Japanese Pen For Sketching?

[Calabria]

Hi -

I'm thinking of ordering the Pilot Custom Heritage 912 with EF nib for sketching (after seeing Leo's review.)

 

Are there any other pens I should consider? Are there other nibs available for this pen in Japan (not into FA - it's not my style)?

[jarr]

hi i'm currently an art student and i mainly use a lamy safari (F), a plat 3776 (SF) and a pilot custom grandee (keyhole clip one in F) for sketching. i find the safari F to be a bit too broad and a bit wet for my most of my sketches and the 3776 SF to be dry and scratchy (depending on paper, which i'll get to in a bit), and has a fine line, which i love, but i seldom use the pen. the pilot custom grandee F, however, makes a line that's between the safari F and 3776 SF. It's not too dry, not too wet, and smooth enough for my paper. I sketch and draw on textured paper and find that the 3776 SF nib catches the paper sometimes and might tear it a bit. this has happened a lot when i used to use textured watercolor paper. if you're using paper like the A4 rhodia ones, then this wont be a problem at all.

as for other pens, i would highly suggest looking at vintage pens. there are very good ones, such as my custom grandee imo, that are available at a very cheap price (got mine for around $47 online) and even comes with a slightly flexible nib for that sweet sweet line variation!

these are my 2 cents from personal experience and i hope they helped in some way

[alexander_k]

If you want a flexible nib, look for a vintage pen (and probably see if you can work with a flexible dip nib). If you prefer a stiff nib, a zoom nib might suit you.

[Sailor Kenshin]

The Sailor Zoom nib yields a very thick line, though, unless you write with it feed-side up. I could see doing that, and using the thicker lines for emphasis and coloring.

 

A much less expensive alternative to the Zoom would be a Chinese pen with a fude nib. Try the Jinhao X750. I've got one of those as well.

[Calabria]

hi i'm currently an art student and i mainly use a lamy safari (F), a plat 3776 (SF) and a pilot custom grandee (keyhole clip one in F) for sketching. i find the safari F to be a bit too broad and a bit wet for my most of my sketches and the 3776 SF to be dry and scratchy (depending on paper, which i'll get to in a bit), and has a fine line, which i love, but i seldom use the pen. the pilot custom grandee F, however, makes a line that's between the safari F and 3776 SF. It's not too dry, not too wet, and smooth enough for my paper. I sketch and draw on textured paper and find that the 3776 SF nib catches the paper sometimes and might tear it a bit. this has happened a lot when i used to use textured watercolor paper. if you're using paper like the A4 rhodia ones, then this wont be a problem at all.

as for other pens, i would highly suggest looking at vintage pens. there are very good ones, such as my custom grandee imo, that are available at a very cheap price (got mine for around $47 online) and even comes with a slightly flexible nib for that sweet sweet line variation!

these are my 2 cents from personal experience and i hope they helped in some way

Thank you for the detailed answer! I'm using a Safari EF which is good, but a bit blunt. And a Sailor EF which can catch on the paper (archival, drawing paper, a little bit of texture). I'll look for the Grandee (funny name!).

[alterego]

I'm an architect. Sailor Naginata Fude is my go to sketching pen. Like you I'm not a great fan of flex nibs for this. I find the fude provides lots of line variety (easy to control!) It even works upside down for thin lines. I also have a Sailor zoom which works on the similar principle but with a far narrower range. The fude is also my best nib on rough paper.

 

Sailor's Fude de Mannen is on my "to try" list of less expensive options. Interested to learn about the Chinese model mentioned above; could be a good option too!

[Calabria]

Alterego - that is one crazy nib. I can't imagine how that would work, except it looks like an upturned tip of a brush

[Calabria]

Another question - has anybody tried the 912 with the Waverly nib?

[Calabria]

I'm an architect. Sailor Naginata Fude is my go to sketching pen. Like you I'm not a great fan of flex nibs for this. I find the fude provides lots of line variety (easy to control!) It even works upside down for thin lines. I also have a Sailor zoom which works on the similar principle but with a far narrower range. The fude is also my best nib on rough paper.

 

Sailor's Fude de Mannen is on my "to try" list of less expensive options. Interested to learn about the Chinese model mentioned above; could be a good option too!

One more question - how does the Naginata Fude differ from the Naginata Togi (I have the Togi and don't want to duplicate it)?

[tragique]

I'm not very good at sketching but I enjoy the Pilot Falcon and Pilot Justus for the task. Both have lively wet nibs that can vary line width a bit and they never railroad for me.

