Sailor Nib Sweet Spot

[kikopens]

I was thinking of getting a Sailor Pro Gear Slim in Broad nib. Whats keeping me from adding it to the cart is the sweet spot issue about Sailor nibs. In numerous posts I have heard Sailor Medium and broader nibs have a definite "step" to the nib tipping which gives the typical Sailor smoothness-feedback balance.

 

Provided I won't be rotating the pen, the thing is the writing angle. I hold my pen with a standard tripod grip at an angle of 45 degrees. I heard Sailor nibs have to be held at lower angles. Is 45 degrees low enough or is it going to scratch instead of giving its signature feedback?

 

P.S- I don't want to buy and send it a nibmeister to smoothen the "step" out. I would I go with the default "step" to the Sailor pen or won't go for it.

[A Smug Dill]

  On 8/7/2019 at 8:39 AM, Arijitdutta said:

P.S- I don't want to buy and send it a nibmeister to smoothen the "step" out. I would I go with the default "step" to the Sailor pen or won't go for it.

So go to a bricks-and-mortar fountain pen store in your locality instead and try one out physically, first-hand. That's not to say I'm suggesting that your don't buy from them if you decide you wanted one but then order online for a cheaper price for the same item; that's entirely your call, and up to you to resolve between your personal priorities.

[Honeybadgers]

  On 8/7/2019 at 9:57 AM, A Smug Dill said:

So go to a bricks-and-mortar fountain pen store in your locality instead and try one out physically, first-hand. That's not to say I'm suggesting that your don't buy from them if you decide you wanted one but then order online for a cheaper price for the same item; that's entirely your call, and up to you to resolve between your personal priorities.

 

 

I don't think there's actually a single physical vendor for sailor products in all of india, Gil.

 

I haven't noticed a real sweet spot in either my M or my zoom 21k sailor nibs. The feedback they have is in their grind.

 

None of my sailor nibs at all require a specific angle apart from the zoom (obviously) and fude nibs.

[DonM]

  On 8/7/2019 at 8:39 AM, Arijitdutta said:

I was thinking of getting a Sailor Pro Gear Slim in Broad nib. Whats keeping me from adding it to the cart is the sweet spot issue about Sailor nibs. In numerous posts I have heard Sailor Medium and broader nibs have a definite "step" to the nib tipping which gives the typical Sailor smoothness-feedback balance.

 

Provided I won't be rotating the pen, the thing is the writing angle. I hold my pen with a standard tripod grip at an angle of 45 degrees. I heard Sailor nibs have to be held at lower angles. Is 45 degrees low enough or is it going to scratch instead of giving its signature feedback?

 

P.S- I don't want to buy and send it a nibmeister to smoothen the "step" out. I would I go with the default "step" to the Sailor pen or won't go for it.

 

What you state is quite interesting, as I have never heard of these issues in regard to Sailor before this. And I don't have any of these issues with any of my Sailors. I have the same hold as you describe and even when I rotate the nib I don't have any issues.

[A Smug Dill]

  On 8/7/2019 at 10:04 AM, Honeybadgers said:

I don't think there's actually a single physical vendor for sailor products in all of india,

William Penn, which apparently has 28 stores in India, surely must have some actual stock in-store of Sailor products it sells online?

Edited August 8, 2019 by A Smug Dill

[TheDutchGuy]

A good Sailor nib has a particular kind of feedback that many people like (or even adore) but some don't. Perhaps it's an idea to take some to hunt for a very good deal, i.e. on Ebay. That way, if you don't like the pen, you can re-sell it without losing much money (if at all). Having said that, a Pro Gear Slim is an outstanding pen and there's a good chance that you'll grow to like the feedback.

[TheDutchGuy]

As far as sweet spot issues, angle issues or rotation issues... with Sailor nibs, I haven't really noticed any.

[senzen]

I use my H-M Pro Gear at the same angle as my other 29 pens, works fine, I've never felt like it needs special handling.

[BaronWulfraed]

  On 8/7/2019 at 10:04 AM, Honeybadgers said:

I haven't noticed a real sweet spot in either my M or my zoom 21k sailor nibs. The feedback they have is in their grind.

 

Given that the zoom is supposed to vary the line size based upon the angle to the paper, I wouldn't expect it to have a "sweet spot". Left/right roll, OTOH... I can visualize the broader end might lift the slit far enough to lose the meniscus/surface tension of the ink.

