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Smoothest Factory Nib


WLSpec

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Just out of curiosity, what is the smoothest factory nib on the market (or that you have tried)? Whenever I see other questions like this, the answers are always custom ground nibs, so I'd like to know what people think the smoothest factory nib is. Thanks!

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Lamy Studio with Lamy 14K nib. Absolutely smooth as silk from the very beginning.

"Today will be gone in less than 24 hours. When it is gone, it is gone. Be wise, but enjoy! - anonymous today

 

 

 

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It is not consistent: I have a super smooth Pilot 74ef and f. But that was after many bouts of exchange. The previous ones were all not satisfactory. My 74sm is not smooth. 74bb is glass smooth. 74sf is rough towards the tip of the nib amd therefore not smooth. 912sm is smooth but limited sweet spot. 74sfm is smooth with some feedback when rolled/slightly rotated. So much for consistency in Japanese brands.

 

My exchanged Lamy2000f is glass smooth. But extremely small sweet spot, not for abrubt flourishes and big angles or it will not write - ink will not go onto the paper. The previous one was horrible.

 

My Lamy AlStar medium is smooth. That was more than 10yrs ago. My ef and f nibs are terrible, but my friend's ef is very smooth and glosses over rough copier papers.

 

My Waterman Philes M is very smooth. The F nib is terrible.

 

My Pilot Plumix (round steel nib, not italic) medium is smooth and wet and broad.

 

My old Pilot 78G broad (stub) are all very very smooth. The new 78G+ (made in china) are imperfect and nothing compared to the good old original Japanese versions.

 

My Platinum Preppy 05medium is smooth,2 smooth out of 5 pens. Remaining 3 are imperfect.

 

My Pelikan m800m is glass smooth. M200 are all smooth (ef, f, m, b, bb) but ef takes more time to know the sweet spot. It is a much smaller spot than the fine nib. M1000f is smooth if I do not abuse the nib.

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Noobie's are almost always after butter smooth. In on the whole they use poor paper. It is not good on good slick paper, in the nib tends to slide too much.

Thousand threads on Butter Smooth, and how to get it...... :lticaptd: Then after a year, sometimes less new, Butter Smooth seekers come back and ask, how to rough up their butter smooth nibs so they are not so smooth.

Good paper, and wet inks will make a dryer nib smoother.

 

Do not use Ink Jet paper in it is a feather monster. Good to better paper....ie 90g is the start, heavier than 100g can wait.

Pure laser paper is better than copy paper and or combo laser and ink jet, in that combo has to have compromises because ink jet Must be absorbed extremely quickly.

A ream of 90g paper costs twice as much as common copy paper. :headsmack: :doh:Put my good paper in a printer.... :lticaptd: :P :wallbash: A ream, 500 sheets can last you a year or longer. Cost of good to better paper. Two cans of mechanically delivered cans of Coke, two cups of Starbucks coffee.

My advice is to buy a ream or 80 sheet box good to better paper for every three inks you buy. Soon you will have a treasure trove of nice paper. :drool:

You need 90g paper to have two tones shading, with shading inks..........which are not overly wet.

You need good paper to have sheen.

Of course you need vivid 'boring' wet supersaturated ink.......why not, and mostly as noobie one is interested in vivid colors. They will make your nib write smoother if that is all you are interested in.

One needs a variation of inks. I chase shading inks, but do also have a few supersaturated inks.

 

Real narrow nibs are not the smoothest, their sweet spots are too narrow.

A M nib is a very, very good nib, but most come into fountain pens with one, then run to narrow or wide, and M gets becomes Rodney Dangerfield.............don't know the new Rodney...so can't give you an up to date comic of that sort.

M is smoother than F, which is smoother than EF.....B is smoother than M...and a bit of fun.

 

Bond Stock Paper - gsm Conversions (Bond paper is better than copy paper)

You can wait for a while before getting into 32 pound paper. I have some 40 -50 pound heavy papers....but I've been at it a while. Heavy paper was not the cure all I'd hoped.

Basis Weight Grammage 13lb 49gsm 16lb 61gsm 20lb 75gsm 24lb 90gsm 28lb 105gsm 32lb 120gsm 36lb 135gsm 40lb 151gsm

 

Slick paper, Rhodia 80 or 90g, Clairefontaine Triomphe 90g.

I often use nice more economical 90g paper, that while good and smooth, are not slick. Clairefontaine Veloute` and Oxford Optic. both 90g are very nice paper...local to you. Oxford optic 90g is in the Red&Black notebook. I have both in spiral notebooks. Good affordable paper.

 

OK, a decade ago before China became Huge in the pen market most noobies were looking for a good cheap pen, so went used, semi-vintage or vintage. Those nibs on the whole were good and smooth....the level under butter smooth.

 

I prefer good and smooth, so I can feel the paper a bit.........if you want to feel the paper more, toothy is what is looked for.........that is the feeling you are writing with a pencil.

Eventually, one needs at least one toothy nib........(got to go find mine....I just got some slick paper. :happyberet: )

 

I buy very few new pens...in they tend to cost $$$$$. I have a MB Virginia Woolf B that is butter smooth. My Pelikan 600 BB was butter smooth, I had it stubbed into a butter smooth stub. My Townsend is butter smooth. ( I like the good and smooth Pelikan 200's which are more than smooth enough with out being butter smooth.)

