Good Quality Fude Nib Fountain Pen?

[PotbellyPig]

15 hours ago, A Smug Dill said:

https://www.google.com.au/search?q=美工筆書法&hl=ja&tbm=vid

 

I'm afraid I can't help you there.

 

Not that I think you specifically meant it that way, but these days when people say they don't see much (online) on a subject, especially in the context of training and learning, it is usually implied that they're only looking for what is freely accessible, both in terms of not having to pay to access the material, and not requiring some sort of qualification or credential before one can browse the catalogue or index of training articles and videos. That logically narrows down the field of vision by a whole lot; you probably would not have been looking at places such as Udemy for courses and training material on calligraphy. (I haven't.)

Thanks! I can finally see some good examples with a fude nib.  Does 美工筆 refer to fude nib writing specifically or does it refer to just beautiful writing in general?

[A Smug Dill]

5 hours ago, PotbellyPig said:

Does 美工筆 refer to fude nib writing specifically or does it refer to just beautiful writing in general?

 

It is what the Chinese pen industry calls pens with the type of nib with the tip bent backwards at an angle, which does not allude to anything to do with a brush (cf. Fude).

[PotbellyPig]

On 10/23/2021 at 11:45 PM, Pen_Padawan said:

Another option is 老山羊鋼筆, not sure what is their English name, search “3952 fountain pen”; http://www.3952pen.com; lots of information on FPN.  This is a very good quality pen.

 

They are a Taiwanese company (not going into the history of Taiwan - China).  They get custom fude titanium nibs from Bock from what I know.  I own the Pilot steel fude pens and tested the 3952 titanium fude, IMHO there is more softness due to the titanium material, but minor.  The over all pen feel, construction quality, Bock titanium fude nib makes it worth the money, in the price range you are looking into IMHO.

Very nice looking fountain pens.  Are they available in the USA?  Or do you have to use a proxy or something of the sort to import them?

[mrsharkbait]

On 10/30/2021 at 6:45 PM, PotbellyPig said:

Very nice looking fountain pens.  Are they available in the USA?  Or do you have to use a proxy or something of the sort to import them?

Pen Chalet carries 3952, but right now there is no inventory.  They do say in the description to contact them for special orders.

 

As someone who learned to write Chinese with a brush, I find that a fude is difficult to master.  You can manipulate a brush with 3 degrees of freedom, meaning you can place the tip at one point on the paper, and you can move the brush at any angle, and in a circular motion, around the point, without the tip leaving the paper. You can also move the brush into and away from the paper to create different widths.  The fude nib has only two degrees  of freedom.  You cannot move the pen into and away from the paper. More importantly you are locked into one orientation so that the flat part is coplanar to the paper, like you would use a trowel, and then tilt the nib up and down to control the line width.  That orientation is bound by the fude nib bend angle, and you must adjust the way you hold the pen to accommodate it, in other words it may not be the same way you hold the pen when writing English.  I find that to be the case for me, and I fear that would change the way I write in English, so I gave up on mastering the fude.  Recently I discovered that my ideal nib is a Right Oblique, which explains why I couldn’t get the fude to lay down its full width.

 

Furthermore, the fude is designed to facilitate a particular style of writing, analogous to cursive.  You are supposed to write the entire character in a continuous stroke (行書）without the tip leaving the paper.  Normal (楷書）style requires rendering of each stroke separately, and you can do this with round tip just as easily.

 

These styles of writing are applicable to Kanji as well.

[PotbellyPig]

6 hours ago, mrsharkbait said:

Pen Chalet carries 3952, but right now there is no inventory.  They do say in the description to contact them for special orders.

 

As someone who learned to write Chinese with a brush, I find that a fude is difficult to master.  You can manipulate a brush with 3 degrees of freedom, meaning you can place the tip at one point on the paper, and you can move the brush at any angle, and in a circular motion, around the point, without the tip leaving the paper. You can also move the brush into and away from the paper to create different widths.  The fude nib has only two degrees  of freedom.  You cannot move the pen into and away from the paper. More importantly you are locked into one orientation so that the flat part is coplanar to the paper, like you would use a trowel, and then tilt the nib up and down to control the line width.  That orientation is bound by the fude nib bend angle, and you must adjust the way you hold the pen to accommodate it, in other words it may not be the same way you hold the pen when writing English.  I find that to be the case for me, and I fear that would change the way I write in English, so I gave up on mastering the fude.  Recently I discovered that my ideal nib is a Right Oblique, which explains why I couldn’t get the fude to lay down its full width.

 

Furthermore, the fude is designed to facilitate a particular style of writing, analogous to cursive.  You are supposed to write the entire character in a continuous stroke (行書）without the tip leaving the paper.  Normal (楷書）style requires rendering of each stroke separately, and you can do this with round tip just as easily.

 

These styles of writing are applicable to Kanji as well.

I have found that if you expect the special nibs to replace a brush for writing Chinese characters calligraphy style, you will probably be disappointed.  It does help accentuate the characters and add flair.  At least that is my findings.  

[Tas]

I can't recommend this Duke 551 highly enough. It's HUGE though.

If large expressive strokes is your thing, look no further, although almost normal writing can be achieved if the nib is used upside down.