Why Is There No Architect Nibs

[ParramattaPaul]

TITANIC had two sister ships, OLYMPIC and BRITANNIC. This is an copy of an original drawing of OYMPIC's steering gear.

 

http://static.squarespace.com/static/5006453fe4b09ef2252ba068/508c9c64e4b01df297a0239d/508c9cc1e4b0d28844dc3ef4/1351392449630/Titanic_Blueprints_Design%20(17).gif

[ParramattaPaul]

History is a love affair for me. For me, engineering drawings such as these produced in the early 20th Century as art. The skill needed to produce them is comparable to that of any artist of the day.

 

FYI: https://www.ultimatetitanic.com/rms-olympic-britannic/

[silverlifter]

Note the ship pictured at the back of the room. This is where and by whom the engineeing drawings for RMS Titanic were done.

 

 

Maybe if they were facing the image when they designed the boat, things would have turned out differently...

[ParramattaPaul]

 

Maybe if they were facing the image when they designed the boat, things would have turned out differently...

Maybe if the captain had slowed down and diverted south to avoid reported icebergs instead of trying to get to New York as fast as possible things would have turned out differently too.

[vicpen123]

In my 40+ years as an architect I never came across an "architect's" nib. I used thumbscrew pens (in compass sets) or Rapidograph/Rotring drawing pens for ink drafting ie producing drawings for construction.

 

For sketching and designing I used clutch pencils with soft, thick leads - 2mm 2B leads at first and then 0.7 or 0.9 2B leads in the newer drafting pencils.

 

Fountain pens were for note taking, letter writing and drafting specifications but a good P45 with an M nib and Quink ink could be used for free hand sketching prior to drafting.

 

Not sure what an architect's nib would be for. Unless it came with tipping (unlike some nibs that produce thick/thin lines) it would likely rip the butter paper that we used for sketching.

 

Note that when I used a fountain pen for sketching, it was generally to consider alternative design solutions, not to produce a finished drawing for distribution to others.

 

These days it is all CAD and I am glad I no longer have to suffer the indignity of seeing technically trained CAD monkeys produce drawings that match the quality of drawings produced by professionally trained architects. It is too easy to copy and paste details. The premium for quality architectural hand drafting has disappeared forever.

 

Does anyone want a western red cedar double elephant drawing board with a smooth nvinyl drawing surface? Can't give them away.

[Karmachanic]

I don't believe there were architecture grind nibs - a least not in the 20th Century.

 

 

Legend has it that Frank LLoyd Wright had nibs ground in this manner.

[bemon]

We have 'music' nibs in the standard line of Japanese pens. Why is there no Architect's nib?

 

Are architects or architecture less regarded than music/musicians?

 

Do architects really use/need an architect's nib and do musicians really use/need a music nib?

Chances are most music nibs are sold to folks who collect pens and are used as a large broad nib. Though I'm sure there are creatives out there who take the time to draft scores using the music nib as a tool too.

 

My wife is a drafter for a structural engineering firm and works with architects every day. Nothing aside from personal notes is done on paper anymore. She, like everyone else she works with has dual 40" monitors. Everything has been digital since she started in the field 10 years ago.

 

So not to discount the creative process, but a creative person may use pen and paper to meander their way through their thoughts. Architects may pen their broad stroke visions, but all plans and structural components of a build need to be done quickly and effectively on a computer.

[Astronymus]

Maybe if the captain had slowed down and diverted south to avoid reported icebergs instead of trying to get to New York as fast as possible things would have turned out differently too.

If they had used better steel it might not have been ripped open like a can of beans.

[ParramattaPaul]

'Quickly and effectively' sums up CADD quite nicely. I once estimated that a particular uncomplicated engineering drawing took 1/20th as long to do using CADD as opposed to doing it by hand.

[Astronymus]

If I had to draw all the parts by hand, including changes everytime... We would need a whole hall of people drafting to finish a project in time.

Edited August 17, 2020 by Astron

[Honeybadgers]

Architect nibs are ground at specific angles - someone who writes at a 45 degree angle will hate a pen ground to 40.

 

So they're more of a specialty nib by design.

[Venemo]

We have 'music' nibs in the standard line of Japanese pens. Why is there no Architect's nib?

 

Are architects or architecture less regarded than music/musicians?

 

Do architects really use/need an architect's nib and do musicians really use/need a music nib?

A music nib has 3 tines and has a tipping which allows you to write well even when you hold the pen to the paper in 90 degrees. It is called "music" because this feature is useful to musicians who are composing a piece while sitting at a piano. I think there might be some people who actually use it for this purpose, but I think most of its users just choose it because it is a generously wet broad nib.

 

As for "architect" nibs, I haven't heard a definite explanation on the name, but I guess it might be related to "architectural writing". I think not many people are interested in that specific look, which is why they are not so popular and there probably isn't a significant enough market demand for them.

