Pure platinum nib... Has anyone used one? Would you?

[Randal6393]

. . . "Stainless steel" is a specific recipe for a single kind of steel, but an umbrella term.

 

Aaron

(I apologize for letting this get so long! but ... I love a good flexy german pen! )

 

Hey, Aaron,

 

I thought "stainless steel" was more of a generic term, applied by the marketing analysts to sell kitchen knives originally. And that stainless steels covered a wide variety of alloys, most of which had iron, carbon, and "other" elements added to provide a rust-resistant steel. Success varied from very-good to not-so-good.

 

Many of the current stainless steels are rated for workability, ductility, strength, etc., as well as for resistance to corrosion. So you have to know much more than just that a steel is stainless to decide if it is good for a particular application. May have to eventually acquire a wet noodle and try my hand at Copperplate again.

 

Enjoy,

[hamadryad11]

The main reason for gold over steel is of course the flexibility of gold nibs (which was kind of the main point of Bryant's original question I think). You never get flex with a steel nib. Personally, I can´t imagine going back to a stiff steel nib after having tried gold, it´s a joy to write with.

Not true at all. Steel nibs can be extremely flexible. In fact, according to Richard Binder, if the gold content in a nib is too high (like those 18K nibs) it isn't suitable for adding flex. He has some really good information on the different materials used for pen nibs on his website, but unfortunately I can't seem to link directly to it. Just look around at his Reference Info.

 

Edited to say he doesn't seem to mention platinum nibs. He does mention palladium/silver alloys, but they don't sound too great. I'm not sure how similar palladium is to platinum even though it is a platinoid metal.

Edited December 18, 2008 by hamadryad11

[RevAaron]

. . . "Stainless steel" is a specific recipe for a single kind of steel, but an umbrella term.

 

I thought "stainless steel" was more of a generic term, applied by the marketing analysts to sell kitchen knives originally. And that stainless steels covered a wide variety of alloys, most of which had iron, carbon, and "other" elements added to provide a rust-resistant steel. Success varied from very-good to not-so-good.

 

Derr! That's what I meant. Left out a word. I meant to say that "Stainless steel" is not a specific recipe for a single kind of steel, but an umbrella term [covering many different kinds of steel].

 

Thanks for pointing that out- my rambling might've been extra-confusing when read with that conclusion.

 

Re: your mention of corrosion in your previous post- I've not seen much of it either, not in modern nibs. Like you said, success has varied with different alloys- and modern steel alloys are a lot more durable than they were 70 years ago.

[mstone]

For someone buying a $500-2000 pen, the added expense of $30-100 to have a pure platinum nib would likely make little difference to someone choosing that pen based on the perceived rarity or exclusivity of a pen with a platinum nib. Like when pens with 24k nibs make some people think "ooh! pure gold! now *that* is something special!"

Platinum's big problem in that market is that it doesn't look all that much different than polished steel. What's the point of dropping money on an ostentatious pen if nobody notices when you wave it around?

[RevAaron]

For someone buying a $500-2000 pen, the added expense of $30-100 to have a pure platinum nib would likely make little difference to someone choosing that pen based on the perceived rarity or exclusivity of a pen with a platinum nib. Like when pens with 24k nibs make some people think "ooh! pure gold! now *that* is something special!"

Platinum's big problem in that market is that it doesn't look all that much different than polished steel. What's the point of dropping money on an ostentatious pen if nobody notices when you wave it around?

 

I can totally see that- good point! But, it obviously doesn't deter folks from buying white gold and platinum jewelry, which also looks not unlike polished steel. *shrug*

 

Perhaps the answer lies in the fact that people find gold to be much more prestigious than gold plate, whether for jewelry or nibs.

[mstone]

I can totally see that- good point! But, it obviously doesn't deter folks from buying white gold and platinum jewelry, which also looks not unlike polished steel. *shrug*

On platinum jewelry there will typically be another way to flaunt the price tag (like a lot of diamonds; in fact, it's rare to see high-end platinum jewelry without diamonds). So maybe if you had a diamond-encrusted pen you could justify a platinum nib--but apparently that's enough of a niche that it's not worth the development effort over a platinum-plated gold nib.