Dip Pens for

[Vulcan1066]

Thanks for the article.

I must confess that I use dip pens, glass included, almost as much as I do fountain pens.

I keep a little dip pen kit in an old metal candy box that I have lined with felt in my backpack. I carry some of the small samplers bottles from Pear Tree Pens filled with ink in there along with my sealing wax, lighter,two wax seals,two dip pen nib holders, and an Altoids box for storage of all of my nibs. I lined the large metal box with felt in case the ink ever leaked.

When eating supper out I spend the time waiting for my food writing a letter to friends.

 

No affiliation with anyone or thier products mention in this missive, just a satisfied customer.

[jbb]

Thanks for the article.

I must confess that I use dip pens, glass included, almost as much as I do fountain pens.

I keep a little dip pen kit in an old metal candy box that I have lined with felt in my backpack. I carry some of the small samplers bottles from Pear Tree Pens filled with ink in there along with my sealing wax, lighter,two wax seals,two dip pen nib holders, and an Altoids box for storage of all of my nibs. I lined the large metal box with felt in case the ink ever leaked.

When eating supper out I spend the time waiting for my food writing a letter to friends.

 

No affiliation with anyone or thier products mention in this missive, just a satisfied customer.

I like how your traveling set sounds Vulcan1066. I may have to put one together like that.

[dcwaites]

Thank you very much indeed.

This whole story is a complicated matter for me becuase I really treasure a good dip nib but have yet to find one (or a brand thereof) which really satisfies me.

I love to use them for a test of similar inks. Always much better than swabs. But most nibs I've ever used skip to start off with, or they yield a huge difference in wetness over the first few inches.

Thanks again, will look into more brands.

 

Mike

I have found that the D. Leonardt's DP400 nib in 0.5mm width is most suitable for testing inks.

It works with all my inks, including the very wet Noodler's BSB and PR Tanzanite, as well the very dry Pelikan Fount India. It gives me a line that is comparable to most of my fountain pens, both in wetness, width and colour.

The little clip-on reservoir means that it can carry enough ink to write 5 lines or more.

 

All my other dip pen nibs either write too wet, or too dry, or only work with particular inks.

[Paddler]

We do a lot of historical reenactments in the summer. I carry an old-fashioned pencil box with the swinging top compartment. In the bottom compartment, I keep feather and porcupine quills, a crochet hook, a Dutching tool, and a pen knife. In the upper compartment, I have an old wooden nib holder and an assortment of steel nibs. The end compartment is just the right size to hold a glass Higgins bottle with iron gall ink. This rig sets me up for 1776, 1812, and 1860. A small lap desk filled with laid paper puts me in bidness.

 

Most of my steel nibs were made for the Spencerian Co. I bought a large trove of them at a flea market. Most of them write a line that is way too fine for this ink and paper combination. They work better with fountain pen ink.

 

Paddler

[Pictrix]

I'm no connoisseur of nibs of any type, but I do remember that I dug more holes in the paper than I was able to get lines out of the first couple of dip nib sets I brought home

 

Here's a couple of writing samples using some Leonardt dip nibs, labeled as "Italic" or "Calligraphy" (I don't quite recall). Two samples shown (different inks). Pages were from a Red & Black notebook, 8x5" or nearly so and a single dip wrote the whole page for each sample... and I'm not sure how much farther it would have gone (it wasn't about to run dry).

 

2nd picture shows the nib I used, and another one from the "set" from the backside with the clip-on reservoir side showing.

 

http://www.riorondo.com/fpn/DipNib.jpg

 

http://www.riorondo.com/fpn/DipNib2.jpg

Edited October 25, 2009 by Pictrix