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Nib-ology, Japanese edition

As I have been rolling around in FPAD, I've gotten pretty good about understanding the differences between XF through BB, and italics, obliques and stubs. I think I even have a pretty good handle on the varieties of flex. Today I was admiring Sailor's pens, and at one web store, they offered special Sailor nibs with some of their models and, well, my mind was blown. They had these really hooked nibs, ones that you could use on either side to have finer or broader lines, and ones that had 2 or three nibs fused together. I'm really liking the looks of the Sailor pens (having a 1911 with a music nib), but don't have a clue about where to start with the custom nibs.
 
I had a chance to write with a Sailor music nib a while back at a meeting of my local fountain pen club. It was beautiful! As I wrote on the page, I felt like one of those chimpanzees in experiments about learning to use tools--the pen was so amazing and my handwriting was so terrible.
 

nemo

Lunatic Fringe
Staff member
Wow, that sounds interesting! Any videos or pics?

http://www.nibs.com/SailorSpecialtyNibs.htm

I own music nibs, regular medium and fine, and I'm happy enough with those. At pen shows and club meetings I've tried cross points, zoom nibs (did not like), and one made for writing kanji -- not sure which, but wider on side strokes than downward. None of these appealed to me and didn't work with my writing style.

I would like to try some softer Sailor nibs (SF instead of my HF for example) but they seem to be scarcer.
 
http://www.nibs.com/SailorSpecialtyNibs.htm

I own music nibs, regular medium and fine, and I'm happy enough with those. At pen shows and club meetings I've tried cross points, zoom nibs (did not like), and one made for writing kanji -- not sure which, but wider on side strokes than downward. None of these appealed to me and didn't work with my writing style.

I would like to try some softer Sailor nibs (SF instead of my HF for example) but they seem to be scarcer.

That's exactly where I saw them. Your point about fitting your writing style is a key one. Since getting into FPs, I've made a big effort to write more, but 99 times out of 100, I'm still just writing notes on a pad. I'm all for trying something interesting, that gives me an interesting line, but not at the expense of practicality. I really like italics, and am wondering whether it's worth ponying up the extra dough for one of these specialized nibs.
 
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