Excellent demo. Good to see the poorman's naginata togi grinds. 😁 I liked the #4 and the fude one a lot. Fude one can be a good signature pen as well. Thanks for the video.
These are really Chinese (Japanese also) grinds that allow brush pen like strokes with varying thickness and, particularly, pointed finishing. The thickness variation is not achieved by downward pressure, such as in old flexible nibs or Pilot FA nibs, but through different contact angles with the paper as you would expect from the shape of the nib. You might not get the full experience or functionality of these nibs if you don't quite practice Chinese calligraphy. But as shown here the nibs also perform reasonably well for other types of scripts.
I just recently got in my Pen BBS pens and I'm blown away by the quality of their construction. Noodler's Konrads have been my ride or die for about 10-15 years. Now my pistons are poopin' out on me and I'm left holding the bag because they don't sell replacements on all of their parts. I'm movin' on and this may be where. I got the Architect nib (the #2 Calligraphy) with the 491 in Nephrite Green and that mini fude. I LOVE them. Best purchase I've made this year. Thanks for telling us all about them! Oh man, that Architect nib is AMAZING. It's gonna live in my EDC case for a while.
One other reason I really like them (besides the quality and price) is that they never dry out on me. I can leave them for months and they are ready to write when I am.
I'm having a little trouble finding these on their Etsy site - am I just being blind? Do you buy their pen bodies separately, then a nib charm with the nib, or is it just a question of contacting them with what you want?
It is a little confusing. The calligraphy nibs are only available separately as nib charms and they are not always in stock because of their popularity. If the nib you want is out of stock, you can try contacting them, but I’ve never gotten a response when I’ve done that-you may just need to wait until they restock.
They fit in most but not all-it has to be a pen with a regular size nib (not the smaller models) and it has to have a nib unit that you can unscrew. Sometimes it is hard to tell sometimes, but you can always do a little googling it get more info on a particular model.
@@MysteryArts Thanks for your response! Do you happen to know off hand if they fit the 308 model? That's the one I'm looking at right now. If not I can try to figure it out.
Unfortunately no. However you could pull the nibs from their housing and put them in a Jowo #6 housing. I’ve been hesitant to do that myself because I don’t want to get the tines out of alignment, but it is possible.
Aloha! Thanks for taking the time to share these nibs. I have heard of them, but never really investigated them. Good to see that they are available as nib units as the PenBBS feeds (the fins in particular) are very brittle - fortunately you can buy a parts kit. Have you tried the Kaigelu "Long Knife" nib? And I remember you got a architect ground JoWo nib from Peyton Street pens and was wondering how that compares? Any thoughts would be much appreciated. Mahalo, Thomas
I have tried the "Long Knife" nib and love it! Definitely worth the wait from China. I have two architect grinds from Peyton Street pens--a fine and a broad. They are similar to the Long Knife and a lot of the PenBBS calligraphy nibs. The Long Knife is more like a fine architect and the broadest PenBBS nib is more like the broad architect, but they are all a little different. The architect grinds are definitely a little sharper and only have one good writing angle as opposed to having variation depending on how you hold it.
@@MysteryArts Mahalo for your reply and as always very detailed and succinct - I am usually the opposite as in saying much, but not really saying much and sometimes not even making sense! Anyway, good to hear that the Kaigelu "LK" compares favorably with the PenBBS calligraphy nibs. I came close to ordering a PSP architect nib, but at the time they only had a fine and broad and I was thinking a medium may of been a safer bet? Plus always in the back of my mind, I remember hearing that architect nibs are best done in-person as the writing angle is super important. Having said that, I do have two of the Kaigelu LK nibs and they are good for the price. Slight variation between the two nibs - one seems to be wetter than the other, which also makes it a bit broader. Will surely re-watch the video and maybe order one or two nibs. #4 seems to be a popular choice in the comments? Mahalo as always, Thomas
Thanks for posting this. I've been really curious about how these PenBBS calligraphy nibs write and this video was really helpful.
Excellent demo. Good to see the poorman's naginata togi grinds. 😁
I liked the #4 and the fude one a lot. Fude one can be a good signature pen as well. Thanks for the video.
