Stub O' The Day

[dcpritch]

All the pens and inks here are amazing.

 

Hi Jenny, I am a huge fan of MBs like the one you showed. I'm glad you joined the discussion. Prepare your bank account for difficult times.

[Arieut]

 

Hi, Arieut.

 

In my view, Stub-Cursive Italic-Formal italic is a continuum. I happen to like my nibs on the crisp side of CI. Still, most of them can be used for cursive. However, italic script is my everyday handwriting. That said, Cursive Italic nibs will be significantly more sensitive to nib position on the paper than a stub. The other side of this is that, if you hold your pen consistently with the nib at the optimal angle to the writing line, you will get better line thickness differentiation out of any nib, even a stub. And it will still seem to write smoothly. (I hope that makes sense. One of the ways of looking at the continuum is that the Stub has a much larger "sweet spot" than the Italic nib. Thus, it is more forgiving as to how you hold the pen as you write.)

 

If you are considering having a nib ground for you, I strongly recommend discussing your desires with the nib technician before hand. The more information he/she has about what you want and how you write, the more likely you are to get a nib that meets your needs.

 

David

 

Hi David,

Thanks for taking time to answer! I'm assuming then that the sweet spot is larger in a stub due to the rounder edges of the nib? I'll take your advice and talk to my nib meister

 

Thanks!

 

Arieut

[vPro]

http://oi61.tinypic.com/30kuhad.jpg

[christof]

Long time since I've been here...

I don't have many pens with stub nibs, but I think that this one should fit here:

 

 

 

It's a Canadian made Parker Vacumatic Senior Maxima made for the French market. Imprints are French and the nib is 18ct.

 

 

 

 

C.

Edited September 18, 2015 by christof

[masterguns]

Beautiful pen. Thanks for sharing.

 

 

Long time since I've been here...

I don't have many pens with stub nibs, but I think that this one should fit here:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[northstar]

Long time since I've been here...

I don't have many pens with stub nibs, but I think that this one should fit here:

 

 

 

It's a Canadian made Parker Vacumatic Senior Maxima made for the French market. Imprints are French and the nib is 18ct.

 

 

 

 

C.

That's a wonderful pen, thank you for sharing.

 

Best regards.

[GasCanadian]

Great thread. I got into fountain pens about a year ago and have been using fine and medium nibs because of my smallish hand writing. Only recently, did I get my first two stub nibs. They are a lot of fun to use because after a year of practicing, my "e's" aren't as closed up as they were. My writing also has a long way to go before I'm happy (yours is much better than mine), but the process is fun.

[georgeb]

Very nice indeed, now I want some Vacumatics.

[Shubhranshu Das]

This is great idea and thank you so much for taking the time to share this with us... I do confess to preferring stub nibs to others... I've recently tested what is called a cursive italic... Not an italic but not a stub... Supposedly...

I don't have the quality of pens that you've generously shared... Mainly Edisons, Conklins, Italix, TWSBI with stubs/ italic... But your inputs are very welcome...

Waiting to read more from you!

[masterguns]

I inked this one up tonight...

 

...and pay no attention to that ink I wrote down. It is not Safari, but Diamine Golden Brown. I got five inks in today, and am easily confused.

 

Edited September 30, 2015 by masterguns

[mehandiratta]

I'm glad to see some folks tuned in, and now here is one of my go-to pens:

 

Bexley Poseidon Magnum

 

This pen is made of a transparent tortoise acrylic, which as far as I can tell is a non-production color, and the section is made of the same material instead of the usual black acrylic, so this pen may well be a prototype - I'm not sure. There is just enough transparency to offer a hint of what's inside, but not the level of clarity so as to be considered a "demonstrator." I really like the thickness of this pen and, at 139mm, its length is perfect for a non-poster like myself.

 

The main feature of this lovely instrument is the nib - a stock Bexley 18k Stub nib made by Bock, unmodified but as sweet a writer as one could ever hope for. It is smooth, butter smooth, and yet there is enough ooomph left in the corners of the nib that it provides great line variation. The converter allows me enough ink to enjoy using this pen for several pages of writing, but with the wet line laid down by this wide nib I won't stray far from my ink source, especially if I'm sitting down for an afternoon of writing (which actually never happens, so no worries).

 

 

Here you can get an idea of the tortoise acrylic's transparency. I've noticed Shawn Newton has used this or a very similar material for some of his custom pens. I especially like the way Howard Levy used the same material in making the section.

 

 

And the nib:

 

Simply amazing... I just love wide nibs

[dcpritch]

Thanks Vaibhav, I'm glad you like it.

[dcpritch]

Long time since I've been here...

I don't have many pens with stub nibs, but I think that this one should fit here:

 

 

 

It's a Canadian made Parker Vacumatic Senior Maxima made for the French market. Imprints are French and the nib is 18ct.

 

Christof, that is quite a pen with an awesome nib. I have a couple of Vacs with BB nibs - though neither is a Maxima - and they are both fairly flexible in addition to being wide. Is yours like that?

[griz8791]

I bought this brown Parker Vacumatic from Greg Minuskin about a year ago and just recently got around to sending it back to him to convert to a 1.3mm stub. Though I am a pretty serious sports photographer, I don't have access to cool lighting and macro lenses so the following is the best I can do. The first photo is one I took this evening with my own equipment and the closest-focusing lens I own. The others are photos Greg took in his shop and emailed to me to show me what he was doing. I'm posting them here with his permission.

 

 

[RareInk]

Nice looking pen and awesome stub. Some good shading there in your example. If you like brown inks, try your pen & nib with Diamine Chocolate Brown. With that nib you'll see shading from a light "milk chocolate" all the way to a "dark chocolate", and everything in between.

[mehandiratta]

I bought this brown Parker Vacumatic from Greg Minuskin about a year ago and just recently got around to sending it back to him to convert to a 1.3mm stub. Though I am a pretty serious sports photographer, I don't have access to cool lighting and macro lenses so the following is the best I can do. The first photo is one I took this evening with my own equipment and the closest-focusing lens I own. The others are photos Greg took in his shop and emailed to me to show me what he was doing. I'm posting them here with his permission.

 

 

That is deadly nib

[AAAndrew]

For stub lovers who want to use a dip pen, I have just what you're looking for. It's the Esterbrook #284 Blackstone Stub, sometimes referred to as a Signature Stub. These are a very cool black color, and have a very slight left oblique angle. As for size, when compared to a TWSBI 1.1 mm italic, the line is just a hair thicker. But the thin lines are so, so much thinner. The thick lines this makes are about twice the width of the very common 442 Jackson Stub. It's also quite smooth for a dip pen.

 

This is a sweet nib.

 

[jsolares]

So one of the Montblanc 144 from the 1950's got here, OBBB nib, now i just need to learn italic writing . there's also an OBB on the way.

 

 

 

 

[mehandiratta]

I am using one of the new pens that i received few days back

RANGA Model 4C with 1.5 Stub Nib

[bobje]

Mehandiratta, I'm late to this, but that Bexley pen, the sepia ink, the handwriting, the photography -- all stunning. Thank you for sharing that.

 

Dcpritch, just realized that I misread the original poster. Thank you for sharing this beautiful pen, ink, handwriting and photography.

Edited October 16, 2015 by bobjpage