Hello again, it’s me, Katherine, going rogue on one of these mini reviews (complete with unadjusted iPhone photos — sorry). This time I sat down and did writing samples with every Nakaya and Platinum 3776 nib I had on hand.
The method: I chose three inks — Sailor Okuyama, Waterman Serenity Blue and Montblanc Lavender Purple. For each pen and ink combo, I dipped the nib, up to the breather hole, kept it there for ten seconds, then wrote a line and a half in my notebook so the feed wouldn’t be too saturated — then did the writing sample. This is all done in a Hobonichi, with 3.8mm grid.
About the nibs: (from top to bottom, here are some notes)
Nakaya SF + Mottishaw’s Spencerian Grind – very fine, has quite a bit of softness. I think this is fairly close to the stock UEF in line width… But I don’t have one of those, so i can’t do a side by side.
Nakaya Fine – stock nib.
Nakaya Medium – stock nib.
Platinum Medium – stock nib. Overly dry to start, but after adjusting, writes much like the Nakaya stock medium. I’ve had a few Platinum 3776s show up with overly dry nibs out of the box. Nakaya doesn’t have this problem since each is tuned.
Nakaya Medium + Masuyama Formal Italic – A sharp well-defined italic. Great for me because I use very little pressure, but can be scratchy and paper-tearing if the angle doesn’t suit you or you use a lot of pressure.
Nakaya Soft Medium + Mottishaw Cursive Italic – A more forgiving grind than the formal italic, but still not an easy nib — the CI is relatively sharp, but the softness means that it’s extra easy to catch paper edges. This nib works well for my hand, but some people (like Franz) just can’t get it to cooperate. Additionally, it’s tuned on the dry side so you don’t get the forgiveness and slickness of a lubricating ink.
Platinum Broad * – This is very close to a stock Broad, but I’ve ground it down to be a little stubby since I have a hard time writing with round Broads.
Nakaya BB + Mottishaw Stub, taken to .8mm – a nice smooth stub, nice line variation but very easy to write with.
Nakaya BB (also known as C) – stock nib
Nakaya BB (C) – written with upside down
My favorites: My favorite width is the medium — wide enough to show off an ink, narrow enough to suit my small hand writing and doodling. My favorite stock nib is probably a Soft Medium, but I don’t own an unmodified one — time to change that? My favorite nib out of the bunch above is the Soft Medium with the CI grind — I love the way it writes and it demands just enough attention of me to keep me awake. Fun.
There’s not much of a conclusion here — everyone has different nib preferences. Are there any other writing samples or comparisons that would be helpful? Feel free to suggest things! I’m sure Pam and Franz will let me pillage their collections for pens to compare against! 🙂
2 Comments
Hi!
I was thinking about possibly getting a Nakaya, and was leaning toward a Piccolo because I’ve got Pam’s iron grip and I believe that’s her favourite model. However, my hands are more medium sized, so the Piccolo long looked appealing as well. Does Pam find the threads or grip of the Piccolo long bothersome or is it just the length that causes her to prefer the original?
Thanks!
The long piccolo section is the same as the normal piccolo’s, so assuming you think you’ll hold your pen in the same place, thread placement is the same. Just more of it sticks out in the back. 🙂