Another 8440 Has Darkened My Door

[Mannyonpil]

Another 8440 has come unto me and I have pressed this one into service right away.

 

In general I have found the 8440 to be an especially dry and toothy nib but this one has a relatively good flow and does not dig too terribly much into the paper. And, the more I use it, the better it gets. I still write slowly since the feed doesn't quite keep up but even if I forget, it still lays down enough ink to be serviceable.

 

I have popped the 8440 into a Bell Systems slim J pen for the last few days at work it has been in my breast pocket. I am probably tempting disaster doing this but I will say though that the nib has done quite well. I am a professor and I find that using the 8440 for writing comments literally between the lines of student papers has been a delight. (Yes, I still have students print things and I write on them, dinosaur that I am.)

 

 

[Hobiwan]

On the other end, it's great for making corrections between the lines. A bit hard and messy with my trusty 2668. I usually wound up scratching the offending line out completely and starting fresh ... bad for the penmanship grade. Or do they bother grading writing quality anymore ....

 

Great use for the 8440, cartography having migrated to the computer these days.

 

Does it help with reading between the lines?

[inkstainedruth]

Another 8440? You say that as if you've acquired more than one of those....

I've only seen one or two for sale, and they were always way more than I could afford; I'm trying to coax the Philistine husband (aka "Mr. BIC fine point") over to the dark size, and have been afraid -- when he deemed the F nib on a used Vanishing Point to be too wide (!) -- even *after* I got him a Rhodia pad to use instead of the cheapo steno pads from the office supply section at Sam's Club that he'd been using -- that any of the EF Estie nibs I have will not meet his exacting standards either....

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

 

edited for typos

Edited June 19, 2019 by inkstainedruth

[corgicoupe]

Get him a dip pen with a 128 nib.

[BaronWulfraed]

"Mr. BIC fine point") over to the dark size, and have been afraid -- when he deemed the F nib on a used Vanishing Point to be too wide (!) -- even *after* I got him a Rhodia pad to use instead of the cheapo steno pads from the office supply section at Sam's Club

 

 

Give him a Koh-i-noor Rapidograph with a 000000 (6x0) point (0.13mm, the more common 000 is merely 0.25mm)

 

And stock up on spare points, as breathing too hard will crumple a 000000 point (in my college days, my mother startled me, and I killed my 000 nib on a Faber-Castel TG1).

[inkstainedruth]

Get him a dip pen with a 128 nib.

 

Are you kidding me? We're talking about a guy who can't find the clothes hamper or a trash can if his life depended on it....

You think FOUNTAIN PENS are sometimes messy? I shudder to think what he'd do with a dip pen....

I love him to pieces... but.... Sometimes he's just a slob.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[inkstainedruth]

 

Give him a Koh-i-noor Rapidograph with a 000000 (6x0) point (0.13mm, the more common 000 is merely 0.25mm)

 

And stock up on spare points, as breathing too hard will crumple a 000000 point (in my college days, my mother startled me, and I killed my 000 nib on a Faber-Castel TG1).

Oh no. I'm NOT trusting him with the Rapidographs.... I've had some of them since I graduated from high school (asked my parents for a set as a graduation present), and bought the rest in college. No way, no how is he using my Rapidographs. I can't even get him to flush the (used) Vanishing Point that I swapped an EF nib into....

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[Mannyonpil]

Yeah, so, um, I kinda did it again.

 

I got another nice 8440 in a beautiful, fully functional red icicle J pen. The nib is in good shape, smooth with feedback but not toothy. I find 8440s behave very differently with differently with different inks. I've got Akkerman Stormachtig Blauw in it right now and it seems pretty happy.

 

As a side note, this is my first icicle pen. I had no idea how nice they are in person.

 

I am not sure why I feel the need to hunt these nibs down. I suppose there are much worse things I could be doing with my time. In the grand scheme of things it is but a minor vice.

