Thinnest Line

[Newbietime]

Could someone recommend a fountain pen under $100 that can write as thinly as a micron 005?

 

I just bought a platinum carbon desk EF, and I am disappointed at how thick the line is.

[Newbietime]

Perhaps nibs that thin dont exist. How about one that make a lines like a micron 001 for under $100?

Edited September 2, 2018 by Newbietime

[Newbietime]

I meant like a Micron 01. If that doesnt exist, what is the thinnest nib that can be purchased for under $100?

[ErrantSmudge]

The Pilot Penmanship has an extra-fine nib that puts down a very thin line and costs less than $10. I don't know if it is thinner than a Micron 01 but it's not a big risk to try.

[Newbietime]

Thanks but I think the Pilot Penmanship has been discontinued.

[Olya]

Thanks but I think the Pilot Penmanship has been discontinued.

No, it's been renamend "Plumix"!

 

I doubt you'll find a nib that writes as fine a line as you want... You'd basically need a needle, because traditional tippings need a bit of material to cover and protect the nib itself and enough material to at least somewhat smoothly glide over the paper.

 

The Platinum 3776 Century in UEF might be worth a try (at your budget you need to order from Japan though), but again I doubt it'll be quite that fine.

[Karmachanic]

Buy a TWSBi/Lamy and have Pablo grind you a needle. Doubt that you'll get .005 though. Email him and ask what he can do for you.

Edited September 2, 2018 by Karmachanic

[SoulSamurai]

Buy a TWSBi/Lamy and have Pablo grind you a needle. Doubt that you'll get .005 though. Email him and ask what he can do for you.

According to the regrinding page on his site (https://www.fpnibs.com/content/9-regrinding) his xxxf nib is 0.1mm. I think you can specify the xxxf grind on any ef nif on his site; on a standard steel Jowo nib unit it costs around $30 total I believe. I've actually just ordered one, I'm still waiting for it to arrive.

 

BTW what do you need the nib for? Art, technical drawings maybe?

 

Oh, and remember of course that line thickness depends on ink and paper as well.

Edited September 2, 2018 by SoulSamurai

[LizEF]

A Sakura Pigma Micron 005 has a line width of .2mm. A 01 has a .25mm line width.

 

I think a Platunum UEF is what you want, but keep in mind that with fountain pens, the paper, ink, and writing pressure make a big difference. A cheaper alternative might be a Zebra G nib, but you'll have to replace it as it corrodes.

[Honeybadgers]

the finest nib money can buy that isn't a custom job is about $70, and that's the platinum 3776 Ultra Extra Fine. it's about that fine. Maybe not THAT fine, but it'll write a novel in the margins of a bible.

Edited September 2, 2018 by Honeybadgers

[Bo Bo Olson]

Do you lend out your Honking Big magnifying Glass so others can read what you have written?

You of course need the most vivid supersaturated, dry ink on the market.....and a very, very slick paper. The dryer the ink, the narrower the line, the slicker the paper the narrower the line.

The driest ink...Pelikan 4001 won't work....the black is gray with super skinny inks on poor paper.

....so narrow a nib makes it's own problems.

 

It's often normal that 'noobies' come on, and wish a XXXF in Japanese = XXXXF in Western. That is baby spiderwebs. ....Young posters with 20-10 eyes.

Pilot is the skinny Japanese nib, Sailor the fat one.

 

Unlike a ball point a fountain pen floats on a small to tiny puddle of ink................I'd expect such a super narrow nib to be major scratchy...in the nib will have to hunt for the ink to float on. ....if you can keep it on the sweet spot.

 

By the way a fountain pen is held after the big index knuckle, not before, it like some non-gel ball points....that make the puddle much bigger and the grand canyons dug through the paper from holding the pen too high, much smaller.

 

I'd go over to ball points before I attempted to write that narrow..........I'd have more fun.

My god....I've used Ball Points and fun in the same sentence!!!

 

 

Yep, fun is a big part of fountain pens....

We are living in the Golden Age Of Inks...all sorts of shades and hues....which you won't get so skinny.....and do ask what ink works best in hairline writing.

Edited September 3, 2018 by Bo Bo Olson

[ethernautrix]

I have a Platinum 14kt UEF nib and a Platinum Bounce steel EF nib, and the steel EF writes a thinner line. It's my finest-(thinnest)-writing nib. The Bounce is the steel-nib model of the 3776 and costs ~$40.

[pajaro]

Do you lend out your Honking Big magnifying Glass so others can read what you have written?

