My Nib hates me.

Here's a thing.

I have a variety of nibs - the usual suspects: italics, stubs, fines, extra fines, flexibles, and of course a whole bunch of dip nibs in a broad array of shapes and sizes.

So, this thing right, is that one of my favourite nibs - in this case a Pilot FA nib - while feeling wonderfully soft and bouncy and relaxing in the hand, actually hates me. How do I know this? Well, it won't let me write nice letters, that's how. Now this is not a tale of a defective nib, oh no, there is nothing wrong with it at all. It's just that I cannot seem to write consistent letters with it.

This is exasperating! It's not like I don't have any experience with flexible nibs, and in fact I don't have this issue with any other flexible nibs in my employ. It's just this one nib. And I love the feel of it so much that I don't want to give up on it.


Anyone else have a nib that they enjoy the feel of but not the result on the page?

Haaa! Yes!


I have a beautiful, little Waterman Lady Patricia with a nib perfect for Spencerian script. I know, because Ewa Landowska, who is renown in Poland for her calligraphy, used the pen to amazing effect. I'd had no idea that my pen could do that.

Lately, I've been trying to copy the young, quasi-calligraphic hand of YouTubers showing their bullet journal spreads. Lady Patricia seems to say, "Phwhat?! I beg your pardon, madame, but what are you doing?" And I say, a la Edie and Patsy, "Mademoiselle."

So, yeah, a bit of a skirmish on the Paper Front. No casualties, except my patience.

I totally get that. Some pens I seem to write more nicely with, some I don't.

I like the feel of the Pilot Metropolitan nibs but have the damnedest time forming lower loops for some reason.

My Wahl Ringtop is flexy and pretty nice to write with but I never feel like I'm able to use it right.

Although, to be fair, I could truthfully answer "all of the nibs" since my handwriting usually leaves me disappointed. [emoji38]

Still, I am more easily able to form better letters with some pens (Parker 51) than others.

It happens both ways for me. Nibs that are supposed to be hard to use sometimes just sing in my hand. But every so often one that feels really good when I’m just testing it with figure eights decides that handwriting is not its job.

A lot depends on how fast I write. I’m normally quite fast, and sometimes stubs don’t seem to keep up.

Two that work well for me: a calligraphic Mabie Todd nib and signature Wahl nibs. Jowo stubs, not so much. The factory stub in my Visconti Homo Sapiens annoyed me so much with slow starts ans skips that I ended up having it redone as an oblique cursive italic... it’s not perfect but at least it’s usable.

My bugaboo: having to repeat the first stroke because the pen is slow to start.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by fqgouvea

It happens both ways for me. Nibs that are supposed to be hard to use sometimes just sing in my hand. But every so often one that feels really good when I’m just testing it with figure eights decides that handwriting is not its job.

A lot depends on how fast I write. I’m normally quite fast, and sometimes stubs don’t seem to keep up.

Two that work well for me: a calligraphic Mabie Todd nib and signature Wahl nibs. Jowo stubs, not so much. The factory stub in my Visconti Homo Sapiens annoyed me so much with slow starts ans skips that I ended up having it redone as an oblique cursive italic... it’s not perfect but at least it’s usable.

My bugaboo: having to repeat the first stroke because the pen is slow to start.

---

Bugaboo indeed. It never looks right if you have to go over the first stroke. I generally test on a piece of scrap paper before starting.

As to the OP’s issue: I have a Visconti Van Gogh that has taken to skipping on an annoyingly regular basis and a Parson’s Essential with a cursive stub that has become quite stubborn when it comes to laying down a nice, fat line. It now prefers to skip and railroad. I have not messed with either of these nibs. They were excellent from the factory. Mostly using my Japanese and German favourites these days.

Some nibs are less forgiving than others. You might try with different ink or paper to see if you get the effect you want. It's quite hard to use a flex nib well with dye based ink on a paper that don't absorb the ink quickly, because as soon as you go fat you push the ink along with the nib and it's hard to get back to thin again. Contrary to what people say, the FA is very wet and that's why, despite being some kind of ultra extra fine when no pressure is used, it glides when you write normally.

When it comes to fountain pens, it's never just the nib we're talking about :)

I like a little friction in a nib. I suppose it's more the interaction of nib, ink and paper, than just the nib itself, but that wee bit of extra effort that's needed, seems to give me more control over what I'm doing than a nib that glides freely.

I've not found any correlation between feedback and control for me.

Also, ever since getting the FA I've tried to use shading inks - 'cause you kinda do with flex nibs, no? However, I wonder if that is leading me to writing with the pen in a manner inconsistent with what it is designed for. Maybe I'll have to fill it up with Quink Black and see what happens.

Maybe I should clarify, that I only use rigid nibs. The only flexing nibs that I've used are dip pens, and I prefer writing without that "give" in the nib.