Steel fine nibs

[jperdix]

I am thinking of buying a Faber-Castell Ambition with a fine nib. I was told by the shop clerk that for a steel nib a medium would be a better choice. She told me that gold or gold plated nibs were better for fine nibs. If you have a fine steel nib please let me know how it writes and if you would advise using one. I'm looking for a fine nib because I have small handwriting and I already have a medium Waterman Phileas. Any information would be very helpful.

 

Thanks,

 

Jason

[penguinmaster]

I have an Extra Fine on my Rotring 600, and I think it writes respectably smooth. I didn't expect it to be butter smooth because of the size, but I would classify it as smooth. It actually writes more of a fine line than Extra Fine.

[rattybad1]

I've had a few Esterbrooks with fine steel nibs, and my experience is that they're very scratchy. Gold would work better on finer nibs. I don't mind so much if it's steel as long as it's at least a medium.

[Dillo]

Hi,

 

Most steel fine nibs, especially the modern ones are quite smooth. The Pelikan M200 ones are, for the most part quite smooth. My Aurora, which is brand new stock from Torino Italy also has an extremely smooth fine nib.

 

I'd advise you to go with the fine if possible. I think Faber Castell uses Schmidt for their nibs.

 

Dillon

[georges zaslavsky]

My 1997 sheaffer has a fine smooth nib

[jsonewald]

I have several fine or extra fine steel nibbed pens, and they are every bit as smooth writing as pens with gold nibs. Plating on the nib body itself has nothing to do with how the pen writes.

[Johnny Appleseed]

Steel vs gold makes absolutely no difference in how smooth a fine nib is. The tip of the nib is what will be touching the paper, and the tip is almost always a hard alloy attached to either the steel or gold nib. What makes a nib smooth or not is the quality of the tipping and the tine alignment - essentially issues of manufacturer quality control. Flow and the wet-dry quality of the nib also can have an impact on how smooth the nib feels.

 

Esterbrooks are a little different, because many of those are not tipped (1xxx, 2xxx nibs) but even the raw steel tips can be smoothed.

 

Steel vs gold makes a difference in some subtle aspect of how the nib feels (spring and such) though I suspect there may be more variation among different steel nibs and among different gold nibs than there is between steel vs gold.

 

 

John

 

[meanwhile]

What JA said.

 

Also: if a pen maker can't supply an acceptable fine nib - not even an XF! - they're incompetent.

 

If you really want the pen the buy it, and know you can always have it smoothed by a nibmeister afterwards.

 

[Mike S.]

I have a Waterman Kultur with a fine steel nib, a Lamy Al Star with a fine steel nib, and a Pilot Knight with medium steel nib that's actually finer than the Lamy fine and all of them are quite smooth. As several others have pointed out, the alignment and polish of the tipping is the most important aspect of smoothness.

 

 

[kissing]

All i'll say here is - Don't listen to the shop owner who told you that. It's total codswallop

[mmoncur]

Considering that just about every brick-and-mortar pen store I've visited has had nothing but medium nibs, this sounds to me like a gambit to get you to buy the pen they have in stock.

 

Everyone's right, the shop clerk's wrong. Get the pen you want. I've been talked into medium a few times (or bought pens that only came that way) and since I prefer fine nibs, I end up rarely using those.

[rroossinck]

I agree with all of the comments above. I've got a handful of steel-nibbed pens in everything from XF to B and most of them write a very smooth line. I wouldn't worry about it in the slightest.

 

My G1 rOtring 600 F, which I'm using today, writes a very smooth line, and I'm quite favorably impressed with it.

[jd50ae]

QUOTE (mmoncur @ Feb 21 2007, 05:15 AM)

Considering that just about every brick-and-mortar pen store I've visited has had nothing but medium nibs, this sounds to me like a gambit to get you to buy the pen they have in stock. Everyone's right, the shop clerk's wrong. Get the pen you want. I've been talked into medium a few times (or bought pens that only came that way) and since I prefer fine nibs, I end up rarely using those.

