Jump to content

Nibs that bring you joy


ibrahim

Recommended Posts

12 minutes ago, ethernautrix said:

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).

 

As far as Pilot advertises it, yes, although many fellow forum members attest that Tokyo Pen Shop Quill is somehow authorised by Pilot to sell the Custom 823 with FA, WA and PO nibs.

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.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 77
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

  • ibrahim

    9

  • Bo Bo Olson

    6

  • Mangrove Jack

    5

  • A Smug Dill

    4

9 minutes ago, A Smug Dill said:

 

As far as Pilot advertises it, yes, although many fellow forum members attest that Tokyo Pen Shop Quill is somehow authorised by Pilot to sell the Custom 823 with FA, WA and PO nibs.

 

That's good news! I was aware of the FA and WA option; sounds like the PO option is new.

 

Now... if Pilot would make a #5 PO nib. (Always asking for more, me. But a PO nib in a 92? That would be lovely.)

_________________

etherX in To Miasto

Fleekair <--French accent.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

11 hours ago, PithyProlix said:

Parker 51 (fine) - Difficult to describe: feels just right. Forget about the pen and just write away.


I love how that is worded. Forget about the pen and just write away! Do you do journaling with it? What kind of writing?

"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.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

21 hours ago, A Smug Dill said:

 

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).

Thank you. I thought that would be the proper method, I tried it and it is far too taxing of a process to be a daily-driver nib.
I have decided to sell the nib and move on. Needlepoint flex is not what I apparently needed or thought it would be...
Back to the drawing board.

Eat The Rich_SIG.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

8 hours ago, ibrahim said:


I love how that is worded. Forget about the pen and just write away! Do you do journaling with it? What kind of writing?

I like to take notes while reading so mostly that - my focus is much more on reading, comprehension, etc. than the act of writing. If I am trying to write 'pretty' then they are not the ones I reach for. 

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

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Nibs that add something unique are ususally the ones that I hold dear. I’m not really interested in yet another regular Western F or M. Most pens in my 30-odd pen collection (half modern, half vintage) have a nib that really adds some spice. The small 14k nibs in Dutch-made pens from the 40s and 50s tend to be soft, semi-flexy and totally individual. Love that. And I can’t not mention this particular nib, which is very very special.

 

F521F392-EA82-41E1-B14E-1C257919C129.jpeg

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Vintage broad and double broads, especially the stubs.  I have ones that i like from MB, Parker, Pelikan, Sheaffer, Waterman & Wahl.  Italics and obliques are OK, too, but my favorites are the straight double broad stubs.  

 

Some modern BBs are OK, MBs for example.   However, when you compare a modern one to a good vintage MB BB, they're just not the same in line variation or feel.  Only Sheaffer maintained the quality of their nibs to the end; a Targa nib is as nice as any Sheaffer ever did. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

A Pilot inlaid nib from the 1970s. White gold, 18k and preferably a medium nib. A little bouncy and a joy to write with. It should be mounted in a Black Stripe, but I'll use a Sterling Silver or just a plain Custom too. 

 

But that nib... Whooo! Writing with that is pure heaven. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just now, KingsCountyWriter said:

A Pilot inlaid nib from the 1970s. White gold, 18k and preferably a medium nib. A little bouncy and a joy to write with. It should be mounted in a Black Stripe, but I'll use a Sterling Silver or just a plain Custom too. 

 

But that nib... Whooo! Writing with that is pure heaven. 

 

Hiya, fellow Brooklynite. 

 

I have a B in a black stripe steel Custom.  Love the pen, but the nib is kind of balky, at least for me.  I think Pilot's forte is finer nibs, so an M or F would probably have been a better idea. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

7 hours ago, gyasko said:

 

Hiya, fellow Brooklynite. 

 

I have a B in a black stripe steel Custom.  Love the pen, but the nib is kind of balky, at least for me.  I think Pilot's forte is finer nibs, so an M or F would probably have been a better idea. 

Greetings!

 

I'm curious: is it that you don't like how the nib lays down ink? Or does it need adjusting?

Most people might enjoy the finer nibs which Pilot does wonderful work with, and I can enjoy the occasional F too. They're extremely smooth, and the M is perfect for me. Occasionally I do find myself using the B nib too, but they seem to have a slight amount of feedback that the M nib lacks.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Knox steel OB and OBB #6 nibs.  The best nibs I've ever written with.  Just a shame that it's nigh on impossible to get them any more.  

http://www.aysedasi.co.uk

 

 

 

 

She turned me into a newt.......

