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Maccabee64 · Rookie

Steel vs Gold nibs

Chthulhu · Rawr.

A tipped nib will only wear as fast as its tipping material, regardless of the material the nib is made from. Gold nibs tend to be softer and more flexible than steel nibs, though there are both gold "nails" and flexible steel nibs out there. Modern stainless steel nibs should resist corrosion from anything you'd normally throw at them.

The majority of my best modern writers have steel nibs.

DWL · ***

Mikes got it dead on. When a gold nib can add upwards of a hundred bucks to the price of a pen it makes sense to me to skip it & go steel. Modern nibs aren't flexible like vintage. IMHO, for the most part, you get the same feel in steel as you do in gold.

watch_art · Seasoned

unless you get magical gold! are me mateys!

ha haaa ahaaa!!!

...i know. lame. i just thought i'd add me two cents.

but you can add flex to 14k nibs, but not 18 or others. and not usually, or not easily, or????
to steel.

bgray · Experienced

I wrote an article regarding....

http://edisonpen.com/page.cfm/In-Praise-of-Steel-Nibs

-- Edited by bgray on Thursday 30th of September 2010 08:10:28 PM

Maccabee64 · Rookie

thanks guys

Bo Bo Olson · Seasoned

Good steel can be as good as gold. Gold can be as good as good steel.

I have three Osmia Supra nibs, one is gold and two is steel, they are =.

I have some steel Degussa nibs some are regular some are semi-flex, and one is Full Flex. Dugussa bought up Osmia's nib machines once in the early '30's when Osmia was having monetary problems.

I have some nice Vintage Bock nibs some in steel and some in Gold...those pens need repair before I can say which is better.

The Vintage German '50's nibs one expected semi-flex.

One could get US nibs of that time, if one asked in semi-flex.

Now...no one is told they can get that....out side of Edison pens.
I understand you could ask for that from MB....I just read an article by a noobie who was at the MB factory. He was so noobie, he called ink bottles, ink tubs, and didn't mention the grand colors one can get.

My steel good gold plated regular flex P-120 school kid nib is nib and tuck with my '90-96 Pelikan 400 and beats my 605. The P-120 is a joy to write with.