Hongdian N6 "Titanium" Matte Black Piston Filler

[KidleP]

On 5/9/2022 at 3:46 PM, A Smug Dill said:

 

But how broad is that, specifically or at a minimum? Do you make a distinction between what you require for cross-strokes (or horizontal strokes) as opposed to downstrokes? How tall is the x-height for your handwriting normally, and how ‘bold’ do you like your handwriting to look relative the size of each letter or character?

 

 

My first pen is omniflex nib Monteverde. At first I don't like it because it produce too broad line for me (and because I use cheap paper at that time) , but after switch back and forth between F (Faber castell) , EF (wingsung ), lamy F and EF, and then Jinhao "M" nib , I found that I love M nib. It gave me more "character" to my hand writing. I think the preferred cross Strokes thickness for me is around 0.6-0.8 cm. (Now I am using monteverde with Jinhao M nib)  I haven't try any architect or stub nib yet. I don't know which one I will choose between stub or architect. I did google it and found that stub(narrower cross Strokes , broader vertical strokes)  is the opposite of architect . Not sure which one I like more until I try both. But I like cursive handwriting. Sorry for bad English.

Thanks 😊

[A Smug Dill]

19 hours ago, christionk said:

sorry but i didnt quite understand what a fit-for-purpose ef nib is ? 
if u got lemons with your n6 i guess i just havent got a lemon yet lol

 

19 hours ago, A Smug Dill said:

A nib that puts down extra fine lines of ink on the page for me.

 

 

As you can see from the writing samples above, the HongDian N6's EF nib — and I have two of them, one on an all-black N6 and the other on a gold-black N6 — just doesn't write that finely, compared to other steel EF nibs, including a smaller HongDian steel EF nib.

 

I expect an Extra Fine nib to allow me to write in traditional Chinese, Japanese, and English in a 5mm square grid easily, given that EF is the smallest of the common nib sizes and 5mm grid is the smallest of the common spacing on notepaper (in notepads or notebooks) on which guide marks are already printed. That would generally require being able to draw 13 or 14 parallel, distinct, horizontal lines in a 5mm tall space, accounting for some of the more stroke-dense hanzi/kanji characters.

 

I have more than ten HongDian no.32 EF nibs, and none of them write finely enough to qualify for Extra Fine in my book. With a capability of only 10 to 11 horizontal lines in a 5mm tall space, the counter spaces in more complex hanzi characters may get closed up in spite of my best efforts to keep that from happening.

[A Smug Dill]

10 hours ago, KidleP said:

Not sure which one I like more until I try both. But I like cursive handwriting

 

Cursive handwriting can be done with any type of nib, really, and still give it some character; the type of nib simply changes the character somewhat. Good idea to try as many of them as possible, though.

 

I personally prefer cursive writing in English done with an Italic nib as opposed to an Architect's nib.

[christionk]

6 hours ago, A Smug Dill said:

 

 

 

As you can see from the writing samples above, the HongDian N6's EF nib — and I have two of them, one on an all-black N6 and the other on a gold-black N6 — just doesn't write that finely, compared to other steel EF nibs, including a smaller HongDian steel EF nib.

 

I expect an Extra Fine nib to allow me to write in traditional Chinese, Japanese, and English in a 5mm square grid easily, given that EF is the smallest of the common nib sizes and 5mm grid is the smallest of the common spacing on notepaper (in notepads or notebooks) on which guide marks are already printed. That would generally require being able to draw 13 or 14 parallel, distinct, horizontal lines in a 5mm tall space, accounting for some of the more stroke-dense hanzi/kanji characters.

 

I have more than ten HongDian no.32 EF nibs, and none of them write finely enough to qualify for Extra Fine in my book. With a capability of only 10 to 11 horizontal lines in a 5mm tall space, the counter spaces in more complex hanzi characters may get closed up in spite of my best efforts to keep that from happening.

i see what you mean then.
i found out that the hongdian ef does write thicker than my pilot / platinum / sailor EF, but it does write thinner line compared to moonman's EF / Jowo EF that i have.
and that's good enough for me  

[Dan Carmell]

On 5/11/2022 at 9:18 AM, A Smug Dill said:

 

A nib that puts down extra fine lines of ink on the page for me. <snip>
Or JoWo-made EF nibs on Fine Writing International and Diplomat pens.

<snip>

Interesting to see you rank the JoWo EF Nib with the Japanese big three, which are also my measure of a proper EF Nib. I’m very distrustful of most EF and F nibs made for the European/American markets, much too wide. So now I can see using JoWo nibs to substitute elsewhere, thank you. 

