Overlooked Snap Cap Pens with Truly Extra Fine Nibs

January 19, 2023

I’ve been using fountain pens almost exclusively for a little over two years now. Like many fp enthusiasts, my early purchases included the Pilot Kakuno and the Platinum Preppy, both with extra fine nibs (which I tend to prefer).

I’ve since acquired higher quality pens with nibs I like just as much as the efs on those two (such as the Pilot 823 <f>, Pilot 912 <PO>, and Platinum 3776 <sf> & <uef>) but which sport screw caps that often feel like a needless chore to deal with; and I’ve found nicer pens whose designs well dispose them toward serving as wonderful, easily deployed work horses (all from western brands: Lamy 2000, Faber-Castell Loom, et al.), but none of which seem to be available with nibs capable of the truly extra fine, delicate lines produced by their Japanese counterparts.

So I’m soliciting suggestions for basically any pens other than the Kakuno and Preppy with both a convenient capping mechanism and a Japanese-width extra fine (or extra-extra fine) nib. Expensive name brands or cheap aliexpress offerings, anything in between, hit me with whatever comes to mind.

Thanks!

(Last thing - I have owned 3 Vanishing Points and 2 Curidas’s, all with extra fine nibs, and all of these either tore soft paper to shreds worse than my Pilot posting nib on its worst day or had that issue + required a ton of tweaking and smoothing to get them to write at all (guess which ones had this problem 😂)).

January 19, 2023

Simplest and most reliable solution for you, I think, is to buy whichever snap-cap pen model you like, send it to a nibmeister of some repute (which you, being based in the US, probably has better access than most other fountain pen hobbyists globally), and have the nib ground to your specifications and preferences. It sounds to me as if you're prepared to pay for the tools and outcomes you want, so why not just approach it from that angle and get certainty?

Otherwise, the steel EF nibs on the Diplomat Aero and Excellence A² pens serve me well. I'm sure you can find my old writing samples produced with them on FPN somewhere, if you want to see for yourself; but it isn't for me to vouch for whether they match your expectation of “Japanese-width extra fine (or extra-extra fine)”.

January 19, 2023

If you're willing to go vintage, my mind goes to Parker 51s. The vast majority of USA made ones will have nibs that will grade in the F-XXF range, and the odd one shows up with an Accountant or Needlepoint nib. These are not generally marked with a size(not ever that I've seen) and many folks will grade them by Richard Binder's scale which seems to split the difference between German and Japanese size markings(i.e. an XF might be wider than a Japanese EF and narrower than a modern German EF).

For something a little newer, there's also the Parker 75, which has the advantage of both marked nib sizes(well, coded, but the charts are easy to find to interpret the numbering system) down to Needlepoint and Accountant, and further nibs can be swapped without much trouble.

Not too long ago I picked up a pleasant sort of dark horse, a Montblanc 220. It bears more than a passing resemblance to the Lamy 2000, including the brushed/lined Makloron finish and a cap that snaps on via "ears" like the 2000. Mine has what would probably be an EF nib, and older German sizes tend to be similar to American sizes(wider than Japanese, but not as wide as modern). It was not a particularly expensive pen-I think I paid maybe $150? for it.

January 20, 2023

Jinhao 80. Snap cap, F nib. Maybe even an EF offering. I liked my first one so much I bought a second one. Beautiful, fine line. Pretty sure they are under $20.

January 22, 2023

You could swap a Kakuno EF nib into a Prera body. It looks a lot nicer than the Kakuno.

I've found that you can get good prices on vintage Japanese gold EF or PO nibs on eBay. I have a few Pilot "E" pens with slide on caps that are great. There's tons of Elite and other Japanese pocket pens if you don't mind the short size. Pilot Super pens and the older Custom pens also have non screw caps.

January 22, 2023

On 1/19/2023 at 7:05 PM, WRBNYC said:

… nibs capable of the truly extra fine, delicate lines produced by their Japanese counterparts.

January 23, 2023

1 hour ago, A Smug Dill said:

Nice!

January 23, 2023

You could go with a Franklin Christoph model 20 or 20p, which have friction fit caps --- for a relatively small upcharge, they can be ordered with a Nagahara needlepoint nib.

January 31, 2023

On 1/19/2023 at 4:56 AM, A Smug Dill said:

Simplest and most reliable solution for you, I think, is to buy whichever snap-cap pen model you like, send it to a nibmeister of some repute (which you, being based in the US, probably has better access than most other fountain pen hobbyists globally), and have the nib ground to your specifications and preferences. It sounds to me as if you're prepared to pay for the tools and outcomes you want, so why not just approach it from that angle and get certainty?

Otherwise, the steel EF nibs on the Diplomat Aero and Excellence A² pens serve me well. I'm sure you can find my old writing samples produced with them on FPN somewhere, if you want to see for yourself; but it isn't for me to vouch for whether they match your expectation of “Japanese-width extra fine (or extra-extra fine)”.

This is indeed the most direct solution! I think I'll send my Lamy 2000 off to be ground down to something between xf and xxf. I suppose I'd been hoping to find some ready-made options because the turnaround time with reputable nib grinders seems to be ~2-3 months and I am, regrettably, an impatient man!

Having looked at the writing samples you posted, I've just ordered a Diplomat Aero with an extra-fine nib and am cautiously optimistic that this will be a good workhorse pen for me. I briefly owned one of these with a fine nib awhile back that, while much too wet/broad for my liking, was otherwise an extremely cool, solid, reliable pen.