Your favorites: Nib, FP Body shape, Accessories

[sworist]

What is you "grail" nib and fountain pen shape? Why?

For nib mine would be the sailor hard-fine (on the 1911 L, not the standard) or the Pilot PO #15.... Smaller nibs have their own charm but I keep coming back to these for long-er writing sessions. The KOP or larger nibs seem to run out of ink so quickly, I guess I could get a eyedropper or something of that nature but I enjoy my c/c(s).

For body shapes, I generally like the cigar or what I call the modern cigar (ends chopped off so the FP has a flat barrel/cap ending)... though my hands are generally larger so I like a thicker barrel around 15-16mm diameter?

I also like the Edison Extended Mina which is a cylinder-ish shape with the ends larger than the middle. The weight isn't particularly back-loaded and I like the feeling, though it is on the smaller side. I wish they would make a version for the #6 Jowo but alas they haven't. The barrel is slim on this one, but I find it refreshing after using my girth-ier pens.

I have not tried a Dorsal Fin 2, but maybe one day?

Accessories wise..... I don't like rings or clips. I usually set the cap upright while writing for it, and when I m not writing it goes into the pen pouch. Rings to me provide a different texture of material which puts me off. I like homogeneity


Your thoughts?

[azkid]

I like finer nibs, like Pilot F sized. I enjoy springy gold nibs but stiffer is fine too. I prefer some feedback and drag rather than super smooth nibs that skate out of control for me.

I also like medium oblique nibs like the Esterbrook 2413-M, which is a left oblique. My favorite is a Vacumatic I lucked into with a medium right oblique. It is probably my favorite nib among 50+ pens.

My ideal pen shape is flat ended with either slightly tapered or mostly flat profiles, like my Pilot Stargazer or Falcon, Kaweco Dia, or my mid-20s Parker Duofolds. For some reason it makes me happy to look at these pens.

I have lots of differently shaped pens, but I avoid cigars such as the Montblanc 146 or Pilot 743. I think the rounded cap top puts me off. However, I find Sheaffer's various cigar designs from the 30s to the 50s rather appealing.

I like good clips and my favorites are 1920s Parker clips and 1940's Vacumatic and 51 arrow clips.

I like interesting bands. My favorite is the jeweler band on standard size Vacumatics. The design is just cool.

Now if I could make a pen incorporating all of the above.... it would probably look terrible lol.

[sworist]

Oooo I prefer stiffer as well, I just like the feedback and the pressure you can put on it. Having it too smooth almost feels like you are not writing..... I dont particularly get an "out of control feeling," but rather a lack of something there that should be?

I like the arrow shape clips too, - the aesthetic, just that I dont use them clips often and cold metal on a warm ebonite, or plastic feeling isn't my favorite

You could possibly make the monstrosity, I think you should draw some sketches maybe it will come out okay! Check out Newton Pens he makes all sorts of crazy pens... customized to your preferences.

[silverlifter]

Firmer nibs, 14k or PdAg Sheaffer ones have all been exceptional.

I prefer understated to ostentatious, which is why I would never carry a 149. Vacuum-fillers, snorkels, vacumatics, aerometrics or piston fillers. Almost anything but a lever (or coin) filler, I find them ugly and I dislike the way they sit on the barrel like a scar.

No metal sections, except the L2K, because it is such a superlative design and fits my hand perfectly.

My grail pen is actually just that, unobtainable¹.


^{1. The green one.}

[sworist]

My grail pen is actually just that, unobtainable¹.


^{1. The green one.}

Is it because OMAS .... closing or something else?

[Detman101]

Oh to dream...

Nib: XXF Wet-Noodly FPR Flex Nib (My own grind and heat temper)
Feed: Ebonite (custom for my nib)
Shape: Coniid Bulkfiller type shape or a larger version of the Kaweco liliput shape(My favorite) but man-sized.
Body: Ebonite (Just because I don't have one...yet)
Features: Postable Eyedropper with Shut-off Valve and gold-inlaid etched patterns in the Forest Green Ebonite body covered in a thin layer of clear lacquer.
Cap Finial would have my signature symbol on it and all trim edges on the pen would be in Gold.

[Jon Szanto]

To the OP:

If you haven't ventured into vintage nibs, you are really missing out (and "grail" is pretty weak for anything you can just go out and buy...) If you are willing to spend a little time looking around there are some great (and big) nibs from a hundred years ago that can be the best writing nails ever. I understand your like of the PO nib, and I have quite a few Sailors, but give me a big Sheaffer hunk of gold from the 20s, or a fabulous Triumph conical nib and *that* is my fave writing experience.

Then again, to each their own.

[Kaputnik]

For the overall shape of the pen, I'm not too fussy, but prefer something reasonably slim. One of the attractions of vintage pens is that makers did not feel the need to make large pens that cried out to be noticed. I also like lighter pens. The ones I have inked now include a Pilot Custom Heritage 92, which is probably tied for the status of favorite among my still in production pens, an Eversharp Skyline, which is one of my better vintage ones, a Parker 180, which is probably the thinnest fountain pen I have, and a Pilot MYU, which is small and slim.

For nibs, as long as its a smooth writer, I can get along with fairly stiff nibs and moderately flexy ones. The pens I mention above include very fine nibs (the Eversharp and the MYU), a "fine medium" one (the CH 92) and a broad / fine nib, the Parker, with which one is supposed to flip the nib upside down to use it as a fine. I like the variety, but for general writing, particularly if I'm writing a lot at a sitting, something on the broad side of fine is ideal. The Pilot FM nib is close to perfect for this. As for flex, the only one of my currently inked ones with any flex at all is the Eversharp, and I don't deliberately use it. I like a nib that feels a bit soft, but if it has flex, I just use it to let a bit of line variation emerge naturally; I don't mash it.

