Broad Nib List? Broader The Better!

[cougarking]

Just wonder if any one had done a broad nib comparison chat/ List.

 

I have a couple of pens, waterman carene, Parker sonet, MB jonathan Swift. and Lamy Safari.

 

I really enjoy the 1.9m nib in the Safari, like big bold writing! and just wonder what comparative options would be available.

 

Happy to consider different model and makes.

 

Many thanks for your times

[A Smug Dill]

Pilot Parallel pens. They come with 1.5mm, 2.4mm, 3.8mm and 6.0mm nibs. Fit them with either Pilot ink cartridges, or the (proprietary) CON-40 or the (discontinued) CON-50 converter, and they're bona fide fountain pens.

 

I have two packs of five(?) Chinese-made pens — obvious rip-offs of the Lamy Vista's design — with broad-edged nibs of different widths: 1.1, 1.5, 1.9, 2.5 and 2.9. They were "cheap as chips" at less than US$2 for each pen. I haven't inked any of them up yet; they just sounded good at the time.

The 18K gold Stub nib on my Aurora 88 Minerali puts down a 1mm line at its widest, and that's already way too wide for me.

You could try a three-tined Platinum or Pilot Music nib, I guess. I had one on a Pilot Custom 74 and I hated it; it's one of the few pens from my collection that I ever sold — too costly to just chuck out with the garbage, and too annoying to ever contemplate using again.

Or search for "poster nibs", it's all about the nib, irrespective of the mechanism by which ink is carried in the pen and supplied to the nib.

Edited May 21, 2020 by A Smug Dill

[avlisyar]

The Franklin Christoph 1.9 Music Nib is broad and wet! Love it!

[Croma]

Hello:

A BB nib from Montblanc 149 Limited edition 75th Anniversary.

 

 

 

 

Regards.

[Namo]

Waterman super six OBB (same nib as in the Le Man serie, only in 14k instead of 18k here).

 

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/325098-welcome-to-the-broad-side/page-7?do=findComment&comment=3903378

[welch]

About ten years ago, I got a Parker 51 very large Broad from Parker51.com. When Tom "Old Griz" Mullane saw it, he said, "That's a HONKING broad nib". It might have been a double-broad. I found it too wide to use, and sold it on.

 

I have found several "wider than medium" Parker 51 nibs on pens from the UK. Concluded that Parker Newhaven must have made their nibs a bit wider than Parker Janesville.

[cgreenberg19]

If you're willing to wait a bit, or go to a pen show Regalia has some neat stuff. I have one of their 9th Symphony nibs which is three Franklin Christoph music nibs stacked on top of each other and they it is the smoothest nib that I have ever used. Monty Winnfield is also making specialty and stacked nibs now and they have them in stock on their website. For a bigger brand, the Pelikan M800 comes in both an italic broad and a double broad.

Edited May 21, 2020 by cgreenberg19

[Anne-Sophie]

The big problem with any nib, bigger than bold, is the price of the pens associated with them.

 

The exception being the Lamy calligraphy nibs and the Pilot Parallel pens, however those wide nibs are also sharp but cheap enough that they could be rounded, if one has the right equipment to grind nibs.

[A Smug Dill]

The exception being the Lamy calligraphy nibs and the Pilot Parallel pens, however those wide nibs are also sharp but cheap enough that they could be rounded, if one has the right equipment to grind nibs.

 

 

But why do they have to be rounded, if the user just likes putting down bold lines of ink on paper, and (nothing personal, but just as an example I came across recently, our own @amberleadavis) likes crisp edges on those lines of ink? Bold doesn't imply quick, and expressive doesn't imply carefree (or careless). I find I have to write more slowly and carefully with a wide nib, when I choose to use one for headings or special effects, to make the outcomes match my purposes.

 

In any case, I think I've already mentioned there are Chinese fountain pens for about US$2 a piece delivered that come with a variety of broad-edged nibs. For those prices, I think it's worthwhile for one to adapt to them and modify/refine one's technique in calligraphic writing to get the best outcomes on paper.

 

Edit: grammar

Edited May 23, 2020 by A Smug Dill

[SashK]

I second the Franklin-Christoph Music nib!

