A Comparative Review Of Italic Nibs: Custom Versus Stock

[dms525]

This is not a pen review, strictly speaking. Rather, it is a review of nibs. More specifically, it is a comparison of 4 italic nibs installed on 4 high-end pens, reflecting my continuing quest for the very best fountain pen for writing italic text.

A couple more distinctions seem in order: First, this is not about the cheapest italic pen, nor even the “best buy” italic pen. It is about the best italic nib. Second, it is not about italic nibs used to make ones Palmer-type cursive writing “more interesting.” It is about using italic nibs for writing italic script.

Okay. That is (at least) enough for preliminaries.

My accumulating/collecting fountain pens started with my resuming study of italic calligraphy about 3 years ago. I have used a rather wide variety of pens, including relatively inexpensive pens with stock italic nibs. Of these, the vintage Osmiroid italic nibs remain the best, particularly in the wider sizes. The wider Lamy nibs and steel nibs sold with Edison pens are rather good too. The narrower nibs that most would use for note taking, correspondence and so forth suffer from insufficient thick/thin line differentiation. On the other hand, 14 and 18 Kt gold stock nibs from higher end modern pens (Pelikan, Onoto, OMAS, Conway Stewart, Nakaya, etc.), custom-ground to crisp cursive italics by Richard Binder, John Mottishaw and Michael Masuyama have been excellent to heart stoppingly incredibly amazing. Most started as round nibs, except for the Conway Stewarts and a couple Pelikan M800 IB nibs.

But, the question remained in my mind: Are there stock italic nibs out there that can come close to matching the wonderfulness of my custom-ground italic nibs? So far, the only one I have found that comes close is the Conway Stewart IB nib, which is pretty darn nice.

Recently, I have acquired a couple new examples of stock italic nibs from lines that have good reputations for nib quality - A 14 Kt gold Stipula italic nib that is 1.1 mm wide and an 18 Kt gold Aurora italic nib that is 1.0 mm wide. This has prompted me to offer this comparison.

The pen photos are primarily to show the sizes of the nibs and the pens on which they are installed. The Pelikan M800 and Pelikan M620 are more widely known pens of comparable length to the Stipula Erutria Tuscany Dreams and the Aurora Primavera, respectively. However, both the Stipula and Aurora pen barrels are of greater girth. The little bear up top is there to keep the pens from rolling.

For this comparison, all four pens were loaded with Pelikan 4001 Brilliant Black Ink. The Pelikan M800 is an example of a customized wide nib. The Nakaya is an example of a narrower nib.

Both the Stipula and Aurora nibs are flawless in terms of quality of manufacturing. Neither has problems with skipping, failing to writing after a rest, outrageously dry or wet ink flow or any other “defect.” Both are single-tone, yellow gold.

The writing sample demonstrates that, while the Stipula has quite reasonable line differentiation, it is not nearly as good as that of either the Pelikan M800 customized IB or the Nakaya customized BB nib. The Aurora nib has surprisingly poor differentiation, particularly since I had read that the Aurora italic nibs were especially good and quite crisp. What you can’t see is that the Stipula nib writes very smoothly. The Aurora nib is rather toothy - not to a problematic degree, though.

Now, I am quite aware that one nib from a pen company is not sufficient grounds for any sweeping generalizations. But, based on this comparison, I will continue having nibs custom ground rather than thinking I would be satisfied with stock italic nibs “out of the box,” even from pen manufacturers with reputations for excellent quality. In fact, I would have to say that, in my opinion, the much less expensive nibs from Osmiroid, Lamy, and those made to Brian Gray’s specifications, for example, are better for italic script than these gold nibs, as they come from the high end pen makers.

I suppose this should be no surprise. It speaks more to how fortunate we are to have folks like Binder, Mottishaw and Masuyama available to us than to the shortcomings of the stock nibs.

I would be very pleased if others shared their experience and opinions of the italic pen/nib market.

David

Note: Since this is not really a pen review, if it fits better in another forum, I trust the moderators will inform me and move it.

[TheModernGent]

Wow, I love your penmanship!

[Bobby Check]

If only I could write like this with any pen. Thank you so much for your comments.

Sigh,

Bobby

[Ambien]

Great handwriting.

 

I agree that the Italic Osmiroid sets are a good value for gold plated nibs. They show impressive line variation for most kinds of calligraphy and writing styles.

[dms525]

Wow, I love your penmanship!

 

Thanks!

 

David

[dms525]

 

If only I could write like this with any pen. Thank you so much for your comments.

Sigh,

Bobby

 

 

You can do it. The pen helps, but it's mostly "critical practice."

 

David

[dms525]

Great handwriting.

 

I agree that the Italic Osmiroid sets are a good value for gold plated nibs. They show impressive line variation for most kinds of calligraphy and writing styles.

 

Thanks, Csrae.

 

An Osmiroid with an italic nib set was my first fountain pen - 1961, as I recall. It's still hard to beat. What a shame they are not still made.

 

David

[linearM]

I purchased a Pelikan M200 with an italic nib from Fountain Pen Hospital. To me it was a B, there was no noticeable line variation and I have heard the same complaints from others that had purchased the same pen/nib combination. I later purchased a Pelikan crisp italic from a seller who had purchased the Pelikan nibs when a pen store went out of business. The nib gave nice line variation and is a smooth writer.

 

I have a cursive italic on an Edison Collier, and another on a custom pen where a BB had been modified by Pendleton Brown. Both are very nice nibs. I also have an Onoto with a very nice stub.

[Randal6393]

David,

 

Agree with you that it is difficult to buy a stock italic that gives good line variation. Can be done but more often than not ... One of the reasons that I started in learning to grind my own nibs.

