how ever chased semi-flex until I caught a lot of them. They are springer/softer than a Pilot soft nib...I am informed.

Of course others insist they are very similar.

 

There is a big difference of feel between nails and the old fashioned 'true' regular flex....not so much between the modern semi-nail and the nail.

Pilot soft is supposed to be nicer than 'true' regular flex.

 

I also have some #5 nibs on bigger pens....could be some are 5 1/2.

As I see the nib of the Modern 1970+ Large 146 and the Medium Large pre-1970 MB 146 is different, in the size of the pen matches how big it is. The '50's 146 I have has a real nice maxi-semi-flex perhaps size 5 nib. The '70's Large 146 has a nice 'true' regular flex...a tad more tine spread, with a touch less tine bend than a 'Springy' modern MB nib.

 

Modern MB nibs...I have 1 a 'Large' Woolf that seems to have a similar sized nib as my '70's 146, are Springy like a Falcon, nice tine bend but only @2 X tine spread.

Semi-flex has the nice bend spread and 3X tine spread....sort of 'Springy' ++.

 

 

"""All these are modern size 6 MB nibs (ie(Large) 146 sized nibs), except for the O3B which is a modern size 9 MB nib (ie 149 sized nib)."""

 

It's not that I'm tossing MB out for a status check (I only have 5, two are standard sized with 4 1/2 '50's nibs)....but I have many more standard and medium large pens with smaller nibs; 3 and 4. Those are some of my larger ones. I do have a real nice steel Osmia Supra maxi-semi-flex nib on a medium-large pen that has a nib @ modern 146/Woolf size. It looks a tad big, but is a grand nib for writing.

Again nibs are matched to the size of them, mostly.

 

I really don't find that "big" nibs do anything different. To look balanced Large to Oversized pens must have larger nibs.

 

I could put a medium-small Pelikan 140 semi-flex nib in standard sized 400 and a medium-large 600 and I had to check it out....it looks dorky in the 400 and even more so in the 600, how ever it writes just as well as it ever did.

Edited January 24, 2016 by Bo Bo Olson

[ink-syringe]

Size of the sections is also different. I too was looking at the CH91 as a cheaper alternative to the CH912 but (IN MY OPINION) was not worth the savings.

 

Or, to put it another way, I found the CH912 worth the extra as it is larger, prettier and a better fit to my hand.

 

The 91 is a fantastic pen. The 912 is nearly perfect. I prefer it to my M805 and my M1000. Is it better looking? no. Does it have a better filler? No, but it is just as ergonomic, easier to maintain, just as robust. I don't love c/c but the (included) con70 is unusually good and it has good ink capacity and darn it, the CH912 was less than $150 direct from Japan and is just as good, if not better, writer than, say, the M805. Plus you can get stub, music nib and soft nibs as well as the FA nib.

 

So, yeah. I sold my M1000, No longer have a CH 91, or CH 92, but now have 2 CH912s. Boring to look at but along with the Platinum 3776 and the Pilot C74 the best values, best bang for buck pens being made on planet earth right now. Aesthetics and filler are important considerations but, for me, not more so than ergonomics and nib/feed performance and on the last score the 912 is total home run.

 

I have the SM (glorious) and SU nibs. Pilot nibs rule hard.

 

 

If you have smaller hands and want to save some scratch the 92 is a good option. But if you go to the pen counter and try both I think you will see the section, nib, and pen it self is just a tad larger and that makes a difference for me.

 

YMMV