Photo Comparison - Need Some Help

May 1, 2018

Below you'll see photos of the nib tips of my Sailor Pro Gear Slim (chrome coloured) and my Sailor 1911 Standard (gold-coloured). Both nibs are 14k H-M gold. I adore them both. These two pens feel very different on paper and I don't understand why.

The chrome-coloured Pro Gear Slim has a lot of feedback. This nib is very sensitive to rotation along the axis of the pen. This pen writes like a dream when I rotate the pen a few degrees clockwise along the axis of the pen, thereby favouring the right-hand tine (as seen from the top) and slightly lifting the left-hand tine from the paper. If I just put the pen down so that both tines are in equal contact with the paper, feedback increases dramatically and some would call it rough. Here are the photos:

The gold-coloured 1911 offers little feedback, is noticeably more smooth and is not sensitive to rotation along the axis of the pen. Here are the photos:

Comparing the photos, I'd like to understand why the feel of these two pens is so different...?

May 1, 2018

Sounds like the chrome coloured one is slightly missaligned; you can try fixing it yourself, since its gold you need to be extra careful, it's more malleable than gold; or you can find a pen tuner. I am an expert at messing up nibs so I would leave it well alone! My one Sailor 21k nib has some feed back if I go looking for it, on normal / bad paper, it glides on Clairefontaine and such.

May 1, 2018

From the photos, I think the slit on chrome plated one seem tighter than gold version which may limit ink supply to the tip. Wait for other experts to chim in.

May 2, 2018

Thanks! Comparing side by side, I've noticed that the writing area is different in size and shape. I've made a photo that shows both nibs side by side.

The gold one's contact area seems to be more egg-like, i.e. rounded, whereas the chrome one's contact area is more flattish. This would explain its sensitivity to rotation along the pen's axis.

Edited May 2, 2018 by TheDutchGuy

May 2, 2018

To me it looks like the tipping on the second nib is more worn, and has a flatter "sweet" spot.

May 4, 2018

As fate will have it, I dropped the Pro Grear on a table. The resulting minor tine misalignment was easily fixed but the shape of the nib’s tip is deformed and the pen is unusable. Having successfully tuned several nibs and feeling confident, I got my stereo microscope and some 12k grit. After several hours of extreme concentration and oh-so-gentle work, I gave up. The pen is writeable, is actually rather smooth, but became too broad and lost all of its original character, which was what attracted me to this pen. It will go to a pro nibmeister but I fear it will never be the same again. Since you cannot buy spare Sailor nibs, the pen might well be ruined.

May 11, 2018

With micro-mesh and much care you can round off the corners a bit on the flat spot......rotate the nib constantly. Check after every 3 or so seconds.

I would check that in the repair section....if that flat spot is natural or not, in I'm not one who grinds my nibs, I smooth them a bit, but don't change the contour of the nib.

Do go to the Japanese subsection to check if that flat spot is natural or not. It could well be wanted......giving a stub effect.

I don't rotate or cant my pen; unless it is an oblique, so wouldn't have any problem with that nib with the flat spot....or don't think so. I have no problem with stubs, or vintage German stubbed semi-flex nibs.

If you are always 'rotating' or canting your nib so you can see the top of the nib.....assuming you are right handed; you could have left eye dominance. Which is fairly common, depending on the severity. My wife has sever left eye dominance, and really, really, cant's the nib, and has to crawl all over the rifle to aim the wrong eye; same with pistols. She don't shoot much, so don't want to learn to hold the guns left handed. She is a natural very good shot, who only shoots once every couple of years.

That is where I came up with left eye dominance and canting the nib.