Nibs that Feel Like writing on Glass are…

[ibrahim]

Pelikan M 800

Pilot Custom Urushi

 

What else?

 

I mean straight out of the box!

[inkstainedruth]

Well, I don't know about straight out of the box, but my first Parker 45 (found in an antiques shop, on the edge of butt-nowhere Pennsylvania (seriously, once you get east of Coudersport, there isn't a whole lot in the Northern Tier counties for a couple of hours), with its M nib, and with the right ink in it?  Like dancing on ice.  Only with a pen on paper.... 

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[lionelc]

pen bbs

montblanc 149 

parker 51

fpr jaipur v2 14k nib

omas 

lamy 2k medium

 

in general

[inkstainedruth]

I'm not sure I'd agree with you on the 149.  A guy that used to be in my local pen club had me try his 149, after having had me try his 146 on a previous occasion (both I think were F nibs).  The nib on the 149 was okay, but the pen itself was too heavy for me.  It *was* definitely a better nib than on the 146, though -- which I found completely underwhelming; and not NEARLY as nice to write with as that 1960s era black 45 for which, even with sales tax, I'd paid under $11 US; dunno what the price of a 146 is, but if you get one (which isn't a fake) for that little I'd be nominating you for "Sumgai of the Month"....

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstained

[Paul-in-SF]

1 hour ago, lionelc said:

lamy 2k medium

Seconded.

[lionelc]

1 hour ago, inkstainedruth said:

 The nib on the 149 was okay, but the pen itself was too heavy for me.

true, the smoothness depends on the width of the nib,  hard to beat the old obb nibs.  as for the weight and size, the mb 149 definitely belongs in the large category.  wow, a 45 under 11us - definitely in sumgai territory ...

[ibrahim]

22 minutes ago, Paul-in-SF said:

Seconded.

I have a Lamy 2000 and it’s as smooth as any regular pen. In fact, it gushes ink like a water hose, and so it’s closer to a broad nib. And it sings when doing the upper strokes. 

[ibrahim]

1 hour ago, inkstainedruth said:

but my first Parker 45 (found in an antiques shop,

I looked it up on eBay and am quite pleased with the streamlined shape of the pen and what it could promise ergonomically. 

[bunnspecial]

Looking in my pen case, the two smoothest ones to me are my Lamy 2000 in B and my Pelikan M800 in B.

 

MBs are better represented than anything, and I value them in general for their feedback. Consequently, I'd say to a great extent the only really truly glass smooth one is my Great Characters Walt Disney in F. The next smoothest would a 145 Classique in M that I've since sold. My 149s are in B and OB, and while they are smooth they do have a hint of feedback-not as pronounced as finer nibs, but it's there.

 

I think overall the single smoothest, lightest touch, glass smooth nib I have is on a 1940s Parker Vacumatic Major. It's more so that way than my other vacs, including my favorite Major Maxima...or Maxima Major...or whatever the heck it is-a slim oversize blue diamond double jewel Vacumatic(I love Vacs but don't love figuring out model names).

[nm4]

Pelikan m1000 in any size but EF is glass.  Pretty much any Pelikan B or larger.  Same applies to the Porsche Design pens (which sport Pelikan nibs these days). 

 

Lamy 2k medium and larger are very smooth but have a narrower sweet spot than the others I’ve mentioned here. 
 

Vanishing point stub is butter smooth too.

 

Visconti Palladium nibs are the smoothest I’ve ever tried (but of course it seems a third of them don’t even write out of the box!)  

 

Perhaps a surprising one would be the 1.5mm Jowo italic nibs - I’m not sure if it’s the nib size or the lack of tipping but they are smoother than the custom italics and stubs I’ve had ground by some of the nibmeister superstars. 
 

NM

[Honeybadgers]

Waterman Carene. I've tried three different nibs in F and M. stupid, stupid smooth. I've never come across a brand new pen with a finer nib than the carene F that wrote so glassy smooth.

 

Knox's replacement OBB nibs are hilariously smooth too.

 

 

[maclink]

Among my smoothest nibs is a MB 146 with a B nib ground like a stub.  Very smooth indeed.  I love it, even though I usually use a F or M nib.

