Cheap Pen For Fraktur And Blackletter?

[adsmith]

My daily writers are a Parker 51 (ultrafine "nail" nib) and a pair of Reform 1745's with nice semi-flex nibs.

Because of the semi-flex, I actually prefer writing with the Reforms, but now I would like to play a bit with italic or oblique nibs. This is because I'd like to work on fraktur and blackletter hands.

 

Is there any pen in the price/quality range of the Reforms with a good, reliable nib for this?

 

(I know the "correct" method is to get a $200 Pelikan Souverän with three or four $80 nibs from RichardsPens, but this is not currently an option.)

Edited November 22, 2010 by adsmith

[fabrimedeiros]

I suggest you Lamy Al-Star (Safari or Joy) with these italic nibs: 1.1mm ; 1.5mm ; 1.9mm Each extra nib will cost only £4,00 from pilotfishpens

 

http://cgi.ebay.com/...=item4cf1f1f33c

 

You also can try Pilot 78G Broad and 2B, which are both stub nibs.

 

Edit: Unfortunately, none of these nibs are soft, springy as Reform 1745.

 

Regards,

Fabricio

Edited November 21, 2010 by fabrimedeiros

[adsmith]

Would a Dollar 717 Calligraphy pen work, or is that a different nib type?

[Vargouille]

Would a Dollar 717 Calligraphy pen work, or is that a different nib type?

It has an Arabic/ Hebrew nib, where the horizontal strokes are wider than the vertical ones. Therefore, it would not work for Blackletter.

[karinh]

The Dollar 717 calligraphy pen ... (Edited to delete as I see Vargouille has answered this above me.)

 

The Pelikan Script pen (in various sizes) has a slightly more crisp nib than the Lamy italic nib but the nibs aren't changeable like the Lamy ones are. However, the nib does have a little bit of spring to it which I really like. Pilot Plumix/Pluminix comes with an italic sort of nib but it's quite small (under 1mm) so I don't know if that's wide enough for those scripts. They are pretty cheap though. I empty out the cartridge that comes with them and fill it, via syringe, with my own ink (not into plain old blue). If you want to hunt around for old Sheaffer No-Nonsense pens with italic nibs they are quite good. The new Sheaffer calli ones are okay too but in my experience the cartridges dry out fast and the nib isn't as nice. You can get converters for all of these pens but they cost extra. The Dollar one is a piston filler.

 

Hope that helps a bit.

Edited November 21, 2010 by karinh

[The Royal Pen]

Or if you want cheap-cheap, a Sheaffer Broad-nib calligraphy pen which can be found anywhere!

[adsmith]

Hmmm.. can the nib on the Pelikan Script be put onto the Pelikano?

[karinh]

Hmmm.. can the nib on the Pelikan Script be put onto the Pelikano?

I haven't tried taking the pens apart (either the Script or Pelikano) and I'm not sure that you can do that. Maybe someone else knows?

[WontonST]

Rotring Artpens might work as well, I use them for blackletter/fraktur when I can't access dip pens.

[ANM]

I second Rotring Art pens.

[adsmith]

What is the filling method for the Rotrings Artpens?

[Lloyd]

Not exactly a fountain pen but how about Pilot Parallel pens?

[ANM]

What is the filling method for the Rotrings Artpens?

 

Rotring takes cartridges or uses an converter.

[roundthecurve]

I second Lloyd's recommendation for a Pilot Parallel. I have a 3.8mm I use for Gothic and it performs wonderfully.

 

Greg

[smk]

Would a Dollar 717 Calligraphy pen work, or is that a different nib type?

It has an Arabic/ Hebrew nib, where the horizontal strokes are wider than the vertical ones. Therefore, it would not work for Blackletter.

 

The 717 Qalam has a left-foot oblique nib. Its good for Arabic writing but not really for calligraphy.

 

Arabic writing uses strokes that are thin at the transitions but the horizontal and vertical strokes are typically not the thinnest. This is different than Hebrew writing.

 

BTW - as my cheapo solution for italic nibs, I use a 717i with a nib from a cheapo donor Inoxcrom that I've ground to about 2mm italic. Other cheapish alternatives are the Sheaffer and Parker Vector Calligraphy sets.

 

Salman

[Ernst Bitterman]

For cheap, the race is between the Sheaffer Viewpoint and the Manuscript calligraphy pen. I've seen both at Micheals, and I would rate the Manuscript as slightly more likely to be functional given the current QC on the Viewpoint. For sub-cheap, dip pens still win, of course, but are less convenient.