Optimal Nib Width For Your Handwriting

[milkb0at]

I know many of us have a preferred nib width, which can be for lots of reasons; flair, neatness, feel, inky goodness and so on. I prefer narrow nibs - I have always chosen Fine. But looking at my journal, my best handwriting is actually with a pen with a medium nib.

 

Does anyone else have an optimal nib width that might not match their preferred size?

[The Good Captain]

I suppose I started out with a medium - Western or European - as that's all I'd ever had experience of. Over the last couple of years I've gone thinner with F and EF (Pelikan) being most common. Recently with an increase in Japanese pens I've used their F, SF and M which are slightly thinner still. My writing hasn't really changed size but maybe the thinner line widths make it a litter more decipherable.

The people I write to might have other ideas however!

[akustyk]

It's an intersting question. I like nibs that write wet, assuming the paper is good and the ink doesn't feather and bleed through. Most of my nibs are fine (e.g., Pelikan M200 F) and extra fine (e.g., Pilot 78G F), but I also use italic nibs that are much wider (1.1mm and broader). For my journal, I almost always pick an extra fine nib. For letters, forms, and other formal writing, I use a fine nib.

 

With bad paper, I almost always use extra fine nibs and inks that behave well (iron-gall inks).

[Tom Traubert]

I veer between generic mediums for scribbly note-taking, and stubs for readable writing. My Pilot 78G is about a 0.9mm, my TWSBI Diamond 580 is a 1.1mm, and I'm waiting for a 1.5mm Lamy Safari that I'm just going to use for farting about really.

[dunhamsa]

My writing is tiny--perhaps from so much time spent writing marginalia, and during my student years handwriting multiple drafts of essays on as little paper as possible. I have always tended toward fine nibs as a result. However, the very positive results of using Japanese EF nibs seems more in tune with my writing, so now I see a change in preferred writing instruments. My use of a 1.1 stub for my journal this week confirms that wide is bad when it comes to my handwriting.

[gregamckinney]

My writing is an odd combination of printing and cursive. I tend to write fairly small, as I use 3x5 cards for most of my note taking.

My preference is a stub or CI nib that is fairly narrow (say around 0.9mm) but not so narrow as to lose the line variation.

 

Regards, greg

[Pterodactylus]

http://imageshack.us/a/img35/4563/zpv1.jpg

(Pelikan 100N - EF ..... Rohrer & Klingner Scabiosa)

(Montblanc 264 - OBB ..... Montblanc Oyster Grey)

(Pelikan M600 - M ..... Pelikan 4001 Blue-Black)

(Faber Castell Osmia 223 - F ..... Rohrer & Klingner Smaragdgrün)

 

Sorry the Osmia was already almost dried out, so it skipped a lot.

[MisterBoll]

 

You are lucky Pterodactylus as your handwriting looks beautiful no matter what nib.

 

I usually have to hide behind Italic Broad or OBB but I started on Fine nibs years ago.

 

 

 

 

[Pterodactylus]

You are lucky Pterodactylus as your handwriting looks beautiful no matter what nib. I usually have to hide behind Italic Broad or OBB but I started on Fine nibs years ago.

 

 

http://imageshack.us/a/img689/4441/bqcv.jpg

 

(TWSBI Mini - 1.5 CI ..... Noodler´s Navy)

 

Come on Mister Boll, post a sample and show us how hiding behind a broad nib look like in comparison to a fine nib.

 

I´m still surprised that some people like my writing, I had always an awful handwriting (I´m a lefty but was forced as child to write with the right hand).

I try to improve only since about a year, so I´m also still a beginner.

 

 

@All

 

This thread is ideal to show the differences using different nibs in your writing.

 

How interesting is it to type and read: "Yes my writing look better using a xxx nib instead of a yyy nib but I still like the yyy nib more"

 

It´s fun to post handwritten and will make the thread much more interesting

Don´t be shy !

[MisterBoll]

Come on Mister Boll, post a sample and show us how hiding behind a broad nib look like in comparison to a fine nib.

 

I´m still surprised that some people like my writing, I had always an awful handwriting (I´m a lefty but was forced as child to write with the right hand).

I try to improve only since about a year, so I´m also still a beginner.

 

Here you go.........

 

[Pterodactylus]

http://imageshack.us/a/img440/9827/e2qn.jpg

(Serwex MB - flex EMF ..... ESS Registrars Blue/Black)

[MisterBoll]

Thank you for your kind comments Pterodactylus!