Fear of the Dip Pen Nib!

[jbb]

I was just blessed with the surprise arrival of a passle of Pennsylvania Railroad nibs. They will be an interesting experiment.

jbb, what is your favorite ink for dip pens?

Wait?! Does "Pennsylvania System" on some of those nibs refer to the Railroad or the penal method???? Hahaha, I thought the latter... which is funny because I have several other railroad nibs and know that was a "thing."

My go-to dip pen ink is a mixture of homemade iron gall ink and the remnants of many other black inks that have gotten thrown together over the years. Iron gall ink lets you get nice thin lines but my homemade ink is never as black as I like, hence the additions. Occasionally I add more gum Arabic too for glossiness.