Gold nib sizes wider than steel?

[Pixlr]

I've been looking to upgrade from a Pilot Metropolitan to a Pilot Custom 74. What's really stumped me though is how the nib sizes appear to be very different from a steel to gold nib, perhaps because the golden ones are softer.

According to Goulet Pens' Nib Nook, the Metropolitan's medium is the same as the Custom 74's fine. Is that accurate?

Although I'd love help with answering my question about these two particular pens, if you don't have experience with them, tell me about your relevant experiences with other pens!

Thanks!

[jar]

Nib sizes generally depend on the particular model from a particular maker. Regardless of what the nibs are made from, there is no reason to think there would be any uniformity between fines or mediums or broads or whatever. In fact even within the same model from the same maker there will usually be variation between any two fines or mediums or broads.

[Austin_Malone]

I read somewhere that the Metropolitan was designed for students in Japan, which would explain the finer lines for the intricate characters. The 74 seems to be aimed more towards Elitist's and Americans. Honestly it has to be intentional because the tipping material on all pens is pretty much the same, and I can almost guarantee you it is the same on all Pilot's pens, it just makes sense. The amount of tipping, and adjustment of that tipping is what changes the line width. Gold is allegedly more resistant to corrosion (according to Sailor) and generally results in a softer feel. Also Brian Goulet admits to being rather heavy handed and the spring of the nib (some would say ''flex'' but the I would be ridiculed) might be creating some of that difference.

[KBeezie]

Hrm you asked this year as well http://fpgeeks.com/forum/showthread....han-steel-nibs

Gold doesn't necessarily mean soft, you'll sometimes find gold nibs that are hard as a nail, and others that are very soft and malleable since it depends on how it's made and what it's alloy mix is (ie: 14K = 58% or so gold, the remainder of the alloy can vary in which metal the manufacture decides).

The Pilot Metropolitan Steel nibs are pretty spot-on for the middle of the "japanese standard", but some of their higher end pens have unique nibs, like the Falcons are all Soft nibs (ie: sort of a semi-flex) so there will be minor variations when writing normally, and can be wetter than some of their other offerings. The "Medium" on the Metropolitan is pretty spot on for Western Fine (Jowo, Monteverde, Faber-Castell, etc).

On the Japanese side, Modern, not counting the "soft" nibs (ie: you can have both 14K and 18K gold nibs, and they can be both hard and soft depending on which pen and nib, so just because it's gold doesn't mean soft), Platinum is on the small side, Pilot right down the middle and Sailor is on the fat end of the Japanese 'standard', that is to say a Platinum Fine will be smaller than a Pilot Fine, and a Pilot fine tends to be smaller than a Sailor fine.

Long story short, it depends on how the nib is made and grounded/shaped, not so much that it's steel or gold.

Edit: (I need to update to a new write sample) Here's a small write sample of most of my inked pens as of May 30th.

http://static.karlblessing.com/pens/...nked_may30.jpg

One thing to note near the top. My Sheaffer Touchdown (Evergreen Green) with a 14K Gold Feathertouch (platinum coated) Accounting nib is hard as a nail, there's no line variation or springiness to it. However the Korean made Pilot Elite "Big Cap" with a Steel Extra-Fine nib is a little on the soft side with some spring to it and can flex to a tiny degree. As can the Platinum PTL-5000 with a 14K Gold Extra-Fine nib (not advertised as soft, since it won't spring/flex nearly as much as a platinum "soft" nib or a Pilot soft nib, but does have some degree of spring to it). Sheaffer gold nibs tend to be on the hard side, they're still 14K gold, but they're hard.

PS: The Metropolitan is roughly a $15 pen, the steel nibs are mass produced and as such are probably mass ground/polished to a certain extent but probably not a whole lot of time spent into each one. On the more expensive pens, I'd imagine they took more time grinding and polishing the nibs, getting it down to a specific feel and line width.