 

The best nib that I have bought recently is the Goulet 1.1 mm nib. Requires a minor tune-up on the stone but really quite decent. Have it installed in a Noodler's Konrad. (Be sure to heat-set it.)

 

The worse nibs from the factory are the Nemosine italics. Usually, have to open them up to get better flow and capillary action and then grind to a crisper nib. After some work, though, they give pretty decent service. And the Nemosine pens are quite nice.

 

Agree with you that the Osmiroid nibs are, bar none, the best workman nibs for italic I have ever seen. The Platignum series wasn't bad, either. Too bad that those pens have not been manufactured for years. Although the Manuscript sets aren't too bad.

 

Enjoy,

[dneal]

I also agree that stock italic nibs are more like stubs, but the Lamy nibs are serviceable and inexpensive. For custom grinds, I continue to be impressed with Pendleton Brown's work. He manages to get significant variation while being very forgiving with regard to position.

[Rcg3629]

Can anyone help? I've written italic since primary school. I've recently broken my Mont Blanc mozart small FP. I hope to get insurance and upgrade to the larger classic, travel to London to get the new mob ground to what I want. Is Mont Blanc as good as it gets in new italic pens? Are there better options?

[Rcg3629]

Nib not mob

[dms525]

Can anyone help? I've written italic since primary school. I've recently broken my Mont Blanc mozart small FP. I hope to get insurance and upgrade to the larger classic, travel to London to get the new mob ground to what I want. Is Mont Blanc as good as it gets in new italic pens? Are there better options?

 

AFAIK, Mont Blanc does not make an "italic pen," so I interpret your question as "who makes the best pen for customizing to italic." I have one C. 1980 MB 146 with a round nib. I don't have any MB's with custom ground nibs. However, I have many other fine pens with custom-ground italic nibs. Among Pelikan, OMAS, Conway Stewart (Modern), Onoto (modern) and Nakaya I can't really generalize as to which is the best. I have favorite nibs from each. And I certainly cannot say any of those are better than a MB would be or that a MB would be better than any.

 

My advice would be to choose a pen you really like with the style nib you like and have it custom ground to your preference. Note that, if you prefer smallish pens with cartridge/converter systems, most of my personal favorites would not suit you. They are mostly either piston loaders, large pens or both. You might also start by consulting the person who would be grinding your nib regarding which nibs provide the best result from his/her perspective.

 

I hope this helps. Please let us know what you decide to get and how it works out for you.

 

David

[Rcg3629]

 

AFAIK, Mont Blanc does not make an "italic pen," so I interpret your question as "who makes the best pen for customizing to italic." I have one C. 1980 MB 146 with a round nib. I don't have any MB's with custom ground nibs. However, I have many other fine pens with custom-ground italic nibs. Among Pelikan, OMAS, Conway Stewart (Modern), Onoto (modern) and Nakaya I can't really generalize as to which is the best. I have favorite nibs from each. And I certainly cannot say any of those are better than a MB would be or that a MB would be better than any.

 

My advice would be to choose a pen you really like with the style nib you like and have it custom ground to your preference. Note that, if you prefer smallish pens with cartridge/converter systems, most of my personal favorites would not suit you. They are mostly either piston loaders, large pens or both. You might also start by consulting the person who would be grinding your nib regarding which nibs provide the best result from his/her perspective.

 

I hope this helps. Please let us know what you decide to get and how it works out for you.

 

David

[Rcg3629]

Thank you so much. I intend to travel to London ready to buy MB Classic with ground italic nib, but will ask advice once there and try several. I suppose I was really wondering in MB are really as for is las their price suggests.

[sexauerw]

I have found that factory "stub" nibs on Sheaffer Imperial, Targa and Legacy series pens are not stubs at all, they are actually very good italic nibs. I'll try to post a writing sample when I get a chance to ink one or two and write a sample, but I've been very busy lately with a home remodeling project.

[lahlahlaw]

I agree with your assessment, factory nibs seem to be fatter on the cross strokes. On the lower end, you might try the stubs sold on Nemosine pens, I have two of the 0.7 and they are very flat. They sell a wider one which I'm sure provides very nice variation. What about Sailor Music nibs? I recently ordered one but ended up canceling the order as they were back ordered through October; those look like they can provide a lot of variation.

[dms525]

I agree with your assessment, factory nibs seem to be fatter on the cross strokes. On the lower end, you might try the stubs sold on Nemosine pens, I have two of the 0.7 and they are very flat. They sell a wider one which I'm sure provides very nice variation. What about Sailor Music nibs? I recently ordered one but ended up canceling the order as they were back ordered through October; those look like they can provide a lot of variation.

 

I have heard good things about Sailor's music nibs. I can't recall seeing a writing sample that demonstrated their line variation though. I'll look.

 

Also, my understanding of music nibs is that they are meant to write wet. This would work against line differentiation and use for calligraphy. I would be happy to be corrected if this isn't the case.

 

David

[Mickey]

Here's a short sample from a Parker Duofold Italic (#94) from around 1990. It is essentially stock, except for being Mickeyized - grind refined (slightly) to be slightly crisper than stock and made to write considerably drier than usual. The paper in this scan is moderately smooth and slightly absorbent (Classic Crest) - good FP paper. This nib was set up for use on marker bond type paper, but push strokes are still possible on this rougher stock.

 

[lahlahlaw]

Here's a picture of a 1911 with Music nib from FPN member 'akustyk', I think it looks perty darn nice. I hope to get one soon, Engieka has the standard 1911 with this 14kt nib for $85, what a deal...

 

Edited June 26, 2014 by lahlahlaw