Pelikan M1000 Nibs

[JasH]

I own a few fountain pens, with a range of nibs:

 

MB 149 Medium

Duofold Medium Italic

Parker 75 Fine 18K

 

I am thinking of adding a stubb type bold or extra bold to the collection, and the Pelikan M1000 is probably top of my list at the moment due to its great reputation, large (and reportedly) flexible nib, and piston filler system.

 

Is there a website that shows the writing that the various M1000 nibs create please? It seems odd that such a resource isn't easily available to assist buyers.

[Philosophy Student]

Search on google images "pelikan nib"

[opus7600]

Such images are only marginally useful due to wide varieties of line width and quality created by different papers and inks.

 

Having gotten that out of the way, try here.

[penmanila]

i bought an M1000 with an OB nib that i thought i'd like, but sadly i found that OB just wasn't working for me. after three years of leaving the M1000 practically uninked in the box, and after some practice with other pens, i ground the OB nib down to a slightly stubby broad, and the wonderful thing is that, indeed, it flexes quite a bit for me. see here:

 

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8001/7459117722_1538b808dc_z.jpg

Edited July 8, 2012 by penmanila

[JasH]

Search on google images "pelikan nib"

 

 

Such images are only marginally useful due to wide varieties of line width and quality created by different papers and inks.

 

Having gotten that out of the way, try here.

 

 

Thank you both kindly Penmanila, thanks too, and I'm glad to see you fixed yours to your liking. I need to try an oblique as the only one I've tried before as a Parker oblique fine italic, and I disliked it.

 

In case it helps others, the most useful image I found is attached. I reckon the BB looks perfect for my needs

Edited July 8, 2012 by JasH

[georges zaslavsky]

other solution is to get your pen stubbed by a nibmeister

[Paul Raposo]

i bought an M1000 with an OB nib that i thought i'd like, but sadly i found that OB just wasn't working for me. after three years of leaving the M1000 practically uninked in the box, and after some practice with other pens, i ground the OB nib down to a slightly stubby broad, and the wonderful thing is that, indeed, it flexes quite a bit for me. see here:

 

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8001/7459117722_1538b808dc_z.jpg

 

Hi penmanila.

 

When you have some free time, could you provide some information on how you ground the nib? I also have an Pelikan OB nib that I've been considering re-grinding, but I haven't found any suitable instructions online. Any tips, and advice you can share would be greatly appreciated.

[Pierce]

The sample sheet does not illustrate the unique flex quality of the M1000

 

M800 fine and M600 OBB also shown for comparison which do not flex.

 

http://pierce.tv/uploads/answer2.jpg

[penmanila]

here's flex in my reground m1000:

 

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7246/7533141908_0bea027354_z.jpg

 

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7108/7533142704_8467333247_z.jpg

 

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8423/7533143330_ffba959f46_z.jpg

 

and here's how the nib looks like after i reground it from an OB:

 

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8432/7533144026_51de7d9c7d_z.jpg

 

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8429/7533144986_ae0c66d75f_z.jpg

 

i'll try to take better closeups when i have more time, but in answer to paul's question about regrinding (and again, i have to say i'm no nibmeister, and did this at considerable risk to a $350 pen ), what i did was:

 

1. grind off the obliqueness using 1500-grit sandpaper;

 

2. remove material from the round base of the nib to flatten it a bit, still using 1500 sandpaper;

 

3. smoothen the edges and the contours with 2500-grit sandpaper;

 

4. use both the rougher and very smooth sides of a nail buffer (available at women's cosmentics shops) for the final polish.

 

i was working "wet" (with ink and water) all the way, and writing lots of figure 8s during the smoothing process to feel and to remove any burrs, etc.

 

the professional nibmeisters here might have better techniques using better materials, but this was all i had (no arkansas stone, for example). good luck! (but if i were you, i'd send it off to the pros, unless you're a gambler like i am )

[JasH]

Thank you

 

That's a great job you made on the nib, but yes I am not so much a risk taker

 

My options are therefore limited to either buying the nib I like as standard, or having it changed by a pro - which is fine with me.

 

I'm leaning towards getting a BB, and having it made stubbish. I presume that will be easier with a BB or BBB? i.e. does a wider nib make it easier?

 

I want the end result to be a BB with significant line variation, but still v smooth to write with - so not an italic. Does that make sense?

 

I'm a newbie to this :embarrassed_smile:

[penmanila]

well, you'd have more nib to work with if you started out with a BB or BBB, but how fat a line do you want? esp. since the M1000 is already so wet, with a stubbed BBB you might as well get a paintbrush

 

i wanted some line variation--going down to a near-fine or medium if i wanted it--so i suspect, since the nib flexes (at least mine does), that a B would do you fine. you'll get the BB or BBB effect with the spreading of the tines.

