Italix Parson's Essential Stub

[Kataphract]

Plugging the price plus shipping into pounds to dollars comes to...$70. Opinions, other stub pens in that same vague price range (under $100 shipped to US)? Looking at the fine stub, which sounds vaguely in the same width as the Prera CM or Nemosine .6 (which both seem to be about .8 despite their described widths in various places).

[inkeverywhere]

I was fortunate enough to receive a Parson's Essential as a Xmas gift. Read and watched alot of reviews prior to purchase. I choose the fine cursive italic stub as one of the two nib options on offer and think for the price it is a wonderful writer.

 

Many options are available and my next purchase may well be a sharp italic nib as I enjoy a calligraphic dabble from time to time. Service from Mr Ford was exceptional.

 

 

Greg

[Kataphract]

Good to know. Though I'm trying to figure out if they actually are charging vat (value added tax) since the price comes up as 46 something pounds ($56). Haven't pushed the button yet, since I'm looking around at reviews, but it seems like a nice pen.

[sexauerw]

I just got one (fine stub) and inked it up right away. I was pleasantly surprised at how nice it is. Although that may be partly because I filled it with Pelikan Edelstein Sapphire ink, which is a very well behaved ink. At any rate, I'm enjoying writing with it very much.

[MuddyWaters]

These pens are attractive and continue to be endorsed by SBRE Brown, who again put the Parson's in his best of the year pens, which was the only budget pen on the list. But the fact there is no way to try these pens before ordering and that the bulk of the price seems to stem from superior craftsmanship (the pen is made of parts assembled from Asia, Germany, etc) makes me hesitate in ordering one myself. I think the other big attraction to these has been the nib customizability, another aspect of craftsmanship rather than physical parts. My opinion is that these pens could probably go for cheaper but they satisfy a particular niche in the market not otherwise supplied. Kudos to MrPens for the entrepreneurship though, it has overall been a good option in the fountain pen world.

Edited December 27, 2016 by MuddyWaters

[Kataphract]

Stephen Brown's Greatest of All Time Until 2017 vidoe is what sparked this. In a sea of unaffordable (by me) Visconti's on his list, it's appeal is a hand tuned nib. That, and I like the green lacquer.

 

I do note in reading the extensive text on the site that the fine italic is stated to be a bit more cursive because of the nature of where they do the cut. I didn't really want a full crisp italic because I like stubs as daily writers, but I can deal with the Prera CM, which is more of a cursive italic than stub, so I am kind of waffling over which fine I should get at the moment.

 

Let me expend my edit in noting that Mr. Ford mentions in one of his videos on his pens that VAT isn't charged to overseas purchases (No taxation without representation! Maybe I'll get some Liberty's Elysium...). I also like the evocative but highly idiosyncratic names he gives to his pens.

Edited December 27, 2016 by Kataphract

[MuddyWaters]

Interesting that Pen Habit had a totally different experience with his Parson's! If you read that comments on the last Massdrop order of Parson's, many people were dissatisfied with various features of their pens (other than getting the wrong order which is not MrPen's fault), like ink starvation, which I think Matt had spoken of in his review as well.

[Wrecky]

I don't think Pen Habits experience was that different. In fact, it was quite positive. He mentioned ink starvation after 2-3 pages continuous writing. Who does that? I have never done anything like that.

And he points to the SI converter as the likely culprit.

 

This pen is also on my shortlist. Line variation is my next step and I don't know what nib to choose. Italic? Oblique? Cursive? Mr Pen's website is very confusing about it.

[sandy101]

You won't pay the 20% VAT (value added tax) if the pen is being shipped out of the EU. I have a medium Italic nib from Mr Pen and it is a great pen to write with. I have three from the Italix range Essential, Captain's Commission and Curate and they are all nice writers.

[KaB]

I've got the medium cursive stub version. And use it for daily writing, also at high speed taking notes. The medium cursive stub allows fast writing, isn't too crisp yet gives nice line variation. Really great pen.

(When I received it, I reported serious skipping issues and immediately got a replacement set of grip/nib/feed. Great service.)

 

Can't tell about the fine stub though.

[Uncial]

I bought one a while ago and an extra nib. Can't quite recall exactly what I bought, but one was a large stub (perhaps the other was a crisp italic). The large stub was smooth and wet but was just like a BB with little to no line variation - in fact I couldn't get any line variation out of it at all. The crisp italic was a little better, but not by much. I have to be honest, and I know I say this even though there is a lot of love for these pens - I wasn't overly impressed. They felt a little like Jinhao's with nibs that were ok, but nothing amazing. It left me feeling that I could have bought a Jinhao on the bay and stubbed it myself with better results and for a heck of a lot less money.

[TSherbs]

The Italix stubbed fine is not as wide as the Prera 1.1

 

The Prera 1.1 is almost exactly the same as the Italix medium stub (but my Italix nib writes wetter and smoother).

[ink-syringe]

I had trouble with mine with ink starvation and dryness beyond the surface tension issues. It does not like Iron gall inks at all. But with a wetter ink things were much better and the nib is fun. I liked the silky lacquer finish. I love medium stubs for every day writing. I have let go a lot of my cheaper steel nib pens as I reduce the shear number of pens I have but this one just stays. I used it all summer as a travel pen since it is tough and brass. I like the pen still and wouldn't hesitate to but another but yeah I wish it were wetter and while I generally prefer tipped stubs like Sheaffer and Pilot this one was ground pretty nice and hit that .8(ish) sweet spot for me that is still usable for lined paper and puts a little flair in your hand. If you are buying it to run Salix or Pelikan 4001 Blue Black or Platinum Blue Black in it I would say no but if you are mostly using wet inks and don't mind occasionally flicking the barrel you might enjoy it as a good kick around pen.

