Poll: Best Nib Ever Made

[Dark_Severus]

Not too many people seem to have mentioned vintage OMAS nibs...for me these are a sheer joy to write with and my greatest...

[professionaldilettante]

It's like trying to pick out a color. No one will have the same shade.

 

That's why i wrote le't s share our opinions...

 

Probaby the bst nib is the one we still have to buy

Yes, but this is of very limited use to anyone, especially new addicts. Perhaps saying WHY we like the nibs we like, will be more telling?

[liapuyat]

The best gold nib I have personally experienced is the flexy Wahl #2 nib on my little gold-filled ringtop. The best out-of-the-box steel nib I've tried is my Pelikan M215 F nib. I don't write flexy but I love how responsive these nibs are.

[stefanv]

In my collection of 21 pens, my Pelikan M200, M205, M605 and one of my 1989 Pelikanos have excellent nibs. But the smoothest nib I've ever used (especially considering that it's a Fine), is the gold plated steel nib of a NOS Sheaffer No Nonsense that I purchased from Peyton Street Pens. It's smoother than any other Sheaffer nib I've ever had. Must have been a fluke.

Edited April 25, 2011 by stefanv

[ThirdeYe]

The one on my old Yankee. Smooth and flexy! My Waterman Corinth has a great nib that is also smooth and flexy, and my Parker Vacumatic has a smooth yet tactile gold nib that is very satisfying to use but has no flex. Gah... do I have to pick just one?

Edited April 25, 2011 by ThirdeYe

[Khufu]

searcher18, you have ten Kroutl pens! My Ripet nib is in a post-war Centropen. It is so soft and a little springy but not flexy. Whenever I write with it I am acutely conscious of the contact with the paper, it is like brushing a baby's skin with the tips of your fingers. Other pens can do this for me but not to the extent of this nib. I suppose the sad fate of the Kroutls adds to the aura of the Ripet. Perhaps there is a better nib than this but I am not looking for it.

 

I also have a small collection of Centropens which are superb writers. Another superb writer is the Smaragd which is another Czech fountain pen and one of my frequent writers.

I think that Czech engineering before WW2 was better that German. The Czech`s were the ones who developed the Volkswagen or at least that is what a pen dealer in Prague told me.

I love Kroutl-Ripet fountain pens but the history is so meaningful it probably blurs my ability to judge. I have stopped telling people about Ripet nibs because the price keeps going up and is 3 times what it was 2-3 years ago.

 

 

You are right about the very good quality of Czechoslovakian prewar industry. For example there were better tanks produced in 1938 than Germany ´s panzers. Cz tanks Praga, Škoda and ČKD were the 1/3 of tank power used by Wehrmacht against France, ironic isn´t it. The Volkswagen was a stolen project from Tatra. After the war Volskwagen had to pay recompenses to Tatra. Check out for Tatra 77 or Tatra 88 - you wil see something very uncommon even for today, Cx 0,22 in 1935(!).

In aircraft industry there were also very good qulaity companies as Letov, Aero and especially Avia. Avia made one winged aluminium Avia B135 fighters which were designed to compete german Messerschmidt BF 109, world best fighter airplane at that time. It´s like if today we make something like Lockheed F-35 here in Czech republic :D

 

By the way do you know the origin of the word "pistol"? In fact the first world gun fire weapons were bohemian "pistala".

It helped to Jan Zizka to became one of rare military commanders who has never loosed a battle. It was something like today we start to use ray guns here! But It would not suprise me, in fact

 

Pen making companies were of top quality, too. Ripet, Sebek, Prestige, Hardtmuth, Smaragd, Perop, Barclay, Ocean, Sagitta, Milevia... all very good and beautiful pens.

They are much more rare than Germans pens but of the same quality.

There is also this "esoteric/tragic" side - as all those brands (and Czechoslovakia) exists no more, were forced to stop their production by communists loosers.

 

 

 

http://inlinethumb55.webshots.com/50038/2817340840105163080S600x600Q85.jpg

 

former WWI ace Ernst Udet, chief of Luftwaffe armament said after testing in April 1939: "That´s pity that Me-109 is already in mass production, because I recommend Avia B-135 as main fighter for Luftwaffe.."

