Are stub nibs practical?

[Waterman]

Hi, I was wondering if anyone here uses a stub nib for everyday use and do you think it's practical?

 

THanks

Brad

[BillTheEditor]

Hi, I was wondering if anyone here uses a stub nib for everyday use and do you think it's practical?

 

THanks

Brad

Yes, and yes.

[NeoTiger]

And yes again.

[MikeW]

Yes, most definitely. If I had my choice, a larger percentage of my pens would be stubs. While you did not ask for specific pen recommendations, I will offer up one of my favourite stubs. Bexley broad (1.3 mm wide) stubs on a Submariner Grande or similar model (including perhaps one of their new Poseidons, for example). No affiliation, just a satisfied customer of the brand and nib.

[Buster]

Hi, I was wondering if anyone here uses a stub nib for everyday use and do you think it's practical?

 

THanks

Brad

Abso-posi-lutely! After using a Pilot 78G broad (a stub), and recently receiving a Schmidt F stub for my Bexley FPN and a Pelikan 200 broad cursive italics, I'm wondering if I'll ever use a non-stub/italics again. I'm sending out two Parker "51"s to be ground as well. I think it makes my sorry-a$* penmanship look infinitely better.

 

Rick

 

[dwmatteson]

Absolutely! I'm currently using a Dani Trio Tac Carry II with Deb Kinney stub nib in my rotation. I reach for it quite regularly, as it's very easy to write with and it gives my handwriting a little extra flair. I don't notice any difference in the speed at which I can write, though I do need to pay a tad more attention so as not to rotate the pen as I'm writing. (I'm a lefty overwriter with a tendency to rotate the pen counter-clockwise as I move across the page.)

 

Don

[joeycoleman]

I have a Binderized .7mm ItaliFine on my main writing pen (Pel M215), and I love it. I find I can't help but make the descenders on my letters (the tail of a y or g, and so on) just a bit swashy .

 

I do tend to use a regular XF nib for detail though, and for any paper that feathers (the copier paper we have in the office is strange: use it immediately after taking it out of the box and you'll be fine, but let it sit for a week, and it feathers).

[Ged]

Yes they are! You'll have a hard time doing cursive with one, but if you write anything like an italic hand it is eminently practical.

[ViolinWriter]

Thanks for letting the uninitiated know that stubs are practical. Now, I've a related question, which I'll also post in a new thread.

 

When you say "fine" stub, is it really a line such as is written by a Pelikan, or a Mont Blank or a Parker 51 fine? Or, would a "fine stub" be something else again regarding the line written by a stub?

 

When referring to "broad stub" are there hints or indicators as to the broadness of the broad in the stub?

 

Thanks in advance!

[Ghost Plane]

Thanks, Violin, I'd like to know that too. How does one tell what size a generic "stub" is when it's listed only as that?

[Paddler]

Thanks for letting the uninitiated know that stubs are practical. Now, I've a related question, which I'll also post in a new thread.

 

When you say "fine" stub, is it really a line such as is written by a Pelikan, or a Mont Blank or a Parker 51 fine? Or, would a "fine stub" be something else again regarding the line written by a stub?

 

When referring to "broad stub" are there hints or indicators as to the broadness of the broad in the stub?

 

Thanks in advance!

 

I have been doing a lot of reading on this subject and have found a rather loose consensus out there. The way I understand it, you choose your stub width so that five of its line widths will be the height of your largest ascenders. So a Sheaffer "fine" italic or a Platignum "Medium" italic would be about right for the line spacing in a Moleskine journal. A Sheaffer "medium" would be about right for a standard college ruled notebook.

 

I use these italic pens (probably more properly called cursive italic stubs) for most writing in my cursive hand. I don't know what problems Ged has had with these nibs, but once I lock into the sweet spot with one of these, I can write quickly with it.

 

Paddler

 

[JimStrutton]

Thanks for letting the uninitiated know that stubs are practical. Now, I've a related question, which I'll also post in a new thread.

 

When you say "fine" stub, is it really a line such as is written by a Pelikan, or a Mont Blank or a Parker 51 fine? Or, would a "fine stub" be something else again regarding the line written by a stub?

