The Best Ef Nib

[Basset]

Vintage Waterman Purple nib.

 

The other day I pulled an old gray waterman 3 out of a drawer, was surprised to see the sac was still in good shape, and found a great Waterman purple nib in it. Not usually an EF fan, but this is a great nib. Too bad the pen's kind of blah looking. I will try to fit it into something else.

[pelman]

You might want to try a fine that is italic. It will give your writing a little flair. Just my 2 cents

[Blade Runner]

I recommend Aurora extra fine nibs. Aurora nibs generally run finer than most western brands. Their QC is among the best i've experienced, and Aurora makes piston fillers.

[aayban]

You might want to try a fine that is italic. It will give your writing a little flair. Just my 2 cents

 

 

..pelman..thank you for this idea..why not indeed..

 

i realized with all these leads, am as confused as when i first asked the question.. but now am pleasantly confused..lots of options..

[Peninkcillin]

TWSIBI ef and Lamy ef are similar in size. Pilot 78G in fine is definitely finer than both.

At 10 bucks the 78g is a cheap and smooth introduction to the fine nibbed world.

 

From my personal experience, the TWSBI EF is slightly finer than the Lamy EF but still not as fine as a Japanese F. The TWSBI is very smooth but others report a different experience.

[hecya]

I have several F and XF pens:

 

Prera F. Not very smooth, a bit scratchy.

Sailor Desk pen EF. Superb but as being designed for desk there is no clip and is way too long to carry it around.

Sheaffer 330 XF. The best ink flow and smoothness. Elegant design and good price as well.

[aayban]

I have several F and XF pens:

 

Prera F. Not very smooth, a bit scratchy.

Sailor Desk pen EF. Superb but as being designed for desk there is no clip and is way too long to carry it around.

Sheaffer 330 XF. The best ink flow and smoothness. Elegant design and good price as well.

 

 

Gracias..

[brownargus]

I tend to use fine nibs because of their clarity. The only experience of EF is on my Sheaffer Targa 1005 Gold and that writes very smoothly when used on a smooth paper, otherwise on cheap jotter pads and rough papers, e.g. laids, it can be a bit scratchy. Whilst I have pens with Fine and Medium nibs, when making the transition between the two, I have to adjust my writing style somewhat to suit. For those with a flourish to their writing or who write with big characters, maybe a broad nib would be more suitable.

 

John

[Triplet Mom]

I must also agree with everyone that suggested Japanese brands. I have an EF Sailor 1911m that writes VERY smooth and a Nakaya elastic EF nib and fine flexible nib which are both a dream to write with! Plus, three different Namiki VP's with a fine, a 0.5mm cursive italic nib, and 0.4mm left oblique stub nib (ground by John Mottishaw,) that all glide effortlessly across the page. You have several fun choices to try!

 

Warm regards,

Lynne

[Rose Nibs]

My best is the Platinum UEF followed by Sailor EF. Nothing else comes close, out of the box, though I have some fine vintage nibs. Lamy EFs are nice medium fines in my experience.

[Ada]

Yet another vote for Sailor. Waterman XFs are also very smooth, albeit a bit wider than Sailor XFs.

[smartson]

Another vote for Asian pens like Pilot and Sailor. Fine is their specialty because writing asian characters demands quality fine point. I got a Pilot Myu fine and it writes as smooth as a rollerball.

[Neill78]

My smoothest EF nib is in my Lamy 2000, but it's not really an EF compared to Japanese nibs. I would stay away from lower-tier Lamy EF nibs. They exhibit a ton of variation and, in my experience, require a lot of tweaking out of the box. Plus they just never write smoothly enough and are prone to picking up tons of paper fibres.

 

Japanese makers absolutely blow everyone away when it comes to real EF nibs. I've got a Pilot Capless (aka Vanishing Point) and a Custom 74 in EF. They are truly extra fine and very smooth (my Capless in particular approaches rollerball smoothness), but you do have to use decent paper and write with a light touch.

 

Sailor is also great with their EF nibs, equal to Pilot. I haven't had luck with Platinum yet, but the two pens I own are cheaper models, so it's hard to compare. They write fine enough, but they are not smooth at all.

 

If you are used to Western nib sizes I will strongly recommend a Japanese F nib (or even an MF). You get both a very fine line and extremely smooth writing.

[SamCapote]

Also agree in my experience Platinum & Sailor are the best quality EF & F out of the box.