Pilot Po Nib Vs. Pilot Ef Nib

[india.ink]

Hello,

 

I am interested in purchasing a Pilot 912 with a PO nib and I was just wondering how it compares to a Pilot EF nib or a Sailor EF nib? Any info would be greatly appreciated.

[Inkling13]

Why do you need/want a posting nib? Have you had much experiance with super fine nibs? If not, read this: https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/index.php/topic/259047-should-i-buy-a-needlepoint-nib/

For most users, a Japanese F or EF is the finest that is practical for daily use.

[india.ink]

I was considering a PO nib because I was looking at a review at The Pen Addict blog and it seems to be a finest nib that Pilot offers but also is very smooth. I have small handwriting and the work that I do, I am always writing small and fast. For that reason, I was considering a PO nib. I already have a fine nib pen so I want to know how the PO nib compares to an extra-fine nib either from Sailor and/or Pilot.

Edited January 16, 2014 by india.ink

[quabop]

I have both and the PO is smoother than the EF. It is also stiff even though it is gold. I guess that's due to the downturn. If the PO nib should not turn out to be smooth, then the tines are probably misalignen, as was the case with mine . After I aligned them, it was all good though. To be honest though, for my daily writing I use a Pilot fine, which is more forgiving for fast writing. Get a Pilot 50R from ebay for 10$ with an EF nib if you want to know the difference between F and EF.

[daintydimsum]

perhaps this will help some.

 

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/index.php/topic/254818-cant-decide-between-pilot-custom-823-f-or-742-po/

[cursivator]

My latest pen is a 912 with a PO nib and I am OUT OF MY MIND IN LOVE with it. Flows like a dream, too. Dunno how they got such a microscopically thin nib to write so smoothly, but they did.

[Icywolfe]

Think of this:

 

PO is like a glass hovercraft when writing.

 

EF is like a glass when writing. You will feel something time to time.

 

The benefits of the PO is that it's really thin of a line and that you can use hard pressure on it write on carbon paper.

[vnnil]

The PO is slightly finer, and way smoother on most paper. If you like EF nibs it's a no-brainer.

[cellmatrix]

The PO is slightly finer, and way smoother on most paper. If you like EF nibs it's a no-brainer.

+1 the PO nib is especially good for monoline cursive, such as business writing

[cursivator]

I think it's great for everything! I used to only like fat nibs, then I got this in hand, and am now madly exploring very fine ones. This is the finest I've found, but also the smoothest. Hmmm.

[eaccents]

Hello,

 

I am interested in purchasing a Pilot 912 with a PO nib and I was just wondering how it compares to a Pilot EF nib or a Sailor EF nib? Any info would be greatly appreciated.

 

Late comment since the OP posted several years ago...

 

I have both: Pilot 912 with PO nib and Pilot 91 with EF nib.

 

I really like the flat-top look of the Pilot Custom Heritage pens (vs the cigar shapes), and since I write A LOT I definitely prefer the lightweight feel of a resin pen over the weighty feel of my metal Pilot Decimo and my Pilot Stella 90S.

 

I write very small, and the PO nib is smooth and precise. I absolutely LOVE the PO nib!!!

 

I got the EF first, and loved it, but the PO nib experience just blows the EF out of the water in terms of joy of using.

 

Weirdly, the PO nib provides a darker line than the EF, even using the same ink from the same bottle. I think that I love it more for that

[Lloyd]

Is the PO smoother than a Waverly?

[eaccents]

Is the PO smoother than a Waverly?

 

Never used a Waverly....so someone else will have to weigh in on that

[eaccents]

Is the PO smoother than a Waverly?

 

Never used a Waverly....so someone else will have to weigh in on that

[Dominink]

On 2/13/2016 at 5:33 PM, cellmatrix said:

+1 the PO nib is especially good for monoline cursive, such as business writing

 

Hello @cellmatrix so sorry to bring up such an old post, but I am exactly in the situation you describe:

I want to learn business writing (Palmer method) and want to treat myself with a very fine nib, that is perfect for learning/writing this type of less-ornamented cursive. It recommends very fine so to not hide letterform mistakes under pools of ink (as with broader nibs).

 

Which advantages would the PO nib have for this use case (as compared to let's say a 912 Fine or Extra-Fine nib)?

