Do You Have A "holy Grail" Of A Ci Nib?-and If So, Who Ground It?

[OcalaFlGuy]

Ok, I realize this is somewhat subjective but those here with CI's done by 2 or more people probably know where I am coming from.

 

Do you have a CI that is almost too good to be twue. One where there's just no way it should produce the line variation it does and be as smooth as it is at the same time? One where you may have used in purposely on a bunch of different papers to see if there was *one* paper you could find that you didn't like it on. CI's that EVERY TIME you use them, you almost have to just put the pen down and go WOW!

 

Sure there are "good" CI's but are there any "I'm not worthy, I'm not worthy" CI's?? (And what rainbow are they at the end of?)

 

What say yall?

 

Bruce in Ocala, FL

[jpr]

Do you mean crisp italics or cursive italics?

[SMG]

CI in my mind is always Cusive Italic. I do have a holy grail CI nib and I ground it myself.

 

I don't prefer CI nibs, but if I am going to use them I grab the one I did for my M200 a while ago. If I am going to use a shaped nib I will normally grab either my Aurora 1mm stub or the 0.9mm M200 stub nib. Both were grund by, well, me.

 

Cheers,

Sean

[OcalaFlGuy]

Do you mean crisp italics or cursive italics?

 

Cursive.

 

Bruce in Slo-cala, Fl

[jpr]

Cursive.

 

Bruce in Slo-cala, Fl

 

 

Thanks Bruce.

 

I'd have to say any of the Mottishaw or Binder CI's that I have would merit a holy grail rating from me. They produce a line that is quite varied

and yet have the eerie ability to be smooth at the same time. Having said that, I ordered most of these nibs with the flow set to

river so maybe that has something to do with it also.

[Inka]

Same here as did SMG, my Cursive Italic [are] all "Home-Ground" nibs as well.

I made them all myself, one nib was hand-ground by me into a "Specialty" duo-point nib; semi-flex Cursive Italic on bottom and an XXXF & firm Accounting nib-tip on top.

 

I've made many others as well for myself and for close friends and neighbors, and all the CI nibs I've re-ground/smoothed/polished write with beautiful line variation.

Many have told me they write just as smoothly as writing on melted butter when I'm finished with the nib-work [as do mine, of course].

I also say often that mine write like the nib tips are on synthetically-oiled-micro-ball-bearings, or like writing on oiled or greased glass [my "greased-lightning" nibs]!

I can also reset the flow to however you'd like it to be, also not a problem for me as I do this all of the time for myself and for others.

 

Bruce, you're not that far from me at all, being in Ocala [one of my favorite places to visit in Florida is the Ocala/Silver Springs areas, when I have the time & money for gas to get there!] and me being just south of JAX.

I'd be more than happy to make one for you, from one of your nibs, possibly even at no or very little cost to you, my Floridian Brother!

I can make one for you, no problem, I feel that your are "Most Worthy" to get one you'll like & having an Uber-Sweet and a very smooth-writing Cursive Italic, with the conversations we've had here at FPN, !

My wife and I are seriously strapped financially, still behind on our rent too, so if you can pay to ship to me as well as paying for me to ship back to you, that would be extremely helpful in our current state of having LM-Disease [Lack-of-Money Disease].

 

If by chance you do have any small glass or Nalgene bottles to put some ink into that you use regularly in the pen/nib in question, that would help me as well to get the ink & flow to get the pen writing as smoothly as possible.

Sending the ink is not really necessary as I have plenty of my own here right now., so just tell me what you use and I may even have the same ink.

Just let me know what pen & nib you'd like me to make into a smooth writing Cursive Italic, flushed and cleaned of any ink then package it up safely & just send the entire pen/nib/feed/section my way!

I will do this for you, as a favor, no problem at all my FPN friend!

Edited September 30, 2009 by Inka

[yachtsilverswan]

The smoothest Cursive Italic nib I have was ground by Nibmeister Richard Binder at the Raleigh Pen Show this June. Mr. Binder said he had changed his technique for grinding CI nibs over the past year, and there was a dramatic difference in the smoothness and degree of line width variation.