[thx1138]

I bought a modern sonnet with a broad 18k nib. I would guess it is really a BB or BBB. Only a couple of hundred aussie dollars.

[cougarking]

Hi,

Thanks for the replies.

 

Is there a list with the nib widths available from manufactures?

 

Cheers

[A Smug Dill]

Lamy — https://www.lamy.com/en/lamy-nib-guide/
Parker — https://www.parkerpen.com/en-GB/nib-exchange-pgm
Pilot — https://www.pilot.co.jp/promotion/library/001/pentopList.php
Platinum — https://www.platinum-pen.co.jp/cms/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/200519_img-1.png; also https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/348894-platinum-nib-sizes/?do=findComment&comment=4243150
Sailor — https://sailorpen.co.uk/the-nibs/

 

Aurora — Aurora's official web site seems to be having server problems right now, so I suggest you look at, say, the list of nib options Nibsmith offers for the Aurora 88 Himalayan Blue.

Edited May 31, 2020 by A Smug Dill

[bizhe]

Check the tipping width chart on nibs.com

[josepllcs]

Hi,

 

I have a Pelikan 800 with an IB nib that writes very, very broad (supposed to be 1.5mm). These nibs can be bought on internet, and are easily interchangeable if you have a Pelikan 800.

 

Another option is to check Greg Minuskin web page. He customizes nibs, and creates the so-called monster nibs. I do have one mounted on a Parker 51.

Edited June 4, 2020 by josepllcs

[Runnin_Ute]

I have a Parker Vacumatic Emerald Pearl that when I bought it had a problematic F if I recall correctly. I purchased a nib represented as a OM by the vendor. (Five Star Pens) Well if it is, it is the widest OM I have ever seen. It is physically wider than the OB on a Pelikan M200 I have, and as wide or wider than a couple of 1.1 italic nibs I have. (Lamy, TWSBI Eco) I have begun to think it might be a OBB.

[bitterwonder]

Platinum 3776 Music Nib. Lamy 2000 BB. Both lovely.

[Bo Bo Olson]

I have some wide nibs. I find my 1.5 Lamy Joy nib to be wide enough to easily see my mistakes when doing caligraphy. I would find a 1.9 to be way too big...see below.****

 

I have a Pelikan 500 with a guestamate OBBB....in the '51-54 nibs were not marked and the rolled gold piston cap would not be engraved with a width because it would look crappy.

It's a pure signature pen. A legal name takes up 2/3rds to 3/4ths a page.

*****My Manuscript (a cheap pen) BBBB is for heading only. I probably have only written six words with it.........way too big to use. Headers only was my guess to it's use.

 

I find BB and OBB to be wide enough....but I have them in semi-flex so can get the nib to write a bit wider by pressing harder.....ie Demanding Line Variation.

 

 

I have 4 OBB's. Two are vintage and semi-flex. Two are regular flex; the old W.Germany Pelikan 600 (same size as the 400) and same width of the vintage nib.

The post '97 1005 is like all the post '97 nibs but the 200 is a fatter blobbier nib. It is a half a width wider than the 600 because it's made to write like a ball point by those who don't know how to write with a fountain pen.

 

 

In German stubbed semi-flex if your Hand is light enough you don't max the nib all the time, you can get line variation On Demand. Your nib will go from 1 X to the 3 X max....where you want it to be.

So the important parts of the word can be made even wider if you wish.

I tend to only max my semi-flex out to 3 X on fancy decenders at the end of a paragraph.

 

I'd look more in vintage German stubbed semi-flex OBB or BB than in modern for some nice flair in your writing, with out doing anything.

Semi-flex is to add flair to your writing, it is not a calligraphy nib. Some folks really, really over stress their semi-flex nibs thinking it is a calligraphy nib.

 

A wide nail nib will not give you line variation with out it being made a stubb or CI.

 

Do look at a Lamy 1.5 or even a 1.2 nib to see if they 'write' better than your giant 1.9 nib.They only cost @ $7.00 to check them out. And it is not difficult to change a Lamy nib, from my reading on it. I don't fiddle with Lamy in they make nail nibs, and I gave two, a Safari ( and a CPM-1 (M) away to hook someone on fountain pens.