Penbbs Extra Fine Nibs

[A Smug Dill]

I just don't get along with PenBBS's bent F nibs, that seem to be what the company fits on its pen models by default. While those nibs are capable of leaving a very narrow line of ink when the pen is held almost vertically when writing, even with my normal pen hold angle of around 60°–65° to the page, the lines are too broad for my tastes or for me to accept the nibs as legitimately 'Fine'.

It annoys me that PenBBS makes and sells EF nibs separately, but I've never seen it offered as a factory-fitted option. Furthermore, they are difficult to get on AliExpress and especially eBay, so effectively one has to order directly from Beini on Etsy if one wants a finer nib, for which she then charges international shipping (with a marginal increase per unit ordered) no matter how much in goods you're prepared to buy on a single order. That's not how I like to do things as an online shopper.

So, it took me a lot of umming and ahing, and in conjunction with the occasion that I was ordering two PenBBS 355 Mark II (or "improved version") on Etsy, that I tacked on a couple of additional EF nibs sold housed in ("Model 353") acrylic pendants. For the asking price, it's not bad considering each unit consists of a nib, a feed, a plastic housing for them and two O-rings to fit around it; I just don't like paying postage, even if sometimes I buy an extra $400 "worth" of goods I don't really need to avoid a $30 shipping charge on a $100 item, and so on.

Was it worth the money and the agonising?



Well, the PenBBS EF nibs are not great, but they are fit for purpose in terms of line width, even if the out-of-the-box ink flow or "wetness" leaves something to be desired. In the past I've been buying (on eBay, with "free shipping") bags of spare parts to create replacement nib units for my PenBBS pens using Nemosine nibs; but, with Nemosine now out of business, that's no longer an ongoing option.

Note:
All the writing samples above were done with the same (model 309) pen and same fill of ink. The F nibs designated (5) and (6) came with the two new model 355 pens that I haven't flushed, cleaned or inked until today, let alone fiddle with to smoothen, make wetter or reduce their nib width. The F nibs designated (4) and (7) came with model 308 and 309 pens I bought last year; in particular I may have fiddled with (4) to make it write more finely.

[Mech-for-i]

well actually there are various models and versions come factory fitted with the EF nib, got a few myself , but most of theirs come with the default F as stated alright

[A Smug Dill]

I don't recall seeing any versions or variants of models 308, 309 and 355 listed with (#6) EF nibs on eBay or AliExpress. Maybe I wasn't looking hard enough or often enough over the past year. Out of curiosity, which models are offered with factory-fitted with EF nibs as an available option (even if only for limited variants)?

 

By the way, I just discovered to my disappointment that PenBBS nibs won't fit the Nemosine Fission pens, in which the nib housing is keyed for nibs with stems of a particular width, because the PenBBS nibs are too wide across. What a shame; my remaining two Nemosine Fission pens will have to remain nib-less (and therefore not fit for giving away) for now.

Edited August 4, 2020 by A Smug Dill

[Mech-for-i]

Just out of my head I recall they did offer EF and Round Fine also on 323 and 491, and on and off sometime seen on 308, had not come upon any on the 309, it might jus be me not checking , but do seen them with the vac 456 an then 352 , I think I've seen EF on 355 also ( orginal version ) but am not sure. Definitely seen EF on 500 but they probably sold out quick. in particular the Aluminum 323 were offered in the default F, round F and round M but not the EF

[effrafax]

Have a look at Fountain Pen Revolution for spare #6 nibs for your Nemosines. They're reasonably priced, free shipping for international orders over USD75, and the EF Ultra Flex is excellent fun. I'd also heartily recommend their 6-pen leather wrap which is great value (I have two).

 

https://fprevolutionusa.com/

 

Usual disclaimer applies, just a happy customer.

[A Smug Dill]

@effrafax Kevin is a perfect gentleman with whom to do business, and I'm happy with the customer service I got. However, I already have more than a handful of FPR pens, which frankly I just about never use these days, because their converters smell and have a tendency to leak at the mouth in spite of being threaded and screwed on, and their caps haven't proven to be very effective at sealing and preventing ink evaporation over several weeks.

 

While that actually says nothing about the quality of FPR's #6 nibs, I'm now unlikely to put together enough of an order to make the US$75 free shipping threshold. Besides, I'm actually looking to get rid of my currently nib-less Nemosine Fission pens (and preferably not out with the garbage), because I don't like holding or writing with them at all. I suppose I could just order four Jinhao X450 nibs from AliExpress for something like A$6 shipped. I do have a few unopened Nemosine Singularity obsidian demonstrators (all with F nibs), that can serve as nib donors, but that would be overkill. Besides, I personally think the Singularity is a nicer pen to use, notwithstanding that it is cheaper and less physically robust than the Fission.

 

That's why I was hoping the PenBBS bent F nib would fit the Fission, so that someone can have a better-than-Jinhao-X?50 pen body as a glorified #6 nib holder — I know some people have reviewed the Fission favourably, and so there are users who might like those pens much better than I do — as well as see whether a PenBBS bent F nib is something they can live with or even like, if they've never had a PenBBS pen before.

 

Thank you for the suggestion all the same.

[A Smug Dill]

One "good" thing about the default PenBBS bent F nib is that I feel more confident about regrinding it to have an italic nib myself, on account of the shape of its tipping. Which is what I just did to the nib designated (7), and while the results are far from ideal — of which the exemplar would be the Pelikan M600 nib that Dan Smith customised for me — it's now a whole lot more "usable", or at least enticing for me to use.

 

I had to change the housing around the nib and feed, though. Most of my PenBBS pens came with clear housing units, and I have a few from the first pack of PenBBS spare parts I bought (on eBay, not directly from Beini on Etsy) as well; half of them now exhibit stress fractures lengthwise. The one around this nib was probably from my oldest PenBBS 308, and show three cracks (two near the edges of the nib stem, and one at the bottom of the feed, which allowed ink to seek into the gripping section. I bought a second pack of spare parts when I placed an order with Beini recently, and I note that the housing units therein are translucent (and appears to be a different type of plastic), and the feeds grey instead of black.

[tomhoats]

This is a little late to the discussion but I swapped a TWSBI EF nib for the PenBBS 456 F nib. It worked fine. The TWSBI nib is a little shorter than normal Jowo #6 nibs and this made it a better fit on the PenBBS feed. TWSBI replacement nibs are easy to get.