 

When referring to "broad stub" are there hints or indicators as to the broadness of the broad in the stub?

 

Thanks in advance!

 

 

Thanks, Violin, I'd like to know that too. How does one tell what size a generic "stub" is when it's listed only as that?

 

 

The answer as with many things in pendom can be found on the Richard B site, this should tell you all you need to know about nibs, width and the various options.

 

I love a Stub nib meself I have a '46 "51" Vac with one I had fitted by Dr Laurence Oldfield over here in UK and it is a wonder to behold, it makes my crappy hand look half way decent

 

http://www.richardspens.com/?page=ref_txt.htm

 

Jim

[ViolinWriter]

Umm Jim, I hate to be the owner of vast amounts of iggonuntz, but I still don't know the answer to my question about what would the size of a medium stub be relative to the size of a medium nib? Could be I have been ignoring the calls from my village as I seem to have heard something about a missing idiot.... :ph34r:

 

Perhaps I wasn't clear. But seeing there is all this strict attention to rigorously enforced standards in ALL fountain pen nibs, if you have a B (bold, broad, or whatever the letter designation means) and you turn that into a stub, will the ink on the paper result be the same as, narrower than, or broader, than when you were writing with the nib before you had it modified?

 

If you have a nib, marked "F", which we all know means exactly the same thing down to the odd nanometer for all pens, will a stub made from such a "F" nib write with a broader stroke, a narrower stroke or the same width of stroke as the original "F" nib?

 

Not to belabor the point, but I found the flogginh device and someone found a horse that needed it, despite its recent demise ... and if you start with a "M" nib, will the resulting stub write narrower than, the same as, or broader than the original 'M" nib?

 

[Phew! I've just been informed I've been flogging a paper mache' horse like object. Thank goodness for small favors.] :roflmho:

 

Please note, I'm not concerned with the angled strokes, or the crossing of t's, or even dotting those wandering i's (not that mine ever do, don't you know)... :embarrassed_smile:

 

If you draw a line straight up and down, a line side to side, maybe an "X" to get the angle (and my current signature, based on remaining brain cell counts) will the resulting stub-drawn line be a broader, narrower or the same width line than you had in the first place? The 'first place' is using the nib before it went off to the NibMeister for TLC and surgery..

 

Geez, where are those precisely speaking engineers that set the worldwide micro-nano standards on fountain pen nibs, when you need them? :bonk: They could clear it up. Perhaps we should speak with Mr. Waterman?

 

Obviously my doctor-type degree wasn't in the right field to understand fountain pens.

 

Whaddya mean Mr. Waterman is in worse shape than the paper mache' horse-like object, viability wise? Or is that "having a pulse and sucking oxygen" (-) wise?

 

Any help would be appreciated. It's time to pack up those papery mache' crumbs and get some dinner.

[Ghost Plane]

Meanwhile I'm left standing behind the flogged horse's apples wondering what it means when a name brand pen is advertised with a "stub" nib from the factory? Is there a default size stub? I'm afraid of getting one and finding they're the dreaded F/M that the maority of folks on here seem to write with instead of something approaching a B.

[BillTheEditor]

Meanwhile I'm left standing behind the flogged horse's apples wondering what it means when a name brand pen is advertised with a "stub" nib from the factory? Is there a default size stub? I'm afraid of getting one and finding they're the dreaded F/M that the maority of folks on here seem to write with instead of something approaching a B.

If you want a broad stub nib, buy a Bexley. I have a Sub Grande with a stub nib on it that is, if memory serves, 1.3 mm. Very fat. The Pilot 78G B is not quite as wide -- maybe 1.0 mm. The Sonnet stub and the 75 stub (a #44 nib) are a bit slimmer, but I don't know the exact dimension -- guessing a .8 to .9. Check these against Richard's charts and see what ya think.

 

Richard's chart: http://www.richardspens.com/images/site/ex...trokewidths.pdf

 

There is no "default" size stub nib. Maybe not even from the same manufacturer, at least not across pen models and years.