 

Surprising for me is the steel nib on the Leonardo Momento Zero Grande.  I can recall Leonardo pens having nib issues in their early production days.  I dealt with that first hand.  The owner took this seriously and now provides in-house nib tuning.  I have two Grandes with steel M nibs and they are superb.  Very smooth, even on papers that other of my nibs don't do as well.

 

I haven't written with my Pilot Custom 823 with M nib in a while but I do recall that nib being the very smooth.

 

I do not find an M800 M nib to be particularly smooth out of the box.  Mine was OK.  Well tuned but not particularly smooth.

 

I agree with @Honeybadgerson the Waterman Carene.  I was quite impressed with how well it writes.  Nicely tuned F nib too.

 

What's common to all these nibs I mentioned is the tuning, allowing for a generous, but not gushing ink flow, that if present, would ruin a nibs 'character'.

[bunnspecial]

5 hours ago, maclink said:

 

I do not find an M800 M nib to be particularly smooth out of the box.  Mine was OK.  Well tuned but not particularly smooth.

 

I bought mine with an M and sent it in for a B after writing with it for a week. I'd have bought the B in the first place but Goulet was running a great sale($350) on the brown striped version and only had F and M in stock. I'm not really a Pelikan guy, but I love it that Chartpak is so good about that service. BTW, if anyone is considering having a nib swap done, you won't regret it. Mine took about two weeks to get there thanks to the USPS pre-Christmas gridlock, but arrived I think the Monday before Christmas and they turned it around and had it back in the mail to me the next day.

 

Montblanc does offer the same service and gives you a longer time to decide, but I think some at least(LEs in particular, and maybe some of the more obscure grinds) have to go to Germany.

 

The M800 B I have is a bit hard for me to describe though. It's extremely smooth with virtually no feedback, but has a bit of resistance for lack of a better term. I have other nibs that write with zero pressure and provide essentially no feedback also. One of the ones that actually comes to mind for me on that is a Parker Vacumatic Major. I could also point to other vintage American nibs that are like that-another incredibly smooth and effortless one I have is a medium Pd-Ag nib on a Snorkel, although I have a more typical fine Pd-Ag that is a bit on the scratchy side(it's bad enough that I need to check and see if the tines are out of alignment). As a general comment, though, the Pd-Ag Snorkel nibs I have are honestly better writers than the 14K ones. I haven't written much with my prized Oversized Balance since I really started paying attention to feedback, but I think it's quite smooth also.

[Uncial]

Montblanc's B and BB nibs. I'm sure those higher and the 'O' range are very likely the same in feel.

Delta stubs on the Fusion models in steel are surprisingly good. Oddly, a stub on the big orange pen Delta was famous for wasn't all that satisfactory for me.

Omas nibs largely. 

Montegrappa Extra's.

[Bo Bo Olson]

Like a bit of paper feel my self.

 

But glassy/butter smooth nibs would be great on classic rough paper like Laid or Linen Effect.

 

I do understand needing such a nib, if one uses PP paper. Which is often the very last thing changed by the new.

[InesF]

Pelikan M600 (M),

Waterman Carene (F),

Parker Sonnet (B).

all three gold nibs, all three feel on regular paper like on glass.

[adamselene]

My first pen that evoked " writing on glass" very  pleasantly surprised  me.  I'd read that such nibs lacked character, and was chasing stubs and cursive nibs.  I bought my relatively recent  Waterman, a Man 100 I think, and it just blew me away.

 

While stubs and italics slowed my hand down, so it was less a scrawl, and the thin connectors helped legibility, my cursive f-l-o-w-e-d with this pen.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[es9]

Sheaffer Snorkel Triumph PdAG -- nib code is M4.  

[mouse2cat]

I have a 1970s Pelikan 120 with an angled oblique OM nib and it literally feels like ice skating to write with it. You got to hit that sweet spot angle and it glides better than anything

 

my 1970s Parker 45 M is also also smooth as heck 

 

Personally my favorite nib is the Fountain Pen Revolution Extra flex in a Himalaya. Its sharp enough to feel the paper a tiny amount so not as buttery as the first 2 but it has such a low pressure responsive line variation. (this pen is the current favorite)

[PithyProlix]

I have a few pens with glassy smooth nibs but my lowly old Pelikan MK30 with (I'm guessing) an M nib must have some anti-gravity technology built into it.