Overdecorated pens don't appeal to me. Some of the patterns on vintage celluloids are quite attractive, but apart from that, I rather like plain pens with plain furnishings. A cap that posts firmly without overbalancing the pen is a must as far as I'm concerned, and there has to be a functional pocket clip, as carrying a pen in a shirt pocket just seems like the natural thing to do. It's also good as a roll stopper if I put the pen down.

For filling systems, I can get along with a converter pen if the converter has sufficient capacity and the ink flow doesn't seize up. For modern pens, though, I prefer a built in filling system, with piston fillers a favorite of those I've tried. I get along fine with vintage lever fillers, again, as long as the ink capacity is adequate.

Oh, and "grail pen" isn't a meaningful concept to me.

[FredRydr]

...give me a big Sheaffer hunk of gold from the 20s, or a fabulous Triumph conical nib and *that* is my fave writing experience....

Hey! Stop copying me!

[silverlifter]

My grail pen is actually just that, unobtainable¹.


^{1. The green one.}

Is it because OMAS .... closing or something else?

It's the combination of the vintage material with the modern execution. And the fact that it is the only one in existence!

[junglejim]

A Sheaffer FF3 14k Music nib and feed on a Conid King size Demonstrator Streamline fountain pen. Plenty of ink without having to refill every few pages.

Linky: https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_c...ature=emb_logo

Close-up from FPN: http://www.fountainpennetwork.com/fo...ble-music-nib/

BTW, in the youtube link the person is holding the nib in a way for writing. For copyist work the correct nib orientation is the opposite (90 degrees counter-clockwise), where the widest lines are in the horizontal and the narrowest are in the vertical.

[ethernautrix]

I've really narrowed this down.

Nakaya Piccolo Cigar, most urushi finishes but especially kuro tamenuri.

For Nakaya nibs, I love UEF and EF.

But... my favorite nib is the Pilot PO.

Which means a couple of Pilots are my favorite, also (823 and 92). But if I could put a Pilot PO on a Piccolo Cigar, that would allow me to achieve the One Pen fantasy once and for all.

Meanwhile, carrying two pens is not a big deal. (She says, carrying four.)

[TFarnon]

Don't kill me. I prefer slimmer, but not super-slim pens. My ideal diameter and nib are those on the Zebra disposable fountain pen, because I find them easy to write with. I like longer pens rather than shorter pens because I have long fingers--I find the length of most Conklins particularly comfortable. I prefer a straighter barrel over a cigar-shaped barrel. I assume my relatively pedestrian tastes are because I used a fountain pen in elementary school (4th to 6th grades) in Germany, and anything that doesn't leave my fingers inky or spit out huge blots all over the page is good by me.

[Jaguarish]

Ideal Nibs: I love the cushioned feel of my Pilot SFM nib. The body is pretty (custom 74) and the converter is superb. I also have one with a music nib (great stuff) plus F and B nibs but it's the SFM that I keep in rotation and enjoy. I also enjoy my Peyton Street Pens with NOS Sheaffer diamond nibs, which also have a lovely cushioned feel.

Ideal Pen Body: I am a huge fan of tortoiseshell colours and patterns such as the vintage Pelikan and Sheaffer Balance in my collection. For looks alone I hope I get to someday handle a Visconti Divina Desert Springs or one of their skeleton designs, but I will never buy a pen that expensive plus I've heard the nibs are not great. My other grail is a Pelikan M800 but I just can't convince myself it's worth the steep increase in price above the M200/205. I quite enjoy my M205 with CI nib; the Pelikan piston action is the best of all my pens and the star ruby material is sparkly without being ostentatious.

Drawing: Other than writing, I am a big user of fude nibs for drawing. After some trial and error I found
the ideal is to combine a #6 fude nib with a Noodler's Konrad body for large ink capacity.

[guyy]

Grail: MB 139 with BB nib. (That’s the flattop predecessor of the 149).

Accessory: I had two shell cordovan pen cases i picked up in Japan at my local bookstore. I lost one and i want to replace it one of these days.

[Sailor Kenshin]

All of them. What can I say? I'm just, er, yeah...a pen hoochie.

Oh, except skinny and metal.

[TFarnon]

A lever may look like a scar on a pen barrel, but I love lever fillers because I always think of old black and white slapstick comedies where they squirt ink with them. Okay, I know that you don't really get that kind of squirting power out of a lever filler, but that's where my mind goes. Maybe it's because my grampa loved pie-in-the-face slapstick and would just laugh himself silly watching it. My fun was just hanging out with and watching grampa.

[BlkWhiteFilmPix]

Ideal nib: Broad, double broad.

Body: cigar shaped, Montblanc 146 size, Edison Menlo size; Cylindrical - Pelikan M800 size.

Body style: Clear demonstrator. Oh, if I were willing to spend what the purveyor of the 149 clear demos is asking. Some day a 146 clear demo will show up.

Mechanism: Piston filler - I've found them to be quick and reliable.

Cap: clipped, as for me, pens are for carrying and using. Mountain peak, perched Pelikan, or a clear one like the cap Edison Pens made for my custom clear demonstrator.

[FredRydr]

...Edison Menlo size...Clear demonstrator....

Seems like a phone call to Brian Gray to make a clear acrylic Menlo might be in order.

[Chuck Naill]

Never consider the lever a scar. I mean it’s got its purpose. It’s a stick shift on a manual transmission a scar?? Lol!