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A long time ago, Ron Dutcher posted A Field Guide to Japanese Nibs in this forum. It is an excellent article, and if you haven't seen it, you should read it. I have some, but not all, and I thought people might be interested in a comparison of the nibs in use. Fine nib: Soft Fine nib: Posting nib: Script Nib: Manifold nib: Coarse nib:

I've learned that LAMY pens are tested at the factory as part of the quality control, but are the replacement nibs also tested at the factory? I'm a little bit concerned by the recurring theme of scratchy or non-functional replacement nibs in the 1 and 2 star reviews of the LAMY replacement nibs at Goulet Pens: https://www.gouletpens.com/collections/lamy-nibs/products/lamy-steel-nib-silver Or are all the "bad" nibs just clustered on a set of production years and it has gotten better since then?

Sailor is my favorite pen and I've owned quite a few over 20 years. I just purchased a Pro Gear 21K medium. The nib is marked "M" and not "H-M". In comparing it with the same model (different color) purchased in 2012, I find nib differences that, to me, are not acceptable. The line width has jumped from 0.28 mm to 0.41mm, that is, it has become "Western". Flow is inferior, with ink pooling at the bottom of letters and it writes poorly, with bleeding & feathering, on papers not designed for fountain pens. It is no longer an EDC. Worst of all, it does not have that precision feel, sharp imprint, and tactile feedback that we Sailor aficionados love. It writes like any one of the acceptable $60 pens I've owned. I contacted Sailor. They verified they are changing their nomenclature but have not made any other changes. I returned the pen for a refund. Maybe I got a rare defective nib. If I buy one of these new Sailors, I'll make sure it is easily returnable. For those who complained that Sailors are scratchy, this may be the one you like. There is a great YouTube post comparing Sailor 14K and 21K nibs. The author shows that all write about the same width and ink flow with the exception of M, where the 21K nib is much wider that the 14K equivalent,

Dear fellow FPNers, I have recently acquired 2 vintage Onoto plunger fillers, a model 3000 with a No.3/ST nib, and a model 6000 with a No.3 nib. Could someone please let me know if the nibs And what does the "ST" on the No 3/ST stand are interchangeable? for? I look forward to your feedback Thanks in advance!

Hello everyone and happy Sunday! Can anyone here help me identify these two Lamy nibs? I found them on an online private auction. They are two different nibs. Do you think they are nibs for a Lamy 2000? Maybe gold plated steel? Maybe yellow gold that is losing its rhodium plating?

I just did a YouTube review of the fountain pen I probably use more than any other for drawing, the Duke 600 which is a very inexpensive pen. I got mine on Amazon a few years ago, and it does a great job of filling in areas. It works almost like a brush but it gives me more control. It isn't just that the nib is bent (or Fude). The nib has a little hood that acts like a reservoir and makes sure that it gets enough ink, otherwise it would go dry. It is really an amazing bargain. It is a bit heavy, but when it is posted it is well balanced. The shape is a bit strange--a sort of hour glass figure. It is made of metal, which I usually don't like it, but it feels nice in my hand. The section is also metal, but it is engraved with a pattern so that it is not slippery. It posts very securely--so securely that it makes me wonder why other pens are not designed in the same way. It has a converter that has a little spring in it that seems to help with the ink flow. The only negative for me, is that this converter does not hold a lot of ink given how much ink the pen puts down. I wish someone would develop a similar pen with a big ink capacity. I need to make time to see if I can use the nib on an eyedropper pen like an Opus 88 or a vacuum filler. I wish someone would copy the design and make such a pen! You can see my review here:

As in the title.

I have recently purchased a new box of nibs, Zebra comic G, for copperplate calligraphy. They're nibs I used in the past with happy results, very flexible and nice fine lines in my opinion. I used them with regular fountain pen inks (like Waterman, Pelikan, Lamy, MontBlanc and so on) but also with some self-made mixes and gum arabic. The old set worked just fine as soon as it was out of the box, no need for cleaning or set-up: they just held ink perfectly. This new box seems exactly the same, same finishing, and it was purchased by the same vendor. However the nibs don't hold ink properly: it will pool around the reservoir and refuse to flow towards the tip. When it does flow, it very often comes down all at once creating splotches. I tried different ones, so it's not just a faulty one of the box. I have tried cleaning them with: saliva - which had worked fine in the past with other nibs: slightly better, but the issue is definitely not solved water - no improvement, almost made the issue worse if possible flame - held it over a lighter, at first just a second, then when it was not working I held it for several seconds: again the situation got somewhat better, but it's not solved Things I heard but haven't tried yet: toothpaste - I'm afraid to ruin the tip: should I go for it? chemicals, like solvents: acetone, nitro thinner or simple kitchen degreaser - I really don't know what's going to happen with the metal and/or the ink. I'm not keen on playing the little chemist, so I'd rather leave this as a last resort. intervening on the ink - maybe some inks will solve this problem? Maybe they need to be thinner? Do you have any recommendation or low-risk methods I could try at first? I really want to solve this because I love these nibs and would be very sad to start looking for different kinds to fall in love with also I have a deadline coming up for a job and need to sort this out rather quickly! Thanks and apologies for my English.

