Architect's Nib -- Thoughts?

March 10, 2017

It's the entry-level nib, certainly, and there are nibs with a great deal more engineering to produce line variation, but I've found that I don't care for a really really broad line. Pure personal preference, but this nib is about as broad as I care to use.

Unfortunately, you have to pay out some serious money to discover what your preference is.

April 5, 2017

Years ago, I bought a Waterman L'Etalon with an extra-fine nib that behaved somewhat like a architect's grind, but much finer than the examples seen in this thread. The nib did not have the triangular shape of the typical architect's grind, but instead looked like an elongated oval, so that its vertical strokes were narrower than the horizontal. It was very smooth and wrote beautifully. Unfortunately, that nib was damaged. I bought many replacement L'Etalon EFs, but none of them were like the original. I loved that nib, and would like to have something just like it.

I have a Montblanc 149 EF that has a little wider horizontal stroke than vertical stroke, and I have read of other MB EFs that are that way, but the line variation is not quite as much as what I'm looking for.

My question is, can an architect's grind be performed on a fine or EF nib? Most nibmeisters appear not to want to do one on anything smaller than a medium. Anyone who has experience with this sort of grind on a narrow nib, please comment! I plan to take some pens to shows this year to see what the nibmeisters there can do. I love stubs, obliques, cursive italics, and other specialty nibs, so I'm used to adapting to their quirks.

April 5, 2017

Years ago, I bought a Waterman L'Etalon with an extra-fine nib that behaved somewhat like a architect's grind, but much finer than the examples seen in this thread. The nib did not have the triangular shape of the typical architect's grind, but instead looked like an elongated oval, so that its vertical strokes were narrower than the horizontal. It was very smooth and wrote beautifully. Unfortunately, that nib was damaged. I bought many replacement L'Etalon EFs, but none of them were like the original. I loved that nib, and would like to have something just like it.

I have a Montblanc 149 EF that has a little wider horizontal stroke than vertical stroke, and I have read of other MB EFs that are that way, but the line variation is not quite as much as what I'm looking for.

My question is, can an architect's grind be performed on a fine or EF nib? Most nibmeisters appear not to want to do one on anything smaller than a medium. Anyone who has experience with this sort of grind on a narrow nib, please comment! I plan to take some pens to shows this year to see what the nibmeisters there can do. I love stubs, obliques, cursive italics, and other specialty nibs, so I'm used to adapting to their quirks.

As a general rule, the answer is 'no': fine and extra-fine nibs don't have enough tipping for an architect grind to provide sufficient vertical-vs-horizontal line variation. It would be a similar story for creating a stub or cursive italic nib from a F/EF.

That said, if your F nib runs to the broader end of the spectrum, it still may be possible - that's something to take up with the nibmeisters you encounter at the various shows!

April 5, 2017

As a general rule, the answer is 'no': fine and extra-fine nibs don't have enough tipping for an architect grind to provide sufficient vertical-vs-horizontal line variation. It would be a similar story for creating a stub or cursive italic nib from a F/EF.

That said, if your F nib runs to the broader end of the spectrum, it still may be possible - that's something to take up with the nibmeisters you encounter at the various shows!

+1

Yes , there's not enough tipping to shape an archts nib there

The bigger the blob at the nib tip, the more room the nibmeister has to properly shape the nib.

April 11, 2017

Yesterday I received a Platinum 3776 Black Diamond in rhodium trim. I ordered it from nibs.com with a medium nib and architect's grind. There are two things about this nib that I don't like. It has to be held a lot more vertically than I'm used to in order to get the maximum line variation. It's also extremely rough, much more than normal feedback, when moving laterally. The nib does appear to be aligned properly. I'm going to take it to DC to see if Mike Masuyama can turn it into something usable. If it can be made to write smoothly at my writing angle, it should be a great pen.

May 11, 2017

I have a couple of JoWo nibs (a steel #5 and a steel #6) I purchased from fpnibs.com in Spain, that were customised for me to produce an architect nib. The advantage of this, for me, was that I was able to incorporate these nibs into pens I already owned - and whereas the American 'nibmeisters' I've come across charge up to $40 for this service, fpnibs charge around 10 (on top of the price of the nib). They now also sell Kaweco nibs, Lamy nibs, TWSBI nib units and various others, almost all of which they'll custom grind for you. If you have a pen you already enjoy, and for which they sell an appropriate spare nib, you could do a lot worse than to get in touch with fpnibs.com. I've been very impressed with *all* the customised nibs they've sold me (architect, cursive italic, fine stub, and most recently, a waverly nib).

thanks for the heads up...

i have ordered an archts nib from Pablo

and he asked me to measure my handwriting angle 👍

i didn't expected that 👍😊

so kool this ...

https://youtu.be/AsYr07ghTwE

so THATS how you measure , and rather quite accurately as well !!!!

👍👍👍

can't wait to receive the nibs 😄😄