The Best Nibs

[kavanagh]

Dear FPN Colleagues,

 

I am interested in knowing the best nib maker......is it 'Sailor', 'Omas' or 'Pelikan ?.

 

I am not sure if Pelikan outsource nib manufacturing to 'Bock' or do Sailor / Omas make their own nibs 'in house'?.

 

There have been a lot of reviews about the Omas Paragon ( old style ) and arguably having the best nib so far in comparison to other quality nib brands.....

 

I feel very tempted to buy a large Sailor 1911 with a 21K nib - reputated to be the best nib amongst all of them......also the Sailor Professional Gear 21K nib - what a beauty....

 

Any opinions welcome...

[Shelley]

very difficult question to answer-like who makes the best FP.

 

Bock makes a LOT of nibs for a lot of different companies, I own one and it is wonderful, however so are my non Bock nibs, my Pilot VP nib is super smooth for instance.

 

The problem with the question is that is that we do not know what sort of nib you like-butter smooth, tooth, etc etc.

 

I would say there is no one company that makes the best nib, everyone wants and likes different things.

 

For a truly personalised nib find a pen that you like then go vist a nibmester at a pen show, explain, how you want it to write and get them to customize it for you.

[simonrob]

It's a matter of taste; besides, a nibmeister can do wonders with nibs that are otherwise troublesome or annoying or not-quite-right (I doubt you could find a better nib than, say, the adjusted Conway Stewarts - especially the italics - Richard Binder had at his table at the Philadelphia pen show, or the steel nibs in the Edison Pen Company's custom pens). Best nib out-of-the-box? I doubt you could beat Pilot. (I'm assuming you mean current production and aren't including vintage nibs.)

 

Simon

[solitaire]

It's a matter of taste; besides, a nibmeister can do wonders with nibs that are otherwise troublesome or annoying or not-quite-right (I doubt you could find a better nib than, say, the adjusted Conway Stewarts - especially the italics - Richard Binder had at his table at the Philadelphia pen show, or the steel nibs in the Edison Pen Company's custom pens). Best nib out-of-the-box? I doubt you could beat Pilot. (I'm assuming you mean current production and aren't including vintage nibs.)

 

Simon

 

 

 

[solitaire]

It's a matter of taste; besides, a nibmeister can do wonders with nibs that are otherwise troublesome or annoying or not-quite-right (I doubt you could find a better nib than, say, the adjusted Conway Stewarts - especially the italics - Richard Binder had at his table at the Philadelphia pen show, or the steel nibs in the Edison Pen Company's custom pens). Best nib out-of-the-box? I doubt you could beat Pilot. (I'm assuming you mean current production and aren't including vintage nibs.)

 

Simon

 

 

 

The large 18-k niib on the Pelikan 1000 is a very fine one. Equally good is the fine 14-k nib on the Namiki Falcon.

Contrary to what many experts say, the Stipula titanium 1.1 stub is very smooth.

So is any 14-k Pelikan nib fashioned to a 'crisp italic' by John Mottishaw.

 

Solitaire

[penbaron]

Dear FPN Colleagues,

 

I am interested in knowing the best nib maker......is it 'Sailor', 'Omas' or 'Pelikan ?.

 

I am not sure if Pelikan outsource nib manufacturing to 'Bock' or do Sailor / Omas make their own nibs 'in house'?.

 

There have been a lot of reviews about the Omas Paragon ( old style ) and arguably having the best nib so far in comparison to other quality nib brands.....

 

I feel very tempted to buy a large Sailor 1911 with a 21K nib - reputated to be the best nib amongst all of them......also the Sailor Professional Gear 21K nib - what a beauty....

 

Any opinions welcome...

I would recommend that you look at S.T Dupont. their nibs are excellent. Otherwise, both Pelikan and OMAS are very good. The sailor nibs are based on a Japanese scale for nibs which runs smaller than US or european nibs. Their medium is really equivalent to a fine nib on most other pens. If you want the best value, tri the Pilot Knight or The Faber Castell Ambitions series.

