Calling All Sailor Zoom Nib Users.

[pendulous]

I very recently bought a Sailor 1911 with a Zoom nib from Taizo. It has taken me several days of 'playing' with it, as the concept is so new to me [there is an excellent review on the Tube by Stephen Brown], but I must say that I now like it very much.

 

My main concern is that when angled for a broad line, I find the nib a little drier than my preference. I have had the nib and feed out for examination and the it seems quite sophisticated compared to other feeds I have seen - perhaps the multiple ink channels are an attempt to deal with so much variety in line width. Since I normally write towards the fine end of the range then the feed matches my preference.

 

It would be very interesting to know how others who went for the Sailor Zoom get on with the nib?

[DecafAmericano]

Yes, I really like my Zoom nib pens. They are just different enough to be interesting. I find it amusing to turn them upside down and try writing that way, which is fun. At least, for me!

 

I got them just because they were playful, and I have them on a couple of my Sailors, but I will admit to using my Sailor Realo, Broad nib, as a constant companion.

 

Have fun!

[Strang]

I tried a zoom nib but found the sort of line width I most often wanted required an unnaturally (for me) low angle. I passed mine on.

[tinta]

I recently bought a red 1911 Mozaique sporting a Zoom nib.

Actually I really wanted the pen & the nib just came with it.

Though I have trouble writing with regular ball-tipped nibs, I will give this Zoom nib an honest try.

If it will not work for me, I've been assured that this nib (like the Sailor Music nib) will make a great candidate for customization to an italic.

Edited July 31, 2012 by tinta

[Sailor Kenshin]

I recently bought a red 1911 Mozaique sporting a Zoom nib.

Actually I really wanted the pen & the nib just came with it.

Though I have trouble writing with regular ball-tipped nibs, I will give this Zoom nib an honest try.

If it will not work for me, I've been assured that this nib (like the Sailor Music nib) will make a great candidate for customization to an italic.

 

 

Or just sell it to me. :ltcapd:

[alexander_k]

I like my Sailor zoom nib, especially for drawing and sketching because it gives me a variety of line widths without the pressure required by flexible nibs. Probably because of some drafting experience (in a previous life) I find drawing or even writing with the pen at various angles quite easy. When I write with it it usually produces the broad strokes I prefer, with some line variation I bend my fingers (only slightly - I'm learning to rely more on my shoulder). In short, I'm quite pleased with it and, similarly to Sailor Kenshin, I would be interested to obtain more.

[NedC]

I really only use my Zoom nib for sketching and drawing, it's a bit to broad for general writing unless it's flipped, but is a great nib for sketching. I suppose if one writes Japanese or Chinese it would work all for writing if you wanted a brush style calligraphic flourish to your writing as it does remind me of using a rather stiff brush pen for sketching.

[penmanila]

i never did warm up to mine and reground it myself into a broad stub that's wet and flexy. now i love it!

 

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7071/7393795910_7b7bdd83fb_z.jpg

[pendulous]

i never did warm up to mine and reground it myself into a broad stub that's wet and flexy. now i love it!

 

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7071/7393795910_7b7bdd83fb_z.jpg

 

Nice move with the grind. Although I 'think' I love my Zoom, to be honest I can see me ending up attempting to turn it into something else. There seems to be quite a lot of tipping material to play with ?? Or is the tip ball an illusion of mainly gold with just a little iridium?

[wspohn]

I have a zoom nib on my Classic CP-7 Atlantic and while it is a nice 'toy' to amuse yourself with, I think that only a serious calligrapher would be able to put it to routine use. I wish I were a good calligrapher!

[tinta]

This morning I took a good look at the nib with a magnifier.

There's a LOT of actual tipping material on the Sailor 14K Zoom nib (the larger 21K nib may have even more).

Mine measured roughly 0.80 mm. at the widest point of the ball-shaped tip.

[Nick.Kosky]

To be honest - not desperately impressed. I bought a demonstrator from eBay for a staggeringly good price. The nib was very smooth out of the box, but isn't forgiving enough in terms of angling while writing to suit my erratic hand. The pen itself is well made and attractive, but I think I would have been better off with a normal nib. Might persevere with it, but not my 'soul pen'.

[toomanypelikans]

Love my Zoom nib, it is such fun, sits in a happy yellow Sailor 1911M

 

I have it in use at the moment.

 

http://justdaveyb.com/2012/08/28/sailor-1911-medium-yellowgold-zoom-inked-with-rohrer-klingner-blau-schwarz-limited-edition/

Edited August 30, 2012 by justdaveyb

[Sailor Kenshin]

To be honest - not desperately impressed. I bought a demonstrator from eBay for a staggeringly good price. The nib was very smooth out of the box, but isn't forgiving enough in terms of angling while writing to suit my erratic hand. The pen itself is well made and attractive, but I think I would have been better off with a normal nib. Might persevere with it, but not my 'soul pen'.

 

Heyyyyy... If you don't want it.....

[Sandy1]

Hi,

 

It is one of the few 'special purpose' pens that is invited to the office from time to time.

 

I use it mostly for sketching diagrams, where various line widths are required, even though the nib's range of width does not become very narrow.

 

Also for outlining, where I can use the various line widths to indicate hierarchy of items. Handy for gross mark-up of draft text.

 

Bye,

S1

Edited August 30, 2012 by Sandy1

[de_pen_dent]

I too have sent off my Sailor 1991 to Mike Masuyama for grinding into a stub. I found I couldn't get any variation in line thickness with it, no matter how I angled the pen.

[autopsy]

I too have sent off my Sailor 1991 to Mike Masuyama for grinding into a stub. I found I couldn't get any variation in line thickness with it, no matter how I angled the pen.

 

http://www.allmusic.com/album/sailor-1991-mw0001017632

[de_pen_dent]

I too have sent off my Sailor 1991 to Mike Masuyama for grinding into a stub. I found I couldn't get any variation in line thickness with it, no matter how I angled the pen.

 

http://www.allmusic.com/album/sailor-1991-mw0001017632

 

Hehe...

 

[PeterPenPencil]

Never liked it, reground it to broad, on the road to convert it to medium or fine soon.

[pgcauk]

Couple of weeks in but I am really enjoying mine. It's twice as broad as the (increasing number of) Lamy Gold Broad nibs that have become my favorites, kind of like writing with a felt-pen or sharpie in terms of width, but it's very wet and soft so, even though I can't even get it down to a "B", there is a great range of mark making available.

If I hadn't learned to enjoy Fude nibs in advance (which have a greater range still, to be sure!) I think this would have been a bit of a shock, but as it is I'm very happy!

Wow, that's a thick line! OK, so then I need to write bigger!!

I have the Sailor 1911L Epinard Ringless, so 21k. Juicy!