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Noticed that the 845 comes in two different nib sizes: #15 and #30. Have been told the #30 is the better of the two and is only sold by online retailers, while the #15 can be found on Ebay. I cannot find any #30 nibs on Ebay.
Anyone find the same? Why the two different nib sizes?
Mookie
Nevermind.....think I answered my own question. One is the Pilot 845 with a #15 nib. The other, which is larger pen, is the Pilot Custom Urushi, with a #30 nib.
Mookie
Bigger isn't always any better... all Pilot gold (or even stainless) nibs will have extremely well finished tipping and if you're looking at an EF, F, M or B nib the only differences are likely to be in flex, with a larger gold nib allowing more tine flex than a short nib. Of course the cheapest refillable pens and disposables aren't going to have the same level of Q/C as a $6000 urushi finished pen, but short of that the differences are usually minimal.
The real difference is that Pilot offers specialty grinds in the larger gold nibs, which are unavailable in smaller sizes. IIRC all of the profiles are available in #10 and up, while only the "soft" variants are made for the #5 nibs and AFAIK none of the smaller or non-traditional nibs come in anything but "plain" widths anymore (maybe soft in the Capless?).
That is not correct, awa 54:
On Pilot-Namiki's catalogs you can easily see how
size 3 nibs have 4 points;
size 5, 11 points;
size 10, 15 points;
https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qpZ5Qj1eF...10-blog-WM.jpg
size 15, 14 points (no music nib);
size 20, 3 points;
size 30, 3 points; and
size 50, 3 points.
Other pens with non-numbered nibs have a maximum of 6 points (Capless). And the Capless nib is not particularly big.
Soft nibs (SF, SFM, SM) exist on sizes 5, 10, and 15. Now, size 30 nibs are surprisingly soft albeit not labeled as such.
Cheers,
BT
So the size 5, 10 and 15 are the sweet spot... I'm actually quite surprised to hear that the larger nibs (used in rather exclusive pens) are even more limited than "basic" nibs :(
Please accept my profound apology for broadcasting my ignorance of the high end offerings of my favorite brand!
Great job, BT, and nice overview too!
I was looking into the #15 and #30 nibs recently, just after I acquired a Pilot Custom 743 FA nib. An amazing array of nib sizes and nib types, but really it depends on the user of the pen. I am still learning how to use (control?) my #15 FA nib.....have occasional railroading issues, which i attribute to the oil on the paper and the small sweet spot on the FA nib.....
Thanks again for this info.
Ryan
awa54,
Nothing to apologize for! We all are here to learn, and I thought it was interesting to reproduce what Pilot says.
Cheers,
BT
I wonder if the same is true of Sailor's offerings (not counting the fact that many are not available, but had been offered once).Quote:
Originally Posted by awa54