# WHAT TYPE OF NIBS



## avbill (Sep 19, 2011)

Many the potential clients ask me what type of nibs do you provide?

So my question is---  what is the importance of the type of nib?   One client said  What's a perfect flex nib   I have read the articles in the library  Yet I can not say I fully understand  enough  -- to answer to the question the clients ask. 

I now carry a FTN pen with me  as my daily pen. 

Any thoughts


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## ed4copies (Sep 19, 2011)

If there were ONE perfect nib, why would there be so many varieties available?

Nibs are personal preference---try to get your friend to ignore the label and test the "feel".  There is a difference in "scratchiness" from one to another, but the ink helps solve this, too.


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## OKLAHOMAN (Sep 19, 2011)

Ed, has a good point "but" and I say this because I sell a lot of fountain pens.Most fountain pen users are knowledgeable about their pens. They know the brand names of the better know nibs and the question they are asking is "what nib are you using" to find out if your only using the inexpensive Indian or Chinese imported nibs or are you supplying an upgraded German or Italian nib. 
Can the inexpensive Chinese nibs be worked to give a satisfactory writing experience, in a short answer yes some but very few.
The answer you give will tell a lot to the potential customer. This being said even the best of nibs need to be "broken in" to the customers writing style. I tell all my customers to sit down while watching their favorite TV show and take a brown paper sack and write figure eights, over and over and over. The brown paper sack is equivalent to 12000 grit and will smooth the nib to their style of writing. The figure 8 has all the curves of your hand writing.


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## omb76 (Sep 19, 2011)

We had an interesting discussion on this at our local chapter meeting this past Saturday.  It was one persons opinion that you should automatically replace the standard nib that says "Iridium Point Germany" as that is basically a "Made in China" type label and some collectors won't give a pen with one a second look no matter how nice it is.   I agree with Ed in that there are many different types of nibs for many different writing styles and preferences.  One thing to remember is that the nib will conform to your own writing style as you use it.  This is why it's important to not loan your pen to others as because of their use, the writing characteristics of the nib will change and it will no longer feel comfortable to you.  One suggestion we came up with was to offer the fountain pens for sale with no nib installed and let the customer tell you what kind they want.  Have a tester pen available for them to try out with a basic nib.   Most of this info I picked up myself from some of the pros at our meeting, but thought that it was really interesting so I'm passing it along.


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## OKLAHOMAN (Sep 19, 2011)

David great point, I always tell the customer that the nib on the pen is a display nib only and will be replaced with a nib of their choice of fine, medium or ??? as I can have them custom ground if nessasary. Up until my last show I replaced all my F/P nibs with the Heritage nib, but will be useing Bock from now on.



omb76 said:


> We had an interesting discussion on this at our local chapter meeting this past Saturday. It was one persons opinion that you should automatically replace the standard nib that says "Iridium Point Germany" as that is basically a "Made in China" type label and some collectors won't give a pen with one a second look no matter how nice it is. I agree with Ed in that there are many different types of nibs for many different writing styles and preferences. One thing to remember is that the nib will conform to your own writing style as you use it. This is why it's important to not loan your pen to others as because of their use, the writing characteristics of the nib will change and it will no longer feel comfortable to you.* One suggestion we came up with was to offer the fountain pens for sale with no nib installed and let the customer tell you what kind they want.* Have a tester pen available for them to try out with a basic nib. Most of this info I picked up myself from some of the pros at our meeting, but thought that it was really interesting so I'm passing it along.


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## Smitty37 (Oct 1, 2011)

*Interesting note*

I have two same style fountain pens from the same source - one has Iridium Point Germany on the tip and one has Iridium Point made in China on the tip. The interesting think to me is that both write ok but the one marked made in China is a tad better. It is pretty smooth.

That being said I am no expert on writing with a fountain pen, having just taken it up and not having written with the one I have with a Bock point yet --- I am working up my courage.


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## Dan_F (Oct 2, 2011)

You can learn most of what you need to know about nibs here, plus a whole lot more:   http://www.richardspens.com/          Nibs 1,2, and 3.


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