Edited June 21, 2007 by BillTheEditor

[Ged]

From my experience, current manufacturer call stubs and italics that make a 1mm line or therebaouts Fine, Mediums are around 1.8-2mm, and Broads are well... really big! around 2.5-3.5mm. The line in question being the fattest the nib can produce.

 

I think because the market for stubs and italics is relatively small, you will find it quite difficult to find any kind of 'standard'. Worst come to worst though, hop over to your local art store, pick up a William Mitchell nib or Speedball italic nib, both nib brands available in a profusion of sizes, a nib holder and off you go

[ViolinWriter]

Meanwhile I'm left standing behind the flogged horse's apples wondering what it means when a name brand pen is advertised with a "stub" nib from the factory? Is there a default size stub? I'm afraid of getting one and finding they're the dreaded F/M that the maority of folks on here seem to write with instead of something approaching a B.

If you want a broad stub nib, buy a Bexley. I have a Sub Grande with a stub nib on it that is, if memory serves, 1.3 mm. Very fat. The Pilot 78G B is not quite as wide -- maybe 1.0 mm. The Sonnet stub and the 75 stub (a #44 nib) are a bit slimmer, but I don't know the exact dimension -- guessing a .8 to .9. Check these against Richard's charts and see what ya think.

 

Richard's chart: http://www.richardspens.com/images/site/ex...trokewidths.pdf

 

There is no "default" size stub nib. Maybe not even from the same manufacturer, at least not across pen models and years.

 

Personally I would have held out for a Honey Crisp and someone to help saddle up a fully functioning Secretariat wannabe. Then I'd have written up the whole experience, and waited patiently for the Pulitzer Committee to see the light.

 

But, that's just me.

 

If I were to buy one of those Bexley broad nib pens, say a "Sub Grande with a stub nib on it that is, if memory serves, 1.3 mm. Very fat." and a Bexley Sub Grande with a broad nib on it, would the stub version write a broader line than the Sub Grande with a "normal, untouched, straight from Bexley" broad nib?

 

Of course, all things would be equal in such a comparison. You'd have the same ink, the same mood at the time of writing (so that you wouldn't be punching the nib through the paper as you questioned the sanity of asking for bottle ink at a big box stationery store) and all. You'd even be writing the litte test out on the identical paper, such as Clariefontaine, or the nearest 3 x 5 card, or perhaps the back of the envelope containing your lottery winnings.

 

Then again, if you had the lottery winnings, you could easily afford to purchase a "standard issue" and a "stub" versiou of the same pen. Of course, you'd have to find some way to make the pens distinguishable, such color of the pen, but such trivialities pale in the warm glow of that of multi-million dollar check.

[Ghost Plane]

Thanks, Bill.

[BillTheEditor]

If I were to buy one of those Bexley broad nib pens, say a "Sub Grande with a stub nib on it that is, if memory serves, 1.3 mm. Very fat." and a Bexley Sub Grande with a broad nib on it, would the stub version write a broader line than the Sub Grande with a "normal, untouched, straight from Bexley" broad nib?

 

I have no idea.

 

Then again, if you had the lottery winnings, you could easily afford to purchase a "standard issue" and a "stub" versiou of the same pen. Of course, you'd have to find some way to make the pens distinguishable, such color of the pen, but such trivialities pale in the warm glow of that of multi-million dollar check.

If I won the lottery, I would not be here.

[meanwhile]

Meanwhile I'm left standing behind the flogged horse's apples wondering what it means when a name brand pen is advertised with a "stub" nib from the factory? Is there a default size stub?

 

There's not even a consistent standard for Medium oir Broad regular nibs! A Pilot 823 B is probably close to a Lamy 2K or Pelikan F.

 

I'm afraid of getting one and finding they're the dreaded F/M that the maority of folks on here seem to write with instead of something approaching a B.

 

I doubt that you'll a stub this narrow! A good seller should be able to tell you the width of the stub in advance. The usual range is around 0.7-1.1mm. Print out the nib width chart from Ricahrd Binder's site to see what this will look like.