Palmer Cursive has a lot of these long diagonally upwards slanted strokes, with which I have heard many Pilot nibs struggle with (since they are tailored for short-stroke Japanese characters).

Won't that slow you down? Which would kind of defeat the purpose of fast business writing?

 

Thank you for sharing your experiences!

[georgeb]

On 7/11/2017 at 8:29 AM, eaccents said:

 

Never used a Waverly....so someone else will have to weigh in on that

No, in my opinion the Waverly nib is smoother than the PO nib due to the way the Waverly nib is constructed. 

[cellmatrix]

8 hours ago, Dominink said:

 

Hello @cellmatrix so sorry to bring up such an old post, but I am exactly in the situation you describe:

I want to learn business writing (Palmer method) and want to treat myself with a very fine nib, that is perfect for learning/writing this type of less-ornamented cursive. It recommends very fine so to not hide letterform mistakes under pools of ink (as with broader nibs).

 

Which advantages would the PO nib have for this use case (as compared to let's say a 912 Fine or Extra-Fine nib)?

Palmer Cursive has a lot of these long diagonally upwards slanted strokes, with which I have heard many Pilot nibs struggle with (since they are tailored for short-stroke Japanese characters).

Won't that slow you down? Which would kind of defeat the purpose of fast business writing?

 

Thank you for sharing your experiences!

If you look at the original exemplars in the classic books such as EC Mills 1903 Modern Business Penmanship (the one I learned with) you can see that they were done with a very fine line (see below). This was done using dip pens back at that time, however a japanese extra fine nib can give you the same width as in the exemplars. Of the japanese extra fine nibs, the pilot po gives you about the smoothest experience, especially with a smooth ink like Pilot/Namiki.

 

I used to print my letters, and in doing so I used to rest the side of my hand to the writing surface, and used my finger movements mostly to fashion the letters. I also used to press down more firmly back in those days when I wrote. It took me some time to adapt to business cursive, which requires you to keep your hand and wrist off the writing surface and to instead use your 4th and 5th fingernails, as well as the fleshy area of your forearm near the elbow as your only pivot points. Also I had to learn to use my shoulder to push and pull the letters rather than using my fingers to move the pen. Business cursive also requires you to use a light hand, just using the weight of your pen alone for pressure. I gradually found that if I did all of these things, pens which used to feel scratchy, felt more smooth when I wrote, and pilot PO used this way can be very smooth, in my experience.

 

However, I do think the slight upturn of a waverly nib provides an added level of smoothness. While the pilot waverly nibs are too wide for my taste, I found that many Sheaffer imperial inlaid EF nibs have a nice waverly upturn but have a more narrow line than pilot waverlys. For this reason, I'm nowadays using a sheaffer imperial EF instead of the pilot PO and I like it quite a lot. Hope this is helpful, Cell

[Dominink]

@cellmatrix Thank you so much for your reply and its richness of details and examples!

 

So it seems the PO nib might be just the perfect nib for me, learning the Palmer method. I am getting familiar with the muscular (arm/shoulder instead of finger) movement and the hand position with the palm almost parallel hovering above the paper. Doing the oval and push-pull-drills daily.

Smoothness of a nib will be very appreciated by me, this is why I have iroshizuku inks like you said. Seems PO nib by Pilot and ink by Pilot seems like a perfect match!

The only thing that is odd with the Palmer method in my specific case is that German words look "odd" 😄 (maybe because the letters are used in other frequencies and orders than with the English words the method was tailored to).

 

As for the light or heavy hand, I don't really know which one I've got. I think "medium"? I do not effortlessly hover above the page, however I also don't press the pen so my knuckles go red, so I think inbetween.

I hope to also learn how to get a lighter hand, so that might be another benefit of getting the PO nib, if it "rewards" me when writing with a lighter hand.

 

Interesting to read about the Shaeffer pen! I have never seen Shaeffer pens in Germany (however I also am not a serious collector and don't go to pen bazars and meetings,) so I never knew about this brand. Will keep an eye open to maybe find a used one to try some day.

[A Smug Dill]

4 hours ago, Dominink said:

As for the light or heavy hand, I don't really know which one I've got. I think "medium"? I do not effortlessly hover above the page, however I also don't press the pen so my knuckles go red, so I think inbetween.

I hope to also learn how to get a lighter hand,

 

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