In good brand pens, butter smooth is the norm...............outside of the narrower than other Euro brands, Aurora which is/was toothy.

 

There is a problem with some butter smooth nibs......they have been polished so well, that some have baby bottom.....making them hard to start.

So all is not cream in butter smooth.

 

Go over to Inky Thoughts and ask which Diamine ink is the most lubricated or wettest. Use Oxford Optic 90g...and see if that smooths up the pen you have.

 

The question is of course how much do you want to spend?

MB is a bit privy for a starter pen, so is a new 400/600 Pelikan.

Japanese pens are smooth....but are @ 1 size narrower than marked. They were a nitch product until the mid-late '90's, and marked their nib for their own tiny printed script. But that is anotehr can of worms.

Graf von Faber-Castel, uses bock nibs.They can be a middle class pen.

 

 

Do Not get lost in the myth that gold is better than steel. It is not. The tipping and how it was polished make smooth. A nail's a nail, be it gold or steel, it is a nail....no soft about it...much less softer than steel. Some steel users even state the opposite.

 

Some hate Bock made nibs, for no real reason...same as liking JoWo, because they hate Bock.

Bock is one of if not the biggest and best nib maker in the world....but they have different levels of nib, that the pen manufactures and there are very many, and big names, may decide what price they want to pay for Bock made nibs stamped with their own brand, Visconti seems to have many nib problems (should buy a better nib from Bock)...the just died Delta not at all. There are very many name companies that have no problems...complained about here, about nibs that Bock makes. Twsbi, Did Not buy Bock's high level nibs...in it's a 'cheap' pen. They eventually went over to JoWo.

 

Sorry there is no simple answer.

In I don't chase butter smooth, have no idea which economical company has a reputation for good butter smooth nibs.

 

Just remember you can make your pen smoother using better paper and a wetter ink.

Perhaps you don't need butter smooth at all costs. One should have a butter smooth nib, just like one should have a toothy one...that more eventually.

In reference to P. T. Barnum; to advise for free is foolish, ........busybodies are ill liked by both factions.

 

 

The cheapest lessons are from those who learned expensive lessons. Ignorance is best for learning expensive lessons.

 

 

 

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The inexpensive pen that continues to amaze me is a $19.95 Cross M nib fountain pen. I bought it because it has a metal section, and I love metal sections. It writes smoothly on anything, the flow is absolutely perfect, and it never skips. Perhaps I just got lucky? I have more expensive pens that are smooth writers but I expected nothing less from that brand.

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Noobie's are almost always after butter smooth. In on the whole they use poor paper. It is not good on good slick paper, in the nib tends to slide too much.

Thousand threads on Butter Smooth, and how to get it...... :lticaptd: Then after a year, sometimes less new, Butter Smooth seekers come back and ask, how to rough up their butter smooth nibs so they are not so smooth.

Good paper, and wet inks will make a dryer nib smoother.

 

Do not use Ink Jet paper in it is a feather monster. Good to better paper....ie 90g is the start, heavier than 100g can wait.

Pure laser paper is better than copy paper and or combo laser and ink jet, in that combo has to have compromises because ink jet Must be absorbed extremely quickly.

A ream of 90g paper costs twice as much as common copy paper. :headsmack: :doh:Put my good paper in a printer.... :lticaptd: :P :wallbash: A ream, 500 sheets can last you a year or longer. Cost of good to better paper. Two cans of mechanically delivered cans of Coke, two cups of Starbucks coffee.

My advice is to buy a ream or 80 sheet box good to better paper for every three inks you buy. Soon you will have a treasure trove of nice paper. :drool:

You need 90g paper to have two tones shading, with shading inks..........which are not overly wet.

You need good paper to have sheen.

Of course you need vivid 'boring' wet supersaturated ink.......why not, and mostly as noobie one is interested in vivid colors. They will make your nib write smoother if that is all you are interested in.

One needs a variation of inks. I chase shading inks, but do also have a few supersaturated inks.

 

Real narrow nibs are not the smoothest, their sweet spots are too narrow.

A M nib is a very, very good nib, but most come into fountain pens with one, then run to narrow or wide, and M gets becomes Rodney Dangerfield.............don't know the new Rodney...so can't give you an up to date comic of that sort.

M is smoother than F, which is smoother than EF.....B is smoother than M...and a bit of fun.

 

Bond Stock Paper - gsm Conversions (Bond paper is better than copy paper)

You can wait for a while before getting into 32 pound paper. I have some 40 -50 pound heavy papers....but I've been at it a while. Heavy paper was not the cure all I'd hoped.

Basis Weight Grammage 13lb 49gsm 16lb 61gsm 20lb 75gsm 24lb 90gsm 28lb 105gsm 32lb 120gsm 36lb 135gsm 40lb 151gsm

 

Slick paper, Rhodia 80 or 90g, Clairefontaine Triomphe 90g.