[A Smug Dill]

5 hours ago, Dan Carmell said:

Interesting to see you rank the JoWo EF Nib

 

Not 'the' JoWo EF, but only some JoWo-made EF nibs. My Edison's EF nib is extraordinary. I wouldn't necessarily trust one on an Opus 88, Wancher, or Faber-Castell pen (or spare nib unit) to be as fine. Diplomat's are consistently good, too; but since Diplomat doesn't sell spare nib units without at least the gripping section, it'd be quite extravagant to buy Diplomat just to harvest the bare nibs for transplantation. 

[KidleP]

On 5/13/2022 at 12:34 AM, A Smug Dill said:

 

Cursive handwriting can be done with any type of nib, really, and still give it some character; the type of nib simply changes the character somewhat. Good idea to try as many of them as possible, though.

 

I personally prefer cursive writing in English done with an Italic nib as opposed to an Architect's nib.

Thanks. Do you have experience grinding the nib yourself? In fact I plan to learn how to grind the nib. I don't have any nibmeister near me(Thailand). I also bought lamy f 14k gold nib(z55) and found that it was quite scratchy(or may be it is what everyone call "feedback"?). I don't like it. My wingsung 698 f nib is much smoother, I really like wingsung nib . I plan to learn how to adjust nib myself. I know that using so called "micromesh" can make the nib smoother. But I am too afraid to try on my lamy gold nib. 

[KidleP]

After use wingsung 698 nib I love the nib but hate the pen(because ink leakage, and material-plastic). I believe Chinese nib is quite good? Maybe equal to Europe nib ?? 

 

By the way does anyone experience the architect nib made by St Penpps(on AliExpress) or Bobby's ?? How is it. Is it worth the price ?( He sell No 5/6 nib for 10$). I think this is the cheapest architect nib I can find?. After I found that I don't like my lamy gold nib, I don't intend to buy other expensive nib for a while. I intend to buy many Chinese nibs in architect, stub. 

[A Smug Dill]

23 minutes ago, KidleP said:

Do you have experience grinding the nib yourself?

 

Yes, in that I've done it on more than a few nibs. Yes, in that I've had successes and satisfactory outcomes on occasion.

 

And, yes, I've ruined quite a few nibs and got poor results on other nibs along the way.

 

25 minutes ago, KidleP said:

I also bought lamy f 14k gold nib(z55) and found that it was quite scratchy(or may be it is what everyone call "feedback"?).

 

Before you start polishing, smoothening, or regrinding the nib tipping, you should first check whether there is any tine misalignment.

 

My personal definition of ‘scratchy’, when it comes to nibs, is that a nib would damage the paper surface just by writing with it normally (the way I would almost any fountain pen) without undue pressure. Feedback does not in itself damage the paper, even if you can feel the friction between nib tipping and page surface being transmitted up the pen to your hand as you write.

 

Tine misalignment can certainly make a nib scratchy despite the tipping having been ground properly and polished adequately.

[A Smug Dill]

(double post)

Edited May 14, 2022 by A Smug Dill

[KidleP]

1 hour ago, A Smug Dill said:

 

Feedback does not in itself damage the paper

Thanks 😊.I think the unpleasant feeling when I wrote with my lamy 14k nib is friction not scratchiness then, my paper, even cheapest paper did not damage by it.

I think I like the nib that is smooth, butterly smooth. I have try lamy 2000, very smooth nib, but the pen is too light. I don't like the design. So I assumed that lamy2000 nib is much smoother than z55 14k nib. But I heard somewhere that smoothness has nothing to do with material of the nib, may be it is the grinding/smoothening process that make nib smooth.  So gold nib is not always smoother than steel nib from my understanding.

 

1 hour ago, A Smug Dill said:

I've had successes and satisfactory outcomes on occasion

 

Wow! I hope someday I can grind my own nib or smoothening my nib too ! 

 

Thank you again that you remind me to check for tine misalignment. I should find a loupe first before try to smoothening the nib. 

Thanks for your information 🤠!! 

[Dan Carmell]

20 hours ago, A Smug Dill said:

 

Not 'the' JoWo EF, but only some JoWo-made EF nibs. 

Well, that inconstancy, or perhaps different specs for different pen manufacturers, is disappointing. Not really an issue for me other than swapping steel nibs between recent models. I’ve got all the vintage EF I could ever need. 

[Ted A]

8 hours ago, KidleP said:

Thanks 😊.I think the unpleasant feeling when I wrote with my lamy 14k nib is friction not scratchiness then, my paper, even cheapest paper did not damage by it.

