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Non-Scratchy Dps?


Noihvo

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I tried yesterday evening to get back to my old pre-FP days and write with my dip pens, but I found them extremely scratchy. Possibly this is a quality issue, but maybe I am spoiled by the last year's use of modern, barely 50-year-old FPs. Way back when, I thought they wrote fine.

 

Are there any dip pens that are smooth (i.e. comparable to toothy FPs), or is this the inevitable nature of dip pens? And where can you get solid, high quality dip pen nibs?

 

post-124265-0-20696400-1440128343_thumb.jpg

Edited by Noihvo

"We are one."

 

– G'Kar, The Declaration of Principles

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Most dip pens will appear scratchy. Some members like what is termed "Feed back", personally I like it. I have some vintage Francis Pratt nibs made in the USA nibs which are tipped and smooth. In Sweden there is a website http://www.nibs.tk

which has a selection of vintage nibs you could contact, their site offers vintage nibs you might find suitable. You could inquire if they have any tipped.

They came as a boon, and a blessing to men,
The Pickwick, the Owl and the Waverley pen

Sincerely yours,

Pickwick

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Use a bowl or stub pen/nib.

Those are similar to a fountain pen in feel. But you won't get the fine lines of a pointed dip pen.

Although 3 of yours look like they are bowl pens, the tip of the pens may not be round enough for a smooth writing.

Oh and for pointed pens, SMOOTH HARD paper.

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

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Thanks all for the tips, and I will try to be a bit more patient with my writing style, putting less pressure and getting used to the light weight. As I said, I could use them comfortably before (but maybe I just didn't know better).

 

Pickwick, your link didn't work as intended; I just got flinged around to a dozen different sites, only to end up on alibaba.com. :(

"We are one."

 

– G'Kar, The Declaration of Principles

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Also, paper and ink make a big difference. I've been using Canson's Marker paper for a while now and anytime I go to other paper it is scratchy.

 

It could also be the nibs. Try and find an Esterbrooks Falcon or bowl nib. Esterbrooks made some great nibs in their day. Pendemonium has a nice selection of vintage nibs and Sam there can help you choose a sample pack depending on what you want to do with them.

http://www.pendemonium.com/dippennibs.htm

 

“When the historians of education do equal and exact justice to all who have contributed toward educational progress, they will devote several pages to those revolutionists who invented steel pens and blackboards.” V.T. Thayer, 1928

Check out my Steel Pen Blog

"No one is exempt from talking nonsense; the mistake is to do it solemnly."

-Montaigne

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Thanks all for the tips, and I will try to be a bit more patient with my writing style, putting less pressure and getting used to the light weight. As I said, I could use them comfortably before (but maybe I just didn't know better).

 

Pickwick, your link didn't work as intended; I just got flinged around to a dozen different sites, only to end up on alibaba.com. :(

I just managed to get on to the web site omitting the URL and just keying in WWW.nibs.tk the web page uses that address in the heading.

Edited by Pickwick

They came as a boon, and a blessing to men,
The Pickwick, the Owl and the Waverley pen

Sincerely yours,

Pickwick

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Thanks, AAAndrew, just gave a short look at Pendemonium, and it seems like I can get some real quality goods there. Probably better than the $1-a-piece nibs from garage sales that were imaged above.

 

Pickwick, I still get the same result no matter if I write it in or not, even in three different browsers. Possibly it is a localisation issue. Do you have a Google search (string of words) that I could use to go in sideways, so to speak?

"We are one."

 

– G'Kar, The Declaration of Principles

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The Waverly nibs are also good everyday kind of nibs.

Nanami paper has a decent price.

http://www.nanamipaper.com/products/waverley-dip-pen-nib-dozen.html

 

Not really flexible, but once you've written a few lines they have a nice simple flex to them. Great for everyday kind of letter writing, but not calligraphy.

 

They're also very forgiving and relatively smooth.

 

“When the historians of education do equal and exact justice to all who have contributed toward educational progress, they will devote several pages to those revolutionists who invented steel pens and blackboards.” V.T. Thayer, 1928

Check out my Steel Pen Blog

"No one is exempt from talking nonsense; the mistake is to do it solemnly."

-Montaigne

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Thanks, AAAndrew, just gave a short look at Pendemonium, and it seems like I can get some real quality goods there. Probably better than the $1-a-piece nibs from garage sales that were imaged above.

 

Pickwick, I still get the same result no matter if I write it in or not, even in three different browsers. Possibly it is a localisation issue. Do you have a Google search (string of words) that I could use to go in sideways, so to speak?

Well I've tried other alternatives and came upon the same site. However, I'm beginning to wonder if they are still active as the page appears. I found a message that the site had crashed in 2006! Trying to follow links on the page I find a block. Looks as if I ended up in a cul-de-sac!

They came as a boon, and a blessing to men,
The Pickwick, the Owl and the Waverley pen

Sincerely yours,

Pickwick

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The paper could possibly be an issue, since I want to use my DPs, as an equal to my FPs, in my rotation while writing my diary and drafts for my novels, and means that I either won't be able to change the paper to fit DPs especially, as they seemingly are more picky with paper than FPs. My earlier fortuitous experience was two Paperblanks books, and that might have skewed my experience for the better compared to the surface I presently put my nibs to.

 

But! I did remember some other nibs that I had lying around in my nib match box, a couple of Leonardt italics (1 and 2 mm). They are modern and new, but pleasantly rigid and real gushers, challenging even the bleed-resistant paper that I use right now. Going to write this evening's diary entry with the 1 mm and see how it goes.

