O3B Nib, Ink Selection And Writing Sample

[kelvinkeh]

Hi everyone, thought it be useful to share my thoughts on the O3B nibs since there's been some continued interest in this topic. Attached is a short writing sample. This is my first time uploading a pic so fingers crossed!

 

A few observations/ comments:

 

1) I find the nibs to be very wet, so with that in mind, it limits the ink selection, at least for me. I like to see some level of shading in my inks, and being such wet writers, finding the right combination is really tricky.

 

2) there are slight differences in the way the 2 O3B pens behaves. The platinum trim is much smoother, perhaps because its slightly wetter, or perhaps because I've been using it longer.

 

3) Montblanc inks tend to work well in these pens - funny that! The only MB ink that I truly dislike in these pens is the permanent grey mainly because it takes forever to dry with the amount of ink you lay down.

 

4) the BBB is quite misleading. Its not that much broader than a BB. I included a short BB writing sample for comparison and you can see its roughly the same width. In fact the vertical lines are thinner on the O3B compared to my 2000 which has been treated by Pendleton Brown. Compared to a stock Lamy BB it will be a whole lot thinner. (the Lamy is filled with Cacao du Bresil, if anyone is interested).

 

5) Yes I use all of the above pens, plus 1.1mm and 1.5mm safari as daily writers. My handwriting is not the best and even then you can see (I think!) that its quite pleasant to look at the final result.

 

6) I write fast. I wrote the page as I would normally write to give a true representation of what it looks like to use these pens in a 'normal' way. If I slow down it will of course be much neater (and less spelling mistakes).

 

Hope this was helpful. Comments and questions welcomed

[kelvinkeh]

oh yeh, inks that I didn't like on the O3Bs:

 

- R&K Alt Goldgrun - I LOVE this ink, but its far too saturated on these pens to show any kind of shading. Its just too wet. You can probably say the same for the other R&K inks e.g. Ive tried Blu Mare, Verdigris, Scarbiosa, Salix

 

- Montblanc inks tend to work well, and I especially like Oyster grey, Leo Tolstoy, and blue hour. Toffee brown is OK, I prefer toffee brown in drier pens.

 

- the only Noodlers ink I won the apache sunset is, as you can see, BEAUTIFUL.

 

- The Herbin inks also takes forever to dry, not very practical for everyday use.

 

- The Edelstein Tanzanite is the only ink from that brand I own. Based on this experience, I might look at other colours in the range.

 

Iroshizuku is next on my list.... What else would you guys recommend I try? I tend to favour greys, browns and dark purple.

[Ghost Plane]

Sailor inks are lovely. The Kobe line has lovely grayish-purples like Tamon.

[jmccarty3]

Thanks for the post--I love these nibs. If you're looking to try an Iroshizuku ink, I recommend Yama-guri, which is a nice dark brown.

[cellardoor04]

That nib is just luscious

[Tom Kellie]

[Tom Kellie]

[hoppenstedt]

I thank you all for the beautiful samples of O3B nibs.

It is a joy to see even three years later.

 

Is the O3B available in this version fitting to a 149 with platinum trim?

[reduziert]

O3B are awesome, own 2 x O2B, will have to get an extra B on top of those to get into the club Enjoying These writing samples around.

[Tom Kellie]

I thank you all for the beautiful samples of O3B nibs.

It is a joy to see even three years later.

 

Is the O3B available in this version fitting to a 149 with platinum trim?

 

 

[jmccarty3]

May I second Tom's recommendation of an O3B nib in a platinum trim 149? It's an elegant combination, and so much fun to write with.

[oldrifleman]

May I second Tom's recommendation of an O3B nib in a platinum trim 149? It's an elegant combination, and so much fun to write with.

I will make that a Third, My 149/O3B is a Platinum trim model and it is lovely. I do agree that it is not that much wider than some of my BB nibs. Mine is lovely and wet, just the way I want it! It currently is loaded with MB Beatles Purple, which is one of my favorite colors!

[Intensity]

 

I love the appearance of the ink used for this writing sample!

[Tom Kellie]

I love the appearance of the ink used for this writing sample!