A Silent Nib Is A Smooth Nib

[professionaldilettante]

:bonk: :bonk: :bonk: :bonk: :bonk: :bonk: :bonk: :bonk: :bonk: :bonk: :bonk: :bonk: :bonk: :bonk: :bonk: :bonk: :bonk: :bonk: :bonk: :bonk: :bonk: :bonk:

i don't get it. why do we need to judge the smoothness by the sound? isn't it simply about the feeling when we write? :bonk:

I do not get it! Why do you think that banging your head against a brick wall every time you do not get something will make you smarter? :bonk:

[Effin1]

My 'singing' pen has a really broad nib and is a very wet writer which suits me. The sound is not caused by scratchiness and the tines are perfectly aligned. I've got other pens that are smooth writers and are silent but none are as much fun as my singing Dinkie.

[Bo Bo Olson]

professionaldilettante :notworthy1:

 

:bonk: :bonk: :bonk: Well one can only get so smart in a day.

[asaha]

Some silent pens are boring and not smooth in my collection. :roflmho:

 

Now I start to be able to taste different types of smoothness.

[majorworks]

I have a Chinese pen that I haven't inked up in quite a while, a Haolilai, that sings pretty loudly. It's also reasonably smooth on paper. I posted about it when I got it and I seem to remember someone replying that they had the same pen and theirs sang, too. It's a little weird at first but it doesn't bother me.

[imadeadend]

My Pel M400 screeches across the paper most of the time (it's a similar noise to blowing air across the top of an open bottle), but is a nib I would consider buttery smooth most of the time (it's an odd secondhand nib that isn't quite shaped properly...).

 

On the other end of the size spectrum, my Sailor EF is buttery smooth on Rhodia paper, yet makes a fair bit of noise. I'm sorry, but I think that noise is hardly a good measure of smoothness. Smoothness is a measure of smoothness

[fountainbel]

Hi all,

A nib making "scratchy sounds" or a "singing/squeeky" nib are two completely different phenomenons in my experience

While EF or F nibs are more sensible to be felt scratchy, - due to their inherent higher contact surface pressure - singing/squeeking is experienced more on wider nibs.

Singing / squeeking is – in my opinion/ experience - generated by unbalanced paper contact pressure between the two tines.

This problem can triggered by the position the nib is hold contacting the paper- hence the radial position the writer holds the pen - or by irregular/ poor grounding of the nib points

Logically wider oblique/stubb nibs are far more sensible to the "singing/ squeeking " problem.

Just my opinion, don't shoot at the messenger !

 

Francis

Edited May 15, 2012 by fountainbel

[Effin1]

Well said Francis. Like I said my nib is very broad but very smooth and noisy. Long may it continue.

[KrazyIvan]

Hi all,

A nib making "scratchy sounds" or a "singing/squeeky" nib are two completely different phenomenons in my experience

While EF or F nibs are more sensible to be felt scratchy, - due to their inherent higher contact surface pressure - singing/squeeking is experienced more on wider nibs.

Singing / squeeking is – in my opinion/ experience - generated by unbalanced paper contact pressure between the two tines.

This problem can triggered by the position the nib is hold contacting the paper- hence the radial position the writer holds the pen - or by irregular/ poor grounding of the nib points

Logically wider oblique/stubb nibs are far more sensible to the "singing/ squeeking " problem.

Just my opinion, don't shoot at the messenger !

 

Francis

 

I think you are right on this one. I have a Pelikan 140 I bought with a 14K F nib. very smooth but squeaky. Under magnification the nib looks almost as if it is an oblique cut. After showing it via photos to Greg Minuskin he seems to think it has a flat spot in the tipping (and no, I have not touched this nib, it came to me this way). My eyes are getting older and I need a higher mag loupe to verify but it does sure look like it.

Edited May 15, 2012 by KrazyIvan

[wangjianwei]

I kind of agree with you actually regarding relation of smoothness and the sound it makes.

 

However this relationship works only for the iridium tipping smoothness. I have pens that the tipping is not so smooth, makes some sort of squeaky sound when I write, but they are smooth because they are very wet and I apply no pressure other than the pen weight to write.

 

On the other hand I have pens that has very smooth tipping, it glides on the paper, but its a dry writer so I kind of need to apply a little more pressure.

 

In terms of which one is more comfortable for an hour and above writing session, definitely the wet but squeaky one.

 

Just my 2c