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Each a joy, and all very different from one another:

  • Parker Victory Mk 1, Fine.  A lovely wet, semi-flexible nib.
  • Sailor 1911S, Medium.  A wet enough nib with the distinctive feedback that makes Sailor my favorite modern pen brand.
  • Parker 51 Plum Demi, Fine.  A pleasantly smooth writing nib on a pen of the perfect color, shape, heft, and finish for me.
  • Peyton Street Pen Works prototype, Medium Cursive Italic.  A nib that manages to be both precise and wet enough to use with less saturated inks.  
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Oooh.  This is a toughie.  I have a lot of pens and a lot of different nibs.

Top of the list would probably goes to the semi-flex Palladium Silver stub Triumph nib on one of the Sheaffer Snorkels -- especially when I put vintage Skrip Peacock in the pen.

Second place (well, maybe, like the old Avis ads on tv, it's number 1-1/2 :rolleyes:) is the 14K M nib on my first Parker 45 -- with the right ink, it's like ice dancing across the page.  Just smooth as silk.

After that, it's a tie between the 18K F nib and 18K stub nib on my two Pilot Decimos (although the nib assembly got knocked on the bathroom floor a week or so ago while draining after flushing and had a serious "owwie".  Before it got borked, the nib was a dream to write with, because it was just a little softer than 14K.  Still haven't really put the stub nib through its pace yet, but the first inking of that pen was with Iroshizuku Yama-budo (because, why not? :D) and it's the first nib I ever had that "sings"; yeah, I've read that's bad, but I thought it was kinda cool).  It also gives great line variation without being overly wet.

Then it's a tossup between some of the nibs on my various Parker 51s.  I particularly like the M nibs on the Plum Demi and the Midnight Blue Aero, for their smoothness and, well, just working without any effort or work; but (after some nib work to make them not scratchy, I'm really fond of the EF nibs (something I NEVER thought I'd say) on the Forest Green Aero and one of the Cedar Blue 51 Vacs -- if I have to do research, and take copious notes in the process, that Cedar Blue is the first pen I reach for.

Beyond that, there's a whole bunch of pens jockeying for position.  So, in no particular order:

the juicy and springy F nib on my first Pelikan (the 1990s era M400 Brown Tortoise);

the wet and somewhat flexy stub nib on a Morrison gold-filigree overlay ringtop;

the SF nib on new purple Pilot Falcon (although I haven't had much chance to play with it yet;

the EF nib on the M405 Blue Black, which just behaves well without making me crazy the way a Japanese EF probably would;

the understated and well behaved F and B nibs on my two Cross Solos (not sure about the B but the pen with the F nib is marked "Made in Japan").  Inexpensive and not pretentious, but good writers, both of them (and the red pen, with the F nib, has some sentimental value, having been bought from the estate of a friend who was a hobbyist calligrapher and bookbinder, and we'd had a couple of nice talks about pens before she died);

and finally (but not least, because it's in the final group) would be the MF nib on my Sailor 1911S Loch Ness Monster): smooth line, and with a lot less feedback than I'd been given to understand about Sailor nibs (and WAY less feedback-y than the zoom nib, which is interesting but I've yet to find an ink that makes it not dry.

Whew.  That's a long list, isn't it? :huh:  NEVER try to make a Libra make up her mind because we'll talk ourselves to death overthinking it (I already swapped the order a couple of times as it is, because I couldn't decide which pen was better than another... :blush:).

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

"It's very nice, but frankly, when I signed that list for a P-51, what I had in mind was a fountain pen."

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 3/1/2021 at 7:25 AM, KingsCountyWriter said:

Greetings!

 

I'm curious: is it that you don't like how the nib lays down ink? Or does it need adjusting?

Most people might enjoy the finer nibs which Pilot does wonderful work with, and I can enjoy the occasional F too. They're extremely smooth, and the M is perfect for me. Occasionally I do find myself using the B nib too, but they seem to have a slight amount of feedback that the M nib lacks.  


I think my Pilot B was cut for people who hold the pen more upright than i do.  When held at a higher angle, it writes well.  

 

This nib appealed to me because  it looks a little like a German broad nib.  In other words, more squared off than rounded in the typical modern American/Japanese style.  It is ever so slightly stubbish.  All of which sounds great, but squared off chunky nibs can be picky about angles of attack and rotation.  

 

I’m more of a broad/double broad kinda guy.  The Pilot was a weird choice for me given that my focus is vintage German pens, plus vintage American pens with stub nibs.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hello,

Please, let me try to share a little story, to hopefully contribute to this thread.

Since childhood I remember a little red Pelikan 100N which belonged to my grandfather. It was shelved, not to be touched...

...however, I understood there was someting wrong with it. Years later, when someone decided to trash it I hijacked it and it stood in my drawer for years. Finally, I decided to restore it. It had multiple issues, due to an inexpert WWII repair [attempt], one of which was a wrong nib.

One fine day I accidenyally found a matching nib at a friends place, installed it and things suddenly made sense. The match was perfect! The pen got its soul back!