[alterego]

Calabria: I also have the Naginata Togi and a Waverly nib (though mounted on a Pilot Custom 823) so I can compare all three.

 

May stand corrected, but it looks to me as though the Naginata Fude is actually a heavily modified (upturned and ground) Togi nib: in any case the result is a wildly different pen that, depending on the angle of your hand to the page, puts down a line anywhere between a wet 2 mm and extra fine. (Or, if you flip the nib upside down a dry extra fine line, much narrower than my Togi can achieve). What I especially like is that with practice it is easy to keep line widths consistent (or not) as you draw.

 

The Wavery is sort of like the Fude insofar as it has an upturned nose—but this is very very slight and seems primarily to achieve smoothness (plus the capability to write on poor papers) rather than any meaningful line width modulation. It puts down a line somewhere between a western F and M. I really like this pen and often use it for writing. The Naginata Fude and Waverly are two of my smoothest nibs, no question.

Edited September 20, 2016 by alterego

[bitterwonder]

I draw rapidly and how fast the pen feeds is an important issue for me. I love the Platinum music nib, my Pilot 74 with B ( had an f and it was good too). I Like the Noodlers Neponsit Music Nib. I draw out in the field so I tend to drag modern pens with me, my old pens prefer a bit gentler handling and I use them at home or in studio,

Btw,the Pilot Varsity is good, I require my students to use one for drawing.

[Calabria]

Thank you for all the information! Unfortunately, Sailor is currently not making the Naginata Fude DE Mannen. It does look like an amazing sketching tool!

[Polanova]

Hi Calabria,

 

I`ve spent over three years looking for the perfect sketch nib - for me it turned out to be the Sailor Naginata Fude De Mannen.

The 21 K one! The cheap Sailor Fude nibs (also known as Calligraphy nib) is really cheap and scratchy.

Some Chinese Fude nibs are better than the latter & cheap enough for trying out.

After all, everyone has individual needs. Mine could differ from yours.

Of course, I also use vintage flexible nibs and Naginata Togi, Naginata Cross Music & Naginata Cross Point, besides the sailor Zoom, but the Naginata Fude is the best for me!

It`s not cheap (360 $ at nibs.com) & I paid a lot less second hand (they do pop up rarely), but after having tried it out I would have been willing to pay the retail price.

 

Here`s one of my (laundromat) sketches where you might get an idea about the nib`s versatility:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[alterego]

Nice sketch Polanova. Now if Sailor would only produce this nib in the King of Pen size!

[Calabria]

Polanova, alter ego - I've been sketching with my Naginata Togi nib after reading your suggestions and it's much more versatile than a regular nib. I emailed Engeika but they told me Sailor is currently not making the Naginata Fude de Mannen ... Maybe I'll luck out and find it somewhere else (although Engeika has it priced at 177 $)!

Edited September 20, 2016 by Calabria

[alterego]

Good luck with your search! The Togi is a great nib and a pleasure to use, I agree...

[Polanova]

Nice sketch Polanova. Now if Sailor would only produce this nib in the King of Pen size!

 

If that were you`re Grail, you could have a collar made by one of the restaurers.

Probably easy to do - then you could use the Fude in a KOP.

Me, I`m quite happy with my ProGears - and I don´t even post my pens!

 

I find that I prefer slightly thicker & bigger pens for writing at home;

for sketching, especially outdoors, I`d find anything bigger than a ProGear real awkward! (suppose I have midium-sized hands)

[Polanova]

Polanova, alter ego - I've been sketching with my Naginata Togi nib after reading your suggestions and it's much more versatile than a regular nib. I emailed Engeika but they told me Sailor is currently not making the Naginata Fude de Mannen ... Maybe I'll luck out and find it somewhere else (although Engeika has it priced at 177 $)!

 

Yes, the NAG Togi (mine is F/M) ist a fantastic nib, for sketching and writing. Sort of a more subtle Zoom nib. Underrated!

 

Compared to 177$ at Engeika, 360$ from nibs.com is steep! I snatched mine for 120 last year from the bay!

Actually I got three of my NAG-nibbed pens all second hand, but I`ve seen the Fude only twice on the sec-hand market!

 

One thing to consider:

My NAG -pens could be a tad more wet, especially on the reverse, were you achieve the finest lines.

So far, I didn`t dare widening the feed`s channels.

So if you could afford the 360 bucks, the guys at nibs.com would make the nib as wet as you like!

And, if you`re like me: no more searching!

 

Good luck

Edited September 20, 2016 by Polanova

[VivienR]

My artistic abilities as shaded in recent years, but I was able to draw with Sailor Sapporo fine nib without any problem.