What size nib F or EF

[Jofeltje]

Hi everybbody

Nice forum here!.

 

I recently bought a waterman Carene fountain pen with a medium nib. My handwriting is quite small so the nib is a little to wide for me. I can sell this pen and buy a new one. I like teh carene very much so I'd really want to buy a new one.

The only thing I wonder is: do I take a Fine or ExtraFine nib?

 

What do you recommend to me? Anybody with a EF nib here?

I do own an inexpensive Parker fountain pen (I believe it is the I.M. series) with a fine nib. That writes fine. But is the waterman carene fine nib the same size?

 

Of course it would be great to try a pen at a shop but due to my disease I am not capable to do that.

 

Hope for some good tips!

[jigesh]

This post has links to writing samples with M and F Carene nibs if you would like to compare. I also have both (as well as stub) nibs in Carene. I find Fine nib better to my liking in width of letters and is very smooth; medium seems to me a bit broader. Carene has a hard nib which is far from overly wet, so I would be concerned about Extra Fine nib. Fine is what seems to me like "medium" in my taste (I don't have any other brand to compare). I remember reading someone here on this forum very happy with extra fine nib as well.

[Jofeltje]

Thanx for you answer!

I think it will be a Fine than. I am also a little concerned that EF will not write so smoothly.

 

 

Edited June 4, 2009 by Jofeltje

[minnman]

Not to hijack a thread, but who would be able to substitute an ef nib for the one already in a Carene?

[jigesh]

Not to hijack a thread, but who would be able to substitute an ef nib for the one already in a Carene?

 

 

Nib-sections are available from pen sellers. For example, I originally bought a Fine nibbed Carene and then bought the Stub nib-section from forum member J M Lewertowski on e-bay (e-bay ID lewertowski). Disclaimer: No affiliation to JML.

[patfia]

I've bought 2 EF Carene's in recent months. Both of them have written flawlessly and smoothly out of the box, some of the smoothest in my collection. I am quite pleased with the EF. I'd say that it is comparable to Aurora and Visconti F nibs and more precise than a Pelikan M600 F. For me, most modern European F nibs are too broad, they've morphed nearly into what used to be mediums. I'm sorry but I can't give you a comparison with your Parker.

 

Another satisfied Lewertowski customer, standard disclaimer.

[Jofeltje]

Indeed, Lewertowski is a nice seller with nice prices

You made me doubt again. It might be an EF for me.

Let me think a couple of days about this.

[Jofeltje]

I scanned two writings of me where you can see the Carene M above and the parker F below.

The difference is not so big I think.

 

 

[Ernst Bitterman]

I've never has a Carene in hand, but my F/EF experience with Waterman's lesser pens (Hémisphère, Phileas) is such that I'd more or less trust the EF to be smooth enough for daily use. Ink flow, on the other hand, may be the deciding point.

[jigesh]

Indeed, Lewertowski is a nice seller with nice prices

You made me doubt again. It might be an EF for me.

Let me think a couple of days about this.

 

patfia's post made me tempt for an EF nib, too; so I just ordered an EF nib section from JML/e-bay. I pray it won't be too dry for me; I love Fine (and Medium is too thick for may taste).

[Jofeltje]

Did you see the ink examples in the link that jigesh posted? I think to go for the F

 

[PAKMAN]

My only Carene is a medium, I sure would love to change my nib out for a fine or extra fine!

 

 

[patfia]

Perry, you can buy nib units from Lewertowski. You'll find all sizes including stubs and either gold or silver. Pretty spendy but an option.

 

By the way Jofeltje, ink flow has not been a problem at all with my EF's. I'm not a big fan of very wet writers but I have a light touch so there needs to be enough flow to not require a lot of effort to 'drive' it across the paper. I do a lot of work with small numbers and notes in margins so I prefer a finer nib. The Carene EF can't compete with my Sailor F or vintage Sheaffer Balance for precision but it's reasonably close. But if that is not be your need then maybe the F will work best for you. I was willing to take the risk that it might not be as smooth as I'd like as long as it was the finest I could get.

[Jofeltje]

Thanks for your reply patfia

I ordered a EF. Will let you know how it writes

[patfia]

Hope it works out well for you. It's a beautiful pen.

[jigesh]

Indeed, Lewertowski is a nice seller with nice prices

You made me doubt again. It might be an EF for me.

Let me think a couple of days about this.

 

patfia's post made me tempt for an EF nib, too; so I just ordered an EF nib section from JML/e-bay. I pray it won't be too dry for me; I love Fine (and Medium is too thick for may taste).

 

 

Received my EF nib. It's not dry, and writes smoothly. Compared to Carene Fine nib, this EF nib has a little bit of tooth to it (as expected for extra fine nibs) depending upon the type of paper you write. Interestingly, the line thickness is just a tiny bit (microscopically) smaller compared to my Fine nib on Carene; and almost the same thickness as Fine nib on my LeMan 100. I used Noodler's eel ink in few colors.

Edited June 16, 2009 by jigesh

[patfia]

Excellent jigesh! Sounds like it's working for you. Thank you for the comparison to the Carene Fine and the Man 100. I have the latter but not the former. Felt the same way about the similarity to the Man 100. We're all falling under the SuperSize It spell

[jigesh]

Here are samples for easy comparison. Scan quality is not that good, but might help some in deciding between F and EF nibs on Carene.

 

1. Various nibs/pens:

 

http://i699.photobucket.com/albums/vv360/jigesh_patel/samples-1.jpg

 

2. Carene Fine, Noodler's Cayenne:

 

http://i699.photobucket.com/albums/vv360/jigesh_patel/carene_f.jpg

 

3. Carene Extra Fine, Noodler's Eel Blue:

 

http://i699.photobucket.com/albums/vv360/jigesh_patel/carene_ef.jpg

 

4. Carene Stub, Noodler's Heart of Darkness:

 

http://i699.photobucket.com/albums/vv360/jigesh_patel/carene_st.jpg

 

For comparison with non-Carene nibs:

 

5. LeMan 200 Fine, Noodler's Eel Gruene:

 

http://i699.photobucket.com/albums/vv360/jigesh_patel/man200_F.jpg

 

6. LeMan 100 Fine (old version, without globe symbol), Noodler's Eel Black:

 

http://i699.photobucket.com/albums/vv360/jigesh_patel/man100_F.jpg

Edited June 17, 2009 by jigesh

[Jofeltje]

Very nice pictures!!

 

I have ordered a EF nib too. And received it. I do not like it :embarrassed_smile:

It is very small and I think it is not that smooth as the M I had before.

Maybe I am just not lucky ....

Hope I can sell this one and order a F. Otherwise I will order a F nib section. The pen itself is awesome!

[jigesh]

Unlike Fine nib, EF, though smooth, does have some feedback; and can exhibit some tooth on non-smooth paper (like brown papers, hand-made papers or low quality paper). Interestingly, if you look carefully at my sample of Carene EF, unlike Fine nib, it has slight line variation as if it were a cursive fine nib.