How do you store your pen spare parts, ink converters, etc.? My wife finally managed to get me to clean up some of my mess, ahead of friends visiting (which is quite rare for us). I have boxes of pen spare parts, standalone or replacement nibs and nib units, dip pen handles and nibs, ink cartridges and converters, tools (such as tiny wrenches) for pen maintenance, water brush pens, a stamping kit to produce an outline image on swatch cards, makeup applicators for swabbing ink, display stands for (photographing) swatch cards, surplus Chinese pens, dedicated cheap pens for holding certain iron-gall inks and pigment inks so that they're always on the ready, etc. All of which, until recently, used to sit in a precarious pile (or ‘tower’) on one of the unused dining chairs, and it's hard to either move them or hide them away from sight all at once. Just as well that I also have a hoard of ‘spare’ storage boxes, document trays, etc. This one proved suitable beyond my expectations, even though of course it couldn't hold all of that type of bits and bobs; I still have dozens of new Sailor, Platinum, and Pilot converters, as well as retail boxes of ink cartridges and new surplus (not just Chinese, but also Japanese and European) fountain pens filling up mini-crates and crammed into a huge drawer elsewhere. Take a guess how much stuff it holds for me! This is not nearly the “all laid out” view, when there are stacks and layers inside the smaller boxes themselves: All of the plastic boxes shown were bought in Daiso, with the exception of this one:

Hi all. I am returning to the fountain pen world after some years, and I am trying to deepen my knowedge of the different types of nibs. I know about normal, italic, stub, music and so on, but I found in some sites the possibility to choose an "orb " nib (e.g. Orb 0.5). I made some researches here on the forum and elsewhere, but did not find a clear explanation. Could you provide some insights about this type of nib? Is it a subtype of the oblique nibs? Thanks.

New to this forum. I have a Sailor Pro Gear slim with a extra scratchy nib. As Sailor is not having replacement nibs is there any possibility to put another nib from another manufacturer onto the feed? Such a pity replacement parts (nibs) for Japanese pens are not available. kind regards Michel

For reference, here is a list of pen manufacturers and who supplies their nibs. I've gathered this from a lot of different sources (including older posts in FPN forums). I'll update and correct the list as I come across new data. There have been several earlier attempts to organize this information on FPN, but hopefully this is a bit more organized/centralized. For the record, I am aware (and should caution readers who are not) that not all Bock or JoWo nibs are the same. The mere fact that, e.g., Visconti and Omas both use "Bock manufactured nibs" does not mean, ipso facto, that they use the "same nib." In that particular case, the nibs are very different. Also, it is worth dispelling the mistaken notion that in-house nibs are “better” than Bock or JoWo nibs. This is patently untrue. Most high end pen-makers will do a lot of finishing after receiving pens from Bock or JoWo, which are already made to their unique specifications at the factory; they are merely taking advantage of the economies of scale offered by a dedicated nib manufacturer (the "artistry" of smoothing and finishing that give a brand's pens their unique "feel" is almost always done in-house by all pen-makers). That said, it is sometimes interesting who makes the nibs for whom, and to that end, I present the following list. Updated June 3, 2017. Organized by pen-maker: Brand Current Nib Supplier Historical Sources Ancora In-House Aurora In-House Bexley JoWo Until early 2000s: Bock for gold, Schmidt/JoWo for steel Caran D'Ache Bock Cleo-Skribent Bock Conid Bock Conklin JoWo Conway Stewart Bock Pre-1920: Warranted, 1920-1975: In-House Cross In-House and Sailor (only for Peerless 125) Pelikan and Pilot Danitrio Bock (except 24k #50 sized nib on the Yokozuna series, made by an undisclosed Japanese company JoWo Delta Bock Diplomat Bock Dupont Bock Eboya Bock Edison JoWo Elysee Bock (finishing by SP Dupont?) Faber Castell JoWo Graf von Faber Castell Bock Franklin Christoph JoWo for steel, Bock and JoWo for gold Formerly all Bock (including some Schmidt branded Bock) Goulet JoWo Hakase Pilot (and Sailor, but mainly Pilot) Helico Bock Karas Kustoms Bock Kaweco Bock Lamy Mainly In-House; Bock for specialty nibs Exclusively Bock in the beginning Magna Carta Bock Montblanc In-House Montegrappa Bock Monteverde Bock Ohashido Sailor Omas Bock In-house until 2000 Onoto Bock Parker In-House Pelikan In-House Originally Montblanc nibs, later in-house, switched to Bock 1997, transitioned back to in-house since mid-2000s Pilot/Namiki In-House Platinum In-House Romillo In-House Sailor In-House Sheaffer Bock In-house Signum Bock Stipula Bock Stylo Art Sailor, Platinum, Pilot, and Bock Taccia Sailor and JoWo TWSBI Bock and JoWo Urso Bock Visconti Bock Waterman In-House Yard-o-Led Bock And organized by nib-maker: Bock Caran D'Ache, Cleo Skribent, Conid, Conway Stewart, Danitrio, Delta, Diplomat, Dupont, Eboya, Elysee, Graf von Faber Castell, Franklin Christoph, Helico, Kaweco, Karas Kustoms, Montegrappa, Monteverde, Omas, Onoto, Sheaffer, Signum, Stipula, Stylo Art, TWSBI, Visconti, Yard-o-Led In-House Ancora, Aurora, Lamy, Montblanc, Parker, Pelikan, Pilot/Namiki, Platinum, Romillo, Sailor, Waterman JoWo Bexley, Conklin, Edison, Faber Castell, Franklin Christoph, Goulet, Taccia, TWSBI Pilot Hakase, Pilot/Namiki, Stylo Art Sailor Hakase, Ohashido, Sailor, Stylo Art, Taccia If you have any additions or corrections, please include a link to where you found your info. Thanks!