 

An extroadinary pen maker, company is called Edison makes a remarkably good product for a reasonable price with excellent nibs.

[ericthered2004]

Lamy

 

cheers

eric

[Opus104]

My Sailor PG nibs (medium & broad) are superb!

[DrPJM1]

There is only the best nib "to you". Everyone's opinion and experience is different.

[MYU]

I concur--definitely a personal discovery thing. When you're just starting out, try to obtain pens from a few different manufacturers to get a sense of their nibs. You'll eventually find what works for you. And sometimes you can be pleasantly surprised.

[lapis]

Richard

[goodguy]

I agree with most here when they say its more a matter of personal preference.

I personaly think Omas or Omas/Bock make the best nibs but I am sure there are people out there that will disagree with that.

[feiye]

I would recommend that you look at S.T Dupont. their nibs are excellent.

Dupont would get my vote as having the best nibs too, in particular their XL Orpheo - can't go wrong there. I find that Graf von Faber Castell nibs to be consistently good and for the budget pens, Lamy do excellent gold and steel nibs at very affordable prices.

[John Cullen]

I agree with the idea that this is a subjective response.

 

However, there are some generalizations that may be valid.

 

1. Duofold, Waterman, the new Omas Paragon, Dupont and other nibs will tend to be firm. Certainly the Orpheo, Exception, Le Man, Dufold etc.... tend to be very firm. (Perhaps the sonnet nib is the Parker exception to this rule?)

 

2. Some nibs are known for a certain quality: auroras are often a bit toothy and dry. The Orpheo medium nibs are firm but slippery smooth.

 

3. Sailor nibs may have a smaller sweet spot than say a Pelikan 800 or Duofold nib. some nibs are designed to be tolerant of angle of attack, and others are not.

 

Maybe better to ask people what they like about a particuilar nib and how they find it regarding tooth, smoothness, angle of attack, wrist turning, flow etc....... And of course it always helps when someone has used a number of one type of nib rather than just one.

 

Good luck, j

[SallyLyn]

I come from very inexpensive pens. My experience with 10+ Pilot 78Gs, Fine, Med, B/Stub, are that these are wonderful nibs. Everyone of the nibs has been perfect, smooth writing. Of course loading with well lubricating, free flow Noodlers, or Waterman may help. I have a Sailor "Ink Pen" I received from the Pen and Soup offer a year ago. This is probably a less than dollar pen, XF nib and is wonderful.

 

If Pilot and Sailor can make such wonderful writing nibs for their inexpensive, down right cheap pens, the upper end nibs must be out of this world. I'm saving my pennies, change from buying gas, for a Namiki Falcon, from Richard.

 

But -- The absolute, take my breath away nib is a used, unknown history, 1946 Parker "51" Vac, XF nib. Bought it off eBay, in a lot of pens. It was sold as nothing special. With shipping it was less than $30. This pen is 62 years old, how many owners have used it? To have such a wonderful nib stand up that many years, a user pen, that's hard to surpass.

[JonDoh]

The old Pelikans (pre Bock) had some of the best nibs in terms of ink flow and smoothness.

[gyasko]

If i can't have old Wahl/Eversharp or Sheaffer Triumph nibs, i'd have to go with Sailor. I'd be very happy with that.

[Lloyd]

In general, Pilot nibs are my favs. I have a Prera, VP, Falcon and a Custom 743 FA and they all write brilliantly. However, the XF flexy nib of the Danitrio Densho (that I had feed issues with) was possibly even better.

[aderoy]

In no real order:

 

Faber Castell

Caran d'Ache

Sailor

 

Never had one of above that needed to be tuned out of the box. Flow, fit and finish have been excellent. At any time one or these are always in rotation.

 

The last two Pelikan's (newer < 2yrs) have not been get out of the box needed some tender care.

[goodguy]

In no real order:

 

Faber Castell

Caran d'Ache

Sailor

 

Never had one of above that needed to be tuned out of the box. Flow, fit and finish have been excellent.

Yeh but what about feedback and feeling ?