[BaronWulfraed]

A music nib has 3 tines and has a tipping which allows you to write well even when you hold the pen to the paper in 90 degrees.

Unless it is a Sailor nib, which only has two tines (I tend to think of the "MS" marking as "Music STUB", emphasis on the stub).

 

Or it is a Noodler's Neponset or Triple Tail -- both of which have three tine nibs, but do not have a music nib profile.

[DonLeone]

I'd like an architect nib. I have a few fude nibs that are somewhat similar. It's interesting for drawing.

 

I've been collecting rOtring Isographs and rapidographs and I've been filling them with fountain pen ink. When used with regular rotring ink or worse, rotring white ink, I get clogs, stutters, etc. Fountain pen ink, on the other hand, writes very well. I'm using them for drawing... or learning how to. I was advised to get disposable fine liners, the felt tip ones, because they have a consistent line. And if I was going to use them a lot, get rapidographs.

 

Instead, I went the pseudo-fountain pen route.

[inkstainedruth]

Someone in my local pen club had a pen where she had the nib ground into an architect's nib. She really likes it. Honestly, I wasn't that enamored of it when I tried it. I'd have to try one sometime to see if my opinion has changed, now that I have the Pro-Gear Slim with a zoom nib.

As for music nibs, I have a Parkette that is now sporting a music nib from some no-name lever filler, and while I don't use it for writing music, I do like it for it being very flexy.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[Honeybadgers]

Someone in my local pen club had a pen where she had the nib ground into an architect's nib. She really likes it. Honestly, I wasn't that enamored of it when I tried it. I'd have to try one sometime to see if my opinion has changed, now that I have the Pro-Gear Slim with a zoom nib.

As for music nibs, I have a Parkette that is now sporting a music nib from some no-name lever filler, and while I don't use it for writing music, I do like it for it being very flexy.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

 

You need an architect nib ground to your writing angle. They're very specific to the user, even a 2 or 3 degree difference from what you are use to writing at is going to make it deeply unpleasant.

[Antenociticus]

I don't think architect nib grinds have anything to do with the practise of architecture. I have read that they are so named simply because this was Frank Lloyd Wright's preferred grind.

[inkstainedruth]

 

You need an architect nib ground to your writing angle. They're very specific to the user, even a 2 or 3 degree difference from what you are use to writing at is going to make it deeply unpleasant.

Good to know.

If that's the case, that may be the OP's problem with Japanese pens.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[dapprman]

Not sure why the style was ever renamed architect nib as it has nothing to do with architecture and as others have pointed out, is not used by architects who instead use technical drawing implements such as Rotring Isographs (my father, a former architect, still has his).

 

It used to be called the Arabic nib, or Hebrew nib, not because they used them but because the quill being used would be rotated for thick top bars. Arabic nib was the more common name, but people moved away from this after 19/11 as a reaction (despite most Arabs not only having nothing to do with the attacks but also being horrified by them).

[A Smug Dill]

Arabic nib was the more common name, but people moved away from this after 19/11 as a reaction (despite most Arabs not only having nothing to do with the attacks but also being horrified by them).

 

I didn't know that, so thank you for enlightening me. That is sad knowledge, especially when the sensibilities and/or prejudices of a minority market (in the industry, across all nib types and styles) ends up changing the nomenclature for a worldwide hobbyist community, and as you alluded the former doesn't represent nearly the majority of users of that style of nib.

 

Maybe it'll take 70 or 80 years for the (non-uniform politically!) 'Western' market to embrace Arabic/Hebrew nibs advertised as such as "vintage" instruments to be collected, treasured and/or traded actively in the hobbyist market, assuming it'll still exist (in all likelihood) then, the way Japanese pens and nibs are well-regarded and sought by users under the age of sixty worldwide. Whatever happened between Japan and China or Australia during dark times in the 1930s–1940s play no part in my consideration, or that of my wife (who is a first-generation "Australian-born Chinese"); and I'd like to think the pen and the craft are the heart of our "hobby".

 

I still vividly remember when that event to which you referred to happened. I was working on my laptop in bed (around midnight Sydney time), connected to and working on a system in the US for an client's IT project, while my (then-, now ex-)wife was lying next to me half asleep. I saw the news, prodded her and told her civilians — innocent people — were going to die taken violently from this life, and she muttered, "Probably the act of terrorists," and went back to sleep. The next morning she (along with the rest of the world) was transfixed by the TV screen. "The US is being attacked on home ground and embarrassed on the world stage!" she told me in horror when I got out of bed. My heart sank with how she framed what happened.

 

When she told me about "Freedom fries" later, I was devastated. How dare they?

Edited August 21, 2020 by A Smug Dill