Italic Nibs For Regular Writing?

[Garageboy]

Am I the only one who uses an italic nib for daily writing?

[mysta rave]

Am I the only one who uses an italic nib for daily writing?

 

 

....no.

[PinarelloOnly]

Am I the only one who uses an italic nib for daily writing?

 

I write with two different italic nib pens that I use on a daily rotation: A narrow 0.5mm cursive italic on my Aurora 88

(I swapped out the nib from my Talentum) and a 0.7mm cursive italic on my Visconti Van Gogh Maxi.

Both nibs modified by Deb Kinney and butter smooth.

Edited April 25, 2007 by PinarelloOnly

[KCat]

I'm all over the place. I use italic, oblique, "demi-oblique" (about an 8-degree angle), fine, medium, XF and hopefully an XXF or XXXF in the not-too-distant future. I rather prefer to mix it up during the day and sometimes I just want a plain ol' round nib.

[Bill]

I'm increasingly using cursive italics and stubs.

 

Bill

[Kelly]

It's the only type of nib I write with - hooked on cursive italics and stubs. Seriously, it's why I have to limit my pen spending because the re-grinding $$ kills me (in a good way, of course). I have yet to try the oblique but that's next on the list

[HDoug]

I use a .5mm cursive italic at work and home. Sometimes I get lazy (italics do require a bit of work and attention) and use a nice roundy fine or extra fine.

 

Doug

[Garageboy]

Great, I feel normal again

[lalindsay225]

I've never used an italic nib, but I'd like to try one someday. I've heard they can give your regular writing a little bit of flair. I'm going to a pen show in June, and I understand they might have a table or tables where one can experiment with different nibs. I almost bought one of the Pelikan 200s with the factory italic nib, but someone here at FPN gave it a bad writeup. Those of you that use italic nibs on a daily basis, do you feel it gives your writing a little something extra?

 

Thanks,

Lisa

[kissing]

Italics and stubs are great for everyday writing if it's comfortable for you.

 

I have a customised cursive italic on a Parker Frontier from pendemonium, and two stubs (Phileas and an Inoxcrom) that I grinded myself.

[HDoug]

I've never used an italic nib, but I'd like to try one someday. I've heard they can give your regular writing a little bit of flair. I'm going to a pen show in June, and I understand they might have a table or tables where one can experiment with different nibs. I almost bought one of the Pelikan 200s with the factory italic nib, but someone here at FPN gave it a bad writeup. Those of you that use italic nibs on a daily basis, do you feel it gives your writing a little something extra?

 

Thanks,

Lisa

 

Here's some info about italic nibs from Richard Binder's site. Basically, italic nibs proper will give your writing the most flair because they're sharp enough to shave a mouse's whiskers. They are used by the blessed folk who have the focus, dedication, and patience of monks. Actually, many of them ARE monks.

 

Cursive italics are a bit blunted and can be used by people who want to be monks but are more easily distracted by worldly temptations. Stubs are yet more rounded, and can be used by people who are almost normal. Their handwriting is also not quite normal, and that's the point of using a stub to begin with.

 

I think it would be a great idea to experiment with some italic nibs and stubs while at the pen show. Let us know what you think.

 

Doug

 

[Inkanthropist]

I actually find it difficult not to use an italic nib for everyday writing. As soon as I started using one (and I now have several), I felt that I couldn't go back to ordinary nibs. On the rare occasions that I do now use, say, a standard medium, the lines just feel a bit ordinary. I've also found that italic nibs help to bring my unruly handwriting under control a little, so that may well be a key factor here.

 

Neil

[Ged]

I flit between italic and fines now. Whichever seems right for the moment!

[auscan]

I use a fine italic now and again for every day writing, But I would love to have a xxxf flex nib.

[Sciopod]

I fall into the "want to be a monk but easily distracted" category. I love the idea of italics, but struggle with the one true italic I own (a Mottishawed VP) as a practical daily user. I find my Platinum music nib, on the other hand, a real joy to write with.

