4 Inked Pens - Optimum Nib Spread?

[Chouffleur]

I have pretty much settled on keeping 5 pens inked. Usually a Parker 51 (in this case loaded with Irishizoku Yama Budo) so I have one pen that writes every time on short notice.

 

And then a rotating cast drawn from the bowels of my pen drawer. Currently I own 4 colors of the same Parker 75 model and will keep those in use for quite a while.

 

But...

 

Their nibs are pretty similar - American F, and French M x 3.

 

This is the equivalent of carrying a golf bag with three 6-irons. So I'd like to come up with a spread of nibs for different uses/moods/whims much like the way irons are spaced apart in a golf bag.

 

My standard nib is a Medium with a few Fines and Bolds sprinkled in. So I'd like your suggestions on how you might pick 4 different nibs for your everyday use given that you always write on the same paper (Leuchtterm 1917 notebooks) and that you tend to use Iroshizuku, Diamine, and Levenger inks pretty much in that order of frequency.

 

There are a wide variety of replacement nibs around for the Parker 75 so don't feel constrained by a "standard" set of choices.

 

Thanks

Edited August 13, 2020 by Chouffleur

[silverlifter]

Not my approach at all, but given your parameters, I'd recommend:

 

• EF - for annotations and markup
• F - the standard
• FCI - some flair
• B - headings or just for some creative stimulation

[Uncial]

I keep ten pens in rotation.

Currently I have an Omas extra flessibile ef

A cursive italic

A double broad

Two broads

A Pelikan OBB

A Pelikan OF

A stub

A medium

An old Aurora with a springy fine nib

[bemon]

Sometimes I like to carry a spread of pens that represent different fountain pen types, even if all the nibs are medium.

 

Like today:

 

Pelikan M805: plastic piston filler with a twist cap

Lamy 2000: Steel piston filler with a pop top.

MB 149: A good example of a flagship pen,.

Waterman Carene: An inlaid nib

GVFC Classic: A classic looking c/c

Edison Collier 18k: .. well I just like it.

 

I suppose I’m missing a retractable fountain pen in the mix, but I only have 6 slots in my largest EDC case. And generally I only carry 4. A good spread of types of pen I think?

 

I guess for me the optimum nib spread is... all medium. But I like the pens to be different.

Edited August 14, 2020 by bemon

[ENewton]

 

Not my approach at all, but given your parameters, I'd recommend:

 

• EF - for annotations and markup
• F - the standard
• FCI - some flair
• B - headings or just for some creative stimulation

 

 

Sounds good to me.

[Runnin_Ute]

Right now I have the following inked:

 

EF: Pelikan 400NN, Parker 51 Demi Vacumatic

F: Pelikan 140, Newton Townsend

M: NA

B: Guider Capsule, Pelikan M200 Gold Marbled, M400 White Tortoise

OB: Pelikan M200 Blue Marbled (old style)

 

Emptied this week:

True Writer Silver Anniversary (F)

Platinum 3776 Century Borgogne (

 

I often have a M and or stub inked, but not always. And having two EF's inked is a bit of an anomaly.

[tinta]

- My Kaweco Stainless Lilliput (14c. "M" with a > 0.4 mm butter-line-stub) is always with me, in my satchel.

- A Pro Gear Slim Fire (14c. H-B conventional nib) is filled with Pelikan 4001 blue/black ink. It is one or my daily writers.

- A Sailor 1911S (14c. 0.5 mm BLS) is my other general purpose pen, usually filled with some kind of iron gall ink.

 

- For special purposes, like labelling or writing personal notes & letters I will fill a pen that may have a wider stub or cursive italic nib (0.6mm. to 1.1 mm.). This is where I might fill a pen with a more exciting colour. Once this nib has completed its task, the pen is emptied, flushed, dried & put away.

 

I don't write a lot these days. There's no need for me to fill more pens than I can use.

[Honeybadgers]

Mine are usually all between EF and needlepoint, with usually one flex in there and sometimes an italic.

 

I kind of hate everything in between extra fine and a broad italic (medium italics are fine, but they need to be quite crisp)

[Buzz_130]

My pens tend toward M (and thicker). But I'd have a hard time keeping four pens in rotation with different types of nibs. I would be far more comfortable with similar nibs but different inks.

 

Buzz

[A Smug Dill]

There are a wide variety of replacement nibs around for the Parker 75 so don't feel constrained by a "standard" set of choices.

 

I'm not going to feel constrained by what is available on the Parker 75, or from Parker in general, either. At least for some grinds, I'm sure you can send a pen or nib to a nibmeister of repute and have it reground to your specifications (but at his/her asking price).

 

So I'd like to come up with a spread of nibs for different uses/moods/whims much like the way irons are spaced apart in a golf bag.

• Pilot Justus 95 with a Fine nib and adjustable softness (and wetness)
• Sailor (14K or 21K gold) Zoom nib or Naginata Concord nib, either of which can produce a whole range of different line widths, but usable as a round-tipped Fine nib for normal writing
• Platinum (#3776 or President) UEF nib or Pilot PO nib, or some other comparable needlepoint nib
• Depending on your personal preferences, either a custom-ground italic nib or a custom-ground flex nib to suit whichever style of "fancy" writing/calligraphy you do. (If you choose an italic nib, then ideally one that also writes smoothly at a different width while in upside-down orientation.)

Diamine makes hundreds of different inks, so I'm sure you can find inks in its product range that work well enough with each particular pen in that spread. Pilot Iroshizuku inks work well with any of the Japanese pens, in my experience anyway.