🙂

It was the first time that I understood what the greatness of a noble, vintage pre-war pen was all about. Saying it writes like a charm would be an understatement.

 

Hope you like the story...

 

1569EE25-9C06-4F31-A038-5C2A4BFB32C2.jpeg.a86f13c7d189afcd6528a6e519427a21.jpeg

 

IMG_7167.jpg.221a387e30011f6adb4b4b7235a45679.jpg

 

0C4B76A1-A3A1-44D6-86CA-0D3BD9C4777C.jpeg.04507bf7e110a157fae596649e1c3269.jpeg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Wow, beautiful set!

 

...............................................................

We Are Our Ancestors’ Wildest Dreams

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 5 weeks later...
On 3/7/2021 at 7:50 PM, stoen said:

Hope you like the story...

Definitely such a charming story and beautiful pen set! Definitely some lessons there to be learned: no need to give up too soon and the answer may be on the way even if it tarries. 

"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.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

:yikes::yikes:, a Pelikan 800 OM 18 K.....it is of course the W.Germany one, I swore would be the only one I ever bought.

 

Well it's not well balanced (as I knew)......but one can learn to live with it, unposted. It sits at an angle I like.

Posted the nib is lighter but it sits a bit too deep in the pit of my thumb; for my comfort.

 

My W.Germany 200 OM steel nib is also out....It of course has the great 200/400 balance....posted.

Testing them....and the 800's nib is a tad smoother, but I have to look for it. Right now I have some 120 gram. 36 pound linen effect paper out, and both are =.

In reference to P. T. Barnum; to advise for free is foolish, ........busybodies are ill liked by both factions.

 

 

The cheapest lessons are from those who learned expensive lessons. Ignorance is best for learning expensive lessons.

 

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 3/2/2021 at 2:22 AM, inkstainedruth said:

Oooh.  This is a toughie.  I have a lot of pens and a lot of different nibs.

Top of the list would probably goes to the semi-flex Palladium Silver stub Triumph nib...

 

I wish I had yours and others' clarity when it comes to favorites. For me, it keeps changing.

 

Right now I'm stuck on Parker's 75's and 45's.

 

The former are rather amazing. I just got one that was extremely banged up, mostly because I needed a part, but incredibly, I put a cartridge in it (another pen I bought was shipped with a half-full cartridge in it), played around with a drop of water on the desk and about 2 minutes later it was writing like the day it was first inked despite never having been rinsed (or so it seems).

 

Alex

---------------------------------------------------------

We use our phones more than our pens.....

and the world is a worse place for it. - markh

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Your question is simple and challenging at the same time if you have such an unreasonably large number of pens as I do. The simple answer would be, always the nib of the pen(s) I'm using at the time. That's probably not the kind of answer you were looking for. But over many years I collected a three-digit number of mostly vintage pens with a focus on excellent nibs. The older the nibs the more character they have and every single one is a joy to use.

 

But I don't want to disappoint you and so I picked three nibs/pens for you which are particularly close to my heart. The first is a Montblanc 25 (?) safety-filler with a very broad 14k #2 nib. This was my grandmother's pen and she gave it to me when I was eight, shortly before she passed away. I loved that pen even though I had no idea what I had in my hands and how to fill it properly at first. Nobody had a clue at the time what a valuable collectible I was playing with. Today I know and I only use it for very special occations. It's a wonderful writer and the nib is loaded with character.

 

Fast forward several decades. I went through  a difficult period, recently had moved, and explored the new city when I stumbled over a small boutique which was selling off it's small line of OMAS pens. I was totally stunned by the looks of an OMAS Grand Paragon Arco brown. They allowed me to ink up the pen, gave me a pad of luxury paper and let me write for about an hour! The very broad nib and the whole writing experience blew me way and I bought the pen on an impulse. In fact, this purchase kind of started my passion for collecting high quality fountain pens and my particular love for OMAS.

 

Finally a pen that might be a good representative of my collection and more accessible than the other two above, a Pelikan 400NN tortoise brown with 14k OM nib. I might ink up that pen slightly more often than others for writing long letters. When I got the pen, everything was in excellent condition except for the nib, which turned out to have a crack. So, I had a local jeweler fix the crack for me, did the nib adjustments myself, and ended up with a beautiful pen that writes like a dream. It was worth the effort because this is one of the less common very flexible Pelikan nibs of that period and it has tons of character. 

 

I could keep going with nibs/pens like my 1938 OMAS Lucens, or my Pelikan 100s, which could inspire you writing a novel about their fate and that of their previous owners, or my Osmias from the 1930s, or Kawecos from the 1950s. Every single of these vintage pens has it's history, it's specific charms, and is a joy to use.

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...