Pilot Fountain Pens And Nibs

[Frank C]

Thanks for the info. I have many fountain pens, but I especially appreciate the quality and craftsmanship in Japanese pens. Several Pilots are in my regular rotation. I need to take them to Japan some day to visit the museum!

[Pen2009]

Thanks for the info. I have many fountain pens, but I especially appreciate the quality and craftsmanship in Japanese pens. Several Pilots are in my regular rotation. I need to take them to Japan some day to visit the museum!

Pilot's pen museum is very informative, to say the least. It also includes the time line of human history of "writing" along with a variety of makie pens from decades ago. During the weekday, you could ask a Pilot pen doctor to adjust your Pilot nibs. Fees (about JPY 1,000) may be applicable depending on your pen's condition and warranty status.

[Frank C]

Now I really have to make a pilgrimage to the pilot museum. $10.00 or so to tune up a pen is a good deal. I recently sent about 12 Pilots to Pilot USA for repairs. (I use my pens at work and they lead a hard life.) They were all repaired or replaced at no charge! Reason enough to buy Pilot pens. I also find their nibs to be almost perfect.

[XiaoMG]

In case some readers are curious about hana, tome, and harai stroke endings in Japanese (はね, とめ, and はらい), the character 永 on This page should hopefully clear it up.

 

For what it's worth, I write Chinese and find Pilot's marketing off-putting.

[Dr.Grace]

XiaoMG, what exactly puts you off about Pilot's marketing?

 

For several years now I've practiced writing Chinese using a "Condor" nib from Richard Binder, which can make these strokes in a way resembling strokes produced by a brush. I wouldn't expect any typical fountain pen nib to be able to do that very well, even with varied pressure.

[XiaoMG]

XiaoMG, what exactly puts you off about Pilot's marketing?

 

For several years now I've practiced writing Chinese using a "Condor" nib from Richard Binder, which can make these strokes in a way resembling strokes produced by a brush. I wouldn't expect any typical fountain pen nib to be able to do that very well, even with varied pressure.

Just about any softer nib can easily produce strokes for "hard brush" calligraphy, and such pens have been around for a long time. Pilot's nibs do not seem to be any more specialized for Japanese or Chinese than, say, Waterman's or Pelikan's, or Conklin's, or practically any other brand for that matter. Even the vaunted (by Pilot) Elabo is rather middling that use, and there are a number of other pens that can do as well, if not better. Many of those companies are not Japanese and don't claim their products are specialized for Japanese writing. It reminds me of the Iroshizuku video where they like to pretend they're the first or only company to produce nonstandard color inks with the Iroshizuku line.

 

And for what it's worth with specialized nib shapes...Sailor has made some interesting nibs that can emulate brush patterns very differently than standard pens due to very different point geometries (and thus aren't really considered great for standard "hard brush" calligraphy), though Pilot makes no such products.

Edited August 12, 2012 by XiaoMG