Edited August 16, 2020 by A Smug Dill

[PAKMAN]

F, XF, flex, crisp italic

[Honeybadgers]

 

I'm not going to feel constrained by what is available on the Parker 75, or from Parker in general, either. At least for some grinds, I'm sure you can send a pen or nib to a nibmeister of repute and have it reground to your specifications (but at his/her asking price).

 

• Pilot Justus 95 with a Fine nib and adjustable softness (and wetness)
• Sailor (14K or 21K gold) Zoom nib or Naginata Concord nib, either of which can produce a whole range of different line widths, but usable as a round-tipped Fine nib for normal writing
• Platinum (#3776 or President) UEF nib or Pilot PO nib, or some other comparable needlepoint nib
• Depending on your personal preferences, either a custom-ground italic nib or a custom-ground flex nib to suit whichever style of "fancy" writing/calligraphy you do. (If you choose an italic nib, then ideally one that also writes smoothly at a different width while in upside-down orientation.)

Diamine makes hundreds of different inks, so I'm sure you can find inks in its product range that work well enough with each particular pen in that spread. Pilot Iroshizuku inks work well with any of the Japanese pens, in my experience anyway.

 

There is possibly something to be said for having a parker 45 or 75 and just a little ink sample vial with five different nibs in it, if space is a concern. Same for a lamy Z50 based pen.

 

Just swap 'em out as you need.

 

Not something I'd do, but if I was an artist, maybe?

Edited August 17, 2020 by Honeybadgers

[mana]

I have pared my EDC set down to a Pelikan 400 (EF) and a Pelikan 100N with a crisp CI BB. I do also have other pens inked (including my Frankenpelikan 500NN with a CI BB nib) but when I go about those two are all I need. I just like having stuff at home to play with because of the individual nibs have different characteristics/feel despite being nominally in the same categories. Or the pen itself if just... different (Parker 51 Aerometric OB, vintage Lamy 2000 OF, Kaweco Sport V12 B etc.).

For the OP I would suggest the following: Have a walk on the wide side. Cursive italic BB & BBB nibs or italic nibs from about 1.0mm onwards, especially vintage ones which combine flex with a more sharp cut are quite different animals compared to their thinner brethren.

[sansenri]

It really does depend on what you have to do.

Sometimes when I'm traveling on business I carry three identical pens with identical nibs.

The purpose is if one runs out of ink, or for any reason fails, I have another that can take it's place in my task which is usually taking notes of my meeting, without any noticeable difference both in my writing experience and in my writing output on paper...

[Bo Bo Olson]

EF for editing, best with supersaturated inks. Not a nib for shading inks.

 

Could be a nail....if one thinks one needs one for mashing carbon paper. I prefer nice springy regular flex...what the Japanese call 'soft', over nails and semi-nails.

 

Of course one needs a F........Vintage German semi-flex OF is just big enough to show some pattern.........F in regular flex is good for shading inks. Semi-flex requires  a good ink to paper mix, no matter what width in the tines spread easier, is a wetter nib.

The much maligned M is better than F for shading inks. And is good for classic rough papers like Laid or Linen Effect.

B is not all that big, in vintage and semi-vintage era pens. It is a writing nib...................modern pushes bold to new widths....so I can see the fella's point about headings with modern fatter than once nibs.

If one is looking for sheen or using glitter inks, B is a good way to go.

 

For glitter inks, the next time I try some it will be in BB or OBB.

 

Semi...almost....semi-flex is a flair nib, not a calligraphy nib at all.

 

A German oblique of the vintage era '50-65-70 an OB is like a fat M, and is a writing nib. Those German oblique semi-flex nibs are the only obliques worth buying; the rest you you have to hunt hard for any line variations, and nail has no line variation in oblique.

 

I've only got 10 pens inked........with vague hopes of getting down to where I could say, I have a rotation of nibs. 6-7 pens.

I often have 17 inked........and three of those ten are the ones stuck away in a drawer, in jewelry armband cases, (got others there but not inked.) instead of in my cherry wood glass topped pen case or walnut humidors. The ones with a chauffeur and butler. 

I will stay far away from the ink section. The less pens I have inked, the more ink I'll use....get rid of some almost empty bottles.

Any time I go over to that seduction palace, I end up inking two or three pens............

 

My computer was down for most of a week, so I wrote with a fountain pen. The next thing I knew three to five pens ended up empty or did so with in a couple days of getting the computer back.

 

Now I have to get that BS onto my computer.... or at least 1/3 to 1/2.

 

Out not hidden away are, a Lamy Persona reground from a nail OB to CI B. A 1.5 stubbed not quite CI Lamy Joy, in case I ever break out the hammer and chisel to break open the fossilized dust on my italic calligraphy book.

The rest are Pelikans...I have a W.Germany marbled gray 200 with OM,

A W.Germany 800 OM, new to me, a marbled green Celebry in F. A Pelikan Silverex, also rather new, I think it a semi-nail in F. (which explains why I never chased '66-81 Pelikans) The last one up is a 381 in regular flex OB........which surprised me when I found out it was an OB instead a B. As I've said often, non-semi-flex in oblique is like tracking a wounded deer through the scrub. One has to have good eyes. I may have bought that as pretty with out thought. My grail pen didn't show up and after neigh 6 months the money burnt though my pocket and I ended up buying a flock of Pelikans....

 

Enough pens, but not much of a assortment of nib widths.

[thx1138]

Broad,

Broad,

Broad, and

Medium (just kidding, broad stub).

 

That spread seems to cover everything pretty well for me.

[sombrueil]

Fine Super Flex
Fine Semi Flex

Fine Soft
Fine Nail