My Favorite Nibmeister Is...

[Blue_Moon]

Pendleton Brown. Butter-Line Stub Italic. I haven't gotten a pen from him with added flex, but I bet it's wonderful. He's an extremely nice person as well.

[OcalaFlGuy]

These are just MY personal preferences, your mileage may certainly vary.

 

IF I just wanted a nice Stub, either Mike Masuyama, Pendleton or Richard.

 

Mike goes to the head of my list with his "rounded Cursive Italic" that gives nearly CI line variation with Stub smoothness. (I think maybe More line variation than the PB Butterline Stub.)[1]

 

For a pure CI with Maximum line variation And Maximum smoothness, Richard moves to the top.

 

IF you can clearly verbalize[2] Exactly what you expect in the grind, you can't go wrong with either three but for me, each excels in slightly different areas.

 

[1] It's been awhile since I've seen or written with a PB BL Stub so my data points are a year or so old.

[2] Remember, they are Nib technicians, NOT mind readers. If you Don't Know what you want in a grind or Can't make that desire clear to the grinder, that's EXACTLY what you'll get.

 

Bruce in Ocala, Fl

[Unky]

I have had great success with Richard Binder, Tim Girdler, and John Mottishaw. All three have smoothed and tuned pens I have purchased from them. All three pens are used daily.

[LuckyKate]

Tim Girdler ground a stub nib for me from a medium Pelikan nib. It turned my pen into my best friend!

 

I am looking forward to both a Mottishaw nib and a Binder nib in the not too far off future!

[Beechwood]

I think that the corollary may be accurate too, by definition these guys wouldnt be nib Meisters if they werent great at what they do. all turn sows ears into silk purses.

[rwilsonedn]

My vote would go to John Mottishaw, not on the basis of direct comparison against other nibmeisters, but because of one project. He brought back to life a huge gold dip pen that had lost its tipping and suffered a major crack. The job involved retipping and welding, and the result is a flawless flexible pen that in no way shows that it ever needed repair, either in appearance or in writing feel.

ron

[mtnbiker62]

I'm waiting on a grind from both Tim Girdler and Pendleton Brown. Tim is doing an Fine cursive italic grind on one of my Vanishing Points, and Pendleton is doing a fine BLS grind on a TWSBI 580 AL...the anticipation is driving me crazy, but I should have a good A-B test when they both get here!

[Wolverine1]

All the NibMeisters mentioned about are exceptional is what they do. Mike Masuyama is also very good, and Deb Kinney in North Carolina, and Dan Smith ( from FPGeeks.com) in Iowa is also very, very good.

[OcalaFlGuy]

Dan Smith ( from FPGeeks.com) in Iowa is also very, very good.

 

Absolutely NOT my experience.

 

Bruce in Ocala, Fl-Mods if you think you need to ixnay my post here, fine with me...

[Calamus plasticus]

Two europeans whose work i really like: Tom Westerich and John Sorowka. Also Max Horst Schrage.

From the States, I only have pens modified by Masuyama, and is very good too. Ah, and a Stub from Brian Gray, also great.

For us Europeans is expensive to send pens to USA for modifications... as I presume is for Americans to send pens here.

[Chi Town]

Mike Masuyama, of Mike-it-work is my call! I have had a few pens done by him thru the years and they never fail, nor does he. But we do need some new blood in the "sport" so to speak to relieve the pressure on the timeliness of all these people. They are working so hard, I'll bet an easy 7 days a week and that cannot be fun for them. :-)

[Draless]

I only go with John Mottishaw. I have not tried Mike yet, although lately I have not been purchasing stubs. John did an architect point for me that is amazing recently.

[logantrky]

I have had great experiences with Pendleton Brown. I have not tried his stubs/Butterline grind. But, I have confidence in his business ethics and skill.

[FriendAmos]

Mike Masuyama, of Mike-it-work is my call! I have had a few pens done by him thru the years and they never fail, nor does he. But we do need some new blood in the "sport" so to speak to relieve the pressure on the timeliness of all these people. They are working so hard, I'll bet an easy 7 days a week and that cannot be fun for them. :-)

 

Perhaps they get something out of it other than fun (and the adulation of FPNers). :-)

[OcalaFlGuy]

I am very sure it's Extremely Enjoyable when they finish a nib at a show and on the first test line to paper, the customers eyes just Light Up with that "YEAH! THAT'S IT!" look oozing out of them. The grinder doesn't even have to ask... I've seen Mike smile at me more than once when I'm SURE I had That Same look on My face.

 

It can be quite pleasurable putting a pen into someone's hand they were looking for. (or in the ground condition they were looking for)

 

Bruce in Ocala, Fl

[TheGreatRoe]

I have had stubs ground by several of the heavy hitters. Pendelton, Binder and Masuyama are all good. But in my personal experience Deb Kinney does better work than all of them.