Best Nibs For Cursive Italic Writing -Other Than Safari Italic.

[cougarking]

I have the 3 italic safari nibs which are great for writing in cursive italic style.

 

Wonder what other nibs - (out of the box) people find good to write with.

 

Budget for the pen would be £150-£200 ish.

 

open to any other brand options, prefer a broader pen.

 

thks

[rrs]

Hi

 

I recently brought a Pelikan M800 with an Italic Broad nib.

 

You could try finding one second hand or buy brand new, the retailer that I got mine from has a couple left as Pelikan have discontinued nib.

 

But will mean stretching you're budget by 60 to 80 pounds.

 

Regards

 

Rrs

[Pterodactylus]

Rotring Artpen for about 15€ has perfect italic nibs (and also different widths).

 

Pilot Parallel pens for about 10€ are also interesting, even I would not consider them as daily writers.

[smiorgan]

My TWSBI mini has a nice smooth 1.1mm nib, much better than my italic safari nib.

[rrs]

Rotring Artpen for about 15€ has perfect italic nibs (and also different widths).

Pilot Parallel pens for about 10€ are also interesting, even I would not consider them as daily writers.

True some of the lower priced pens are great, I started with Lamy Joy 1.5 Italic nib.

 

Then moved on!

 

Regards

 

rrs

[Sandy1]

Hi,

 

For a nib that's not a world away from the Safari nibs, I suggest a factory Stub.

 

At your price point, the Waterman Carene would be my first pick, with a Parker Sonnet an easy second (I use a Sonnet + 18K M as my daily writer.) Both generate a downstroke width ~1.0mm. Both of those pens can also accept other nib+sections, so no need to buy an entire pen to have a range of nibs.

 

However, if you want a 'sharper' nib, with a more narrow horizontal stroke, then I would consider going the route of a hand ground nib on the pen of your choice.

e.g. I have an over-the-counter Pelikan M200 series g-p steel 1.0mm Stub from richardspens, which is in a totally different league from the factory stock Stubs. OoooLaLa It took me a bit of practice to even start exploiting its potential, but that's just me.

 

Bye,

S1

Edited September 13, 2013 by Sandy1

[Gloucesterman]

On the low end of the cost scale are models like the Pilot 78G "broad" and the Nemosine .6 & .8 mm italic.

 

If it doesn't have to be new, look for an Aurora with the italic nib. Also, Monteverde has a 1.1 stub that I have found to be an excellent choice for cursive italic right out of the box. Finally, consider the Pendleton TWSBI 580 with the cursive italic nib.

 

There are probably many more that others will mention.

 

Enjoy your hunt.

 

 

Just my .02 cents worth...

[jordanjay29]

The Italix Parson's Essential, Churchman's Prescriptor and the Captain's Commission pens all have options for italic-cut nibs. Between the nib cut and the pen's wetness, they can be a bit wider than your normal italics. They're also very affordable at £32-40.

 

EDIT: I forgot to add that I have the Parson's Essential and it's my favorite nib for smoothness in writing. I was told that italics are harder to use due to their straight-edged corners, but the Parson's nib is so smooth I don't notice.

Edited September 13, 2013 by jordanjay29

[koofle]

Reiterating what other people have mentioned already. Pilot 78G B-nibs are 1.1mm stubs, Pilot Parallels offer 1.5/2.4/3.8/6.0mm broad edged nibs, and Italix from mrpen.co.uk have medium and fine stub/crisp italic options. TWSBI also offers 1.1/1.5mm stub nibs, wet and very smooth.

 

Franklin Christoph pens can be chosen with stock italic nibs or custom italic nibs by Mike Masuyama, the custom, medium, cursive italic nib he offers is very good.

 

Kawecosport pens have italic nibs, and you can also get a "Kalligraphie" set with 1.1/1.5/1.9/2.3mm nibs.

 

At your budget, you may also consider getting pens with custom nibs offered by various online pen stores.

[Harlequin]

I would also suggest an Italix Parson's Essential (or if you like bigger pens, the Churchman's Prescriptor or Captain's Commission). The nibs are hand ground and are consistently called some of the smoothest around. Another option is to get your hands on an older, classic Sheaffer NoNonsense; it has five "calligraphy" nibs from XF to 4B (the 3 standard sizes, F, M, B are basically 0.9 mm, 1.2 mm, and 1.5 mm if that gives you an idea).

[Centopar]

The pen itself is a singularly unlovely cheap plastic thing (and I don't really like the way it tapers, which does not feel nice in my hand), but the Rotring Artpen is, as Pterodactylus says, a good bet if the *writing* is the thing that interests you. I have one body and a set of nibs, which I use VERY occasionally for italic lettering on invitations etc. (Which I am bad at.) The flow is consistent, the nibs are good and reliable, and the different widths available are very useful.

[akustyk]

This is not easy. Much depends on what you mean by "cursive italic" or how much you turn the nib while writing. If you keep the nib at a relatively constant angle (say, 45-degrees), then you will get excellent results with calligraphy nibs, such as the Rotring Artpen or Sheaffer No-Nonsense. However, in my experience, you don't gain too much performance, relative to the Lamy italic nibs.

 

If you do rotate your nib, then you really need a smooth stub, with rounded corners. I personally do not like the current TWSBI, Edison, Goulet, etc., Jowo stubs that look like a duck's beak, but they might work perfectly for you. The older-style TWSBI 540 stubs were very nice, even with some spring to them.

 

You can also consider buying a pen from Pendleton Brown directly. He sells "out-of-the-box" stubs of good quality.

