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Nibs that bring you joy


ibrahim

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What are some of the best nibs that you have written with recently that you are filled with joy every time you pick up the pen and start writing?

 

For me it’s anything Pelikan, starting with my Pelikano, Pelikan Go!, etc 


Yesterday my wife got Sailor Pro Gear Slim Fountain Pen - Blue Dwarf (Limited Production) and I was charmed by how smooth it wrote. 

 

My Pilot pens. 
 

How about you?

"I am human, and I think nothing human is alien to me." Terence

 

I share the humanity of people, I’m like the rest of everybody and certainly I’m not better or higher than anybody in anything, regardless of what they believe in or don’t believe in. What they experience is certainly not alien to me. I’m part of all people and they are part of me, interbeing, that is.

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Funny that you mention this since I was about to start a thread about something related and I think it could fit here.

 

My currently inked pens are recently acquired Pelikans, i.e., M200, M205 and M405.  I also recently got two F Stub ground nibs from fpnibs.com to fit a couple other pens, one a Kaweco Aluminium and a Desiderata Sobriquet.  The Pelikans wrote well with 2 needing minor tine adjustments.  The fpnibs wrote interestingly but were a bit scratchy though the tines were aligned.

 

I got myself a sheet of 15000 grit micromesh and after about a half an hour of tuning, all 5 pens are a joy to use.  Hallelujah for smoothness, flow etc.

 

I've had similar experience out of the box and commend the out of the box experience for that and can name a few that haven't needed any extra 'tuning', i.e., my MB's, a Leonardo MZ Grande with M nib.... fabulous right out of the box and others.... Platinum 3776, Sailor 21K M nibs, TWSBI Vac 700R Iris.

 

All provide their own special experiences.  

 

However, my main points are:

- that a little nib tuning goes a long way and the easiest thing I've found is minor tine adjusting and a little polishing, the latter not for buttery smoothness necessarily.... but some nibs out of the box do scratch a little in some directions despite the tines being aligned.  The nib will usually not need a lot of time on the mesh at all so be careful.  Do the tuning with the pen inked to lubricate the micromesh sheet as you make the adjustment.  Youtube videos are available to guide. :thumbup:

 

- diminishing returns in my experience are greatest with nib performance, especially if you develop the ability to do a little nib tuning.  Some pen makers gain fame for their nibs because the nibs are well tuned.  If you have a really well tuned steel nib in an inexpensively priced pen, you will be hard pressed to find any nib out there that will provide a better experience (a touch of springiness etc) other than the pleasure of the appearance of the nib itself which I do value as well, to be fair.

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For me right now, it's the cheapest pen I own--a Platinum Preppy.  I started with an EF and ground a needlepoint.  It's perfectly smooth, and writes a VERY fine line.

 

I love writing with it--it requires focus and the right position, but the result is beautiful and it's perfectly smooth even on cheap paper so long as I don't press too hard.

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2 hours ago, maclink said:

I've had similar experience out of the box and commend the out of the box experience for that and can name a few that haven't needed any extra 'tuning', i.e., my MB's, a Leonardo MZ Grande with M nib.... fabulous right out of the box and others....


I appreciate your detailed reply. Would you please share about your Mont Blanc pens? Which brand exactly? Where you bought them from? Etc. 

 

Thanks a lot. 

"I am human, and I think nothing human is alien to me." Terence

 

I share the humanity of people, I’m like the rest of everybody and certainly I’m not better or higher than anybody in anything, regardless of what they believe in or don’t believe in. What they experience is certainly not alien to me. I’m part of all people and they are part of me, interbeing, that is.

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2 hours ago, SamChevre said:

For me right now, it's the cheapest pen I own--a Platinum Preppy. 

 

I’m delighted that such a pen is such a delight. Nib doesn’t sing?

"I am human, and I think nothing human is alien to me." Terence

 

I share the humanity of people, I’m like the rest of everybody and certainly I’m not better or higher than anybody in anything, regardless of what they believe in or don’t believe in. What they experience is certainly not alien to me. I’m part of all people and they are part of me, interbeing, that is.

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32 minutes ago, ethernautrix said:

Pilot PO.

Nakaya EF.

