Nibs

Some Zanerian Number 3 Medial's sitting on my writing desk.

Good starter nibs are “G” nibs (from several manufacturers), and Hunt 22b’s.

The G nibs are durable and chromed.  They last awhile.  The three I’ve come across are nearly identical, though the Nikko G may be slightly superior.  Zebra and Leonardt also make “G” nibs.  In the interest of full disclosure, I have not used the Leonardt G nib, but it looks a lot like the Nikko G nib.  I bought a couple of Nikko and Zebra G nibs when I was starting out.  I found them to be quite good.  A prominent contributor to /r/Calligraphy loves the G nibs and you can see them in her pen where it is visible in pictures of her work.  While they are a great nib for beginning, they don’t stop being a good nib when your work gets more technically complex.  The Zebra G is more flexible than the Nikko G.

Hunt 22b’s come in two flavors, vintage and current (not to be confused with currant).  The vintage 22B’s are of slightly higher quality.  You will notice the difference after you have been writing awhile.  Of course the vintage 22B’s are also about $1 more.  The Hunt 22B is a great way to transition from the G nibs onto more flexible sharps like the Hunt numbers 56, 99, and 101.  Hunt nibs in general are sturdy and turn an acceptable hairline and shade.  These are the medium sharps, a good place to cut your teeth before moving up into the more finicky points.  I’ve said sharps now several times.  Generally it is slang for any pointed nib.  Some of them actually are fairly sharp too.

I can recommend several nibs once you are ready for something a little more challenging / expensive.  A widely used workhorse for wedding calligraphy is the Brause 66EF.  They are in a medium price range, and quite easy to work with.  They yield nice hairlines and somewhat thick shades.  When you see very thick shades on larger letters, there is a good chance a Brause Rose nib was used.  These are also lovely, sturdy pens.  Everyone should try the Gillott 303 and 404 once to see if they like them.  They are both very sharp, the 303 being very flexible and the 404 being relatively stiff.  You should buy several of each as they are cheap, and you may get 3 good pen points out of every 5.  When you are ready for something extremely flexible that produces a very thin hairline, I recommend the Leonardt Principal EF.  It is a sword hilt nib (you will notice this is the shape of the cut out), similar in appearance the Hunt 101 “Imperial”, and specifically modeled after the fabled Gillott Principality.  A number of Master Penmen are on record as saying this is the closest thing you can buy to the Principality, which many of them will tell you was the finest nib made.

There is a lot to say about nibs.  Bob Hurford has said quite a bit of it in his articles "A Look at Fine and Flexible Nibs," and "A Look at Fine and Not So Flexible Nibs," on iampeth.com.  He outlines the lineage and classification of a wide variety of nibs.  This is very useful information once you begin shopping around for vintage nibs.  Most of the rest you need to know is found among Dr. Joe Vitolo’s articles on iampeth.com and zanerian.com.  Pay specific attention to what he has written about his 5 “dream points.”  For more general information on nib anatomy and manufacture, read “The Steel Pen Trade” by Arthur Charles.