I think I like the nib that is smooth, butterly smooth. I have try lamy 2000, very smooth nib, but the pen is too light. I don't like the design. So I assumed that lamy2000 nib is much smoother than z55 14k nib. But I heard somewhere that smoothness has nothing to do with material of the nib, may be it is the grinding/smoothening process that make nib smooth.  So gold nib is not always smoother than steel nib from my understanding.

 

 

Wow! I hope someday I can grind my own nib or smoothening my nib too ! 

 

Thank you again that you remind me to check for tine misalignment. I should find a loupe first before try to smoothening the nib. 

Thanks for your information 🤠!! 

 

If you have a nib you find to be scratchy, you absolutely need to first examine it with a 10X or 20X loupe. Misaligned tines are, from my experience,  by far the most likely cause of a scratchy nib. You must rule that out, or correct it before you start removing tipping material. 

[KidleP]

2 hours ago, Ted A said:

Misaligned tines are, from my experience,  by far the most likely cause of a scratchy nib

Thanks 😊 I will try to find the misaligned first before give up on my lamy nib. I don't have loupe yet but will find one. Anyway, which loupe magnification should I buy? 10x ? 15x ?

[Ted A]

7 minutes ago, KidleP said:

Thanks 😊 I will try to find the misaligned first before give up on my lamy nib. I don't have loupe yet but will find one. Anyway, which loupe magnification should I buy? 10x ? 15x ?

 

It depends on your eyes. I can generally see pretty well using a 10X with my glasses and good light. 20X works better but for me the light has to be good and I need to lean my hands against something solid. At 20X I find it hard to hold the nib steady enough. But it’s good to see when the misalignment is small.

[KidleP]

2 hours ago, Ted A said:

 

It depends on your eyes. I can generally see pretty well using a 10X with my glasses and good light. 20X works better but for me the light has to be good and I need to lean my hands against something solid. At 20X I find it hard to hold the nib steady enough. But it’s good to see when the misalignment is small.

Thanks again for your information I think I will try 10x first. Agree with you that if I use 20x I need to hold the nib very steady.

[DrScholl]

On 5/14/2022 at 1:28 PM, KidleP said:

By the way does anyone experience the architect nib made by St Penpps(on AliExpress) or Bobby's ?? How is it. Is it worth the price ?( He sell No 5/6 nib for 10$). I think this is the cheapest architect nib I can find?. After I found that I don't like my lamy gold nib, I don't intend to buy other expensive nib for a while. I intend to buy many Chinese nibs in architect, stub. 

Yes I have tried 3 Kaigelu "long knife" nibs, one on a Kaigelu 316, the other on a Wing Sung 699 whose nib had hard starts, and the last on a Jinhao 750.

The Jinhao is a bit dry, but I think it's due to the pen itself. The other 2 both work flawlessly, and I have come to enjoy this type of writing.

I would not call these nibs "buttery smooth", I can feel a slight feedback but they are not scratchy either. I don't like nibs that are polished to a point where they feel slippery like a wet soap, I prefer this kind of light feedback and the impression of better guiding the nib. Well this is an old debate 😉

 

Be careful though, because as @A Smug Dill rightly pointed out earlier, these #6 Kaigelu nibs won't fit in a Hongdian ...

 

And this is a bit off-topic, but Bobby also issued an architect nib for the Wing Sung 601, the inlaid nib model... though if you buy both pen and extra nib it would cost about $35/40 which is not that cheap (says the guy who just ordered them 😁)

[KidleP]

On 5/17/2022 at 6:50 PM, DrScholl said:

Yes I have tried 3 Kaigelu "long knife" nibs, one on a Kaigelu 316, the other on a Wing Sung 699 whose nib had hard starts, and the last on a Jinhao 750.

The Jinhao is a bit dry, but I think it's due to the pen itself. The other 2 both work flawlessly, and I have come to enjoy this type of writing.

I would not call these nibs "buttery smooth", I can feel a slight feedback but they are not scratchy either. I don't like nibs that are polished to a point where they feel slippery like a wet soap, I prefer this kind of light feedback and the impression of better guiding the nib. Well this is an old debate 😉

 

Be careful though, because as @A Smug Dill rightly pointed out earlier, these #6 Kaigelu nibs won't fit in a Hongdian ...

 

And this is a bit off-topic, but Bobby also issued an architect nib for the Wing Sung 601, the inlaid nib model... though if you buy both pen and extra nib it would cost about $35/40 which is not that cheap (says the guy who just ordered them 😁)

Thanks a lot for sharing your experience 🤠. I will buy the architect nib from Bobby's, I just bought another No.5 nib fountain pen. Bobby's have both No.5and No6 nib . I will let everyone know when I experience it. Thanks 👍😊