The Twsbi Eco And Fpnibs.com - A Great Combination

[Jamerelbe]

I've been intending for some time to put up a brief post about the TWSBI Eco as a great pen for nib swapping - but with general busy-ness it's never quite happened, till now.

 

When people started buying the TWSBI Eco, and looking into nib swapping options, two things were immediately apparent: first, that the pen lent itself to this kind of activity, given the ease with which nib and feed can be removed; and second, that TWSBI didn't seem interested in selling nibs to swap in to this pen. What makes this a little maddening is that the Eco nib is quite clearly the same as for the TWSBI Diamond Mini, Vac Mini, and Classic pens - but the nib assemblies for these pens aren't exactly cheap, and the nib and feed are jammed in so tight that the risk of damaging the feed is pretty high.

 

My first thought was to try the nibs I already had on hand, from Fountain Pen Revolution - which are great, smooth, and inexpensive nibs. But there was a problem (in my experience at least): the nibs sat a little proud of the feed, and ink flow was poor to non-existent. Others more enterprising than me have gotten around this by heat setting the nib and feed - but plastic feeds (apparently) aren't as amenable to this as ebonite, and I wasn't game to try it. Besides, that would require me to re-heat-set the feed if I wanted to reinstall the original nib.

 

My second thought was to try some Bock #5 nibs I had lying around - but these, frankly, were too small and very ill-fitting.

 

Enter fpnibs.com, a small Spanish-based company run by Pablo Carrasco and Esther Durán who buy, customise and sell JoWo nibs - including the kind of nibs that TWSBI use in their Eco, Mini etc. For an amazingly low price (~€6), you can buy a plain stainless steel nib that will fit perfectly; for maybe another €0,50 you can buy the same nib with ruthenium coating. Add to that the amazingly low prices on their custom grinds, and suddenly the Eco becomes an exceptionally versatile pen.

 

Here's a snap of my collection - most of it, anyway (note the 4 top nibs are generic JoWos' the bottom 3 are TWSBI nibs for comparison):

 

http://i.imgur.com/wMCtTfW.jpg

 

Here's a close-up of the custom grinds I requested on three of the nibs - two cursive italics and an architect grind:

 

http://i.imgur.com/OHYofyv.jpg

 

A side-on and and an under-side shot of the architect nib, for completeness (please forgive the poor focus):

 

http://i.imgur.com/KFutS0i.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/OnMbAqK.jpg

 

I've been extremely impressed with the quality of these nibs - both the stock nibs and the custom grinds. So much so, that I recently ordered two #6 nibs (stainless steel), to add to my collection - plus the rhodium-plated gold B nib for a Diamond 580 that sparked my initial interest in Pablo's workmanship. Standard disclaimer, I've received no freebies of any kind from this company - but am more than happy to recommend them to anyone interested in customising their TWSBI (or other) pens.

 

Feel free to ask any questions - sorry I haven't got any recent photos of these nibs in action, but I've been away on holiday and (two of) my Ecos stayed home...

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited October 17, 2016 by Jamerelbe

[Jamerelbe]

Forgot to mention: prices on the website include 19%VAT, which is deducted for non-European customers, once you indicate your postal address. International postage is also very reasonable, at least to Australia: I think I paid €6 each time I ordered - for 2-3 nibs each time.

[cleosmama]

Forgive my ignorance, but what is the benefit of the ruthenium coating? Do the gold nibs they sell all have ruthenium coating?

 

I appreciate your explanation.

[Jamerelbe]

Forgive my ignorance, but what is the benefit of the ruthenium coating? Do the gold nibs they sell all have ruthenium coating?

 

I appreciate your explanation.

Like any coating on a nib (including gold coating on a stainless steel nib!), the effect is aesthetic. Ruthenium coating produces a dark, gun-metal look, rhodium plating provides a shiny silver / chrome look.

 

You can certainly order a plain gold nib from Fpnibs.com - I asked for rhodium plating so the gold nib would blend with the chrome fittings on my TWSBI Diamond 580.

[Angel91]

In fact, I'm really happy of their work. I use one of their 1.1 Eco stubs, so good.

 

And their other custom grinds are great. They're a a very reliable company.

[EBUCKTHORN]

I, too, have been very pleased with the fpnibs.com for my Minis. I recall that their service was top-notch too.

[Jamerelbe]

I, too, have been very pleased with the fpnibs.com for my Minis. I recall that their service was top-notch too.

 

If you buy the whole nib assembly for the Diamond (and Vac) Mini, you're supposed to be able to screw the nibs straight in (after swapping a washer or two across, if recollection serves) - the feed holder has more of a 'tail' at the bottom end, but the threads line up OK. Did you find that worked for you, or did you swap the nibs into the assembly provided by TWSBI?

[EBUCKTHORN]

Entire assembly.

[scooterss]

Would love to see a writing sample from each.

[Jamerelbe]

Would love to see a writing sample from each.

 

Sure thing - please excuse the handwriting! These were scrawled a bit too quickly!

 

[scooterss]

Sure thing - please excuse the handwriting! These were scrawled a bit too quickly!

 

2016-10-18 15.32.58.jpg

Thanks for the quick sample! I am liking the architect nib a lot, have a problem now...