 

my reground nib, by the way, is very smooth and soft. it's a joy to write with.

Edited July 9, 2012 by penmanila

[JasH]

how fat a line do you want? esp. since the M1000 is already so wet, with a stubbed BBB you might as well get a paintbrush

 

 

 

:roflmho:

 

Good point I will forget the possibility of BBB.

 

I will think carefully about B or BB

[Paul Raposo]

here's flex in my reground m1000:

 

i'll try to take better closeups when i have more time, but in answer to paul's question about regrinding (and again, i have to say i'm no nibmeister, and did this at considerable risk to a $350 pen ), what i did was:

 

1. grind off the obliqueness using 1500-grit sandpaper;

 

2. remove material from the round base of the nib to flatten it a bit, still using 1500 sandpaper;

 

3. smoothen the edges and the contours with 2500-grit sandpaper;

 

4. use both the rougher and very smooth sides of a nail buffer (available at women's cosmentics shops) for the final polish.

 

i was working "wet" (with ink and water) all the way, and writing lots of figure 8s during the smoothing process to feel and to remove any burrs, etc.

 

the professional nibmeisters here might have better techniques using better materials, but this was all i had (no arkansas stone, for example). good luck! (but if i were you, i'd send it off to the pros, unless you're a gambler like i am )

 

These are great instruction, penmanila, thank you

 

This is something I will have to consider trying. Maybe I'll avoid the stub route, and just grind down the higher tine, and leave the tipping rounded.

[dcpritch]

I'm sorry I can't provide comparison pictures of several different M1000 nibs, but I can show the one I have settled on. I'm a big fan of stub nibs, so I had a BB nib ground to a wonderfully smooth stub by John Sorowka (aka Oxonian) in UK. I also had an O3B but I sold it as it was just too darn wide and wrote too wet even for me.

 

[JasH]

I'm sorry I can't provide comparison pictures of several different M1000 nibs, but I can show the one I have settled on. I'm a big fan of stub nibs, so I had a BB nib ground to a wonderfully smooth stub by John Sorowka (aka Oxonian) in UK. I also had an O3B but I sold it as it was just too darn wide and wrote too wet even for me.

 

 

Thank you.

 

I visited an MB boutique and tried all the nibs on a MB146. My thoughts were:

 

Medium (mine) - smooth and nice to write with, but "boring" due to lack of line variation

 

Medium Oblique - Similar to mine. Very little difference. Possibly less smooth.

 

B - not at all easy or nice to write with - for me. It required the pen to be held very straight/perpendicular to the page. It didn't feel comfortable and skipped a bit.

 

OB - nicer, and comfortable. Smooth. Noticeable line variation. Slightly less smooth than my M nib.

 

OBB - extremely smooth, easy to write with and good line variation. I liked it a lot. Better than my M.

 

BB - extremely smooth, easy to write with (surprising, after the B ). Little line variation.

 

 

 

I decided I prefer the OBB above all the rest. Would my experiences with M1000 nibs be similar? i.e. are M1000 nibs cut the same way? Is the reason I disliked the MB Broad nib because it is stubbish? That is worrying me. Yet the MB BB nib was fine.

Edited July 10, 2012 by JasH

[dcpritch]

Hi JasH,

 

First, I think the experience of trying MB nibs vs. Pelikan nibs will be different because there are significant differences between the nib styles of the two makers. Second, the difficulty you had with the MB B nib could have been due to a problem with that particular nib, in that it may not have been tuned properly, was mishandled by a prior user, had tines out of alignment, had a problem with the feed, etc. The modern MB BB is more rounded than stubbish, though it does provide a very little bit of line variation.

 

You will find the same thing with the modern Pelikan nibs (other than the OB and OBB, which are made to have line variation), as Pelikan's nibs are made in a rounded style and in order to obtain good line variation they will need to be ground to a stub or CI shape. The OB and OBB on both MB and Pelikan pens are very nice, but after having had some I have sold all mine as, even though I can adjust my writing to accommodate the oblique nature of the nib, my hand does not naturally want to do so. My M1000 BB nib as shown above was ground to a smooth stub and is a joy to write with.

 

DAVID

[JasH]

David,

 

Thank you. I tried some M1000 nibs today.

 

I found the B to be smooth and easy to write with, yet I found my writing to be plain as it lacked line variation. I found the BB to to be rather too broad for my writing, but smooth too. Line variation was possible with a bit of flex. I also tried an OB and it was very slightly less smooth in use, but had noticeable line variation. Overall it was probably my preferred nib.

 

The question now is whether to just go for an OB, or go for a B and then have it ground to an italic..... Decisions decisions....