[Kataphract]

The Italix stubbed fine is not as wide as the Prera 1.1

 

The Prera 1.1 is almost exactly the same as the Italix medium stub (but my Italix nib writes wetter and smoother).

The Prera CM seems less than 1.1 to me - it's closer to the Nemosine .6 (which is probably more like a .8). However, if the medium stub Parson's is about the same as the Prera, then that is narrow enough - the Italix don't seem to have the narrowest of cross-strokes, so I'm a little suspect of the think/thin ratio on the fine.

[Cryptos]

Stephen Brown's Greatest of All Time Until 2017 vidoe is what sparked this. In a sea of unaffordable (by me) Visconti's on his list, it's appeal is a hand tuned nib. That, and I like the green lacquer.

 

I do note in reading the extensive text on the site that the fine italic is stated to be a bit more cursive because of the nature of where they do the cut. I didn't really want a full crisp italic because I like stubs as daily writers, but I can deal with the Prera CM, which is more of a cursive italic than stub, so I am kind of waffling over which fine I should get at the moment.

 

I was gifted a Parson's Essential with a fine CI nib. I found that it was sharper and required a little more focus than a regular stub (in my limited experience of same). Having said that, it was a great writer with a very nice line. I paid mine forward (supposed to have been awarded to a student in the US I believe, don't know if that ever happened though). For me the body was slightly too short to use without posting the cap, and slightly too back heavy when posted. Otherwise, a really nice pen, and at the retail price point a great buy I should think.

[tartuffo]

There is no real standard for stub or italic nibs . That can make buying them

a leap of faith as it's not at all unusual to have a cursive italic

broad on one pen considerably finer than a medium cursive italic on another.

 

I think the Parson's Essential (#5) italic nibs are possibly the

smoothest you will find anywhere. Like the Pilot Prera CM, I would say it is closer

to a stub than a cursive italic especially if you compare it to a nib by

Michael Masuyama. But then a Masuyama cursive would seem to be a tad more

extreme than one from John Mottishaw - and

Pendleton Brown's cursive italic, somewhere in between the two.

 

The Parson's Essential is made of brass, so it is much heavier than it looks. It's an

excellent pen but the cut on the italic nibs is conservative so I can't imagine

there being a whole lot of line variation on an Italix stub, especially a fine.

 

Here's a few examples of cursive italics from pens I use. It's easy to see at

least 3 broad nibs writing much finer than the mediums.

 

http://i.imgur.com/ZHjchsg.png

 

 

Edited January 2, 2017 by tartuffo

[Misfit]

Just curious here as I don't own this pen. What I'm wondering is for those not seeing the variation, did you try more than one brand of ink with that nib. I used to not see variation with the Lamy 1.1mm, but with Lamy Coral ink I did see variation. I don't remember the ink I used when it seemed like the nib lacked the variation.

 

Anyway, I prefer stub and italic nibs, so it's good to learn about brands I've never tried that have those nibs. I wish there were more 1.3mm nibs as 1.5mm is sometimes too wide.

[Barkingpig]

ONLINE pens, if you can ignore the body styles make a very pleasant 1.4 nib. I like 1.5's fine, but sometimes the 1.4 is nice as well. The Visconti 1.3 is really equivalent to a 1.5 with it's flow; I couldn't probably handle a Visconti 1.5!

[sunsmidhi]

I was fortunate enough to receive a Parson's Essential as a Xmas gift. Read and watched alot of reviews prior to purchase. I choose the fine cursive italic stub as one of the two nib options on offer and think for the price it is a wonderful writer.

 

Many options are available and my next purchase may well be a sharp italic nib as I enjoy a calligraphic dabble from time to time. Service from Mr Ford was exceptional.

 

 

Greg

Can you please share the writing sample of Fine Cursive italic 0.85 mm nib ?I am also planning to order the same.Is it a wet writer and hope nib is not scratchy and dry

[Uncial]

Just curious here as I don't own this pen. What I'm wondering is for those not seeing the variation, did you try more than one brand of ink with that nib. I used to not see variation with the Lamy 1.1mm, but with Lamy Coral ink I did see variation. I don't remember the ink I used when it seemed like the nib lacked the variation.

 

Anyway, I prefer stub and italic nibs, so it's good to learn about brands I've never tried that have those nibs. I wish there were more 1.3mm nibs as 1.5mm is sometimes too wide.

 

 

I did try a few different inks and then gave up on it for a while. When I looked at it under the loop it appeared that it was the thickness of the nib (rather than its width) that was really the issue. I tried to grind it down a bit and then smooth it out but it made no difference. Without a grinding wheel it is a difficult thing to achieve without damaging the nib beyond repair. I guess it's a personal taste. I like my stubs to be quite crisp in terms of line variation. I do like italics, but find them sometimes to be too sharp - when you write with a very light touch italics can 'stutter' across the page. I wouldn't say they are bad pens, I just think there are many far superior stub nibs out there for a lot less. I honestly feel that Twsbi stubs are hard to beat and the Franklin Christoph stub nibs are a delight.