Finally, a non-Japanese competitor to Platinum's EF (or UEF?) nibs

[A Smug Dill]

The writing of the dragon snake may be natural, but the wording of the statement certainly isn't.

 

I was ‘researching’ and browsing for something else, when I came across this:

 

Source: Item listing on Taobao

 

The endless scroll of marketing images in the item listing say, among other things:

Source: Item listing on Taobao

 

This looks like marketing collateral that came straight from Jinhao, and not advertising some after-market nib work. So, after all this time, it looks like a fountain pen manufacturer has finally stepped up to the challenge, and produce a very fine nib for a line width that is in the range Platinum previously published for its EF nibs, that is a standard option for the pen model and not custom ground. You can even order the nib in any of four different coloured finishes! The finest Chinese nib I've seen marketed to date, before this, is nominally 0.35mm EF (even though most Chinese EF nibs are nominally 0.38mm). As for nibs bearing European and American fountain pen brands, I don't think I've seen any brand advertise or commit to even 0.3mm. Parker speaks of an Extra Extra Fine nib that is available (specially produced on demand) only through its nib exchange programme, but in my experience that product is nowhere near fit for purpose.

 

How this Jinhao nib — which, to my pleasant surprise, is labelled Extra Fine but not Extra Extra Fine or Ultra Extra Fine, while 0.35mm is Medium Fine, and so it is now adopting something closer to what nib width grades mean for Japanese nibs — will actually perform awaits to be seen; but I have every confidence it will better than what Parker can do.

 

[Inkysloth]

"So fine you will scream" is one hell of a claim. I'm sold! 

[bunnspecial]

My curiosity might get the better of me and have me ordering one of these. I have a strange relationship with these ultra-fine nibs(a term I just made up to generically describe uncommonly fine nibs) but they do have their place for me.

 

Most recently, I ended up buying a Decimo that had been ground to a needlepoint. I don't know the exact spec size, but if that particular nib grinder uses Richard Binder's sizes( http://www.richardspens.com/pdf/strokewidths.pdf ) it's .2mm. I had a Parker 51 that was roughly that fine(maybe a tiny bit wider) but it was a terrible writing nib-51 nibs IME are best in Accountant and larger points. I've been enjoying this Decimo a lot both for making margin notes on things like my attendance rosters(one of my best applications for ultra-fine) and just endlessly amusing myself by writing with an X-height of 1-1.5mm in my normal hand and having it actually be perfectly legible under magnification.

 

In any case, if this nib lives up to writing THAT fine, I may be venturing into the world of Jinhaos to try it. If I wanted another nib somewhat resembling this Decimo, aside from buying the pen itself I'd easily spend $50-100 and wait potentially a couple of months to have it turned into a nib this fine...