Twsbi 580 Ef Scratchier Than Pilot 78G F?

[j.a.j.]

I do hope "Frequently Discussed Topics" is the right forum for this post.

 

I am rather new to fountain pens. I'm wondering is TWSBI 580 EF suppposed to be scratchier than Pilot 78G F out of the box? Seems weird because Pilot's nib seems finer than TWSBI's. I have not tried to use brown paper bag or other smoothing methods on either pen.

 

Received 20x loupe a few days ago and the tines on both pens seem to be aligned nicely.

 

If anyone has both pens i would very much like to hear your opinion.

[Ambien]

It's possible to contact TWSBI's customer service about nib problems.

 

My EF nib writes fine well, more of a western fine than Japanese fine.

[ac12]

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I am rather new to fountain pens. I'm wondering is TWSBI 580 EF suppposed to be scratchier than Pilot 78G F out of the box? Seems weird because Pilot's nib seems finer than TWSBI's. I have not tried to use brown paper bag or other smoothing methods on either pen.

 

Received 20x loupe a few days ago and the tines on both pens seem to be aligned nicely.

 

 

The feel of the pen depends on a combination and interaction of several things:

• the pen/nib
  • The alignment and polishing of the tip.
  • How wet or dry the pen is. Wet puts more ink on the paper and thus more lubrication under the nib.
  • Some nibs seem to handle less than smooth paper better than others. I think this comes down to the profile and polish of the tip.
• the ink, how much lubrication if provides to the pen
  • Certain inks provide more lubrication to the nib than others.
  • Dry inks can cause the pen to write dry and thus feel scratchy.
  • There are odd situations where a dry ink has more lubrication properties than a wet ink and will make a XF pen write smoother.
• the paper, I
  • It is my experience that MANY papers are too rough for use with F and XF nibs. The texture of the paper creates drag, and sometimes snags the fine tips. And the finer the tip the more sensitive it is the the surface texture. I like HARD SMOOTH surfaces for my F and XF nibs.
• the writer
  • How you the writer writes; little pressure or a lot of pressure, angle of pen, etc..

I recommend that you NOT attempt to polish the nib until you do a LOT of research on the web.

Tip manipulation is a one-way road, once you remove material from the tip, you cannot put it back.

It is not hard, but you can just as easily ruin the tip, so get a JUNKER to practice on first.

[WirsPlm]

Pilot nibs are well known for being ridiculously smooth, especially their smaller ones (all Pilot nibs are in house designs, I think), but TWSBI uses stock nibs from one of the two companies that makes most FP nibs, so I wouldn't be surprised if the Pilot nib really was smoother.

[eduardp]

I have both FPs and I must say the Pilot is way smoother even after tines alignement.

[j.a.j.]

I have both FPs and I must say the Pilot is way smoother even after tines alignement.

 

Thank you for the information!

 

After TWSBI rep's helpful instructions i now have a wet TWSBI which is nice pen but i feel i need to start to look for a large sized japanese F nib pen..

[Edwaroth]

Part of what makes the 78G an extraordinary pen is the great nib. The Fine nib on mine is exemplary, buttery smooth...The Medium is ridiculous! That's why they are so talked about for so cheap a pen. I just bought a Twizbee Mini in EF and while it is nice to write with, it does have some amount of feedback that is absent from the Pilot's.

[j.a.j.]

It is nice to "feel the paper" when writing something but personally for me the feedback somehow gets in the way when sketching, and sketching is 75% of what i want to do with fountain pens.

 

After few hours of googling – it seems that there are not any reasonably priced options if one wants to find nib as smooth as in 78G in a pen that has 20 to 30 g weight inked. Vanishing point would othervise be an option but probaply wont work with my grip.