Suggestions for pens with super-fine nibs? XXX fine?

[Pepin]

I just received a Sheaffer Legacy X-F nib and while it writes very nice I could go narrower. Do I have to go Japanese for finer lines?

 

Does Sailor make X-fine?

Edited December 30, 2008 by Pepin

[OldGriz]

I just received a Sheaffer Legacy X-F nib and while it writes very nice I could go narrower. Do I have to go Japanese for finer lines?

 

Does Sailor make X-fine?

 

No, you could go to Richard Binder's site and pick a nice Pelikan and ask for one of his XF or XXF nibs for it.... you won't be sorry...

[QM2]

The only pens I know of that put down an XXF line out of the box, are:

. Sailor XF nibs,

. Pilot Prera F nibs, and

. Nakaya EF-SEF nibs

 

You can buy a Sailor Sapporo for under $100 and a Pilot Prera for $30 or so;

or a Nakaya for $350+

Edited December 30, 2008 by QM2

[savarez]

I just received a Sheaffer Legacy X-F nib and while it writes very nice I could go narrower. Do I have to go Japanese for finer lines?

 

Does Sailor make X-fine?

 

No, you could go to Richard Binder's site and pick a nice Pelikan and ask for one of his XF or XXF nibs for it.... you won't be sorry...

 

Agreed about the Binder XXF nibs.

 

In fact, what Binder calls XXF is 0.3mm, which is about the same size as a Pilot Vanishing Point "F". I have a couple of Binder's XXF's and I'm very happy with them.

 

 

[wspohn]

The only pens I know of that put down an XXF line out of the box, are:

. Sailor XF nibs,

. Pilot Prera F nibs, and

. Nakaya EF-SEF nibs

 

 

I'd add Platinum to that.

[mtraug11]

If you want to go vintage, an Esterbrook can be had for "cheap". With a 1550 or 2550 extra fine nib, it lays down a pretty fine line. My 2550 nib written upside down is so fine its almost unreadable with the naked eye....well maybe.

[Titivillus]

I just received a Sheaffer Legacy X-F nib and while it writes very nice I could go narrower. Do I have to go Japanese for finer lines?

 

Does Sailor make X-fine?

 

 

I've a Sailor XF 1911 that makes a very fine line, 21K gold nib as well. Have it for sale too!

 

Kurt

[Silvermink]

I have a Waterman Taperite Citation with an "XF" nib that's extremely fine (at least an XXF by my standards). They came out in the late 40s and are pretty reasonably priced.

[troglokev]

I just received a Sheaffer Legacy X-F nib and while it writes very nice I could go narrower. Do I have to go Japanese for finer lines?

 

Does Sailor make X-fine?

 

The finest nib made by Sailor is the saibi togi nib (reviewed here).

 

The Binder nibs mentioned by Old Griz are another good choice: I don't own one, but I have had the opportunity of trying one and was suitably impressed.

 

Pilot's finest is the PO (posting) nib, which I have not tried.

 

With any superfine nib, you need to use much less writing force. For a nib with a linewidth of 0.25mm, you need a quarter of the force that you do for nib with a linewidth of 0.5mm to get the same writing pressure on the nib. (Pressure = Force / contact area) This takes some getting used to: superfine nibs can be very scratchy until you reduce the force that you apply. If you use the same force as you would for a medium, then you are writing like a ballpoint user!

 

Some numbers (using Richard's linewidth scale):

 

Writing pressure for constant writing force (normalised to medium point)

BB: 0.36

Medium: 1

XXF: 4

XXXF: 9

Saibi togi: 8

 

The upshot of this is that to experience the same smoothness as you do with a medium nib, you need to reduce your writing force by a factor of 8 or 9 when you use one of these. Both the Sailor and the Binder will write perfectly well with this feather-light touch, though.

Edited December 30, 2008 by troglokev