Another option is the UK-based Italix Parson's Essential. I tried it and didn't like the nib at all. It was a nail with inconsistent flow, but many people love these pens.

 

Next, you have the entire line of Franklin-Christoph pens with nibs ground by Mike Masuyama. I have the 27 with a broad cursive italic, and I think it's a very nice pen. The nib is, in my opinion, not suitable for cursive writing as it is not wet enough and not smooth enough at the corners, but the stub version would probably be perfect.

 

Also, some brands do make awesome stubs, and might be in your price range. That is what I would do, if I were you, with your budget. For $200, you can have a nice Bexley with the factory 1.3mm stub, which is awesome. Aurora also makes nice factory italics, even in the lower-priced models. If you buy from nibs.com, you can get a Parker Sonnet with a factory italic for a decent price. That might be a good option. Waterman Carene makes a stub. I tried it, it was smooth, but too dry, in my opinion.

 

Finally, you might really like the Platinum music pen. While not a true cursive italic, it does have nice line variation, is smooth, and has very good flow. I just ordered one for myself.

 

Good luck!

[Pterodactylus]

I think the same as Akustyk regarding the Italix pens.

 

The italic nibs are created by simply cut off the whole tipping, so it become an untipped nib and nobody knows how long they will last until they need a regrind, as nobody knows how hard the alloy of the nib is.

I consider this as a very rough way to create an italic.

They are very hard nails, without any hint of springiness, it's like writing with a solid piece of metal.

I don't like my Parson's Essential very much.

 

I also like the TWSBI 540 Bock nibs more than the 580/Mini JoWo nibs, as the Bock nibs are more springy, the JoWo are quite hard nails.

Nevertheless I really like my Mini, it's a reliable writer and the construction quality is very good, I sharpened the edges of my 1.5 Nib to a CI as the default was a bit too fuzzy for my preferences.

Beside the Pelikan M2xx the TWSBI's are for me "the" entry pens to the world of piston fillers.

[cougarking]

Thanks for all your thoughts.

 

 

what is the difference between a stub and an italic- I notice that the safari has slightly round corners which prehaps

helps my style of writing.

 

I have a carene - so maybe a stub could be a good option.

 

will have a look at the other options.

[Pterodactylus]

Nibs which write broader on the downstroke than on the horizontal stroke are italic nibs.

The have not a spherical cut, they are flat.

 

You can further distinguish how sharp the corners and edges are:

 

(Crisp) italic:

very sharp corners and edges, very clean, crisp sharp line definition,but cut easy into the paper if not hold correctly, mainly a calligraphic nib not so convenient daily writer for many people.

 

Cursive italic:

Slightly rounder corners and edges, does not cut that easy into the paper, if you are used to it, pleasant daily writers, still very good line definition.

 

Stub (italic):

Even more rounded corners and edges, easy to write with, but not so sharp line definition as the above. Great daily writers for everyone.

 

Dividing italic nibs into sub categories become popular not so long time ago, borders between them are fuzzy (and obviously also a bit user dependent).

 

Sometimes people also say that a stub always does not have as much line variation as a CI or crisp italic, but this differentiation is nonsense, as when you would compare a 2mm stub with a fine crisp italic the stub has of course more line variation.

It would only make sense if you compare exact the same size with different cuts.

You can say that a sharper italic has a greater relative horizontal to vertical ratio compared to a rounder cut of the same nib (as you can't write with the material you grinded away on the corners of the rounder cut , and probably also a thinner horizontal line on the sharper cut)

Edited September 14, 2013 by Pterodactylus

[Sandy1]

Thanks for all your thoughts.

 

 

what is the difference between a stub and an italic- I notice that the safari has slightly round corners which prehaps

helps my style of writing.

 

I have a carene - so maybe a stub could be a good option.

 

will have a look at the other options.

 

Hi,

 

The Waterman Forum has more discussion on the Carene Stub nibs. Here's a link one such Topic: https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/index.php/topic/212378-carene-nib-stub/?p=2217129

 

Bye,

S1

[cougarking]

Hi

 

I recently brought a Pelikan M800 with an Italic Broad nib.

 

You could try finding one second hand or buy brand new, the retailer that I got mine from has a couple left as Pelikan have discontinued nib.

 

But will mean stretching you're budget by 60 to 80 pounds.

 

Regards

 

Rrs20130913_104155.jpg20130913_103544.jpg20130913_103512.jpg20130913_103440.jpg

 

Hi

 

I recently brought a Pelikan M800 with an Italic Broad nib.

 

You could try finding one second hand or buy brand new, the retailer that I got mine from has a couple left as Pelikan have discontinued nib.

 

But will mean stretching you're budget by 60 to 80 pounds.

 

Regards

 

Rrs20130913_104155.jpg20130913_103544.jpg20130913_103512.jpg20130913_103440.jpg

 

Hi,

 

Where did you obtain that nib from ?

[rrs]

Hi,

 

Where did you obtain that nib from ?

Hi Cougarking

 

Brought the whole pen from retailer in Wales.

 

I'll message you details...

 

Cheers

 

rrs

[georges zaslavsky]

Conway Stewart Older Model 100 with an Italic Broad nib

[stoof2010]

Well i dont know about that much money, but im a newbie.

I like my goulet #6 1.1 and 1.5 italics in my noodlers ahab or konrad.

As far as quality for tge price you cant beat it.

Bit after reading i dont think you are looming for cheap lol

Just wanted to add my 2 cents.

Happy hunting!!