I often use nice more economical 90g paper, that while good and smooth, are not slick. Clairefontaine Veloute` and Oxford Optic. both 90g are very nice paper...local to you. Oxford optic 90g is in the Red&Black notebook. I have both in spiral notebooks. Good affordable paper.

 

OK, a decade ago before China became Huge in the pen market most noobies were looking for a good cheap pen, so went used, semi-vintage or vintage. Those nibs on the whole were good and smooth....the level under butter smooth.

 

I prefer good and smooth, so I can feel the paper a bit.........if you want to feel the paper more, toothy is what is looked for.........that is the feeling you are writing with a pencil.

Eventually, one needs at least one toothy nib........(got to go find mine....I just got some slick paper. :happyberet: )

 

I buy very few new pens...in they tend to cost $$$$$. I have a MB Virginia Woolf B that is butter smooth. My Pelikan 600 BB was butter smooth, I had it stubbed into a butter smooth stub. My Townsend is butter smooth. ( I like the good and smooth Pelikan 200's which are more than smooth enough with out being butter smooth.)

In good brand pens, butter smooth is the norm...............outside of the narrower than other Euro brands, Aurora which is/was toothy.

 

There is a problem with some butter smooth nibs......they have been polished so well, that some have baby bottom.....making them hard to start.

So all is not cream in butter smooth.

 

Go over to Inky Thoughts and ask which Diamine ink is the most lubricated or wettest. Use Oxford Optic 90g...and see if that smooths up the pen you have.

 

The question is of course how much do you want to spend?

MB is a bit privy for a starter pen, so is a new 400/600 Pelikan.

Japanese pens are smooth....but are @ 1 size narrower than marked. They were a nitch product until the mid-late '90's, and marked their nib for their own tiny printed script. But that is anotehr can of worms.

Graf von Faber-Castel, uses bock nibs.They can be a middle class pen.

 

 

Do Not get lost in the myth that gold is better than steel. It is not. The tipping and how it was polished make smooth. A nail's a nail, be it gold or steel, it is a nail....no soft about it...much less softer than steel. Some steel users even state the opposite.

 

Some hate Bock made nibs, for no real reason...same as liking JoWo, because they hate Bock.

Bock is one of if not the biggest and best nib maker in the world....but they have different levels of nib, that the pen manufactures and there are very many, and big names, may decide what price they want to pay for Bock made nibs stamped with their own brand, Visconti seems to have many nib problems (should buy a better nib from Bock)...the just died Delta not at all. There are very many name companies that have no problems...complained about here, about nibs that Bock makes. Twsbi, Did Not buy Bock's high level nibs...in it's a 'cheap' pen. They eventually went over to JoWo.

 

Sorry there is no simple answer.

In I don't chase butter smooth, have no idea which economical company has a reputation for good butter smooth nibs.

 

Just remember you can make your pen smoother using better paper and a wetter ink.

Perhaps you don't need butter smooth at all costs. One should have a butter smooth nib, just like one should have a toothy one...that more eventually.

 

Excellent explanation. It is complicated. Kind of a J/O question looking for a quick fun answer..

"Don't hurry, don't worry. It's better to be late at the Golden Gate than to arrive in Hell on time."
--Sign in a bar and grill, Ormond Beach, Florida, 1960.

 

 

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Any number of nibs qualify, even if you stipulate the paper and ink used.

"Don't hurry, don't worry. It's better to be late at the Golden Gate than to arrive in Hell on time."
--Sign in a bar and grill, Ormond Beach, Florida, 1960.

 

 

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Thanks for all replies. Do you recommend the Lamy Studio or the 2000? Been looking into both and don't know which to choose.

2000

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My twsbi steel B or my visconti dreamtouch M nibs come to mind. My bexley 18k stub is like hot buttered glass but that nib has horrendous baby's bottom and skips all the time.

 

I actually really hate super smooth nibs. I like a very crisp amount of feedback, precisely like sailor.

Edited by Honeybadgers

Selling a boatload of restored, fairly rare, vintage Japanese gold nib pens, click here to see (more added as I finish restoring them)

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Yes, I have come to appreciate Sailors.

 

Smooth and dry (Pilot, I am looking at you) makes it difficult to lay ink onto paper, especially on non-absorbent papers. The already little amount of ink skids across and inks can turn out very pale. And things get worse with shadey pale inks with light base colours.

 

I guess if one writes on absorbent rice papers(?), Pilot could be the ticket.

 

Sailors provide a kind of feedback that encourages nib contact with paper. I do not enjoy Sailor and Pilot (gold fine nibs) on Rhodia, but that is just me.

 

Smooth nibs are good for me but they have to be wet and very wet. Smooth and dry is a big no for me.

Edited by minddance
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pilot nibs are supposed to be very fine but very medium to medium-wet flowing. I have yet to get an overly dry pilot nib in any pen at any level.

Selling a boatload of restored, fairly rare, vintage Japanese gold nib pens, click here to see (more added as I finish restoring them)

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it depends nothing more than what shape of pen you prefer. the sections literally screw into each other. i personally hate flat top pens so i went for the 1911.

Selling a boatload of restored, fairly rare, vintage Japanese gold nib pens, click here to see (more added as I finish restoring them)

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