Modern Pens With Unusual Nibs, And A Writing Sample

September 5, 2020

Occurs to me that it would be interesting to have a thread about modern fountain pens with unusual nibs. What that unusual property is will vary. Let's just say it gives the pen a function beyond normal handwriting. In my case, the unusual property is flex. For you, it might be a crisp edged nib used for italic, or an architect grind used for non-English characters. The point is to show the pen and nib, and to include a writing sample that instructs the viewer as to what the special properties of that writing instrument are.

I'll start with a couple of sober and severe Desiderata pens. The matte finish ebonite is a Daedalus. The shiny ebonite is a Dumke. The sample was written with the Dumke, but the Daedalus would do the same. It's all about the Zebra G dip nib for these pens. Paper is Tomoe River. Ink is Diamine Earl Gray.

Edited September 5, 2020 by cunim

September 6, 2020

https://www.sailor.co.jp/lineup/specialnib

On each of the eight panels, there is a blue "See product details" button. Click on that to bring up a picture of the (modern) pen and writing sample with its special nib.

September 7, 2020

Woops, I misspelled different. Never mind.

Here we have the opposite of what I posted in the first message. Those Desiderata pens are sober, serious tools which perform very well for calligraphy. In contrast, this Indian eyedropper is a lovely rippled ebonite in a Jumbo size that demands to be noticed. It carries a steel nib which, in addition to having some very nice engraving, has a flex range of about 0.35 mm to 1.4 mm. Looking at the "8" figures, line samples, and wetness smear this would seem to be a decent flex nib but, when you actually write with it, it performs poorly. Takes a lot of pressure to open and is difficult to control. Snap is sluggish. In these aspects, the nib is like most other steel "flex" nibs I have tried and is miserable to use. The quality of the result is poor, though I have no doubt it could be better in more skilled hands than mine. Point is, this type of nib is often sold as an introduction to flex, but is not really suitable for that purpose.

Edited September 8, 2020 by cunim

October 19, 2020

I got this iconic pen as part of a trade. When it arrived, it was moderately awful - a gusher that laid down a wet medium that swelled into B and that had an annoying habit of hard starting. The plunger seal also separated from the rod in short order. That necessitated a service visit to Italy. Visconti did the repair under warranty, but took about four months doing it.

So I now had a working pen with a boring medium nib that was way too wet for me. I decided to send it to my favorite nibmeister for alteration into something weird. Job done, and it's been quite the learning experience for me. It taught me that expensive pens with tweaked nibs have no effect on the quality of my handwriting. My cursive remains the same chicken scratch I have used these many years and only a real effort to improve will change that. I'll probably stick with Copperplate and will never get to cursive.

The pen taught me that real crisp italics are rare for a reason. This thing has sharp edges. Not only will the nib cut into paper if your hold is less than perfect. The ink will refuse to flow because the tines will not spread. I could just round it off into a cursive italic, but I kind of like keeping it as a tool to improve my pen hold. I have a tendency to get sloppy and let the nib become non-perpendicular to the page. I also let it rotate a bit. This nib does not forgive.

Finally, I achieved a better understanding of why M nibs don't make good italic writers. I have the usual Jowo B and BB italics that do a much better job of delivering line variation.