Parker nib sizes and numbers

[thx1138]

On 9/22/2022 at 8:15 AM, afishhunter said:

DaRn. ☹️ No number on my c.1965 Super 21 nib. 

I "know" the Super 21 was available with a Fine or Medium nib. Was a Broad nib also available?

It acts like a Broad using three different Diamine inks. ☹️ I want/need fine or extra fine.

 

Any idea where I can find a inexpensive Fine or Extra Fin nib for the Super 21?

Will a Zebra "G" nib or another dip pen nib fit the feed?

I have seen NOS broad super 21's for sale so I will say, yes, they were available. I envy your broad super 21 nib. All i ever find is fine for medium.

[cat74]

Say.... is there a way to identify/verify what nib is in my Parker 45's -other than the collar?

I have a feeling things have been swapped or replaced over the years!!

 

I have 3 gold nibs and 1 steel (picked up over the last year or two independent of each other)

X - looks like an X

F - looks like an X

F - looks wider than the M

M - might be F?? (steel) 

 

My new M80 copy has a F that looks even finer than the X!!

 

Maybe I need to ink them all and do side by side testing then find a link to the line thickness chart thing???

[Ron Z]

The best way to determine line width is to measure the line laid down on paper.  I use a loupe with a scale built in.  You can use the Sheaffer standards pinned at the top of the repair forum, or follow the standard used by most nib techs.  I think that Richard Binder has it on his website.

 

You can also use a pair of calipers to measure.  Digital calipers that measure in mm work well.

 

 

[FarmBoy]

Parker used a Nib Grader.  Somewhere on this forum I posted a picture.  The search sucks so good luck I couldn't find it.

[es9]

I saw it a while back while researching original factory tools—which I so embarrassingly frequently. I assume that’s the original Parker one since you posted it!
 

 

[FarmBoy]

9 hours ago, es9 said:

I saw it a while back while researching original factory tools—which I so embarrassingly frequently. I assume that’s the original Parker one since you posted it!
 

 

Well there we go!

[cat74]

these are in the mail!! was looking for a broad and even accountant (I am one) but I heard that account nib are super scratchy - will be fun to try

NOS!!

 

 

[Bo Bo Olson]

I have a # 4 in a Flighter P-15 I'd eyeball to a F.... this is the only one of three that has a nib size.

 

I can't find any marking on the Falcon 50 nor on a P-51/61.

 

Got to find the tape measurement widths of them to see which is which between the 51/61I just got from a neighbor. It is an oblique, don't know if OB or not, could be the ink, but it is wider than my German Pelikan OB's....but there was a time upto the '90's when Pelikan was thinner than Parker and Sheaffer. ....would have to dig out some P-45's.

[Bo Bo Olson]

Just got a French made 585/(14k) P-75 Thuya, with an 08 or 80, that I eyeball to a OB........it is an OB.

 

My P-75 Sterling Cicelé ....14 K ..point....USA is an M.

I've had that silver pen from @ 1971 and it's the first time I looked hard at the nib and saw the 'point'. That whole line is rather small.

Both are close.

The French nib is a teardrop, that almost could pass for stubbed. The Cicelé  has a sharp angle on the ball tip.

 

I have never seen any real reason for the twist the nib to match one's eye-hand. when one posts it one would post to the slit as is. And if one don't post, how could it matter?

 

For me, my Cicelé was my 3rd best balanced pen back when I was a 20 pen noobie.

It balances better at 21g/0.9 oz than the Tthuya's 26g/1.0 oz....not that that is going to matter.

 

There is no way in hell, I'd try a balance test with over a hundred pens.

[Mercian]

On 11/7/2023 at 11:42 AM, Bo Bo Olson said:

I have never seen any real reason for the twist the nib to match one's eye-hand. when one posts it one would post to the slit as is. And if one don't post, how could it matter?

The rotatable nib of the 75 is a stroke of absolute genius for those of us who grip the pen with the ‘tripod’ grip that is ‘suggested’ by the finger grooves that are moulded into its grip-section.

 

If I set the nib to what would be the ‘zero’ on one of the very first 75s, when I hold my wrist/hand at an angle that is comfortable for me the nib would be almost on its side wrt the page - and therefore completely unusable.

But the fact that I can rotate the nib so that it is flat on the page (wrt to ‘roll’ angle, not ‘pitch’) makes my 75s the most-comfortable pens that I own.

 

I now find myself wanting to ‘invest in’ a 75 nib that has the ‘FI’ (fine italic) grind - as long, that is, as its actual width is much more ‘fine’ than that of the ‘fine’ italic nib in my Vector ‘calligraphy’ set. That thing is waaay too wide for my cramped scrawl!

 

I do confess to not understanding why Parker made rotatable 75 nibs in oblique grinds as well as in italic grinds - but then I’ve never tried any oblique nibs. Perhaps the line-variation that they give is qualitatively different to that given by straight-cut italic nibs?

[Bo Bo Olson]

A very interesting take....

I never had that problem.....being right eye dominate and right handed.

I can see if one is left eye dominate that if one twists the nib one can see with the dominate eye the top of the nib.

[hermesrouge]

Does anyone have a chart of the letter nib codes used in the Duofold era (like the Z nib)? I thought I recalled seeing one but can’t find it on the forum. Thanks!

[thx1138]

I have this one. It is particularly useful for Duofold numbers and also for sonnet numbered nibs.

 

 

[hermesrouge]

On 10/18/2024 at 10:33 PM, thx1138 said:

I have this one. It is particularly useful for Duofold numbers and also for sonnet numbered nibs.

 

 

Thank you @thx1138! The variety definitely has me itching now to try some more modern Parkers… I pretty much stick to pre-1950s.