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Hello! I apologize if this has been discussed (which I am sure it has, many times), but after using the search function I could only find discussions regarding compatibility of the Venus nib units in the Esterbrook J series - not much information regarding comparisons to the Renew-point nib units. For those of you who have written with both product lines, how do they compare in terms of smoothness, wetness, and line width? More specifically, how would you compare those qualities for the Ventus Fine vs the Renew-point X556s, the Ventus Medium vs the Renew-point 1551/X668s, and the Ventus Broad vs the Renew-point X968s? Being a student, I am extremely tight on funds at the moment and it is taking a great deal of self-control to not purchase and experiment with every variant of nib unit I see online PS: My favourite nib unit out of my Esterbrooks thus far is ironically a bent 1551, which I cannot tell for certain whether the previous owner bent it purposefully or accidentally. Nonetheless, it's an absolute blast to write with. Very smooth, wet, and has the perfect line width. My only 1551 is this bent one, so I'm not really sure how these qualities compare to a NOS 1551 .

I had a couple of old Rapidograph pens laying around and started playing with various nibs. Thinking German pen why not try a German nib I test fit some Pelikan 200 nib units--- they matched the threads and screwed in fine but were too long. The nib extended out too far for the pen cap to thread on. I tried both 200 and non-M&K 120 nib units and both threaded in fine. I did find an inner white plastic cover inside the pen cap but even with this removed the Pelikan nibs were just a little too long. (I reset the nibs and feed as far back as I could.) Then I remembered reading something about using Esterbrook nibs in a Rapidograph pen and victory! Recent discussion on FPN mentioned using Osmiroid nibs in Esterbrook pens so that looks like a fruitful idea to try in the Rapidograph pen too. The hybrid is a nice quality piston filler about the size of a MB146 and Rapidographs can usually be found very inexpensively. I would like to fit a pelikan nib though and would appreciate any ideas to do so.

Hi all, I looked around in this forum but cannot find a definitive answer... Here's my problem: I received an esterbrook with a 1551 nib, but when I took the nib out of the section for cleaning, the colloar fall into piece... I Have another nib unit (2556 this time) on which one of the two tipping is missing. So I have two feeds, one collar and one working nid: I would like to make one working nib unit out of these! but everything seems to be stuck in the collar (feed and nib)... While searching on this forum I found out that the recommanded method to get the nib and feed out of the collar is by using a nib knock-out block. My worry is that there is a "dent" on the collar (green collar like on the top one on this picture: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v493/scienceteacher3/esterbrook_collars_zps7ba8353e.jpg)... isn't that going to crack while punching the feed out? Thanks in advance for help!