Show us what your finest nibs can do!

[A Smug Dill]

Pilot Penmanship steel EF nib (transplanted onto a Pilot 78G pen body), writing in Aurora black ink (from a retail bottle and not a cartridge) on Rhodia 80g/m² 7mm-lined paper.

 

Edit:

It turned out that the tines were ever-so-slightly misaligned, causing the nib to pick up fibres every two or three lines of writing, as well as producing a little bit of an “architect's grind” effect.

 

After adjusting the tines, even though I still can't them to align perfectly and put down as crisp a line as it conceivably can, the nib is performing much better:

 

N.B. The image above is 666 pixels wide, but the forum application software may cause it to be downsized when presented on your screen as an inline image in the post.

 

On 9/11/2022 at 9:13 AM, Maurizio said:

I know you know, but I still have to say Smug that you’re handwriting is beautiful and a real pleasure to look at. 

 

Thank you! My tinier handwriting is a bit of a fright, really; I'm afraid an x-height of 0.9mm is at the limit of my motor control to put down anything even remotely legible. At least that means I don't need to be searching for something finer than a Platinum UEF nib any more…

 

Edited October 2, 2022 by A Smug Dill

[Maurizio]

My Falcon with the SEF nib just arrived direct from Japan yesterday. I haven’t even inked it yet, just flushed.  I will try to execute a nice little sketch and a small writing sample. Might take me a couple of days. 

[Vintage_BE]

Here is a writing sample with a Santini EF nib and an x-height of 2mm:

 

I posted a review of this pen shortly after acquiring it:

 

[lascosas]

All of my super fine nibs are made by the big 3 Japanese pen companies.  I have also had several pens reground by Mike Masuyama, including the two below.  The line of pens and nibs are in the same order as the writing sample.  In general I would say that I can write at 2 mm height for just about any EF nib from these companies, and I think the best steel nibs for writing small are made by Sailor.  I've included two examples below.

[LizEF]

Loving this thread.  Hope to see many more posts accumulate over an extended period.  Thanks, everyone, for your contributions.

[kmcmichael]

Just got this FPR GOLD Super Flex. I am not yet used to it.

[dms525]

 

 

David

[A Smug Dill]

This I just did for the haiku thread:

[dipper]

Some Fude nibs can write a moderately fine line when the pen body is elevated to a steep angle.   Roll the pen over, so the nib/feed is upside down, and the line becomes even finer....

 

And a close-up photo of a small portion of the page above, with the 1mm rule moved into position...

 

 

[Vintage_BE]

Here is another writing sample, the two Osprey steel EEF nibs really are a nice surprise. In any event at first sight/writing. They still are in a “test phase”.  

[Gris Nuage]

A Pilot Falcon with a Saibi-Togi reground nib sounds interesting.  I had a Falcon with a stub and found the inherent 'bounce' of the nib counterproductive. 

 

Does making the nib that fine work with the 'soft' nib, or does any pressure result in the line looking as if it were written with a more 'normal' nib?

[A Smug Dill]

1 hour ago, Gris Nuage said:

Does making the nib that fine work with the 'soft' nib, or does any pressure result in the line looking as if it were written with a more 'normal' nib?

 

Try a Platinum #3776 Century SF nib which, notwithstanding the images and tables published by Platinum's marketing team in the past, tend to write more dryly and finely than the regular F nibs in the same family, and perform much closer to a regular EF nib when wielded with no downward pressure applied. Whereas comparing the Pilot Custom size 5 SF and F nibs would give an entirely different illustration of what ‘Soft’ does to writing outcomes.

 

The SEF nib only exists as an option in the Pilot Elabo line, so there is no direct comparison with how a Pilot ‘regular’ EF nib of that particular shape and/or design would write. In my experience, the Elabo's SEF nib does not write as finely as the EF nibs on my Pilot Custom Heritage 91 and Custom 74, and so I imagine cannot compare with the fineness of a Saibi-Togi nib either.

 

The performance characteristics of the Pilot Elabo's SF nib are not the same as that of the Pilot Custom 74's SF nib; but I've already sold both of the pens with those respective nibs, and in any case, I wouldn't want to produce and publish a direct comparison of them anyhow. (My belief is that someone who is after their preferred ‘Soft’ nib performance ought to try both and decide for themselves individually, even if it means buying both pens and then selling the less-preferred one “at a loss” due depreciation and all, if gaining knowledge of what one likes and enjoying the “better” writing experience in the longer run is worth anything to the user at all.)

 

[Misfit]

Here is the only EF nib I’ve found I like. 
 

 

[lascosas]

Gris Nuage-

Pilot Falcon with a Saibi-Togi reground nib was a mistake.  I must completely concentrate or the falcon flex/bounce whatever you want to call it results in the tines crossing.  I also need to write on fairly smooth paper.  But if I'm in the mood for writing teenie tiny print, I turn to this even more than my PO nib.

[Gris Nuage]

2 hours ago, lascosas said:

Gris Nuage-

Pilot Falcon with a Saibi-Togi reground nib was a mistake.  I must completely concentrate or the falcon flex/bounce whatever you want to call it results in the tines crossing.  I also need to write on fairly smooth paper.  But if I'm in the mood for writing teenie tiny print, I turn to this even more than my PO nib.

A very nice selection to be able to choose from.  

[Josey]

I hope this isn’t spamming, because I asked on two other threads with no response, but does anyone have a Pilot Custom 742/912 with an FA nib that was ground down to an extra-fine? I love my 742 FA for cursive writing but its lines are too broad for my taste (about a Japanese medium). (I don’t want the flow reduced - I like wet nibs.)

 

Thanks!

[Maurizio]

I have yet to produce a drawing with my new Pilot Falcon SEF nib as mentioned above in the thread, meanwhile, here’s a drawing I recently finished with one of my Pilot Desk Pens. 

Ink: Noodler’s Black (enhanced as always with a couple of drops of vegetable glycerin); this enhanced ink dries a bit slower than normal and you can see the smudge on the right ear when I forgot about that and brushed  my hand against the ink. 

Paper: Strathmore 50 lb. sketchbook

[txomsy]

That's really impressive.

[Maurizio]

Thanks txomsy.

I’ve been practicing pencil and pen drawing - when I’m not at work - for about 3 years now and I am just beginning to feel that my pen control is starting to be acceptable. Pencil drawing allows for a loose easy approach to putting down lines and tone and there’s some room for “fudging” if some lines go down not as intended, not to mention that marks can be erased if things go really wrong. The pen however is an unforgiving tool, and doesn’t allow for many mistakes, and any badly drawn line is usually quite obvious. I still have a long way to go before I achieve mastery of control, but, I have made a start. 

[arcfide]

4 hours ago, Maurizio said:

Thanks txomsy.

I’ve been practicing pencil and pen drawing - when I’m not at work - for about 3 years now and I am just beginning to feel that my pen control is starting to be acceptable. Pencil drawing allows for a loose easy approach to putting down lines and tone and there’s some room for “fudging” if some lines go down not as intended, not to mention that marks can be erased if things go really wrong. The pen however is an unforgiving tool, and doesn’t allow for many mistakes, and any badly drawn line is usually quite obvious. I still have a long way to go before I achieve mastery of control, but, I have made a start. 

 

When it comes to such drawing with very fine nibs, do you find that extra feedback and drag helps you to control the pen, or do you prefer the more free flowing nature of a wet and smooth nib with little drag?