Which matters more to you: The nib or the pen?
12/22/2009For some fountain pen aficionados, the beauty of the pen gets them excited. For others it’s the pleasure of using a fabulous nib. Some people have the means to demand both looks and function. Then there are the folks who care less about a pen than the ink that goes in it. Budget constraints aside, in which camp do you fall?
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I’m quite happy with the utilitarian looks of my LAMY Safari. What is important to me is the performance of the pen. Nib, feed, and ink all play a part in that. Currently using as my daily writer for everything is a matte black Safari with a 1.1mm italic nib and Iroshizuku Syo-Ro. I’ve yet to hold anything that performs like this combination.
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This post was mentioned on Twitter by inkophile: Inkophile wonders “Which matters more to you: The nib or the pen?” http://wp.me/pfSKv-oy…
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I am one of those that are picky about both looks and nib. I have sold off several nice writers that I didn’t find pleasure in looking at and have got some beauties customized and sold off others. I can feel hopelessly shallow sometimes. Good Q.
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Forgot to mention that a beautiful pen by no means have to be an expensive one. 🙂
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A gorgeous pen is nothing without a fabulous nib…and that nib is a sorry bit of gold without some smooth and luscious ink. So yes, I’m a bit greedy; I need all three singing together, preferably on at least 25% cotton paper.
Humming with contentment now…
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I voted for inks as they are the closest to an ‘other’ option, as my real preference is for different papers.
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[…] the original post here: Which matters more to you: The nib or the pen? « An Inkophile's Blog Tags: beauty, been-playing, brush-tip, cross-affinity, deals, folks, its-quality, pens-ever, […]
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I have a lovely Libelle pen, with a crappy nib. It looks lovely in the box, in the bottom drawer of the desk, where it won’t rust.
I have a Lamy Safari that is a delight to write with, and I have a Rotring Core I love to use. It seems to me that the more expensive pens I own aren’t nearly as much fun to write with.
Heck, the kit based hand made pens I buy at the craft fair are more fun to write with than that wretched Libelle…
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The nib and the filling system come first for me (how much ink does it hold? is it a pain to clean and fill?) and then the looks.
I dream of the day Sailor starts making piston fillers…
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I’m in the gorgeous looks + great nib category. 🙂 Dandelion is right, a beautiful pen doesn’t have to be expensive. 🙂
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Hmmm. Any not too expensive beautiful pens with great nibs anyone would like to recommend?
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I’m a bit late to the party, but I’m primarily a nib person: if it doesn’t write well I’m not interested. If it writes well and looks good, so much the better!
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Not too late. The poll is still running.
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