These are my top favorites, but there are plenty of other nibs (gold and steel) that are a joy to write with.

Which kind of Pilot exactly? And where is a good place to buy Nakaya pens?

 

 

"I am human, and I think nothing human is alien to me." Terence

 

I share the humanity of people, I’m like the rest of everybody and certainly I’m not better or higher than anybody in anything, regardless of what they believe in or don’t believe in. What they experience is certainly not alien to me. I’m part of all people and they are part of me, interbeing, that is.

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I enjoy your straightforward questions, Ibrahim! ;)

 

Anything Pelikan sounds rather true for me too, but I'll be more specific: Pelikan M200 B nib.

I tend to like broader nibs, despite I don't always venture into stubs, so a B nib is a size I like.

The nibs on the Pelikan M200 series are steel nibs, so you would expect  rather ordinary performance (vs gold).

In reality Pelikan M200 steel nibs show a special characteristic, they are springy! (as opposed to stiff, which is rather common for modern steel nibs).

That is already a nice characteristic to find on a fine nib, but on a broader nib it's actually rather unusual!

Well? The Pelikan M200 steel B nib is a springy broad nib! It's a special experience, that as you say, brings me joy!

 

(now, don't ask me where to buy a Pelikan... I'm sure an M200 is easy to find in North Carolina... :D)

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MB's BB nibs are hard to beat. That stub aspect with good flow and a smoothness that is a real delight. 

I picked up an Omas stub quite a few years ago. It can't be used in all circumstances, but when it does come out of hiding it always gives me great joy. It's a very serious gusher, unbelievably smooth, quite a wide stub and it's very springy and flexible. I remember reading a review of it not too long after I bought mine and the two people using it said they both laughed as they wrote. I knew exactly what they meant. The nib is bonkers but you can't help but smile on touching it to paper.

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I just filled my Esterbrook Relief 12 [made by Conway Stewart] with Diamine Majestic Blue. The Relief nib is based on the Esterbrook 314 dip pen and the 2314 & 9314 ReNew nibs. It has a left foot oblique shape and has become one of my favorite writing nibs in both the J pens and the Relief pens.

Baptiste knew how to make a short job long

For love of it. And yet not waste time either.

Robert Frost

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1 hour ago, sansenri said:

now, don't ask me where to buy a Pelikan... I'm sure an M200 is easy to find in North Carolina... :D)


hhhhhhhhhhhhhaaahhhhhh of course I know the answer for that one! It’s Amazon.com hhhhhhhhhhhhh

"I am human, and I think nothing human is alien to me." Terence

 

I share the humanity of people, I’m like the rest of everybody and certainly I’m not better or higher than anybody in anything, regardless of what they believe in or don’t believe in. What they experience is certainly not alien to me. I’m part of all people and they are part of me, interbeing, that is.

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The best one is the crisp italic EF nib on my Pelikan M600 that Dan Smith reground for me.

 

Plenty of other nibs are enjoyable to use out-of-the-box, too, but let's not talk about those. :)

I endeavour to be frank and truthful in what I write, show or otherwise present, when I relate my first-hand experiences that are not independently verifiable; and link to third-party content where I can, when I make a claim or refute a statement of fact in a thread. If there is something you can verify for yourself, I entreat you to do so, and judge for yourself what is right, correct, and valid. I may be wrong, and my position or say-so is no more authoritative and carries no more weight than anyone else's here.

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When I first got my Moor L-82 I thought I'd never find anything that I'd like more. It was wonderful, and still is. But I recently acquired a Soennecken 507 and as soon as I inked it up, it was true love. It really does sing.

 

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5 hours ago, SamChevre said:

For me right now, it's the cheapest pen I own--a Platinum Preppy.  I started with an EF and ground a needlepoint.  It's perfectly smooth, and writes a VERY fine line.

 

I love writing with it--it requires focus and the right position, but the result is beautiful and it's perfectly smooth even on cheap paper so long as I don't press too hard.

