Dailyitalic 0.5 Mm Custom Grind Of Vanishing Point Nib

April 29, 2019

Hi,

This is a quick review of the DailyItalic custom grind from Indy-Pen-Dance of the Pilot Vanishing Point (VP) nib I received recently.

The nib is the usual rhodium 18K gold that the VP line is known for.

Some respected pen person (RPP) named Susan Wirth suggested that an Italic grind is game changer of an upgrade to one's pen enjoyment. Having only seen videos of her enthusiasm, I researched and found more RPPs in Mike and Linda at Indy-Pen-Dance whose work in nibs was well received and respected in the community.

I've never had a nib ground and all my pens with exception of a few ebay vintage ones, have wrote out of the box to my liking.

Nevertheless my endeared Pilot Fermo F seemed like the perfect candidate as the capless system ingeniously allows easy exchanges with the whole housing of nib, feed, ink holder between units. No screwing around, pulling of tines and what not.

Indy-Pen-Dance DailyItalic appealed to my beginner sensibilities as it allows an easy transition from normal to slight line variation.

I fully understood that a fine grind would be subtle as I tend to run/enjoy that line range.

Indeed the line variation is subtle but perfect for my needs since I have many fine nibs already. The feel is even more smooth than the original untouched Vanishing Point nib.

DailyItalic is described as a grind between cursive and stub italic

On magnification, the DailyItalic appears similiar to Mike Masuyama Rounded Nose Cursive Italic.

Is it worth it? For me, yes, a great intro to grinds.

Would I do it again? Yes, but maybe to a nib that needed tuning and I would hold off on ordering now as the vendor is recovering.

Overall, I am very pleased by the smooth forgiving writing experience with the subtle line variation that the DailyItalic offers. It really is a daily writing italic.

April 30, 2019

It's probably just the cursive, but I can't really tell the nib is a stub.

April 30, 2019

My initial reaction as well, but if one looks carefully at the lower right image, one can discern the subtle variation the OP refers to.

May 4, 2019

I guess the variation in line is very subtle...

May 4, 2019

It is subtle, but it gives just a little line variation while still being a good daily writer. Some stub nibs are just not practical for every day usage. Enjoy your new nib!

May 5, 2019

Thank you for the responses; caveat emptor!

My poor cursive, small 0.5 mm grind and 2D image rendering is probably not doing DailyItalic line variation justice. Plus a different ink might show up differences.

Like most things in fountain pen land, you know it when you feel it.

I ordered 0.5 mm on purpose to retain my finer line preference and that is what I got. The added bonus was the smoothness. I've swapped the nibs many times to check against the psychological artifact of buyer delusion, but it's there and I'm quite satisfied or deluded.

It definitely is worth a try at a pen meetup if someone has that grind.

Caveat emptor!