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Using A Stub/italic As A Work / Office Writer?


sean1e

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Ive tried using my Lamy Al-Star with a 1.5 and 1.9mm italic nib as a note taker at work but I just find that the results are never pleasing as the speed with which one needs to take notes doesnt lend itself to a good writing experience...

 

e.g.

 

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c2/Sean_Sankey/photo3_zpsbb8e6946.jpg

 

Im interested as to whether anyone regularly uses a stub/italic nib at the office and what their experience is?

 

 

Favourite Owned Pen - Lamy Studio, Brushed Steel with either a 1.1mm italic or Black F nib

Favourite Inks - Diamine Imperial Purple, Diamine Sargasso Sea, Noodlers Bad Blue Heron, Sheaffer Skrip Red

"Planned" (!) Purchases - TWSBI Diamond 580 AL, Waterman Expert Deluxe Blue, Esterbrook J, Sheaffer Prelude, Pilot Capless / Vanishing Point, Pilot Falcon

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1.9 is (in my personal opinion) a bit of an overkill for taking notes at regular speed. 1.5 is just ok, but you still have to think about nib positioning on paper...but 1.1..have you tried a 1.1? It's fantastic for every day normal speed note taking! The writing is fluid and smooth, the nib is more forgiving with positioning and the line variation is great! I use a Noodler's Konrad fitted with a Goulet 1.1i nib...Fantastic combo!

 

Edit: and by the way, your writing looks great like that!

Edited by dragos.mocanu

"The truth may be puzzling. It may take some work to grapple with. It may be counterintuitive. It may contradict deeply held prejudices. It may not be consonant with what we desperately want to be true. But our preferences do not determine what's true..." (Carl Sagan)

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I use cursive italics for daily writing and a real pleusure, but limited to 0.95 mm width.

A visconti 1.3 factory stub is far too broad for my personal writing.

I prefer to use a fast drying not too wet ink for cursive business writing

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All of my pens are italics, and the broader the better (but I agree the Lamy 1.9 is too big for most purposes). Even for all day note taking sessions, I use my FPs.

 

I agree with the suggestion to start off with the 1.1 as it is slightly more forgiving than the 1.5. The bigger the nib, the bigger your writing needs to be, and unless you can take your time and form letters well, the 1.5 needs a wider rule than the standard 8mm we have in the UK.

Edited by View from the Loft
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Thanks for the replies (and compliments!) guys... I'll maybe drop down to the 1.1 (I have that somewhere kicking about) and give it a few days to trial.

 

Really appreciate your input

 

:)

Favourite Owned Pen - Lamy Studio, Brushed Steel with either a 1.1mm italic or Black F nib

Favourite Inks - Diamine Imperial Purple, Diamine Sargasso Sea, Noodlers Bad Blue Heron, Sheaffer Skrip Red

"Planned" (!) Purchases - TWSBI Diamond 580 AL, Waterman Expert Deluxe Blue, Esterbrook J, Sheaffer Prelude, Pilot Capless / Vanishing Point, Pilot Falcon

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Speaking for myself, I wouldn't go wider than a 1.1. The paper used by the security company that I was working for was bad for soaking and feathering. My only italic stub at the time was only 0.8, but it didn't work on that paper. Then I started copying the forms onto the copy paper used by the client factory -- much better.

Until you ink a pen, it is merely a pretty stick. --UK Mike

 

My arsenal, in order of acquisition: Sailor 21 Pocket Pen M, Cross Solo M, Online Calligraphy, Monteverde Invincia F, Hero 359 M, Jinhao X450 M, Levenger True Writer M, Jinhao 159 M, Platinum Balance F, TWSBI Classic 1.1 stub, Platinum Preppy 0.3 F, 7 Pilot Varsity M disposables refillables, Speedball penholder, TWSBI 580 USA EF, Pilot MR, Noodler's Ahab 1.1 stub, another Preppy 0.3, Preppy EF 0.2, ASA Sniper F, Click Majestic F, Kaweco Sport M, Pilot Prera F, Baoer 79 M (fake Starwalker), Hero 616 M (fake Parker), Jinhao X750 Shimmering Sands M . . .

31 and counting :D

 

DaveBj

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I have a Safari with a 1.1 nib that I use regularly and an MB 144 BB which is slightly narrower. They help make my writing a little bit more legible!

 

I wouldnt want to go broader than 1.1 though.

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Stipula%2Bfine%2Bnib003.jpg

 

Note: There was some loss of the true crispness of the nib in the scanning, uploading process.

Edited by dms525
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Stipula%2Bfine%2Bnib003.jpg

 

Note: There was some loss of the true crispness of the nib in the scanning, uploading process.

