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Hello everyone, just getting started with fountain pens and found the fpn community. I'm on tight budget wish to start with Pilot Metropolitan for now but am confused between which nip size to choose. My use case will be to write some 10 pages everyday on classmate notebooks and I plan to use Bril royal blue. As a beginner I don't know if fine nib will suit me or will it be scratchy, or if medium nib will feather or cause any other problem with classmate paper. If someone has gone through the same then please help me. And if possible, please share some images of using both metropolitan nibs on a classmate notebook. Anticipating your help, I'm excited to start my fountain pen journey.

This is an informal poll; many of you have more pens/nibs at your disposal than do I, and I am curious as to your personal experiences. Goulet recently had a podcast on Sailor nibs where he was discussing the size differences. The smaller nibs were 14K, but two other pen groupings, those I consider "normal size" and the KOP group, had two different size 21K nibs. He thought there was an actual difference in the performance of the nibs, and that this was due to the large size of the nibs on the KOP group; he was not talking about nib width. I was a bit surprised, as I had recently seen a bit by sbrebrown, where he was comparing nib sizes based on the current popularity of No. 10 nibs. He came to the conclusion that the performance of the pens were independent of the nib size(again, I am talking about size as measured by calipers, not by the size of the line the nib produces). I have found both these gentleman to be reliable sources of information in the past, and this is the first time I recall them coming to incompatible conclusions. Do FPNers think there is a relationship here? I don't have any huge pens(yet, @amberleadavishas been nudging me in that direction)so my collection is insufficient for experimenting.

As some of you may know, I have been on the hunt for the right ink for my new Sailor Vega MF. It seems to me that the MF nib is no larger than the HF I have on my 1911S. Samples are with Sailor Jentle ink (black) in the 1911 and Oster Tokyo Blue Denim in the Vega. The MF doesnt seem as smooth, which is odd as it should be wider. Anyone else have similar experiences? It is more pronounced on my Peter Pauper Press journal than it is on, say, a newspaper crossword. Apologies for the upside down images - new device that should make pictures easier once I have time to figure out how to use and rotate them.

Hi everyone, I was hoping someone could help me. I bought a black Namiki Emperor with an M nib (foolishly) before researching some writing samples. Having looked at some now I would prefer to get it with an FM nib. Does anyone know what Namiki’s policy/procedure is on doing this? The seller is looking into it as well but is short staffed due to coronavirus, and getting a response is taking a long time, all the while the pen is sitting unused in its box and packaging, which is very sad! Thanks!

Hello all! I was wondering if and how your tastes have changed over the months/years/decades of fountain pen use. I have noticed that my own tastes continue to change. When just starting out I had a fondness for broader nibs and smoother was always better. I absolutely did not like using nibs that have any bounce to them. Right now, a few years later, I am really enjoying using finer nibs with a feedbacky feeling and I am experimenting with softer nibs and really enjoying it. So: Have your tastes changed and how?

To the more experienced FP enthusiasts. What is the most preferred nib size for average office chores, like signing checks, initialing /approving paperwork, journals, making short notes and todo's?