 

That springy 18K Bock nib belongs to a Valhalla in gray Thor livery.

[haywoody]

I prefer tiny cursive italics (0.4-0.7 mm on the downstroke, depending on my mood). I have three favorites which are slightly different but all near perfect. One is by Dillon Ang (Dillo) and the other two are by me. I highly recommend Dillo. The VP nib he did for me is micro yet still has great variation and is very smooth. I had one other by a well-know pro nib monger which was extremely scratchy.

 

The ones I made are also great so I would also recommend getting some cheap pens and learning to grind them yourself. It is the best way to get a nib that is perfect for you. I learned on some junkers, followed by Pilot Birdies, after I got a few under my belt.

 

/Woody

[Doc H]

+1 for Richard Binder, in a simple Pelikan M600 with Noodler's Forest Green; best writing pen I own.

[LDB415]

I have only one and it was done by Pendleton (pb2). It is a CCI or maybe a CCI and when handled right is a beauty to write with.

[OcalaFlGuy]

 

Bruce, you're not that far from me at all, being in Ocala [one of my favorite places to visit in Florida is the Ocala/Silver Springs areas, when I have the time & money for gas to get there!] and me being just south of JAX.

I'd be more than happy to make one for you, from one of your nibs, possibly even at no or very little cost to you, my Floridian Brother!

I can make one for you, no problem, I feel that your are "Most Worthy" to get one you'll like & having an Uber-Sweet and a very smooth-writing Cursive Italic, with the conversations we've had here at FPN, !

My wife and I are seriously strapped financially, still behind on our rent too, so if you can pay to ship to me as well as paying for me to ship back to you, that would be extremely helpful in our current state of having LM-Disease [Lack-of-Money Disease].

 

If by chance you do have any small glass or Nalgene bottles to put some ink into that you use regularly in the pen/nib in question, that would help me as well to get the ink & flow to get the pen writing as smoothly as possible.

Sending the ink is not really necessary as I have plenty of my own here right now., so just tell me what you use and I may even have the same ink.

Just let me know what pen & nib you'd like me to make into a smooth writing Cursive Italic, flushed and cleaned of any ink then package it up safely & just send the entire pen/nib/feed/section my way!

I will do this for you, as a favor, no problem at all my FPN friend!

 

What a most generous and gracious offer Scott. Truly representative of the friendship I've encountered in my year + some here. Thank you. I'll be getting back to you when I decide which pen to send.

 

Bruce in Slo-cala, FL

[Ghost Plane]

An out of the box IB nib on my CS Belgravia. Followed by an IB on my Churchill. Hmm. I sense a pattern here.

[simonrob]

This reply probably won't be the least bit helpful, but the best I've encountered by miles is in a clipless Waterman's 52 I acquired a few weeks ago. Not only does it supply excellent line variation due to the way it was ground (this is a factory original), but it's flexible too, which only adds to the variation; incredibly smooth, to boot, and not even a hint of catching on the corners (perhaps it should be called a stub, but they don't usually provide this much variation). This was all a pleasant surprise, as I bought it (ebay) mainly because I wanted a 52 with solid gold bands, and while the photo of the nib suggested a somewhat squared-off tip, the seller said nothing at all about its being stub/italic, merely that it was "fabulous soft flexible" (which it is). All that for $80. (True, the chasing has all but worn away, but who cares?)

 

Since this nib is clearly a factory original and was made before Waterman's put any indication of nib-style on the nib, I have no idea how one might go about finding another like it short of trial-and-error. One can, however, get something very similar in pre-c.1960 German pens - look for a nib marked B....

 

As for nibs ground by nibmeisters, I've yet to run across a better cursive italic than the pre-ground steel nib on a cheap Sheaffer bought from Pendemonium at the DC show a few years ago.

 

Simon

[Jared]

As for nibs ground by nibmeisters, I've yet to run across a better cursive italic than the pre-ground steel nib on a cheap Sheaffer bought from Pendemonium at the DC show a few years ago.

