Soft Or Stiff Nibs?

[bogers]

Hey All,

 

Have been researching for a nib that will write quickly and glassy smooth and have settled on a forgiving stub for my TWSBI 580, somewhere between medium and broad. I have the option of keeping it a stiff nib (a nail) or having it so that it is slightly softer/springier. In your experience, does having it slightly softer affect the max writing speed or the buttery smoothness of the nib?

 

[Jerome Tarshis]

"Glassy smoothness" and "buttery smoothness" are not the same thing, glass being rigid and butter being far from rigid, indeed poised between solid and liquid. As you continue to write with different kinds of nibs, you will find that the idea of smoothness is almost infinitely divisible.

 

My only Parker 45 has a totally smooth nib that falls short of being anywhere near as satisfying to write with as my Parker 51 nibs. That is, for me, rigid smoothness gone wrong, or having failed to rise to any great height. Less than a year ago I lost my Aurora (1990s) 88, which might be thought of as a luxury pen of our time, and I suspect that I lost it half-willingly, because its nib was rigid and smooth but not smooth in a pleasant way.

 

On the other hand, I once had a Montblanc Noblesse with a very rigid nib that was a sheer delight. The experience wasn't full of nuances, but that pen gave me a pleasure that my Aurora 88 and my Parker 45 haven't. (I suppose I was also angry at the 88 because Aurora gave it its model name, 88, in spite of its being diametrically different from the historic 88 of the 1940s.)

 

A softer nib can slow you down, just a little. Depends upon how soft. A seriously flexible nib will slow you down a lot. Those nibs aren't meant for fast note-taking, but for seriously and studiedly beautiful writing. Just a little softness, such as I've experienced with my two 1950s Montblancs and my 1960s Parker Aerometric Duofolds, will allow you to write pretty much as rapidly as you want to if you use a light enough touch.

[Bo Bo Olson]

I have mostly semi-flex....which is more than 'soft'. It don't slow me down at all.

 

'Soft' is that true regular flex....with that tad of spring?

True regular flex will when well mashed spread it's tines 3X a light down stroke. Many nibs today are not really regular flex but semi-nail....mash it to a 2 X tine spread. Nails don't mash that wide.

 

Or is 'Soft' the "Springy" nibs of MB or the Falcon. 'Springy" nibs have nice tine bend...more than true regular flex (I'd put it at less than semi-flex) but less tine spread than the 3 X tine spread, regular flex, semi-flex & 'flexi'/maxi-semi-flex. The flex rate of a 'Springy" nib is more than regular flex, less than semi-flex. 'Springy' nibs are 2 X tine spread with nice tine bend.

 

It matters how Ham Fisted you write.

If you press hard stay with a nail for fast note taking. If your Hand is lighter, true regular flex or 'springy' will not make you write slower.

Neither will semi-flex, which can be used by the Ham Fisted.

 

There are the gifted individuals that have such a light hand they can write as fast with a Superflex as many of the heavy handed who are condemned to nail use only.

Edited March 16, 2015 by Bo Bo Olson

[ac12]

It depends on what and where I am writing.

If at home, a slightly softer nib will not bother me.

If at work or a seminar and taking notes, I want a NAIL. NO FLEX or spring at all. Nothing to get between me and my note taking.

[brunico]

Have been researching for a nib that will write quickly and glassy smooth and have settled on a forgiving stub for my TWSBI 580, somewhere between medium and broad. I have the option of keeping it a stiff nib (a nail) or having it so that it is slightly softer/springier.

 

Hi bogers,

 

I presume you have fallen for the Tomahawk mod and have done so much research that your head is spinning with comments from people drooling over smoothness and confessing that soft, springy nibs are the only thing that keep them from a life of utter joylessness. Since it's only a week ago that you were asking whether a stub could write fast, I'd just like you to have an opportunity to check whether your expectations are realistic and that you're not being seduced into buying something you imagine must be a panacea simply because you've had a bad experience with something else.

 

There's nothing wrong with nails, despite the disparagement some people give them. A soft, springy nib is good for people who press down hard enough to feel the nib 'give' or who want to vary the width of their lines. Since the stub automatically does line variation anyway, you might want to be sure that the extra variation is the look you're after.

 

The nib does look cool. Buy it by all means, but make sure you're not getting carried away.

[ScienceChick]

Something to remember about the Tomahawk is that the mod does make the nib wetter - not a firehose but it definitely lays down more ink. If you're looking at it for exams on crummy paper I wouldn't go wider than an M as a starting point. You would also want to tell Art not to increase the flow too much and why.

[max dog]

I can write just as fast with a soft nib as I can with a hard nib. A smooth soft nib gives a little more expression and I prefer that to a smooth nail.

[ironwampa]

If you want to know whether a soft nib will slow you down buy a noodler's pen and just use it as if it were not a flex pen. My personal thought on the matter of flex versus stiff for write speed is that it depends on the writing pressure and nib tuning. If you want to write fast with a flexible pen you need to press very lightly. In order order for the pen to not skip while pressing very lightly it needs to have a certain characteristic that I cannot determine. I know it is not necessarily wetness as my snorkel is one of my dry writing pens that is not prone to skipping when used with a very light hand.

 

As for smoothness and nib rigidity I once over polished a steel jowo EF to the point that it felt less like butter on glass and more like boot on banana peel.