What Is A Broad Nib?

[l4yercak3]

..and which companies make them for their pens? ..or at least allow u to switch the nibs out into a broad.

 

Thanks!

[jar]

A broad nib is one that is wider than the medium nib that a given company puts on its pens.

[professionaldilettante]

What is a dog? Something that isn't a cat.

[coleam]

A Broad is simply the next size up from Medium. Nearly all companies make them - the only ones I can think of that don't are the Noodler's Flex pens/Ahab, which are only sold with flex nibs (though 3rd party standard nibs can be bought, including Broads) and some cheap Chinese eBay pens, which are usually either Medium only or have no specified size.

 

As for companies that sell separate broad nibs, off the top of my head: Pelikan, TWSBI, Knox (via xFountainpens; they fit a variety of pens, including Noodlers, Bulow, and (maybe) Jinhao), Esterbrook (vintage/NOS), and Parker (at least for the vintage/NOS 45; not sure about other models). I'm sure I missed some, but these are probably the big ones. Most companies will also allow you to send in your pen for a nib exchange.

 

Edit: forgot Sailor.

Edited April 20, 2012 by coleam

[Soundsider]

What is a dog? Something that isn't a cat.

How long is a piece of string?

 

/Soundsider

[beak]

A broad nib is the lowest form of wit - no wait - that's sarcasm.

[Ghost Plane]

French B nibs will be marked L, as I learned from my Watermans.

[His Nibs]

Monteverde and Conklin have 'B' nibs and most models are interchangeable.

[beluga]

A broad nib is the lowest form of wit - no wait - that's sarcasm.

 

 

Ah, you always learn something new.

 

I though B stood for broad, but looking at your picture it might as well stand for BRILLIANT.

So a B nib is a nib that writes with a metallic shine, right??? :roflmho:

Edited April 21, 2012 by beluga

[Leftytoo]

According to the Pendemonium web site, classification is as follows. Note that this is the outside width of the nib measured with a micrometer, not the actual width of the inked line on paper:

 

EF 0.3 - 0.4 mm

F 0.5 - 0.7

M 0.8 - 0.9

B 1.0 - 1.1

BB 1.2 - 1.4

 

My experience (I'm a lefty overwriter) is that my actual line width is much less: M nibs for me write 0.37 - 0.62 mm. Does not much depend on paper or ink. I left out Japanese pens, which are much narrower still. I measure inked line width with an optical comparator - used for soil analysis.

 

Bob

[andybiotic]

Just another stupid answer, a broad nib is a nib that writes broadly!

[bizhe]

To be serious for a moment, broad nibs are nice because the extra ink and nib surface area makes for a very smooth lubricated writing experience.

[Cerbeos]

Just save up $60, go buy a Lamy Safari with an XF Nib. Then buy 3 $10 nibs (F, M, B, obviously). Have $10 for shipping (If you can't find somewhere to get it for free...)

 

Cheap easy way to figure it out. Note that all companies have different sizes.

 

You may hear people on FPN mentioning "Japanese Fine", or "European Fine" (as well with other sizes). Nibs produced in said regions tend to be slightly different than each other. You are also going to get different line widths depending on the pen, humidity, ink, paper and just about anything else!

 

 

Plus if you go with the route of buying a Safari to figure it out - you're "stuck" with a great working pen that has every regular nib size! (I recommend purchasing a 1.1m &/or 1/5m stub too...)

[Sasha Royale]

A broad nib is the lowest form of wit - no wait - that's sarcasm.

 

If "B" nib = 1.0, and "F" nib = 0.5, is a Fine nib the lowest form of half-wit ?

 

Seriouisly, what ink is the raised cursive "Broad"? Is it commercally available?

[beak]

.........

Seriouisly, what ink is the raised cursive "Broad"? Is it commercally available?

 

Seriously, it's a Photoshop technique performed on the photo - if you could make an ink that did this, you'd be a millionaire by the end of the year.

[VillersCotterets]

http://www.nibs.com/TippingSizespage.htm

[sadiemagic]

In addition to the other companies previously listed where you can change, you can swap out Aurora nib/feed assemblies.

 

Aurora makes a very satisfying broad nib.

 

And then there's the double broads by some companies like Pelikan, which can be switched.

[Miketsheehan]

Wider pen path than a medium-made by any reputable pen manufacturer

[kernando]

Almost every brand sells their broad nibs. If you want a broad nib, then buy a broad nib first. Lamy even sells most of their pens with broad nibs, even though they call them medium and fine.

[jslallar]

According to the Pendemonium web site, classification is as follows. Note that this is the outside width of the nib measured with a micrometer, not the actual width of the inked line on paper:

 

EF 0.3 - 0.4 mm

F 0.5 - 0.7

M 0.8 - 0.9

B 1.0 - 1.1

BB 1.2 - 1.4

 

My experience (I'm a lefty overwriter) is that my actual line width is much less: M nibs for me write 0.37 - 0.62 mm. Does not much depend on paper or ink. I left out Japanese pens, which are much narrower still. I measure inked line width with an optical comparator - used for soil analysis.

 

Bob

 

Broadly speaking, a broad nib is broader than the ones which are not as broad (EEF, EF, F, & M) and not as broad as the really broad ones (BB, BBB, OBB, OBBB, zoom, cosu, calligraphy & music etc)

 

Bob above has his ideas about broads (quoting pendemonium), whereas at nibs.com (http://www.nibs.com/...ngSizespage.htm) you may find that almost every company has a different idea about what braod should be.

 

To me (a broad nib buff) a broad starts at a lne width of 1mm. Some "Ms" come close eg Waterman, and many "Bs' are no good Parker 51 eg.

 

But seriously my first statement holds true and is interpretted differently by different manufacturers and users.

Edited April 23, 2012 by jslallar