 

post-124265-0-01596500-1440174250_thumb.jpg

"We are one."

 

– G'Kar, The Declaration of Principles

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If they're new, remember to prep them first. I prefer the old move around in a flame trick (if using a candle, be sure and wipe off the carbon soot after). Usually five to eight seconds should be enough to take off the protective oil on the nibs. If you don't do this (or scrub with toothpaste and a brush is another technique) ink will just fall right off these nibs.

 

These should be fun to try.

 

“When the historians of education do equal and exact justice to all who have contributed toward educational progress, they will devote several pages to those revolutionists who invented steel pens and blackboards.” V.T. Thayer, 1928

Check out my Steel Pen Blog

"No one is exempt from talking nonsense; the mistake is to do it solemnly."

-Montaigne

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Oh, they're not that new. :) They've been lying mostly unused in the drawer for six or seven years… I actually have two 1 mm nibs, and one of them had been used now and then for birthday cards and such. And I took your tip on Nanami Paper to heart. A dozen Waverlies on their way to me now, and a gorgeous 480-page Tomoe River notebook just happened to slip into the shopping basket as well…

 

*happy camper*

"We are one."

 

– G'Kar, The Declaration of Principles

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Those look *really* sharp on the edges too, like you'd see of a nib a Calligrapher might use. So they'd require a very well trained hand since any any turns/twists will snag right into the paper. But the results (I imagine as I don't have a calligrapher's dexterity) would be very sharp/crisp on the corner with a very nice thin line going across, as opposed to the more 'rounded' corners/edges of a smoother stub.

Edited by KBeezie
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Actually wrote a diary entry just now with R&K Salix, and it was really nice, and a good crips italic as you say. I'm looking forward to learning more of the calligrapher's skill, a little bit anyway, but I could handle the pen without tearing the paper and still got some almost invisible lines on the up/right strokes.

 

post-124265-0-78718600-1440189187_thumb.jpg

"We are one."

 

– G'Kar, The Declaration of Principles

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Nice! I like your original style. What paper did you use? Just like with fountain pens, I'm still learning the right pen, paper, ink combos for what I want to do. It's made even more complicated because there are so many kinds of dip nibs!

 

Your italic nibs looked like they're slightly oblique, as many dip stubs I've seen are. I started to write with them in the horizontal position, like you would with pointed pen calligraphy, rather than the 45-degree position for italic calligraphy and it's been quite interesting to see what comes of it, especially for the small italic nibs.

 

Good luck, and looks like you've got some fun ahead of you!

 

“When the historians of education do equal and exact justice to all who have contributed toward educational progress, they will devote several pages to those revolutionists who invented steel pens and blackboards.” V.T. Thayer, 1928

Check out my Steel Pen Blog

"No one is exempt from talking nonsense; the mistake is to do it solemnly."

-Montaigne

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Nice! I like your original style. What paper did you use? Just like with fountain pens, I'm still learning the right pen, paper, ink combos for what I want to do. It's made even more complicated because there are so many kinds of dip nibs!

 

Your italic nibs looked like they're slightly oblique, as many dip stubs I've seen are. I started to write with them in the horizontal position, like you would with pointed pen calligraphy, rather than the 45-degree position for italic calligraphy and it's been quite interesting to see what comes of it, especially for the small italic nibs.

 

Good luck, and looks like you've got some fun ahead of you!

 

Yeah, the paper is interesting. When I started that loose leaf diary I just grabbed one of the reams of decent size that I had hoarded in my writing desk, and this was one that I essentially just wanted to get rid of. It is the kind of children's paper pad marketed as "1 kg of drawing paper" where a budding artist can hamfist a bunch of crayons for three minutes, and then just rip a sheet off and start anew. I thought it would be really crappy for fountain pens, but it was really bleed resistant, almost entirely bleed proof, and has a nice cream colour. And counting the number of sheets, it actually is about twice the price of your usual copy paper.

 

I have to experiment a bit with pen position to get the most line variation, and become more aware of my handling.

You saw that? "Hand"-ling, like…you use your "hand" to "hand"-le the pen… yeah…

 

If it were any taller on the stroke it would look almost like runic script to me.

 

Believe it or not, I actually had a period in my early teens where I wrote my diary in runes, but it was a bit too slow. They haven't had the last thousand years to develop from a script for stone, wood, and bone carving, to use with pen and paper.

"We are one."

 

– G'Kar, The Declaration of Principles

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Speedball/Hunt 512 F or EF. They are normal writing nibs, no flex, no fancy features, just dip and write. They have a nice bowl point that makes writing easy.

fpn_1412827311__pg_d_104def64.gif




“Them as can do has to do for them as can’t.


And someone has to speak up for them as has no voices.”


Granny Aching

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Those look *really* sharp on the edges too, like you'd see of a nib a Calligrapher might use. So they'd require a very well trained hand since any any turns/twists will snag right into the paper. But the results (I imagine as I don't have a calligrapher's dexterity) would be very sharp/crisp on the corner with a very nice thin line going across, as opposed to the more 'rounded' corners/edges of a smoother stub.

 

To the OP, do not buy into the kind of baseless myth that these nibs are only for calligraphers, because it really is just a myth.

 

I use pointed pens and italics. I am not trained, and I have no innate skills at all, but if I can make them work then I am sure anyone with a bit of willingness to try will have no problem either.

 

Just grab them and have some fun.

 

Positive Mental Attitude

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