Is there a trick to the technique of writing with a Needlepoint?
I just received my first one from G.Salorino (F-C 14k Flex) and I'm having a rough go with it. It sticks into the paper more than I expected.
Though it does indeed produce a hair-thin line, I can't write a word with it without stabbing the page. Do I need to write at a shallower angle? Minimize flexing it?
Not quite sure what to do at this point... 🤔


But to get back on topic...my favorite nib is an FPR ultra-flex that I further flexified and sharpened. It writes smoothly and gives the best/widest flex out of all the nibs I've ever tried/owned.
 

Eat The Rich_SIG.jpg

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7 minutes ago, Detman101 said:

Though it does indeed produce a hair-thin line, I can't write a word with it without stabbing the page. Do I need to write at a shallower angle? Minimize flexing it?

 

If you're writing with a stiff needlepoint nib, then just put as little downward pressure on the nib as you can manage. If you're writing with a flex nib with needlepoint tipping, then obviously you're using it for calligraphic purposes, so hold the pen at a shallower angle and draw your letters as intended with a minimum of push strokes; that means some minuscules take multiple, separate pen strokes to form, even if the complete word is visually cursive (i.e. look as if the ink marks forming the letters are connected).

I endeavour to be frank and truthful in what I write, show or otherwise present, when I relate my first-hand experiences that are not independently verifiable; and link to third-party content where I can, when I make a claim or refute a statement of fact in a thread. If there is something you can verify for yourself, I entreat you to do so, and judge for yourself what is right, correct, and valid. I may be wrong, and my position or say-so is no more authoritative and carries no more weight than anyone else's here.

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Visconti Dreamtouch 23k stub makes me smile every time it touches paper.  I have a Franklin Christoph with a Masuyama broad cursive italic that is heavenly.  The Franklin Christoph music nib is a lot of fun too.  On the other end of the spectrum I really enjoy the fine lines yet smoothness of my Sailor 1911 F nib and my vanishing point F nib. 
 

NM

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I've got Nagahara Needlepoint from Franklin Christoph that's my favorite. My own attempt at a needlepoint grind is more of a PO nib and comes in 2nd place.

 

What have you done with the cat? It looks half dead.

 ~ Schrödinger's wife

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  • Sailor H-M - Feels like writing with the best pencil imaginable but the line is a little too broad for me.
  • Pelikan MK30 (medium?) - Pillow-like with nice flex but, again, the line is a little too broad. (Picked up for $10 USD, cracked cap.)
  • Parker 51 (fine) - Difficult to describe: feels just right. Forget about the pen and just write away.
  • Pilot 78G B - Crisp, narrow-ish stub (italic?). A little dry (preferable for me), steel, no tipping but smooth. Line is small enough for me for everyday writing. Makes my cursive & italic look much better than it actually is. Shows off shading inks very nicely. Best cheap nib I have, by far. I have 3 of them with different inks and they are used often. Would buy more without hesitation if I didn't already have too many pens ...

My pens for sale: https://www.facebook.com/jaiyen.pens  

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10 hours ago, ibrahim said:

Which kind of Pilot exactly? And where is a good place to buy Nakaya pens?

 

 

 

 

Unfortunately, the PO nib is available only on two models (anyone else, correct me if I'm wrong): 912 (size #10 nib) and 743 (size #15 nib).

 

I bought two 912s and one 743. The two #10 nibs are in different pens -- a Moonman C2 (didn't need a nib-housing change, just friction fit the nib in; note that this is the C2 with the silver-colored nib, which is larger than the C2 with the gold-colored nib) and a (Shawn) Newton pocket pen (not sure of the model name) that came with a #6 Jowo nib; I swapped out the housing for a flexiblenib.com Jowo housing for Pilot 912 nibs (not the FA).

 

I know, none of this is simple. And one of these days, if flexiblenib.com ever makes a Nakaya housing for a Pilot PO nib, then I'll put one of these two PO nibs in a Piccolo.

 

I bought the 743 so I could use its PO nib in my 823.
 

As for Nakaya, I bought most of my several pens from nibs.com in Southern California, but the last two I ordered directly from Nakaya based in Japan: http://www.nakaya.org/en/

_________________

etherX in To Miasto

Fleekair <--French accent.

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Italic and stub nibs. I wrote a letter today using Pilot, Conklin, Pelikan and TWSBI italic and stub nibs. 

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