You of course need the most vivid supersaturated, dry ink on the market.....and a very, very slick paper. The dryer the ink, the narrower the line, the slicker the paper the narrower the line.

The driest ink...Pelikan 4001 won't work....the black is gray with super skinny inks on poor paper.

....so narrow a nib makes it's own problems.

 

It's often normal that 'noobies' come on, and wish a XXXF in Japanese = XXXXF in Western. That is baby spiderwebs. ....Young posters with 20-10 eyes.

Pilot is the skinny Japanese nib, Sailor the fat one.

 

Unlike a ball point a fountain pen floats on a small to tiny puddle of ink................I'd expect such a super narrow nib to be major scratchy...in the nib will have to hunt for the ink to float on. ....if you can keep it on the sweet spot.

 

By the way a fountain pen is held after the big index knuckle, not before, it like some non-gel ball points....that make the puddle much bigger and the grand canyons dug through the paper from holding the pen too high, much smaller.

 

I'd go over to ball points before I attempted to write that narrow..........I'd have more fun.

My god....I've used Ball Points and fun in the same sentence!!!

 

 

Yep, fun is a big part of fountain pens....

We are living in the Golden Age Of Inks...all sorts of shades and hues....which you won't get so skinny.....and do ask what ink works best in hairline writing.

 

For some people, the fun is all in the long, thin line. I get it, but not everyone will.

 

For me EF is sufficient, but I might consider the exuberance of the thinner line.

[Honeybadgers]

I have a Platinum 14kt UEF nib and a Platinum Bounce steel EF nib, and the steel EF writes a thinner line. It's my finest-(thinnest)-writing nib. The Bounce is the steel-nib model of the 3776 and costs ~$40.

 

I had to return my first UEF because it was ground super weirdly, was unusably dry and wrote like an architect nib. Second one was like drawing with the tip of a needle.

 

the QC on the UEF is definitely not as good as the rest of the line, since grinding a nib that fine takes a LOT of work and skill.

[Uncial]

Do Sailor still offer the superfine nib? I got one in a pro gear Imperial by accident and it was quite a revelation. I haven't tried the Platinum to compare but it is by far the thinnest line of any pen I've ever used.

[Honeybadgers]

If they do, it's a custom order.

[ethernautrix]

 

I had to return my first UEF because it was ground super weirdly, was unusably dry and wrote like an architect nib. Second one was like drawing with the tip of a needle.

 

the QC on the UEF is definitely not as good as the rest of the line, since grinding a nib that fine takes a LOT of work and skill.

Huh. I have only one UEF, and I like it, but it doesn't write as finely as my Pilot PO nib which is just a skotch (how is skosch spelled? Skotsch?) (Skoh... scoh... I don't know, haha) "broader" than the Platinum steel EF. (Scoach? Skohch? <laughing; vexed but laughing. I don't wanna ask Google. I want the answer to wake me from a sound sleep.>

 

Anyway, the Platinum UEF is the only UEF I've had, acquired last year and transplanted to a Nakaya. Except maybe my first Nakaya ten years ago, maybe I ordered the UEF but hadn't worked my way down to such a fine nib so I had to exchange it immediately.

 

Now, though, Nakaya Fs seem kindv wide.

 

I think if I'd gotten an UEF that writes sortv like an architect's nib, I'd just rotate the pen in my grip until the horizontal line was thinner than the vertical. But proportionate as an UEF or EF nib. That actually sounds interesting....

[Bo Bo Olson]

Wasn't that the long thin red line????

Sort of British I believe.

 

Many folks come into fountain pens and go narrow.....others like me went wide. I find vintage German EF to be as narrow as I want to go***.....that's half a width narrower than modern Euro, out side of Aurora, which has remained narrow............nearly Sailor narrow from my reading.

 

*** Vintage semi&Maxi-semi-flex, so I can get wider with only the thought of it. ...Do have two regular flex EF on the semi-vintage width.......which is what I think is called 'soft' in Japanese pens.

 

I had to be dragged screaming and kicking into F, in when in the Pen of the Week in the Mail Club, often looking for a place holder in a brand, all they had was F.

 

Do avoid that club, don't join the Pen of the Month either. One gets a much better and more researched pen, in Pen of the Quarter Club.

Edited September 3, 2018 by Bo Bo Olson

[mitto]

A Parker 61 with a needlepoint nib.

[Rose Nibs]

Get a technical pen with a .13 mm point. That's fine enough.