Fountain Pen Nib Customizations

Fountain pen nib customizations can take your writing experience to the next level. If you want greater character, distinctiveness, and line-width variation in your writing, then nib customizations are for you.

Nib customization is a different process from nib tuning. Nib tuning ensures basic writing functionality, and adjusts the pen and nib to the user’s individual writing characteristics. Outside of light regrinds when necessary to smooth a tipping point or correct an imperfection, nib tuning rarely involves actual alteration of the nib itself.

Nib customizations, on the other hand, start from the premise of altering the nib to change its writing quality. With regrinds to the tipping point and other alternations to the body of the nib, our skilled and experienced nib specialists can take a standard stock nib and turn it into a far more expressive and specialized writing tool.

Which Nibs Are Best For Which Customizations?

If you know what nib customization you want, there are clear and easy rules to follow in deciding on which pen nib to use. Conversely, if you have an existing pen or nib, you will be limited to nib customizations which are suitable to that nib.

A variety of nib customizations and nib customization techniques are available. Broadly speaking, these fall into two general categories – regrind-based customizations, which can be done on most any 14k, 18k, or 21k solid gold fountain pen nib, and flex-based customizations, which can usually be performed only on 14k solid gold nibs.

For a regrind customization, a simple rule of thumb is that the broader the nib you use, the greater the line-width variation you will see on the page. For a Flex customization, just the opposite is true – the finer the nib you start from, the greater the ultimate line-width variation you can achieve.

Regrind Customizations

Stub, Cursive Italic, Formal Italic, and Architects Point Customizations

Regrind customizations such as Stub, Cursive Italic, Left Oblique, and Architects Point are among the most popular we offer. Each offers its own unique appearance and requires varying levels of skill from the end user.

Stub Customizations

If you’re new to fountain pen customizations, a regrind to Stub is often a great place to start. The Stub customization gently sharpens the edges of the nib tipping point to add line-width variation. At the same time, a customized Stub nib will usually still be suitable for everyday usage, such as note-taking and filling out forms.

Cursive Italic Customizations

Cursive Italic provides more line-width variation and a slightly sharper and more position-sensitive writing tip. And while less smooth than a Stub, a nib with a Cursive Italic customization should still be suitable for most everyday purposes as well.

Formal Italic Customizations

For calligraphers and other advanced users, a regrind to Formal Italic provides the maximum in crisp line-width variation. A Formal Italic customization will be very sharp-edged and highly position-sensitive, but allows experienced users to achieve the most.

Architects Point Customizations

A very popular customization pioneered by PacificPenWorks nib specialist John Mottishaw is the Architects Point. In inverse to the Stub and Italic customizations, which provide broad vertical lines and finer horizontal lines, the Architects Point provides broadest strokes on the horizontal, and narrower strokes on the vertical.

While the Architects Point customization can be used by anyone wanting a distinctive writing style on the page, its unique qualities make it particularly well-suited to those wishing to write Arabic, Hebrew, and many other non-Western scripts. While any broader nib can be used, Sailor’s unique Zoom nib offers a particularly good starting point for the Architects Point.

Left Oblique and Reverse Oblique Customizations

Stub, Italic, and Architects Point customizations are ground equally on both sides of the tipping point. As a result, they tend to perform similarly for a wide range of writing styles and for both left and right-handers.

Left Oblique and Reverse Oblique customizations, on the other hand, involve regrinding just one side of the nib tipping point. As such, they are much more dependent on the skills of the writer and the angle at which the pen is held while writing.

Whether the regrind is a Left or a Reverse Oblique refers to the angle at which at the tip is cut. It does not refer to the hand of the user – in fact, and with many exceptions, Left Oblique regrinds tend to be more popular with right-handers, and Reverse Oblique is sometimes thought of as more suitable to Lefties.

Left Oblique is the more common of the two – stock “Oblique” nibs are usually what we would call a Left Oblique. It provides line-width variation depending on the angle at which you hold the nib to the page. The less common Reverse Oblique (sometimes called a Right Oblique) does the same. Both are very position-sensitive.

Flex Customizations

Like regrind customizations, Flex customizations are a method of achieving greater line-width variation on the page. They are also sometimes requested by users who simply want greater flex and feedback from the nib point without necessarily wanting to increase line-width variation.

Unlike regrind customizations, however, Flex customizations are generally available only on 14k nibs, not on 18k or 21k nibs. It may seem like a paradox at first, but the greater rigidity of 14k nibs allows them to properly flex back while in use. With softer 18k and 21k alloys, there is a danger than the flexed nib will not flex back again.

If line-width variation is your goal, choose the finest available 14k nib for a Flex customization. Gently varying pressure while writing will allow you to achieve a distinctive, expressive style on the page.

One important thing to remember when considering a Flex customization is that Flex is not the same as smoothness. In fact, flexed and stock Soft or Semi-Soft nibs are less smooth-writing than standard unmodified rigid nibs. The trade-off, however, is the expressive line-width variation the Flex customization allows you to achieve on the page.

Super-Fine Super-Flex Customization

For some advanced users, the ultimate in fountain pen nib customization is the Super-Fine Super-Flex, another customization pioneered by PacificPenWorks nib specialist John Mottishaw. Also known as the Copperplate or simply Super-Flex customization, it has been showcased in numerous user videos, including one that has now received over fourteen million views on YouTube!

Combining a Flex modification with a regrind to Needlepoint, the Super-Fine Super-Flex customization can provide superb line-width variation, but results in a very scratchy writing instrument which requires a light touch and a skilled hand. The modified nib is very fragile, and applying too much pressure can bend the tines.

If you’re not already a skilled calligrapher or artist, it may take extensive training before you’re able to master the use of a pen with the Super-Fine Super-Flex. We offer a variety of books that can help you gain the skills you need to achieve this goal.

The true Super-Fine Super-Flex customization is only made available on a handful of pens that can be equipped with nibs that are already semi-soft. For other pens with 14k nibs, the similar Flex + Super-Fine customization will get the most flex from possible from the chosen nib.

How To Decide On A Fountain Pen Nib Customization

With the wealth of pens, nibs, and customization choices available, there is bound to a fountain pen nib customization that works right for you. Our guided ordering process will guide you through the process of choosing the right nib and customization combination.

If you still have questions, we’re here to help. Just email us at info@pacificpenworks.com and we’ll be happy to guide you through the process. And for particularly unusual and specific issues, we’re happy to set up a brief phone consultation directly with one of our skilled and experienced nib specialists. We’ll be looking forward to hearing from you!