A field guide to Japanese Nibs

[bitterwonder]

Thank you! Very useful.

[konradwhite]

Thx for comparison.

I don't know which pen choose: Falcon SF or Heritage 912 FA nib?

What are the main differences?

[Maurizio]

I’m this post got revived. Really informative.

[JaguarOne]

Thanks for the information. I wonder why is there a difference in sizes between Pilot's steel and gold nibs. I started using Pilot Prera Medium steel nib but was surprised when I upgraded to Pilot Csutom 74. The gold nib lays thicker lines than the prera.

[Intensity]

Just noticed this thread, figured I should add my comparison table to it:

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/348475-japanese-pen-nib-widths-comparison-reference-table/?p=4236811

[PithyProlix]

On 2/12/2008 at 11:46 AM, kamakura-pens said:

The Manifold Nib.

Back in the days before typewriters and copy machines, offices tried to become more efficient by using manifold books. These were books with leaves of alternating carbon and writing paper. A writer could make two or even three or four copies of a page at once by writing in one these books. However you needed to press down very hard with a pen to make the bottom pages legible. For this purpose, Pilot introduced the Manifold nib. The nib consisted of medium length blank with a medium smooth point with a little larger ball of iridium than the other nibs. The tines were short and the nib was made as stiff as possible with virtually no flex at all. With one of these nibs you could press down on the paper as hard as you liked and you couldn’t harm the nib. The desk might break before the nib gave way. Even though no one uses fountain pens for carbon paper anymore the Manifold nib has continued to be popular. And Pilot still offers this nib today. I often keep one of these with me as a lender. It is an ideal nib for the newbie to start with. [Emphasis added]

 

TL;DR:

 

A theory:

• Actually, Manifold nibs were not designed to be as stiff as possible.
• The primary function of their design was to not tear carbon paper, which is much thinner than 'normal' paper.

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

 

I have three 1960s-era Japanese pens with Manifold nibs. A full-length Platinum with essentially the same nib and section design as some early Platinum pocket pens, the later Pilot Super 200 with a design very similar to the Pilot E-200 (i.e. not the earlier Super 200 model that has a wide cap band), and a Pilot Elite pocket pen. While I wouldn't characterize any of them as 'soft', none of them are very stiff - while I wouldn't dare use them as I would a true flex nib, with moderate pressure the nib tines bend pretty easily and the tines spread a little. In fact, most of my Pilot F and Script nibs of the same era, of which I have quite a few, and the one Pilot Posting nib I have (I don't have any Japanese pens with M or wider nibs from that era) are more stiff. Three isn't a great sample size but, if the Manifold nib was manufactured to be stiff, then these would not only be outliers but also defective. Given Platinum's and Pilot's high level of quality control at that time, I don't believe they are defective.

 

*But* the tipping on these nibs does seem to be larger and have more contact surface than the other aforementioned non-Manifold nibs. So, here's a theory: given their relatively larger tipping with more contact surface, the primary distinctive design feature of Japanese Manifold nibs (at least those of the 1960s) was that it was easier to write on manifold/carbon copy paper, which is a thin paper, without tearing the paper. A nib does not have to be really stiff to make an adequate impression on multiple layers of carbon copy paper - the Manifold nib, which was not actually really stiff, was stiff enough for this purpose. The more layers of carbon paper, however, the more pressure the writer would have to apply to the nib, which would increase the tendency to tear the top layer of carbon paper. A really stiff nib would increase the likelihood of tearing thin paper.

 

Are your Manifold nibs "stiff as possible with virtually no flex at all"? How stiff are they? And what is the tipping shaped like?

 

 

[cullercoats]

What a brilliant article - thank you. Not only do you tell us some interesting details about the background and origin of the current range of Pilot nibs, but you mention others that are no longer available in their current range, and are probably unlikely to return. Most of the more unusual nibs are only available from Japanese retailers, but these of course can be accessed online. If you are wondering which nibs are available on which Pilot nibs have a look at https://kmpn.blogspot.com/2011/06/pilot-custom.html which is an excellent and comprehensive guide.

[essayfaire]

Great post.  I was just given a Platinum Coarse and was wondering how it would stack up.

On 12/10/2019 at 2:21 PM, Intensity said:

Just noticed this thread, figured I should add my comparison table to it:

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/348475-japanese-pen-nib-widths-comparison-reference-table/?p=4236811

is helpful in that regard.

 

It would be nice if someone(hint, hint @A Smug Dill)who had access to multiple nibs expanded this to cover the other major Japanese manufacturers.