 

+1 for Pendemonium. I have been thrilled with their CI grinds--quality, price ($15) and turn around time. In my opinion, they can't be beat!

[OcalaFlGuy]

As for nibs ground by nibmeisters, I've yet to run across a better cursive italic than the pre-ground steel nib on a cheap Sheaffer bought from Pendemonium at the DC show a few years ago.

 

+1 for Pendemonium. I have been thrilled with their CI grinds--quality, price ($15) and turn around time. In my opinion, they can't be beat!

 

I have 3 CI's from Letta at Pendemonium and have no major issues with them. Sam and Frank are also great people to deal with and it is certainly hard to beat their price and turn around time. While I get pretty decent line variation with their CI's and they work fine on alot of smoother papers they (for me anyway) could be just a tad smoother especially on more textured papers. (which actually has been somewhat the impetus for this and a couple other recent posts of mine in this area recently) If I had the personal abilities to smooth my CI's from them out just a tad and not lose any line variation, I'd be prefectly happy, but I don't. As Inspector Callahan once said, "A man's got to know his limitations.", and, I do know mine.

 

I too certainly don't have a problem recommending them for CI's and have done so often.

 

Bruce in Ocala, FL

[rwilsonedn]

+1 for Mr. Pendleton's CI grinds. I have one on a cheap Chinese pen that is one of the smoothest writers I own, with excellent line variation with the proper writing angle, and no catching or roughness.

ron

[offbase]

As for nibs ground by nibmeisters, I've yet to run across a better cursive italic than the pre-ground steel nib on a cheap Sheaffer bought from Pendemonium at the DC show a few years ago.

 

+1 for Pendemonium. I have been thrilled with their CI grinds--quality, price ($15) and turn around time. In my opinion, they can't be beat!

 

I have 3 CI's from Letta at Pendemonium and have no major issues with them. Sam and Frank are also great people to deal with and it is certainly hard to beat their price and turn around time. While I get pretty decent line variation with their CI's and they work fine on alot of smoother papers they (for me anyway) could be just a tad smoother especially on more textured papers. (which actually has been somewhat the impetus for this and a couple other recent posts of mine in this area recently) If I had the personal abilities to smooth my CI's from them out just a tad and not lose any line variation, I'd be prefectly happy, but I don't. As Inspector Callahan once said, "A man's got to know his limitations.", and, I do know mine.

 

I too certainly don't have a problem recommending them for CI's and have done so often.

 

Bruce in Ocala, FL

 

The problem with trying to smoothen a CI nib is that you invariably lose line variation (assuming the original grind was done properly to begin with). That is, if your CI nib was properly ground, and you want it smoother, I don't see how you can possibly retain ALL of the line variation -- that's the sacrifice you make for smoothness. I have a CI that I ordered from a nibmeister, requesting that he maximize line variation while maintaining smoothness. I couldn't have it both ways: I got line variation equal to a crisp italic, but it was harder to manage than any crisp italic I've ever tried, because the sweet spot is so darned small, so much so that it really isn't smooth at all. I don't blame the nibmeister for this, as he gave me what I asked for. I think what I expected and desired was unrealistic. I have an @.4mm CI from Pendemonium that is pretty darned smooth, but is wanting on line variation. Again, totally understandable, as it's "stubbish" as far as the degree is smoothness is concerned.

 

I've recently decided to avoid CI's in the future. If I want smoothness, I'll get a stub, and if I want extreme line variation, I'll get a crisp italic, which I don't really have a problem writing with to begin with -- the trick is to simply not rotate or change the angle of attack while writing, to me, a much larger "sweet spot" than on a CI with any dramatic degree of variation.

[rogerb]

An out of the box IB nib on my CS Belgravia. Followed by an IB on my Churchill. Hmm. I sense a pattern here.

Ah,hah! My CS Windsor also has a nice IB, made even nicer by Oxonian's magic ministrations. It's probably more Stub than CI, but I don't care!

 

(Greg Minuskin did a very nice job on my Bexley 2009 OC, too)