On nibs: a likely unpopular opinion

[AzJon]

Howdy all,

Figured since it was Saturday morning and I have nothing to do but drink coffee, I would offer up what may be an unpopular opinion:

I can't stand large nibs.

There, I said it. Not as a matter of performance, mind you, but of aesthetics. There's just something....off, to me, about #6 nibs on most pens. Nibs on modern pens are just too wide.

I know the general trend in pens right now is for longe pens, girthier barrels, and big, fat nibs to top it all off. The appeal is also apparent: you can stamp some pretty cool images into a larger nib. I just don't think a nib ought have buttresses.

Anyone else long for slimmer nib profiles?

[Chrissy]

Do you mean you just don't like any large nibs, even when the pen is large and it's section calls for a large nib in order to make it look balanced? For example can you imagine a Montblanc 149 with a small nib? It wouldn't look right. There are plenty of pens that seem to have smaller nibs than they need, but I suppose there must also be some that have larger nibs than they need.

[Paddler]

The Sheaffer Statesman in my hoard has a nib that is too large for the pen. The size makes the pen's proportions unappealing. Going to the other extreme, I find the hooded nibs on the Parker 51 and 21 especially ugly too, for the same reason. The P45 is right on the edge for me; I can't decide if I like it or not. A Sheaffer #5 Feather Touch nib on a desk pen is ideal in my eyes. I can sit and admire one of those until hell ain't no bigger'n a coconut.

[alexander_k]

I sympathize with AzJon's indignation. There's too much bling in fountain pens today and that includes nibs. On the other hand, Chrissy is right: aesthetically, it's a matter of proportion. In this respect, manufacturers generally get it right but not always; for example, I find the nib on my Sailor KOP a bit too large. Hooded nibs solve the problem in an intelligent manner but they're out of fashion. So, if we're to have large nibs on modern pens, I'd like them to be more flexible, something that long tines make easier.

[AzJon]

Do you mean you just don't like any large nibs, even when the pen is large and it's section calls for a large nib in order to make it look balanced? For example can you imagine a Montblanc 149 with a small nib? It wouldn't look right. There are plenty of pens that seem to have smaller nibs than they need, but I suppose there must also be some that have larger nibs than they need.

The 149 is actually a great example of what I mean. The pen itself is very large, so a larger nib sense, aesthetically. However, what bugs me is the width of the nib. The 'wings', as it were, stick out far too wide and break up the overall cigar shape of the pen. I got to try out a 149 recently when flying through Chicago O'Hare at the MB boutique there and was really surprised by how large the nib is. Something about it looks out of place to me, exaggerated. Of course, this could be a matter of perspective. The largest nib I have on a pen is a vintage Sheaffer Senior that has a very long, but fairly narrow, nib that I think follows the lines of the pen a bit better.

Outside of MB, I see a lot of newer pens coming out with #6 nibs that are just comically oversized for the pen. The Tactile Turn Gist comes to mind, specifically. The nib is just too large for the pen, despite it being hailed as an excellent nib for the pen body.

[AzJon]

I sympathize with AzJon's indignation. There's too much bling in fountain pens today and that includes nibs. On the other hand, Chrissy is right: aesthetically, it's a matter of proportion. In this respect, manufacturers generally get it right but not always; for example, I find the nib on my Sailor KOP a bit too large. Hooded nibs solve the problem in an intelligent manner but they're out of fashion. So, if we're to have large nibs on modern pens, I'd like them to be more flexible, something that long tines make easier.

Curiously, I think if nibs were slimmer, we could have reasonable flex nibs without having to have those oh-so-popular wings cut into the nib a la Pilot FA or Nakaya Elastic nibs.

[fountainpenkid]

My gripe with the "oversize" nib trend is ergonomic: I like the comfort that comes from the precise control I get with smaller-nibbed pens.

[RocketRyan]

Personally I think the parker sonnet is about perfect in this respect, it just fits in rather than being the first thing you see. An analogy would be the bedsit with a 65 inch flat screen that makes it look like your watching a live tennis match.

[Wile E Coyote]

I like big nibs and I can not lie
You other brothers can't deny...

[RocketRyan]

I like big nibs... in big pens.

