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Fountain Pen 101: The Barrel

The barrel of a fountain pen isn't really anything special, so I'll keep this post short.

Barrels can be made of a myriad of different materials ranging from plastics to metals. The barrel simply protects the filling mechanism or cartridge of the pen and gives a place for the hand to rest. The majority of the heft and weight of the pen comes from the barrel. Besides this, there isn't much else to the barrel of a pen. It's mainly for functionality, but many more expensive pens may have elaborate designs etched onto it.

In the next FP101, we will discuss the internals of the pen, starting with the filling mechanisms.

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Fountain Pen 101: The Cap

Before moving on to the barrel of the pen, we're going to quickly go over the cap. The cap is useful as it keeps the nib protected, and prevents the pen from drying out. There are two main styles of caps: snap on and screw on. Snap on caps are similar to the caps found nowadays in most other pens, they simply fit on with friction and create a seal that way. Fountain pens (especially vintage ones) may also have a screw on cap: which has threads on the inside that match up with threads on the section. In general, the screw on caps tend to be more secure and airtight, overall more beneficial to the fountain pen, though they sacrifice convenience.

The last part of the pen is the clip. Most clips are similar, just a piece of metal that allows the pen to be clipped into a pocket or a bag. Sometimes, especially in more modern pens, the clip is spring loaded. 

Caps don't generally get a great deal of attention in a fountain pen, but they undoubtedly are probably the number one protector of the delicate nib.

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Fountain Pen 101: Sections

Moving up from the precious nib, we will now take a brief look at the section of the pen. Although not commonly considered the most important part of the pen, the section of the pen is also something to take into consideration - after all, it's where you grab the pen.

Fountain pen sections have a couple basic designs: straight, hourglass, tapered, and ergonomic. 

Straight

A very common type of section is the straight section. This section pretty much has no special cuts, acting as just an extension of the barrel. Some pens have textures on the barrel to improve the grip, such as this ribbed section:

Hourglass

Many vintage fountain pens have an hourglass section, named for.. well.. the hourglass shape of the section.

Tapered

Most tapered sections, like the one above, flare out at the very end. Tapered sections are similar to the straight sections, but just tend to have a different style, generally being thinner than the rest of the barrel.

Ergonomic

Generally found in modern fountain pens, ergonomic sections are molded to promote the correct grip of the pen. Ergonomic sections are very touch and go, since if your pen grip doesn't match the pen, it will be terribly uncomfortable.

Conclusion

Although not one type of section is best, each person does tend to prefer a certain type over the others. For me, the tapered grip feels the most natural to me, but I tend to hold the pen higher than most. The only way to figure out which type you like the best is to try them all out.

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Fountain Pen 101: Feed and Collector

Along with the nib, the feed is one of the most important parts of the pen. It controls things such as the wetness of the pen. Feeds can be made from several materials, but usually, ebonite, hard rubber, and plastic.

As you can see, the feed is found directly under the nib. It acts as a reservoir and a channel for the ink to flow to the nib. In this next picture you can see the exposed feed and the collector.

The pointed part at the end is the feed, and the part with all the lines that it connects to is the collector. The collector does exactly what it sounds like, it collects the ink from the barrel of the pen. It helps to moderate the amount of ink that the pen uses. In the feed above, and other similar feeds made of ebonite, the slits on the side, or the channel at the top, can be widened with a fine knife to increase the wetness of the pen. Feeds and collectors, though simple, are very very important to the way ink flows out of a pen. Nibs control the feel of the pen, but next, we'll look at the part that you actually hold: the section.

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Fountain Pen 101: Basic Nib Characteristics

Styles

In general, there are three major styles of nibs: open, conical, and hooded. 

When the average person thinks of a fountain pen, he's most likely to imagine the open nib:

It's perfectly natural too, the open nib is perhaps the most well recognized and widely used type of fountain pen nib. It allows the nib to exhibit artistic styles that the other two types often limit. Because of the open design, the shoulders of the nib flare out, allowing for greater support of the tines.

Another less common style is the conical nib:

Most often used by Sheaffer fountain pens, the conical nib lacks the flaring shoulders of the open nib. Although the pen lacks the support of the shoulders, the nib is literally a cone, extending around the feed. This gives the tines the support they need sans shoulders.

Lastly, there is the hooded nib:

This is just one kind of hooded nib. The Parker 51, as shown above has a nearly completely hooded nib, whereas some pens only have semi-hooded nibs. Regardless of the hooding, the hooded nib allows for the least amount of artistic design on the nib, and tends to be the least flexible nibs, due to a lack of space for the tines to move.

Types

Although each style may appeal to a different person, the writing experience is not much different. What really matters isn't the nib shape, but the shape at the end of the tines.

All three of the pens above share a common tipping shape: the round nib. This nib is the most common style of nib, having just a ball of tipping material at the end of the tines. This allows for smooth writing, with little to no line variation in most cases. 

The other style of nib is the italic or stub nib. 

