Jump to content

The Twsbi Eco And Fpnibs.com - A Great Combination


Jamerelbe

Recommended Posts

I've been intending for some time to put up a brief post about the TWSBI Eco as a great pen for nib swapping - but with general busy-ness it's never quite happened, till now.

 

When people started buying the TWSBI Eco, and looking into nib swapping options, two things were immediately apparent: first, that the pen lent itself to this kind of activity, given the ease with which nib and feed can be removed; and second, that TWSBI didn't seem interested in selling nibs to swap in to this pen. What makes this a little maddening is that the Eco nib is quite clearly the same as for the TWSBI Diamond Mini, Vac Mini, and Classic pens - but the nib assemblies for these pens aren't exactly cheap, and the nib and feed are jammed in so tight that the risk of damaging the feed is pretty high.

 

My first thought was to try the nibs I already had on hand, from Fountain Pen Revolution - which are great, smooth, and inexpensive nibs. But there was a problem (in my experience at least): the nibs sat a little proud of the feed, and ink flow was poor to non-existent. Others more enterprising than me have gotten around this by heat setting the nib and feed - but plastic feeds (apparently) aren't as amenable to this as ebonite, and I wasn't game to try it. Besides, that would require me to re-heat-set the feed if I wanted to reinstall the original nib.

 

My second thought was to try some Bock #5 nibs I had lying around - but these, frankly, were too small and very ill-fitting.

 

Enter fpnibs.com, a small Spanish-based company run by Pablo Carrasco and Esther Durán who buy, customise and sell JoWo nibs - including the kind of nibs that TWSBI use in their Eco, Mini etc. For an amazingly low price (~€6), you can buy a plain stainless steel nib that will fit perfectly; for maybe another €0,50 you can buy the same nib with ruthenium coating. Add to that the amazingly low prices on their custom grinds, and suddenly the Eco becomes an exceptionally versatile pen.

 

Here's a snap of my collection - most of it, anyway (note the 4 top nibs are generic JoWos' the bottom 3 are TWSBI nibs for comparison):

 

http://i.imgur.com/wMCtTfW.jpg

 

Here's a close-up of the custom grinds I requested on three of the nibs - two cursive italics and an architect grind:

 

http://i.imgur.com/OHYofyv.jpg

 

A side-on and and an under-side shot of the architect nib, for completeness (please forgive the poor focus):

 

http://i.imgur.com/KFutS0i.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/OnMbAqK.jpg

 

I've been extremely impressed with the quality of these nibs - both the stock nibs and the custom grinds. So much so, that I recently ordered two #6 nibs (stainless steel), to add to my collection - plus the rhodium-plated gold B nib for a Diamond 580 that sparked my initial interest in Pablo's workmanship. Standard disclaimer, I've received no freebies of any kind from this company - but am more than happy to recommend them to anyone interested in customising their TWSBI (or other) pens.

 

Feel free to ask any questions - sorry I haven't got any recent photos of these nibs in action, but I've been away on holiday and (two of) my Ecos stayed home...

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited by Jamerelbe
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 10
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

  • Jamerelbe

    5

  • EBUCKTHORN

    2

  • scooterss

    2

  • cleosmama

    1

Top Posters In This Topic

Posted Images

Forgot to mention: prices on the website include 19%VAT, which is deducted for non-European customers, once you indicate your postal address. International postage is also very reasonable, at least to Australia: I think I paid €6 each time I ordered - for 2-3 nibs each time.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Forgive my ignorance, but what is the benefit of the ruthenium coating? Do the gold nibs they sell all have ruthenium coating?

 

I appreciate your explanation.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Forgive my ignorance, but what is the benefit of the ruthenium coating? Do the gold nibs they sell all have ruthenium coating?

 

I appreciate your explanation.

Like any coating on a nib (including gold coating on a stainless steel nib!), the effect is aesthetic. Ruthenium coating produces a dark, gun-metal look, rhodium plating provides a shiny silver / chrome look.

 

You can certainly order a plain gold nib from Fpnibs.com - I asked for rhodium plating so the gold nib would blend with the chrome fittings on my TWSBI Diamond 580.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

In fact, I'm really happy of their work. I use one of their 1.1 Eco stubs, so good. :)

 

And their other custom grinds are great. They're a a very reliable company.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I, too, have been very pleased with the fpnibs.com for my Minis. I recall that their service was top-notch too.

 

If you buy the whole nib assembly for the Diamond (and Vac) Mini, you're supposed to be able to screw the nibs straight in (after swapping a washer or two across, if recollection serves) - the feed holder has more of a 'tail' at the bottom end, but the threads line up OK. Did you find that worked for you, or did you swap the nibs into the assembly provided by TWSBI?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Would love to see a writing sample from each.

 

Sure thing - please excuse the handwriting! These were scrawled a bit too quickly!

 

post-108160-0-41705600-1477135976_thumb.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now


  • Most Contributions

    1. amberleadavis
      amberleadavis
      43844
    2. PAKMAN
      PAKMAN
      33501
    3. Ghost Plane
      Ghost Plane
      28220
    4. inkstainedruth
      inkstainedruth
      26627
    5. jar
      jar
      26101
  • Upcoming Events

  • Blog Comments

    • Shanghai Knife Dude
      I have the Sailor Naginata and some fancy blade nibs coming after 2022 by a number of new workshop from China.  With all my respect, IMHO, they are all (bleep) in doing chinese characters.  Go use a bush, or at least a bush pen. 
    • A Smug Dill
      It is the reason why I'm so keen on the idea of a personal library — of pens, nibs, inks, paper products, etc. — and spent so much money, as well as time and effort, to “build” it for myself (because I can't simply remember everything, especially as I'm getting older fast) and my wife, so that we can “know”; and, instead of just disposing of what displeased us, or even just not good enough to be “given the time of day” against competition from >500 other pens and >500 other inks for our at
    • adamselene
      Agreed.  And I think it’s good to be aware of this early on and think about at the point of buying rather than rationalizing a purchase..
    • A Smug Dill
      Alas, one cannot know “good” without some idea of “bad” against which to contrast; and, as one of my former bosses (back when I was in my twenties) used to say, “on the scale of good to bad…”, it's a spectrum, not a dichotomy. Whereas subjectively acceptable (or tolerable) and unacceptable may well be a dichotomy to someone, and finding whether the threshold or cusp between them lies takes experiencing many degrees of less-than-ideal, especially if the decision is somehow influenced by factors o
    • adamselene
      I got my first real fountain pen on my 60th birthday and many hundreds of pens later I’ve often thought of what I should’ve known in the beginning. I have many pens, the majority of which have some objectionable feature. If they are too delicate, or can’t be posted, or they are too precious to face losing , still they are users, but only in very limited environments..  I have a big disliking for pens that have the cap jump into the air and fly off. I object to Pens that dry out, or leave blobs o
  • Chatbox

    You don't have permission to chat.
    Load More
  • Files






×
×
  • Create New...