 

So a question, for those of us who stand outside the monastery gates staring longingly in but lack the true vocation, of the currently available factory italics are some, in practice, less extreme and more user friendly than others? For instance, I've heard that the Conway Stewart italic is actually pretty easy to write with on a daily basis?

Edited April 26, 2007 by Sciopod

[meanwhile]

So a question, for those of us who stand outside the monastery gates staring longingly in but lack the true vocation, of the currently available factory italics are some, in practice, less extreme and more user friendly than others? For instance, I've heard that the Conway Stewart italic is actually pretty easy to write with on a daily basis?

 

Just like with pen widths, there's no standard for what might be an italic, cursive italic, or stub. So different manufacturers - and sellers - use the terms in a completely non-standard way. I'd be shocked, shocked I tell you, if a luxury goods oriented company like CS fitted what a nibmeister means by an italic to a pen. Unless possibly they called it a "calligraphy nib" to indicate its limited use. My guess is that the CS italic is what we'd call a stub - especially with their being an English company, as stub is a term I have never heard applied to a nib in the UK, except by FPN members.

Edited April 26, 2007 by meanwhile

[Mudge]

I have always preferred italic nibs, to the extent that I (perhaps rashly) ground my own first such nib out of a Parker 51 B round nib when I was 12 years old. I felt (still do, actually) that the round nib made the line look too much like the work of a ballpoint. My work methods at the time would probably make Mr Binder frown, but I don't care. He wasn't around to give me advice.

 

I used a very fine-grit Arkansas grindstone out of my dad's toolchest to keep the surfaces truly square, and broke the sharp edges with a little tripoli on a strip of soft leather glued to a scrap of glass to keep it flat.. The result had almost no baby's bum at all, since I have always obeyed the injunction to "keep away from children" and had no idea that such a feature was customary, but it wrote absolutely perfectly at the first attempt.

 

I still grind my own italics and cursives with only minor refinements on my original technique.

 

You're only young once, but you can be immature indefinitely...

 

 

[juhtolv]

Am I the only one who uses an italic nib for daily writing?

 

I am slowly getting into italic/stub fountain pens.

 

First I bought some calligraphy set by Manuscript. It has three sections, one barrel and one converter. It is (bleep)! That section with narrowest nib is scratchy and it has outrageous starting problems. I haven't tried those other sections.

 

Then I bought a set of Rotring ArtPens. It has one barrel and three sections. Its narrowest nib is 1,5 mm. It is too wide for most purposes, but at least it is comfortable to write. It is quite smooth. It is not too hard to find that ”sweet spot”.

 

Then I bought Rotring ArtPen with 1,1 mm nib. It is much better: I can write my normal text size with it. I am going to write my next Snail-Mail with that pen. Rotring ArtPen has just one drawback: It is too long to be carried in pocket.

 

Maybe next thing I want is some 1,0 mm or even narrower italic or stub fountain pen. And short barrel would be nice thing to have.

[blue suede]

Italics are all I use with the exception of several XXFs. 'Meanwhile' is correct about the CS "Italic Nib". It is definitely a stub. I just got one from Richard Binder to see if I would like it but I don't, so it will have to be ground to a cursive italic. More $$$!

[nhsmitty]

I'm going to a pen show in June, and I understand they might have a table or tables where one can experiment with different nibs.

 

 

That is GREAT to hear since I will be at the same show. I've been using a calligraphy pen off and on since I got into this pen thing back in Feb. Although, for two weeks now I've been using a regular fine nibbed fountain pen and some days I love it and think I can work with it, and some days I hate it. The one thing about a calligraphy nib is my handwriting is consistently pleasing when I use one. With a regular FP nib, med. or fine, my handwriting has good and bad days. Sure, I know working on my technique would be beneficial with a regular FP, but with the calligraphy nibs it seems to be an easy cheat to get good handwriting. That's my observation anyway.

 

So, I'm very curious about italic nibs and the like.