I love old nibs.

[cossar]

I'm a relative newbie to fountain pens. 

 

I'm in my early 30s, and went through a phase with no-name scratchy fountain pens in high school that I thought made me cool. Scrapped them after a couple years. Fast forward to my 31st birthday, when my wife bought me a Lamy Safari. At first I thought it was a nice gesture: she knew I liked to journal and I take extensive notes for work. But after about a year with the Safari I was hooked. Fast forward another few years, and here I am chasing after any Sheaffer Triumph nib or Parker 51 that I think I can fix up. 

 

I am simply so impressed with these vintage nibs, especially medium nibs. The expression, smoothness, wetness, I just love it all. And it's not just gold vs steel. My medium octanium nib in my "51" Special knocks the socks off an TWSBI Eco any day (in my opinion of course). The Parker Duofold nib gives me so much control over how I write. Sheaffer Triumphs are a joy. 

 

What makes vintage nibs so much better than modern nibs?

 

I realize that question is assuming a lot, there are probably a bunch of folks who like modern nibs. Also, I realize I'm restricted to nibs in medium- to low-budget pens. And my sample size of vintage pens is limited to Sheaffer and Parker. 

 

Anyways, this rambling post is meant to say that I am having a lot of fun expanding my world of vintage pens. There may be a bunch of good new pens that I'm missing out on, but come on, there's so much to explore from before WWII. 

[FarmBoy]

2 hours ago, cossar said:

What makes vintage nibs so much better than modern nibs?

 

Age

[cossar]

3 minutes ago, FarmBoy said:

Age

So any Jowo nib will feel just as good in 70 years?

[Mercian]

4 hours ago, cossar said:

What makes vintage nibs so much better than modern nibs?

They were designed and built in the era when everyone used fountain pens as their primary writing implement.
If company ‘x’ put out its pens with bad nibs, nobody would buy them.

 

There’s also what I call the ‘Victorian house’ effect; the ones from that era that are still standing/in-use are the ones that were well-built. The shonkily-built ones have all been trashed already.

 

The main factor though is the aforementioned ‘market forces’.
E.g. during the 1930s and 1940s almost all people were using fountain pens and, as everyone is different, this meant that lots of people wanted a nib that suited their particular writing style. Which created a ‘demand’ for nibs in many different widths and grind-shapes.

See e.g. this chart of nibs that were made during that era by Pelikan:

 

 

After reliable ballpoints conquered the world, the ‘demand’ for these things fell off a cliff, and since then no major company produces anything like the number of nib-widths or grind-shapes that they used to.
Because they just wouldn't make enough money back in sales to justify their investment in the tooling and staff/training that would be necessary to do it.

 

The same reason explains why vintage steel dip-pen nibs from the late-Nineteenth/early-Twentieth century are preferred - and are sought out - by calligraphers.
There’s just not much demand for the things nowadays, so no company is willing to invest in the effort of sourcing the particular type of steel, and the tooling, and the staff/training that would be needed in order to produce them.

 

Sic transit gloria mundi.

 

Edit to add:

For clarity, I am not saying that modern nibs are ‘no good’.
I’m just pointing out that, as fountain pens are still currently a ‘niche’ market, companies tend to make/grind/polish their nibs to ‘common denominator’ standards; shapes/widths that most people will be content to use. Grinds which don’t ‘scare off’ people who have only ever used ballpoints/felt-tips/fibre-tips/rollerballs.

Those of us who enjoy ‘exotic’ things such as ‘bouncy’ nibs with italic/cursive grinds still do not constitute a sufficiently-large user-base to create sufficient demand to persuade major manufacturers to return to making those nibs.
We are forced to hunt for the surviving artefacts/heirlooms that were bequeathed by our forebears.

[Inkyways]

"""What makes vintage nibs so much better than modern nibs?"""

 

This above post ,  is the real explanation to the question here .

[cossar]

@Mercian thanks for the thoughtful response, I hadn’t thought about the fact that most of the bad nibs would have filtered out of the market by now.  

[AAAndrew]

As well as there was a lot more handwork and individuals tuning every nib that came off the line. And if your pen didn't write well, just take it back to the shop or one of the many fountain pen repair folks around. They would tune it for you. 

 

When these old tools were used all day every day they had to work well and be comfortable to use. It's the same with old hand saws. If you've ever felt the handle of a pre-WWII hand saw, it feels very different than the ones stamped out on a factory line. 

[tommym]

On 4/26/2024 at 8:07 AM, cossar said:

What makes vintage nibs so much better than modern nibs?

 

I appreciate and collect vintage pens and nibs, too. I classify my nibs into two categories: untouched and those modified after the fact. A competent nibmeister can work wonders with modern nibs. My best modern gold flex nib (nibmeister modified and tuned) can match my best unmodified vintage gold flex nib. So, in that sense, all is not lost with modern nibs.

 

Tommy

[Ozachia]

On 4/26/2024 at 2:07 PM, cossar said:

I'm a relative newbie to fountain pens. 

 

I'm in my early 30s, and went through a phase with no-name scratchy fountain pens in high school that I thought made me cool. Scrapped them after a couple years. Fast forward to my 31st birthday, when my wife bought me a Lamy Safari. At first I thought it was a nice gesture: she knew I liked to journal and I take extensive notes for work. But after about a year with the Safari I was hooked. Fast forward another few years, and here I am chasing after any Sheaffer Triumph nib or Parker 51 that I think I can fix up. 

 

I am simply so impressed with these vintage nibs, especially medium nibs. The expression, smoothness, wetness, I just love it all. And it's not just gold vs steel. My medium octanium nib in my "51" Special knocks the socks off an TWSBI Eco any day (in my opinion of course). The Parker Duofold nib gives me so much control over how I write. Sheaffer Triumphs are a joy. 

 

What makes vintage nibs so much better than modern nibs?

 

I realize that question is assuming a lot, there are probably a bunch of folks who like modern nibs. Also, I realize I'm restricted to nibs in medium- to low-budget pens. And my sample size of vintage pens is limited to Sheaffer and Parker. 

 

Anyways, this rambling post is meant to say that I am having a lot of fun expanding my world of vintage pens. There may be a bunch of good new pens that I'm missing out on, but come on, there's so much to explore from before WWII. 

Do you recommend any budget-friendly options for getting into these older/vintage nib options? I only have newer pens, but would love to try some of these out!

[AAAndrew]

Esterbrook J pens are still relatively affordable, and are quite durable. Esterbrook also knew how to make a good nib, and made a bunch of different types at different levels of quality, and they can all be swapped out and traded around. You can still find a number of Renewpoint nibs still new in box. The 9xxx series are the highest quality with iridium tipping, but their lower-end 1xxx and 2xxx series are nothing to sneeze at. Head over to the Esterbrook forum and the fine folks there will get you hooked up with a wonderful J pen. 

 

There are also nice Sheaffers and Parkers from the 40s and 50s that make great pens. I'm particularly fond of the Parker 45 as an inexpensive and easy to clean and maintain pen. It was originally a nice student pen, so it's pretty durable and comes in great colors. I'm sure there are lots of others to suggest.