Steel nibs

January 30, 2006

I have read a growing number of reviews for pens with steel nibs that write very well. I have personally had an experience with a very decent steel nib. Whether these be the upper end of steel factory nibs or those specially tuned by some of our familiar nibbers it seems a steel nib can compete with a gold nib in certain pens. So, is corrosion the only limiting factor given modern metallurgy or is there still a slight edge to gold in writing performance given similar attention to manufacture?

(As in, if Richard Binder gave you identical pens with identically ground and tuned nibs, one steel and one gold, could you tell?)

Is steel still connotated with cheap pens and that has a subconscious effect on the buyers? We would certainly scoff at a steel nibbed MB 149, even if it cost half as much as the gold nibbed version.

January 30, 2006

At the tip, where the material matters the most, almost all present-day production fountain pen nibs, gold and steel, have a hard metal lump (iridium, or some alloy which is almost as hard as iridium) on both sides of the slit. It's the shape of that lump which matters for smoothness! The nib material is usually not the tip material, so the nib material usually does not matter for smoothness anymore.

Many gold fountain pen nibs, especially 14 karat and purer, are more flexible than most steel fountain pen nibs, but not all, and the difference between steel and gold in most brands today is not very dramatic.

Most steel nibs today, but not all, are made from stainless steel, so corrosion resistance is usually not an issue anymore.

Therefore, I think gold nibs have become a jewelry choice (for personal pleasure, for making a useful impression on others, or both) much more than a functional choice.

My Lamy Safari medium and broad, my Duke Complete Esteem fine and my Cross medium, all with steel nibs, write as smoothly as my 14k gold-nib Pelikan! The Lamys and the Duke are stiff, the Pelikan is somewhat flexible and the Cross is between them in flexibility.

Edited January 30, 2006 by Goodwhiskers

January 30, 2006

On steel nib flexability, one must only look to dip pen nibs to see one can get quite a bit of flex if that is what one is after. I don't think that most mainstream penmakers are of the mindset that their nibs should have flex anymore, gold or steel.

January 30, 2006

Bob, truth be told, unless the nib is badly tuned, I generally find no discernable difference between steel and gold nibs. But then, I routinely burnish the nibs on all the pens I use, so the nibs are all generally smoother than box-stock anyway.

In fact one of the smoothest nibs I ever had the pleasure of putting to paper was an Estie 2558 on the end of a Dipless nibholder that remained immersed in Parker Quink Blue until needed. Have no idea why it was so good, maybe the ink filled in the microscopic holes in the steel, or the blemishes or something, but that nib was just the smoothest on all paper types.

Cost does not seem to be all that much of a predicter either. I have had good writing nibs on $5.00 A&W pens that I used to get at Staples and good writing nibs on the Sheaf Intrigues.

Age of pens in my experience is not a real variable. I particularly love the Waterman C/F models and have a fair number with nibs in gold and steel. All write equally well.

So, I'm sorry that I can't be more helpful. Maybe it is luck of the draw on which pens get the good nibs and which don't.

But it sure is fun sampling...

Bill....

January 30, 2006

Well, during WW II, Montblanc did make steel nibs, and put them in their top pens. So did Pelikan. I've never used one, but they are very highly regarded. I did buy a pair of cheap MB cartridge pens, and was surprised, eventually, to discover that one has a gold nib, the other gold-plated steel.

I used to think I could tell the difference, but I believe it's mostly placebo effect, now.

BTW, antoniosz has an excellent article on steels and gold alloys used for FP nibs. It's on the Pentrace board, somewhere. It works out that some 14K alloys are superior to the best steels for making flex nibs, but there's a lot of overlap in qualities (hope I've got that right, Antonios).

Best

Michael

January 30, 2006

HI, yeah, I agree with those who say that a person probably can not tell the difference if both nibs are tuned up nicely. I have steel nibs on my Filcao New Leaders and they are amazingly smooth. The waterman Expert 1 which I own has an amazingly smooth truly Fine steel nib. The Cross solo nibs are steel, made by Namiki I believe, and they are very nice.

jc