 

Beautiful... thanks for posting :-)

Favourite Owned Pen - Lamy Studio, Brushed Steel with either a 1.1mm italic or Black F nib

Favourite Inks - Diamine Imperial Purple, Diamine Sargasso Sea, Noodlers Bad Blue Heron, Sheaffer Skrip Red

"Planned" (!) Purchases - TWSBI Diamond 580 AL, Waterman Expert Deluxe Blue, Esterbrook J, Sheaffer Prelude, Pilot Capless / Vanishing Point, Pilot Falcon

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Another Al Star 1.1 user here, no problems taking notes at work with it.

 

I like the 1.1 nib so much, I use it for most things. My more expensive pens aren't getting a look in at the moment

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Stipula%2Bfine%2Bnib003.jpg

 

Note: There was some loss of the true crispness of the nib in the scanning, uploading process.

 

David, what is the width of the nib after modification?

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David, what is the width of the nib after modification?

 

As near as I can measure, the line width with very light pressure is right around 0.65 mm. I don't have a way of measuring the width of the nib tip itself accurately. It is less than 1.0 mm, though.

 

I have a couple other pens with similar very fine italic nibs that are as happy writing cursive as italic, and their cursive is way more visually interesting than that produced by round nibs, unless they have some flex.

 

David

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Wow, maybe next year I need to get Mike to grind me a sub 1mm CI nib. But on which pen.

Sometimes the 1.1 Lamy feels a bit too wide.

 

To the OP

My concern with a stub or CI in the office is the line spacing of your office paper, and how it affects your writing size and style.

For me, for college ruled paper I use F or XF nibs, and on wide ruled paper I use M nibs. Note this is old US Parker nib sizing which is closer to Japanese nib sizes than the current Lamy nibs.

I use the wide ruled paper for my 1.1 nib, but I have to draw out the letter spacing to compensate for the wider vertical lines. I did not like how the 1.1 looked on college ruled paper.

 

For ease of note taking in meetings in the office, you may want to just use a ball tip pen. Taking notes usually pushed my writing speed anyway, and I do not need the distraction of trying to make sure I have the tip level.

Edited by ac12

San Francisco Pen Show - August 28-30, 2020 - Redwood City, California

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I use a variety of Italic nibs all the time.

 

When I have a large nib I just write bigger - it's not like there is a shortage of paper and if the note I am taking is only going to go maybe a third or half of the sheet of paper, then writing bigger is not an issue is it?

Try more line spacings as well so your writing is not all piled on top of itself.

As for the nib angle, Lamy pretty much writes every time no matter at what angle you have the nib. I have even used it upside down sometimes if I am looking for a thinner letter size - I have done that with standard fountain pens too. It is also a help if you want to have an Italic within an Italic and certain words or statements are to stand out because you can't bold or highlight with handwriting as you can on computer :)

Edited by Stompie
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I don't think you could effectively use a stub/italic nib in an office meeting unless you can print quickly and legibly. I write with Palmer cursive and thus find it disadvantageous to use a stub/italic nib when trying to madly scribble down meeting notes.

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I can and do use a stub to take notes. Either Parson's Essential with fine cursive italic or a Pilot 78g Broad! I find it's not just about writing speed but can also depend quite a lot on the quality of your note-taking method - the ability to get the salient points down succinctly in my case.

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I don't think you could effectively use a stub/italic nib in an office meeting unless you can print quickly and legibly. I write with Palmer cursive and thus find it disadvantageous to use a stub/italic nib when trying to madly scribble down meeting notes.

 

Bit of a sweeping generalisation there!

 

Not everybody using fountain pens uses a traditional cursive hand - I certainly don't. My script is a mixture of italic and Tom Gourdie's Simple Modern Hand, and I can and do take notes in all day meetings, often writing dry more than one pen (and for this sort of meeting, I'll opt for my CS206 which is lever fill, backed up by either a CS27 or Pelikan M600 - so normal ink capacities).

 

OP, yes you can use a 1.1 italic or stub as an everyday pen in the office. You may even be able to go broader, but it all depends on the line width and size of your writing. I find that the secret of taking legible notes is not to try and constrain the size, and to think about making your writing bigger until you are used to the pen. Luckily for me, I now get paid to use these wonderul pens at work as I am the notetaker of choice in my directorate :-)

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  • 7 months later...

All of my work pens are stubs, wouldnt have it any other way. I keep a lamy studio w/a 1.1 inked with salix for envelopes and teeny forms-the dryness of the ink keeps the line super fine. The main work horses are a lamy 2k and a pelikan 400, both with broad nibs ground by linda kennedy to her patented "daily grind" - a super forgiving stub that lets me write at lightning speed for hours (I'm the corp Secretary at work - very long board meetings.) The one caveate is that I have to supply my own paper for notes and meetings as it makes a huge difference with this nib choice.

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