Nib Sizing Issues With Vac 700's

[eloquentogre]

I have two Vac 700's. The first I got in fine, assuming it would be like my Pilot Metropolitan fines. But it was thicker, more like a medium. So I ordered a new extra fine nib, and a second vac 700 in extra fine since overall I liked the first so much.

 

Now I have the new XF nib for my first vac 700 and the new pen with its own XF nib I have a slight issue. The two nibs vary tremendously in size. The new pen's nib is a perfect, true extra fine. But the new nib for the older Vac 700 is much fatter. Like at least two proper nib sizes fatter. See the included image.

 

Now I love how smooth the not so XF nib is, but I wanted an Extra Fine and I really haven't gotten one. I was thinking of getting a Twsbi Classic or two (because I like the more conservative look, and don't like the sharp edges on the pump knob of the Vac 700's) but if the nibs vary so much on average I can't afford to waste the money. Have any of you had similar issues?

[eloquentogre]

Believe it or not, both paragraphs are written in Diamine Sargasso Sea - the second one is much darker because it's a finer line and very very wet (wonderfully so, I love an extra fine nib which pushes ink like it thinks it's a BBB) The camera for some reason makes it look even darker, but it is still a much darker line than the fatter nib pretending to be XF

[pkoko]

Very nice picture... I would love to get a second analysis with another ink. How about a Blue-Black?

 

Also where exactly are TWSBI nibs made?

[eloquentogre]

TWSBI uses JoWo nibs now, but early on used Bock. Both are in Germany. I don't have a blue black, but I've got a dark blue (Diamine Regency Blue) inbound within a few days, I'll try that. Also, I am an idiot, the first sample was with Diamine Sargasso Sea, and the second with Diamine Majestic Blue, and I'm not sure about their relative wetness, so I do need to get the same ink in the two. I'll do so when Regency arrives

[ScienceChick]

Unwanted nib units can easily be sold in the classifieds.

[eloquentogre]

I loaded up my Vac 700's with Noodler's Midnight and wrote up a new comparison

[eloquentogre]

And here is a link to imgur for the full sized image, since that one seems to be compressed down to a mess... http://imgur.com/fpngallery/AUGUue2

[Water Ouzel]

As mentioned above, Vac 700's may come with either a Jowo nib (current production) or a Bock (early production). I've heard that some of the very first ones had a Schmidt, but I've never seen one.

 

Being German nibs, they'll tend to be about a size bigger than Japanese pens, and even there they may be a bit variable.

 

I've got two 700's; one is fitted with an EF Bock, adjusted a bit for more flow, and it's the smoothest EF pen I've got. The other is currently fitted with an F Jowo, ground by Pendleton Brown as a cursive italic.

 

It's easy to adjust the nib for more or less flow, by the way. You're not stuck with whatever a nib writes like out of the box.