Rather than a ball of tipping material, the stub nib has a flat line across the top. This changes the writing characteristics of the nib: when writing parallel with the nib, the lines are thin, when writing perpendicular to the nib, the lines are thick. Many styles of calligraphy, such as Gothic, use an italic nib.

Besides tipping shape, there is one last thing that affects how a nib writes, and it is probably the most desirable of all traits: flex.

Although it may seem like any other nib, notice that 1) the nib lacks a breather hole and 2) the slit of the nib is very, very long. Although not necessary, these characteristics help to improve the flex (literally flexibility) of the nib, allowing for great line variation. Flex nibs are necessary for lots of script-like calligraphy, such as Spencerian or Copperplate.

Sizes

  Fountain pen nibs come in many different sizes. Round tip nibs generally have a size marking: Extra Fine (EF), Fine (F), Medium (M), or Broad (B). Of course, there are specialty nibs with nibs such as needlepoint extra extra fine (EEF} nibs, or double broad (BB) nibs, but the 4 sizes listed above tend to be most common. Italics and stubs are generally sized by the width of the line that they draw, 0.3mm, 0.5mm, 0.7mm, etc. Flex nibs follow the same nomenclature as round tip nibs, but since their line variation is so large, the entire range is usually given. For example, the flex nib in the picture above is roughly a EF-BB nib.

Different nib sizes are used for different functions. Stubs, italics, and flex nibs tend to be good for art or calligraphy. Round tip nibs are good for general writing. Students tend to prefer EF or F nibs to write within the college ruled lines of notebooks, whereas more expressive people prefer the smoothness and wetness of a B. It's really up to you.

Hopefully, this introduction to basic nibs has proven useful. In the future, we will delve into more complex nibs, such as music nibs, and the whole array of Sailor specialty nibs. Thanks for reading!

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Fountain Pen 101: Nib Materials

When it comes to fountain pen nibs, almost any material can be used. But the materials must conform to certain rules: it must be malleable enough to be shaped into the very specific shapes of nibs and it must be able to last a long time without deforming or rusting. Some specialty pens have custom made glass nibs, but by far the most common material for fountain pen nibs is metal. Of course, not all fountain pens use the same metal, but there are three most commonly used metals in fountain pen nibs: steel, palladium-silver, and gold.

Steel:

Steel nibs are becoming more and more common in the fountain pen market today. Although they may not have the luxury and elegance of gold nibs sometimes, their performance can be every bit as good. Steel nibs generally come in two flavors: unplated

and plated

Although both are steel nibs, the gold plating on the second one mimics the high endedness a real gold nib.

Palladium Silver:

A middle ground between steel and gold, palladium silver nibs tend to be very shiny. They usually are very smooth with little feedback, and they keep their shininess for long amounts of time. These nibs were common in vintage pens, when palladium was cheaper, but nowadays, gold tends to be the gold standard. Very high end fountain pens sometimes use 21kt Palladium nibs instead of gold to opt for the brilliant shine.

Gold:

By far the most common nib material, gold nibs for pens come mainly in 3 types: 14kt, 18kt, and 21kt. The reason 24kt (pure) gold is never used for nibs is because of the softness and malleability of pure gold. The nib itself would deform and become useless in a matter of hours. In fact, 14kt gold tends to be the best option for nibs. Gold nibs can also be unplated

or plated

Gold nibs tend to be plated in more expensive metals such as rhodium. Gold nibs also have a 3rd option, which is the most common: two tone nibs. By only plating some parts of the nib with rhodium, the nib can have some amazing designs such as in Pelikan nibs:

All in all, no matter what nib material you choose, there's more important things, such as how the nib writes, which is something we'll explore in the next edition!

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Fountain Pen 101: Anatomy of a Nib

If we're going to talk about pens, perhaps the most important thing is the nib. This is what differentiates fountain pens from any other pen out there, but don't think that there's only one kind of nib out there. Before going into the different kinds of nibs, let's have a look at the basics of a nib, and how it works.

The first thing you see is probably that little hole right in the middle of everything. That's called a breather hole. It functions to allow air into the pen for proper function. Literally, the pen breathes through this hole. On either side of the breath hole is what's called the shoulders of the nib. The shoulders provide rigidity and stability in the nib. Going up from the breather hole, there is a slit in the nib. The slit is the channel in which the ink flows down the nib to the paper. On either side of this slit are what is called the tines. The tines of the nib are very important, they determine multiple characteristics such as "springyness" or "flex". At the very top of the nib is this silver ball. That part is called the tipping of the tines. The tipping tends to be a metal such as iridium. Tipping is not a requirement for nibs, for some nibs (usually steel) don't have tipping, but rather the steel itself is folded into a ball. In most nibs, however, tipping is very common. The main reason for this is because in metals such as gold and palladium, the softness of the metal will lead to rapid deformation of the tines. The ball of iridium (a metal far harder than gold) acts as a writing surface for the pen.

Now, there are a couple things that make certain nibs different than others, but we'll get into that next time!