[Chrissy]

IMHO the nib on that Sheaffer Senior pictured is too long and spoils the balance of the pen.

[frmamede]

I like big nibs and I can not lie
You other brothers can't deny...

Lol!

Me too. Big nibs all the way. To me, it is one of the most "charming" aspects of writing with a FP, the look of a mighty nib against the paper. Of course, nothing that is unproportional.

The Townsend nib is one I kinda enjoy, even being skinny, but when we get to nibs like the ones on the "old" Parker IM models, very small and thin, I believe it kind of unbalances the overall look of the Pen.

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[Empty_of_Clouds]

Interesting thread. I wonder if in the heyday of fountain pens the users/buyers fretted over the aesthetic dimensions of their nibs. Perhaps not. Take a closer look at some of the retractable safety pens. The nibs seem dwarfed by the pen body. And there are number of makers of 'oversize' pens - Eagle, Lincoln and so on - where the nib seems a lot smaller than one would expect to see.

Overall though I tend to agree with the OP. In most pens the body narrows to the section, and it would seem to me that this narrowing should - from an aesthetic perspective - continue through the length of the nib to its tip. Pilot's FA and Elabo nibs are like this, and no doubt there are a few other modern pens which exhibit the same traits.

Look to vintage pens though for an appreciation of how such views change.

And, as is always the case with matters of taste, if one likes honking great nibs then good for you.

[AzJon]

IMHO the nib on that Sheaffer Senior pictured is too long and spoils the balance of the pen.

That's a Tactile Turn Gist (image lifted from Ed Jelley) and it very much so highlights my point. I'm glad Bock/Jowo are around, but they just don't look great on a lot of pens.

[Robert]

De gustibus non disputandum est: I just happen to like large nibs (if proportionate to the size of the pen). The 149 is a perfect example. I do not like, however, nibs that are proportionately too small - - the MB Heritage 1912 comes to mind, although in that case the small nib is necessary because its retractable. Still - - when the nib is extended it doesn't look quite right.

[AzJon]

Take a closer look at some of the retractable safety pens. The nibs seem dwarfed by the pen body. And there are number of makers of 'oversize' pens - Eagle, Lincoln and so on - where the nib seems a lot smaller than one would expect to see.

This is a Waterman safety pen that, while the nib is long, it is also not wide.


I will certainly admit to this being a simple matter of preference. I would honestly be happy with a pen of similar dimension to a pencil. Bear in mind that all pens come, ultimately, off of developments made on a quill pen. The obscenely large and oversized (looking at you, modern Wahl Eversharp Decoband) strike me as a caricature of pens past.

[penwash]

Waterman Taperite writes amazingly. But I always thought the nib is a bit small.

[stub]

I am okay if the nib is a little too big for the pen but what I can't take is the shrunken head pens like the Waterman Charleston, which is otherwise an excellent pen and one I would own if it didn't look so wierd with that tiny nib.

The worst case of the opposite are those Sheaffer Tuckaways with the huge open nibs that they used on the Statesman. Those are funny and I kind of wouldn't mind owning one just for shits and giggles.

I have a few Sheaffers with comically long curved nibs that sometimes look like they aren't seated all the way in the pen because they are so darned huge (Saratogas sometimes look like that).

But yeah, I prefer a nice balanced proportional pen (say a Sheafffer Admrial Snorkel) to some of these absurdo pens. I personally HATED the M1000, a pen I tired twice to like but sold. It just seemed rediculous next to an M800 or an M600. I suppose for some the M1000 nib is glorious. I found it kind of dumb and mushy and too much. At a certain point it just gets stupid. Just duck tape a car hood to the end of an urushi lacquered sewer pipe and some folks would buy that. Shit looks stupid in your pocket too. Like carrying around a flashlight to write with.

But to each her own.

heh.

[kaisnowbird]

At a certain point it just gets stupid. Just duck tape a car hood to the end of an urushi lacquered sewer pipe and some folks would buy that.

Hahahahah, too funny. Wouldn't want to waste perfectly good urushi like that. Precious resin sewer pipe will do.

I must confess that I always wanted a small pen with a disproportionately big nib, just to be silly.


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[Empty_of_Clouds]

Something like this perhaps?

http://www.paperinkarts.com/shrtbr---7-8.html