[Olya]

Writing angle is less of an issue than rotating the nib, but even so you should be fine.

[Honeybadgers]

  On 8/7/2019 at 3:32 PM, BaronWulfraed said:

 

Given that the zoom is supposed to vary the line size based upon the angle to the paper, I wouldn't expect it to have a "sweet spot". Left/right roll, OTOH... I can visualize the broader end might lift the slit far enough to lose the meniscus/surface tension of the ink.

 

I say sweet spot because if you want it to write at a specific line width, it has to be held at a specific angle. That's different from a ball nib, so whatever width you like will be within a very small "Sweet spot" of vertical angle.

[Jezza]

I've owned quite a few Sailor nibs. The broad should not pose much of an issue for you. The foot or flat spot you mentioned seemed most prominent on the fine and fine-medium nibs. I had a broad on a King of Pens and also a Sapparo; neither had a noticeable flat spot.

[Intensity]

I haven’t noticed any “sweet spot” with my 14K Sailor extra fine nib. It’s surprisingly smooth for such a fine tip, with very pleasant soft feedback. It’s the kind on nib one shouldn’t exert any pressure on.

Edited August 8, 2019 by Intensity

[A Smug Dill]

  On 8/7/2019 at 2:41 PM, TheDutchGuy said:

As far as sweet spot issues, angle issues or rotation issues... with Sailor nibs, I haven't really noticed any.

Me neither.

[ENewton]

  On 8/8/2019 at 5:09 AM, Intensity said:

I haven’t noticed any “sweet spot” with my 14K Sailor extra fine nib. It’s surprisingly smooth for such a fine tip, with very pleasant soft feedback. It’s the kind on nib one shouldn’t exert any pressure on.

 

 

I have a fine but am similarly impressed.

[almoore]

Hi

 

I have a Pro Gear Imperial Black (M nib) and I haven't noticed any sweet spot issues; other than finding the nib a bit finer than I prefer it's been a very nice pen to use.

 

Al

[A Smug Dill]

  On 8/7/2019 at 11:02 PM, Honeybadgers said:

I say sweet spot because if you want it to write at a specific line width, it has to be held at a specific angle. That's different from a ball nib, so whatever width you like will be within a very small "Sweet spot" of vertical angle.

That could also mean that, with a "ball nib", you might not be able to get the line width you like at any angle you hold the pen from the page. I think I prefer controllable variability.

 

[Intensity]

Now that I have the Music (MS) nib, I see that it has a "sweet spot" at a pretty high, near-vertical angle by design. Apparently it's supposed to be held pretty vertically and also rotated about 90 degrees to write like an architect nib. It can write at a lower angle and normal writing rotation, but not very well when not near vertical, at least in my nib's case--there are hard starts. I'll practice with it more or have it adjusted to be more like a normal stub/CI. Otherwise it's a very interesting nib, and I like it a lot. The near-vertical angle is not very uncomfortable either, given the small size of my pen. The EF nib doesn't have any sweet spot and writes perfectly at any angle I've tried it with.

Edited August 12, 2019 by Intensity

[BaronWulfraed]

Well... If one were to actually use the pen for music, one would be turning it all over the place... Consider the whole note: Pen would be held - so the left/right sides of the note head are thick, and the top and bottom are thin. But then -- for a half note, after doing said note head, one would turn the pen | to draw the stem. And then we get to notes with flags -- wherein one would start the flag | and rotate to / as the flag is curved to the end.

[Intensity]

  On 8/12/2019 at 6:24 PM, BaronWulfraed said:

Well... If one were to actually use the pen for music, one would be turning it all over the place... Consider the whole note: Pen would be held - so the left/right sides of the note head are thick, and the top and bottom are thin. But then -- for a half note, after doing said note head, one would turn the pen | to draw the stem. And then we get to notes with flags -- wherein one would start the flag | and rotate to / as the flag is curved to the end.

 

The turning about the vertical axis is no problem. It's the lowering of that axis toward 45 degrees -- or even 60 degrees -- that starts resulting in hard starts. 90-75 degrees vertical is okay, everything else is problematic with my nib. I had read about Sailor Music nibs' tipping being cut for vertical orientation, but didn't realize they were not going to be friendly for regular writing. At least mine is not. Otherwise though it's really nice -- juicy and with just a soft amount of feedback. I had tried both Pilot Custom and Platinum 3776 Music nibs, and they don't have this issue--both write well in normal orientation like general stubs.

Edited August 12, 2019 by Intensity