Fine Or Extra-Fine Nib For Low Quality Paper?

[penxade]

Hello everyone, I hope all's well.

 

Just need to ask a simple question regarding nibs of Lamy Safari.

 

On low quality and cheap papers, should I use a fine or extra fine to minimalize feathering please? I have used a parker vector medium and that produced loads of feathering. Please no flames, I didn't choose the paper, the college did.

 

Therefore, I'm thinking about maybe investing in a fine or extra fine version but I've heard that there's no difference between Lamy fine and medium and feathering still occurs.

 

Or is a fine nib sufficient enough to prevent feathering?

[Frank C]

I would say that choice of ink is more important. On this side of the Atlantic, I would recommend Noodler's X-Feather. I know that it is hard to come by on your side of the Atlantic.

[penxade]

I would say that choice of ink is more important. On this side of the Atlantic, I would recommend Noodler's X-Feather. I know that it is hard to come by on your side of the Atlantic.

 

Cheers. So does that mean if I use the right ink, I can even use a medium nib without feathering?

[Notgatherox]

Cheers. So does that mean if I use the right ink, I can even use a medium nib without feathering?

With the right ink, there is a lower tendency to feather. It does not mean no feathering at all. The disadvantage of X-Feather is it takes forever to dry.

 

Use an extra fine nib if you don't want feathering. It'll minimise feathering.

 

 

~Epic

[dylim1]

My Vista fine works nicely on cheap paper. Noodler's Heart of Darkness should work great with fine nib.

[carlos.q]

If the paper is truly awful maybe you should also try out an iron gall ink. On your side of the pond you can easily get ESSRI, Diamine's Registrar ink, R&K Salix and Scabiosa.

[Mr. Pink]

I wouldn't use too fine a point on cheap paper as it gets caught on the chunks of wood.

Edited May 18, 2015 by Charles Rice

[birchtine]

Lamy pens seem to lay down quite wet lines and indeed there may be small difference between nibs regarding line width and feathering on the fountain pen unfriendly paper. I agree that some inks may fix the problem to some degree, but in my opinion finding a pen with more moderate ink flow will work for you better.

[ac12]

You want both a dry pen and dry ink.

I would go with a Lamy EF/XF nib.

I would also change inks to a dry ink. A WET ink in a EF nib could still feather.

 

If the pen is writing wet, I would adjust the nib to dry out the pen.

[ernestcow]

EF nib

[arcadeflow]

I agree ink is more important. I have a very wet EF Lamy nib which I like, and a very dry (tines are too close) F Lamy nib, I guess the drier one would be more appropriate, but it does not have a good feel because of the dryness. In that case I would rather get some ink that is not prone to feathering and use the nib I prefer. For bad paper, my F Pilot Prera with Pilot Blue or Blue-Black does wonders. But if your nib is not dry you should try a drier ink like Lamy or Pelikan and see how it behaves. It is said Lamy Black and Lamy Blue can take bad paper, but Blue is kind of unlubricated, I don't like the feel of it.

[Fuellerfuehrerschein]

I have good experiences with ESSRI iron gall ink on low quality and cheap papers in my Lamy pens.

This how ESSRI ink writes with several Lamy nibs on copier paper.

You can see that the less finer writing F en 1.1 mm stub nibs even produce some shading instead of a solid blue black line.

 

Direct sunshine/light will cause the ESSRI ink to break down and throw a sediment, so it is better not used in transparant pens.

 

Edited May 23, 2015 by Fuellerfuehrerschein

[stephanos]

I don't think you need to go as far as an EF, if you simply want to avoid feathering. Unless you're writing on toilet paper, you should be able to get by with a Fine-grade nib and reasonably dry ink. Iron gall would work well for that, as others have said, and you have various options (the least expensive-by-volume is probably ESSRI, which currently charges £9.20 delivered for 110ml).

 

IMO, the advantages of using F rather than EF are that 1) the line is smoother and thus more pleasant on poor-quality paper, and 2) it is more versatile for you, being a more pleasant writing experience than EF on on decent quality paper (based on the single other piece of information you gave, namely that you have a Medium-grade Vector)

 

The advantage of a Safari is that you can swap out the nibs. So whatever you end up choosing, you can inexpensively change your mind later. Your UK flag suggests that you're in Blighty - in which case there are several vendors who will sell you replacement nibs.

[DrDebG]

This is a great question. And I think that it is both a combination of the nib and ink. For example, if I have a wet ink in my fine point, it will feather as much as a 1.1 or 1.5 stub nib. But with a fast drying ink, like my Faber Castell Cobalt Blue or Stone Grey, I can use that on cheap notebook paper even in my 1.5 stub nib with little to no feathering.

[christionk]

I used chinese 70gr front notebooks ( quite low quality ) with my lamy studio EF nibs, with sheaffer inks,it shows a lil bit feathering, but with Lamy inks it doesnt feather. I think the choice of ink is important.