I Have A Weird Request

[tonydent84]

When I first started with fountain pens, I loved medium nibs. They were juicy and smooth as butter. But then, not even a year after my collection started, I tried my first fine point and never went back - this was about 10 years ago give or take. It seems that for my handwriting, fine points and extra fine points make my writing look best. But then recently I took an old Cross pen out of my pen case and inked it up only to be reminded when I put the nib to paper that it was a medium point. But I loved the way it felt so smooth relative to all my fine and extra fine nibs. So.......

 

I was wondering if any of you who write with medium and broad nibs would like to share photos of your handwriting using a medium and/or broad nib pen of your choice. Not ornamental writing or anything fancy, just everyday writing as you would for a memo or note or journal entry. I want to see if there's a style out there I can somewhat mimic in order that I can once again enjoy using broader tipped fountain pens. I noticed that throughout the years, I've changed my handwriting to all sorts of styles.

 

Edited March 23, 2019 by tonydent84

[alexwi]

Hi,

 

When I started out with fountain pens, I had no idea of nib grades, let alone variations (sometimes from two supposedly identical nibs from the same brand), so I used that one X/B Parker 180 for a few years.

 

I really liked how this pen felt, and I kept using that and a 0.3mm Rapidograph, which I liked a lot too.

 

Later, I found out that there are finer nibs and went all the way to XF and stayed there for a few more years. Then I gave a Waterman M a shot and got hooked on that grade.

 

Fast forward more years than I care to admit and now I know that I have "periods" and I swing between F, M, and Italic. I haven't gone back to B in a very long time (decades) because my handwriting, which I'm very comfortable with, would be a tad small for a broad nib.

 

With regards to what you stated, you can always try to smooth your F and XF nibs and get the kind of feedback you got from that M that you tried recently.

 

Another thing I've learned from years and dozens of pens is that I'm not always in the mood for super-duper-silky-smooth-buttery nibs, so that also dictates which pen I ink. Right now I'm using (starting with smoothest) a Sheaffer Prelude M, an Elysee Edition 2 M, Parker 45 M, and Parker 75 weird-F (I ground this nib and accidentally turned it into a tiny architect nib).

 

If you're into F and XF, and want them to be on the buttery side, a Platinum Cool M might be for you, or a Pilot Metro M (caveat: I had to smooth mine, but like it quite a bit).

 

As I said, I haven't used a B in quite some time, so I have no samples, but hopefully my opinions will bring some inspiration.

 

alex

[tonydent84]

I'm like you in that I sometimes adore a smooth nib but at other times want a bit of feedback. I found that I truly enjoy my Platinum #3776's fine point (which writes like an X-fine) both in tactile sensation as well as in how it makes my handwriting look.

I might consider a Japanese medium like the Cool M you mentioned.

[senzen]

I couldn't in good faith offer my handwriting as an example to follow, but I have a Pelikan m205 with a fine nib that is laying a fat line, more like a medium or perhaps even thicker. What I can say is that with this thicker line I have to be more deliberate, just as I have to do with extra fine nibs, my other 26 pens require much less thought, even if I still need to be deliberate to keep it legible. Because many of my letters used to look the same (so an n and an x looked basically the same), I have worked on trying to make each a lot more distinct, at the price of less flow.