Which Is Your Best Nib? The Nib With Which All Others Are Judged? One Nib To Rule Them All?

[Sach]

Which nib of yours is the one to which all comparisons are made? What is it about this nib that makes this "The nib to rule them all"?

 

Mine is the factory stub on an Aurora 88. Absolutely perfect! Perfect ink flow, perfect line variation, perfectly balanced, perfect feedback. I in fact use this as my standard description of what I want when customising.

[sotto2]

EF semi-flexy nib on my old Pelikan M & K 120--vintage-y Heaven.

[Keyless Works]

As far as unmodified modern nibs go I think the OBB on my Aurora Optima is one of the best. I also really love the Med 18kt #15 Pilot nib on my Custom 845.

 

For vintage pens I think Montblanc and OMAS "semi-flex" or soft nibs from the 50s are my favorites.

[PhilProf]

I'd probably consider my Pelikan 140 M semi-flex stubbish nib as the standard setter.

[WilsonCQB1911]

I can't find a best among my keepers. They are all wonderful, and different in their own right. It also depends on what one's criteria is for best. My Montblancs are wonderfully smooth, although tend to be wet and wider than others in the same nib grade. I'm loving my Omas nibs, which are smooth, wet, crisp, and soft enough that you can get some wonderful variation from them. My Visconti HS nib is also super smooth, and provides a nice crisp, wet fine line. My Pilot Falcon's nib is a bit toothy, but provides a nice line that can provide good variation. It's also quite fine and very reliable. My Conway Stewart is smooth, but not as smooth as some of the others, but is a joy to write with with its wet medium line and is also ultra reliable. And lastly, even my steel Lamy nib is nice to write with, although perhaps not quite at the level of these others.

 

Best is hard to define. Smoothest? Crispest line? Ease of line variation? Most reliable (they all are now or I wouldn't have kept them)? Most beautiful to look at?

 

I have thought about this before too, and am starting to come to the conclusion that my best pen is the one I have used last :-). Of my keepers that is. Pens that I've found to not be as nice for me have been sold off. If you really made me choose, I'd probably say my Montblanc nibs, but we are splitting hairs.

[Clancy]

I'd have to say it's my Pelikan M405 with a fine Pendelton Point custom stub-italic nib. It is rarely out of my rotation.

[jar]

HUH?

 

I probably have a hundred or so nibs that would be described like that, maybe far more.

[Sblakers]

Romillo - size 9 western Fine.

[dneal]

I'd have to say it's my Pelikan M405 with a fine Pendelton Point custom stub-italic nib. It is rarely out of my rotation.

 

I have one on a 605. When I got it back and gave it a test drive, I literally started giggling because I was so surprised/delighted with it. An amazing grind.

 

My review of it here.

[Blazing]

I only have three, but my best nib so far is the medium nib on my Loom.

[lzykramer]

Omas imagination Fine nib and Sailor board nib

[Bill Wood]

Bock medium tuned by Conid. The nibs from Edison.

[alexander_k]

The factory nibs that form my current benchmark are the ones on the Omas 360 and Pelikan M800 (both old models). As for modified ones, I'm delighted with a Pilot Cosu that Oxonian has just stubbed for me.

[tinct]

Pilot VP fine nib - its my everyday user. Wet, just enough feedback, slightly soft, and it'll write upside down for an even thinner line without any fuss.

 

Vintage, I really really love the Pelikan 400 OF nib. Smooth, semi-flex nib with plenty of line variation, and it writes like a fine. More dry than the VP but you never feel lacking, never skips or has difficulty starting up.

[Biber]

Esty 9550

[Skoff]

Tough choice, but probably the 1.3 stub on my Bronze Homo Sapiens

[Bigeddie]

I have a lot of nice nibs, but the best all round nib is probably a Pilot Custom 823 Medium. It's on the fine side of medium, but nice and wet, quite soft. The pen/nib combination is superb.

[Chaseut]

Out of the box? Pelikan 800 or 1000.

[Bo Bo Olson]

My top ten pens....well there are 20 of them in my top 10.

[MCN]

The nib that makes me smile the most is the 18K OM in my Montblanc 1246. It's smooth but not too smooth, just the right amount of spring, and it gives just a hint of line variation that makes my terrible writing look less terrible. Plus, it's a nice clean shape.