For those FPN members at least somewhat familiar with vintage Esterbrook fountain pens, what is your favorite among the many vintage Esterbrook nibs? One might ask in reply, "Favorite for which purpose?" Let's not get bogged down in technicalities. If you want to discuss your favorite for a particular purpose, feel free to do so. At this point, I use my vintage Esterbrooks for general writing and my signature. My favorite is the # 9788 -- flexible medium. I enjoy the modest springiness of the nib as I write, and to me it has an overall luxurious feel when writing. What say you?

The only person I know of is The Nib Studio, however he is not responding to messages on Instagram. Can anybody recommend trusted alternatives ? Would be better if you have previously sent your pens to the people in question.

Hey all, I am wondering if it's worth it to get an Estie with a custom ground nib like those offered on Fountain Pen Hospital's site? This is also something to note:(a second one, also regular sized since my first will be an Oversized Honeycomb) Thoughts and opinions are definitely welcomed. Regards, Rosendust

I'm looking around for a broad nib for a Waterman 52 1/2 v (the little ringtop). vintagenibs.com had a couple of nibs labeled "Waterman 75 Made In USA" stamped lengthwise down the nib. It's gold and has a round breather hole and the usual info sources don't seem to mention this model, which is priced like an average vintage nib. Anybody know anything about them? Are they real?

I’m seeking vac fillers which have 1.5mm stub or italic nibs (do they exist?) and/or 1.5mm stub or italic nibs which fit TWSBI GO and/or SWIPE vac fillers. Do these exist? (They need not be from TWSBI — I enjoy Frankenpenning.) Also, what chance is there of anyone being able to persuades TWSBI to resume making their 1.5 mm stub nib? Oh — by the way — what does TWSBI stand for, anyway? I assume that it abbreviates something, and that it may be abbreviating something in Chinese. I don’t know much Chinese, but I do know that a word which sounds like “bee” Is the Chinese word for a pen or pencil, So I wouldn’t be surprised to find that the company name is short for something Chinese.

Help! I really love the Robert Oster inks. Where can I get them in India? Have you guys used Robert Oster?

I love everything about the Triple Tail. The largeness. The clearness. The non-smellyness. The plunger filling system. The 308 cartridges I can use. Everything, that is, but the nib itself. It's just too darn much for me. It's finicky, which is bad enough. But even when it does work after heat setting, etc -- and even with an ink as simple as 4001 Royal Blue or Waterman Serenity Blue -- it's like writing with a paint brush. And that's before flexing! Before I return it for a partial refund, I thought I would see if anyone has managed to trade it out for a #6 nib? And it not a basic #6, then something else? I saw someone asked Goulet, and the answer was: "Maybe". Have you done it? How'd it go?

I try to find some information about the FF nib. So far unsuccessful. Is there somebody, who knows? Thanks in advance!

In trying to hone my skills at grinding, polishing and tuning nibs I am looking for a source of ‘bulk’ #5 and #6 steel nibs on which to practice. Anyone have any ideas? Thanks.

Hello, Hope you are doing well. I'm interested in finding the best components of Fountain Pen such as Nibs, Brass tubes, Resin tubes, Feed, Ink Collector, Ink Converter, Inner Barrel and other inserts. Preferably in the Asian market. Any recommendation? Thanks