These are really Chinese (Japanese also) grinds that allow brush pen like strokes with varying thickness and, particularly, pointed finishing. The thickness variation is not achieved by downward pressure, such as in old flexible nibs or Pilot FA nibs, but through different contact angles with the paper as you would expect from the shape of the nib. You might not get the full experience or functionality of these nibs if you don't quite practice Chinese calligraphy. But as shown here the nibs also perform reasonably well for other types of scripts.
I just recently got in my Pen BBS pens and I'm blown away by the quality of their construction. Noodler's Konrads have been my ride or die for about 10-15 years. Now my pistons are poopin' out on me and I'm left holding the bag because they don't sell replacements on all of their parts. I'm movin' on and this may be where.
I got the Architect nib (the #2 Calligraphy) with the 491 in Nephrite Green and that mini fude. I LOVE them. Best purchase I've made this year. Thanks for telling us all about them! Oh man, that Architect nib is AMAZING. It's gonna live in my EDC case for a while.
One other reason I really like them (besides the quality and price) is that they never dry out on me. I can leave them for months and they are ready to write when I am.
Nice to see all the different nibs, thank you for posting. Been waiting on the #4. Wish you’d have the camera closer while you’re writing.
I'm having a little trouble finding these on their Etsy site - am I just being blind? Do you buy their pen bodies separately, then a nib charm with the nib, or is it just a question of contacting them with what you want?
It is a little confusing. The calligraphy nibs are only available separately as nib charms and they are not always in stock because of their popularity. If the nib you want is out of stock, you can try contacting them, but I’ve never gotten a response when I’ve done that-you may just need to wait until they restock.
Alright; thanks for the reply (o:
I see that they're for sale on AliExpress as well; may have to look at getting some of them there (o:
I have the #4 and like it. I am now thinking about #2.
Do the calligraphy nibs fit all PenBBS models? Thinking about getting #2 but I'd need a pen to put it in.
They fit in most but not all-it has to be a pen with a regular size nib (not the smaller models) and it has to have a nib unit that you can unscrew. Sometimes it is hard to tell sometimes, but you can always do a little googling it get more info on a particular model.
@@MysteryArts Thanks for your response! Do you happen to know off hand if they fit the 308 model? That's the one I'm looking at right now. If not I can try to figure it out.
@@litost6564 I’m not sure about that one.
I just got the #6. Not sure how I feel about yet.
Are these PenBBS nibs interchangeable with #6 JoWo nib units?
Unfortunately no. However you could pull the nibs from their housing and put them in a Jowo #6 housing. I’ve been hesitant to do that myself because I don’t want to get the tines out of alignment, but it is possible.
Aloha! Thanks for taking the time to share these nibs. I have heard of them, but never really investigated them. Good to see that they are available as nib units as the PenBBS feeds (the fins in particular) are very brittle - fortunately you can buy a parts kit. Have you tried the Kaigelu "Long Knife" nib? And I remember you got a architect ground JoWo nib from Peyton Street pens and was wondering how that compares? Any thoughts would be much appreciated. Mahalo, Thomas
I have tried the "Long Knife" nib and love it! Definitely worth the wait from China. I have two architect grinds from Peyton Street pens--a fine and a broad. They are similar to the Long Knife and a lot of the PenBBS calligraphy nibs. The Long Knife is more like a fine architect and the broadest PenBBS nib is more like the broad architect, but they are all a little different. The architect grinds are definitely a little sharper and only have one good writing angle as opposed to having variation depending on how you hold it.
@@MysteryArts Mahalo for your reply and as always very detailed and succinct - I am usually the opposite as in saying much, but not really saying much and sometimes not even making sense! Anyway, good to hear that the Kaigelu "LK" compares favorably with the PenBBS calligraphy nibs. I came close to ordering a PSP architect nib, but at the time they only had a fine and broad and I was thinking a medium may of been a safer bet? Plus always in the back of my mind, I remember hearing that architect nibs are best done in-person as the writing angle is super important. Having said that, I do have two of the Kaigelu LK nibs and they are good for the price. Slight variation between the two nibs - one seems to be wetter than the other, which also makes it a bit broader. Will surely re-watch the video and maybe order one or two nibs. #4 seems to be a popular choice in the comments? Mahalo as always, Thomas
Do you mind posting the names/numbers of your pens? TIA!
I've added the model numbers in the description box below the video.
Thank you!!!