 

 

http://inlinethumb16.webshots.com/12687/2332763580105163080S600x600Q85.jpg

 

Hitler looking at Tatra 77 chassis. Real high-tech never achieved nowhere else at that time. The rear placed engine was air cooled V8 made of light weight magnesium alloy... etc. This design was in Tatra cars until 1993. It was really unbreakable and very powerful for late models. Check Jay Leno´s garage, he has one Tatra 87

Edited January 11, 2012 by Khufu

[richardandtracy]

Of the nibs I have, there are some very good P51 nibs, but better than those is one P61 nib that makes me concentrate on the enjoyment of using the nib rather than what I'm writing. It's just too nice. It has the perfect feedback and smoothness combination for me. The result is that I have to ration my use of the nib, otherwise I'm too prone to write utter rubbish with it.

 

Regards,

 

Richard.

 

 

 

[seoulseeker]

Of the pens I have written with, the nib on my ST Dupont Olympio is by far and away the best. It's pure gold (no pun intended), and feels like you are writing on a cloud. Of course it will vary - as a lot of people prefer less stiff nibs, but in the realm of nails, you just can't go wrong with a Dupont.

 

Writing with this pen makes me shudder with some sort of primal delight. Every. Single. Time.

 

No other pen I have used has come close to that.

[Khufu]

searcher18, you have ten Kroutl pens! My Ripet nib is in a post-war Centropen. It is so soft and a little springy but not flexy. Whenever I write with it I am acutely conscious of the contact with the paper, it is like brushing a baby's skin with the tips of your fingers. Other pens can do this for me but not to the extent of this nib. I suppose the sad fate of the Kroutls adds to the aura of the Ripet. Perhaps there is a better nib than this but I am not looking for it.

I have a picture of some of my Ripet Nibs. All but one pen are Kroutl.

 

 

Nice collection!!

 

I have to take some pics of mine, too!

But i see 2 pens which are not Kroutl´s products. There is one Centropen 10016 (blue one) and one black piston operated double-jewelled Smaragd, oversize. There is maybe one Sagitta, too. But maybe you have talked about Ripet nibs only as you have them on all of those beautiful pens.

 

I have bought very rare items today, one pen like in your collection.

Edited January 11, 2012 by Khufu

[ajoe]

I hope it is the one due to arrive this afternoon.

 

If not, I hope it is the one coming in about 2 weeks.

 

Or....................

[leod]

MB 149

 

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v233/jelb/IMG_7014.jpg

 

best looking nib

[Khufu]

Some of my Ripet nibs

 

http://inlinethumb38.webshots.com/12773/2224949520105163080S600x600Q85.jpg

 

 

mostly are flexibles, hyper cool writing with it.

Broad nibs rare, medium mainly. I have many of them, it´s time to check them and write down some catalogisation with pics of nib+writing.

 

I have restored about 200 FPs overseas brands mainly, some europeans.

And the best nib i have ever written with was steel flexible Mondial nib on prewar Mondial pen (Germano-italian little known brand). It was really something. I ´ve sold it to my friend who studies calligraphy.

I like Sheaffer´s Triumph nib very much too.

Edited January 12, 2012 by Khufu

[ElykNordneg]

As seoulseeker mentioned the nibs produced by S.T. Dupont are amazing! the shaman and classique i have both perform wonderfully. Some of my pens are very picky when it comes to inks and will skip or perform poorly if paired incorrectly, this isn't the case with my Duponts.

[JLT]

Sheaffer Triumph nibs in all of their manifestations. I have yet to encounter one that is wanting along any performance dimension.

[P.A.R.]

I've only had around 20 fountain pens (11 right now) and none of them vintage, but my Chrome Parker IM Premium (M) is amazingly smooth and seems to provide a good amount of cushion.

[cuza]

IMHO: Sailor 1911 21C H-F and Sailor 1911 14C H-EF.

 

cuza