You have to remember that most stores sell M nibs because they have to serve the general public and they are not as curious as we are.

 

Pen shops on the other hand, should carry all sizes, even if most of their sales are to the general public.

If a pen shop does not carry, or at least make available, all of the options offered by the manufacturers they should not advertise as a pen dealer.

 

The one time I was able to question an owner about the limited sizes offered, it became clear that she knew there was a need for FPs but did not have a clue about what was out there.

She owned a stationary store and carried nothing but BPs and GPs, FPs were an after thought.

 

The modern shop clerk is not the one of old, when knowledge of the product, if not expertise, was a given. Now anyone can be hired, and that is not necessarily the owners fault.

 

As far as steel nibs go, I have found all the pens with steel nibs that I own to have been in need of a bit of polishing to improve performance. All of them are Sheaffer or Esterbrook with the odd modern here and there.

 

Edited February 21, 2007 by jd50ae

[bartosz.gadomski]

QUOTE (mmoncur @ Feb 21 2007, 12:15 PM)

Considering that just about every brick-and-mortar pen store I've visited has had nothing but medium nibs, this sounds to me like a gambit to get you to buy the pen they have in stock.

Funny, here in Poland you almost can't get “in wild” other nib than Fine. I've spoken with seller that e.g. in France there are sold almost only Mediums. How it is in other countries?

 

Oh, and Dillo don't believe clerks- Fine steel nibs in general are as good as steel Mediums. Differences might be caused by manufacturer, not nib size it self.

 

[Johnson]

QUOTE (Dillo @ Feb 20 2007, 01:40 PM)

Hi, Most steel fine nibs, especially the modern ones are quite smooth. The Pelikan M200 ones are, for the most part quite smooth. My Aurora, which is brand new stock from Torino Italy also has an extremely smooth fine nib. I'd advise you to go with the fine if possible. I think Faber Castell uses Schmidt for their nibs. Dillon

x2 to all that is said in this thread. An F steel nib has the potential to be just as smooth as an M steel nib. One of my Pelikan M200's has an F steel nib tuned by Chartpak, and it is super smooth.

 

I have had experience with Schmidt nibs: the Bexley Simplicity uses them. I have an M Schmidt on mine and it does write a slightly finer line then say, the Bock M nibs Bexley uses on their higher end models. However, I think if you want a fine you should go for a fine.

 

If at all possible see if the store will allow you to write with both to see which one you like better.

[EventHorizon]

QUOTE (kissing @ Feb 20 2007, 11:46 PM)

All i'll say here is - Don't listen to the shop owner who told you that. It's total codswallop

Yep.

Get the one you like. Get the one that feels the best to you while writing. If it's a Fine one you like then By Golly thats the one you'll pay for. I have steel mediums on more than a few pens and I have no issues to date. I personally keep going back and forth on the Fine or Extra Fine nibs though they all perform very well.

[johnr55]

I have at least as many pens with steel nibs as gold ones. I've never found nib material to be a factor for smoothness. Somebody's either ignorant or pulling your leg--

[chemgeek]

There is absolutely nothing wrong with steel nibs in fine width. The smoothness of a nib has nothing to do with the nib material, but with the crafting of the writing tip. I have several steel-nibbed pens, including the Pelikan 200, Lamy Safari, and Waterman Phileas, and all write quite well. Steel nibs are in general stiffer than gold nibs, but that is a different writing quality than smoothness. And even gold nibs vary from pretty stiff to squishy flexible.

 

Cheers.

 

[Ray-Vigo]

I concur- the Phileas and Kultur fines are steel aren't they, and they work well. I'd look more for proper shaping and smoothing of the tip than about material.

[Nellie]

All of my fine steel nibs - various Sheaffers and a Watermann Kultur are absolutely fine in terms of writing smoothly as well. I have had two slightly scratchy gold nibs, though.