M800

[Driften]

1 hour ago, metalhead said:

it fits for me. I use an M205 (white) with a M605 nib regularly, no issues.

 

I know the first generation M600s were the same length as the m400s, but the newer generation 60x were longer and had a longer nib and some nib smith said they won't fit. Guess I remember wrong. Very good to know it worked for you.

[Bo Bo Olson]

A 400** or 200's nib in a 600 will fit....but I think the fact that the 600's nib is longer means it won't fit a 400.

I'm sure I did fit it on my 400, way back when, but I was egg yoke delicate screwing the cap on my 400 on with the 600 nib. It fit but I was uneasy to removed the 600's nib.

 

** I don't care for the post '97 400 or 600 semi-nail nibs.

 

The vintage factory stubbed semi-flex 400 is a line variation nib. I had my '54 transition semi-flex B on my 600 for a very long time.

The '82-97 400/600 nib is nice springy tear drop tipped nib, that is like the 200's tear drip tipped nib, till some five years ago. The vintage, semi-vintage and pre '2019 200, all write with a nice clean line.

The springy regular flex  '82-97 400, and the '85-2019 are tear drop tipped. They are good because they are a bit drier than a semi-flex, better for two toned shading inks.

 

 

[mulrich]

23 hours ago, Driften said:

If you stay in this hobby long enough your preferences will change over time. When I first got serious about fountain pens was 2008 and at that point I liked fine and medium and my first pen was the Pelikan m200 with a M nib. As time went on I liked B nibs and sold off many of my finer pens. Now I wish I hadn't. 

I'm betting most new fountain pen users start with narrower nibs (which are more similar to ball points or roller balls) and slowly gravitate towards wider widths as they get into inks with distinctive properties. For some, next comes dabbling in non-standard nib grinds before eventually settling into a more consistent preference with occasional flings with alternative widths just for fun. 

[singlechange]

1 hour ago, mulrich said:

I'm betting most new fountain pen users start with narrower nibs (which are more similar to ball points or roller balls) and slowly gravitate towards wider widths as they get into inks with distinctive properties. For some, next comes dabbling in non-standard nib grinds before eventually settling into a more consistent preference with occasional flings with alternative widths just for fun. 

In my case it was different.  My first authentic fountain pen was the "51" Parker nibbed in Medium. After a few years I  came to prefer Extra Fine nibs with a little bit of flex. My current every day writer is a 1970s  Montblanc 149 which has an ebonite round no-groove feed and extra fine nib.  "It would be a bit boring in the world if people were mostly the same."

[davisgt]

So interesting.  One of my favorite nibs is an oblique I had ground for a Waterman Expert. I do have to hold that pen in a very specific way or it doesn't write as well as a standard nib. Also, the type of writing I'm engaged in often determines my desire for a specific nib. I like a medium when I'm journaling or taking notes in a meeting so I can write fast without skipping.  When I'm editing or making notes on a printout, I want a finer nib. Just a preference really. 

[Bo Bo Olson]

M was normal in the US late '50-mid 60's school pens...So when given the choice of a F or M nib took the M nib on my P-75 in 1971/2.

 

When I came back to fountain pens after 40 years in the Ball Point Desert I went wide..B/OB..BB/OBB mostly in semi-flex....taking F's (mostly semi-flex) only as place holders to be sold as soon as I got a wide nib in that make and model.....either didn't get them in wide or just never got around to selling any F's.

 

EF's was then too narrow. So I only have a few of them from then. I've gotten more lately....and some (cheap) pens were bought for their narrow nibs.....being in Germany thought I somehow would have to go out of my way to buy narrow nibbed Japanese pens....or so it seems.

 

I now have and use EF's from semi-flex to regular flex....and an occasional nail, I haven't yet gotten rid. (I do not like nails....and semi-nails happen, but were never searched for.)

 

I will admit I don't use wide as much as before, but I'm doing more editing than scribbling for the fun of it.

 

Mostly now, given a choice I'll grab a M. I went from wide to narrow for editing and ending with M; a much better nib than it's reputation here on the com.

[mulrich]

Sounds like my EF->M->B->OM theory may not be supported after all

[inkstainedruth]

I started the pen journey with a couple of M nabbed Parker Reflex c/c pens.  When I got the first Parker Vector, I didn't think I would be able to get used to an F nib -- until I realized how much longer a cartridge lasted.... 

Now my pens have a variety of nibs on them.  Pelikan nibs tend to be wet (my first bird was a 1990s era M400 Brown Tortoise, and the F nib on it wrote more like a B on some other pens).  Even the EF nib on the M405 Blue Black is pretty juicy.  And when I got a used pen as a replacement to the M200 Café Crème?  The "wide" nib on it was an italic M and was a FIREHOSE even by Pelikan standards of "wet" (the nib on the one I'd lost was a B).

Fortunately I was able to swap it onto another M200 that I was using 4001 Brilliant Black in), after buying a replacement B nib unit.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[Ron Z]

2 hours ago, mulrich said:

Sounds like my EF->M->B->OM theory may not be supported after all

 

I've always preferred finer lines.   Medium and broad are too wide for me.  Cursive italic if finer works, but I like nibs on the finer side.  Anything wider with my handwriting is completely illegible (vs mostly illegible).

[Lam1]

3 hours ago, mulrich said:

Sounds like my EF->M->B->OM theory may not be supported after all

I did go EF ➝ F ➝ M ➝ B ➝ St and then rediscovered the EFs. Bs, OBs and Stubs are still my faves, but now I always have a couple of EFs inked too.

[Driften]

5 hours ago, mulrich said:

Sounds like my EF->M->B->OM theory may not be supported after all

For me it was M->F/FM->Stub->CI/OM->B->M->F/M 

[davisgt]

Ron:

Do you find cursive italic nibs hard to use or do you get used to the sharp edges? I've heard people say they are one of the more difficult nibs to use, but they produce a lovely nuanced line on the page. 

[Driften]

44 minutes ago, davisgt said:

Ron:

Do you find cursive italic nibs hard to use or do you get used to the sharp edges? I've heard people say they are one of the more difficult nibs to use, but they produce a lovely nuanced line on the page. 

Not Ron, but... You can have a nib smith do a "smoothed" cursive italic which is in-between a stub and a CI which is the way I had several  ground that way. It produces nicer lines then a stub with without a sharp edge of a CI. Not really harder to use than a stub...