Choosing a Fountain Pen Nib

The heart of a good fountain pen is the nib and its ink feed. The nib gives handwriting a personal character and makes it individual and unique.

Standard Nibs

These nibs have a rounded shape at the tip of the nib which gives smooth, free flowing hand writing as well as uniform writing. Standard pen nibs are suited to any style of writing and can be used by both right and left handed users. Standard nibs are easier to write with and allow a fluent handwriting style for both casual and experienced writers.

Oblique Nibs

Oblique nibs are cut obliquely to allow for the writer to hold his pen at an angle to the paper. These nibs allow for greater line width variation when writing. Most oblique fountain pen nibs are cut at 15°. Oblique nibs allow for a more expressive handwriting style but can more difficult to write with than a standard nib.

Italic Nibs

Italic nibs are manufactured with a sharp, straight cut tip to them. This type of nib lays down a thick line of ink in a vertical direction and a thin line in a horizontal direction as necessary for the italic style of hand writing. Italic nibs are often referred to as calligraphy nibs.

Penbox stock a range of fountain pens from Parker, Waterman, Sheaffer, S T Dupont, Pelikan, Porsche Design, Cross, Visconti, Caran d'Ache, Faber Castell, Lamy, Pilot, Onoto and Montegrappa. Some fountain pens are available with medium nibs only, and others with a wider range of nib grades. When viewing specific fountain pens the nib grades available will be indicated and can be selected when purchasing from the drop down menu. At Penbox we also stock a range of replacement pen nibs from the same makers.

For replacement pen nibs follow the nib link above.