[Estycollector]

Yeah, so, um, I kinda did it again.

 

I got another nice 8440 in a beautiful, fully functional red icicle J pen. The nib is in good shape, smooth with feedback but not toothy. I find 8440s behave very differently with differently with different inks. I've got Akkerman Stormachtig Blauw in it right now and it seems pretty happy.

 

As a side note, this is my first icicle pen. I had no idea how nice they are in person.

 

I am not sure why I feel the need to hunt these nibs down. I suppose there are much worse things I could be doing with my time. In the grand scheme of things it is but a minor vice.

 

I've acquired some 9555, 9556, 9668 that are good for small spaces.

 

These old Esterbrooks really clean up nice. I use Mother's Mag and Aluminum Polish lightly after a good cleaning. I'm happy you like the one's you've found.

 

http://snyderfamily.com/current/estienibs.htm

[AAAndrew]

I have an emergency pen I keep at my desk. It's a Platinum Preppy 02 EF. It's extremely fine (and I'm used to dip nibs), it's cheap, so if Mr. BIC pen loses it, that's ok, and it works great with the Platinum Carbon Black ink cartridges so no smearing or bleeding even on copy paper.

 

I was using a Platinum Carbon Black desk pen at work because it writes well even on crappy paper they use here. I even use it to write on brown kraft-paper-covered boxes and it never bleeds. I was looking for a portable version of the long desk pen, and this is working out splendidly so far.

[Mannyonpil]

.

[Estycollector]

Beautiful 👍

[inkstainedruth]

Wow. I'm totally jealous, Mannyonpil. That is one gorgeous looking nib. They're just too darned expensive -- the last one I saw on eBay was about 3 times the price of my most expensive Esty -- a black LJ with a 9284 nib that I picked up at the Ohio Pen Show a few years ago. And I just can't justify the price *just* for a nib.... But I live in hope -- I found an SJ with a 9128 nib a few years ago in an antiques mall about an hour east of me for around twenty bucks....

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[Mannyonpil]

Thank you, thank you. It looks especially nice with the red icicle J pen.

 

This one has quite a nice flow given how fine it is. The remaining gold wash is nice too. Often times the gold is worn off other examples I have seen. It goes well with the red pen.

 

As for the expense of "just the nib," it somehow doesn't bother me. I know that common vintage Esterbrooks are pretty cheap and easy to come by. I see them as just a vehicle for the 8440. Virtually any one of them will do. The real value to me is less in the pen body than in the nib.

[Mannyonpil]

Another observation: such a needle-fine nib does not use a whole lot of ink. A single fill lasts a loooooong time.

[Estycollector]

Thank you, thank you. It looks especially nice with the red icicle J pen.

 

This one has quite a nice flow given how fine it is. The remaining gold wash is nice too. Often times the gold is worn off other examples I have seen. It goes well with the red pen.

 

As for the expense of "just the nib," it somehow doesn't bother me. I know that common vintage Esterbrooks are pretty cheap and easy to come by. I see them as just a vehicle for the 8440. Virtually any one of them will do. The real value to me is less in the pen body than in the nib.

 

My recent pen acquisitions are for the nib rather than the body.

[gweimer1]

As for the expense of "just the nib," it somehow doesn't bother me. I know that common vintage Esterbrooks are pretty cheap and easy to come by. I see them as just a vehicle for the 8440. Virtually any one of them will do. The real value to me is less in the pen body than in the nib.

 

For anyone who has visited my Etsy shop, I have a section of pens that I list as "nibs with pens attached"

[Mannyonpil]

I have frequently bought Esterbrooks for the nibs. I even get some sort of perverse pleasure out of doing so.

[pajaro]

I oftten bought Esterbrooks for th nibs. Esterbrooks were a tremendous help in learning about nibs beyond medium and fine.

[Mannyonpil]

Yes! I had not thought about that but you are right. I started to think more about other nibs thanks to renew points.