Groundbreaking Online Fraud Prevention Course Goes Live

Press Release – updated: Oct 16, 2018 Las Vegas, United States, October 16, 2018 (Newswire.com) – FP101 is like no other online e-course on the market today. It guides ordinary people toward becoming fraud aware. You will see what fraud is, what it does, and how it operates across all cultures. All this without using deep math to show how it functions. This certified course is fully interactive…

The barrel of a fountain pen isn't really anything special, so I'll keep this post short.

Barrels can be made of a myriad of different materials ranging from plastics to metals. The barrel simply protects the filling mechanism or cartridge of the pen and gives a place for the hand to rest. The majority of the heft and weight of the pen comes from the barrel. Besides this, there isn't much else to the barrel of a pen. It's mainly for functionality, but many more expensive pens may have elaborate designs etched onto it.

Before moving on to the barrel of the pen, we're going to quickly go over the cap. The cap is useful as it keeps the nib protected, and prevents the pen from drying out. There are two main styles of caps: snap on and screw on. Snap on caps are similar to the caps found nowadays in most other pens, they simply fit on with friction and create a seal that way. Fountain pens (especially vintage ones) may also have a screw on cap: which has threads on the inside that match up with threads on the section. In general, the screw on caps tend to be more secure and airtight, overall more beneficial to the fountain pen, though they sacrifice convenience.

The last part of the pen is the clip. Most clips are similar, just a piece of metal that allows the pen to be clipped into a pocket or a bag. Sometimes, especially in more modern pens, the clip is spring loaded. 

Moving up from the precious nib, we will now take a brief look at the section of the pen. Although not commonly considered the most important part of the pen, the section of the pen is also something to take into consideration - after all, it's where you grab the pen.

Along with the nib, the feed is one of the most important parts of the pen. It controls things such as the wetness of the pen. Feeds can be made from several materials, but usually, ebonite, hard rubber, and plastic.

Styles

In general, there are three major styles of nibs: open, conical, and hooded. 

When the average person thinks of a fountain pen, he's most likely to imagine the open nib:

It's perfectly natural too, the open nib is perhaps the most well recognized and widely used type of fountain pen nib. It allows the nib to exhibit artistic styles that the other two types often limit. Because of the open design, the shoulders of the nib flare out, allowing for greater support of the tines.

Another less common style is the conical nib:

Most often used by Sheaffer fountain pens, the conical nib lacks the flaring shoulders of the open nib. Although the pen lacks the support of the shoulders, the nib is literally a cone, extending around the feed. This gives the tines the support they need sans shoulders.

Lastly, there is the hooded nib:

This is just one kind of hooded nib. The Parker 51, as shown above has a nearly completely hooded nib, whereas some pens only have semi-hooded nibs. Regardless of the hooding, the hooded nib allows for the least amount of artistic design on the nib, and tends to be the least flexible nibs, due to a lack of space for the tines to move.

Types

Although each style may appeal to a different person, the writing experience is not much different. What really matters isn't the nib shape, but the shape at the end of the tines.

All three of the pens above share a common tipping shape: the round nib. This nib is the most common style of nib, having just a ball of tipping material at the end of the tines. This allows for smooth writing, with little to no line variation in most cases. 

The other style of nib is the italic or stub nib. 

Rather than a ball of tipping material, the stub nib has a flat line across the top. This changes the writing characteristics of the nib: when writing parallel with the nib, the lines are thin, when writing perpendicular to the nib, the lines are thick. Many styles of calligraphy, such as Gothic, use an italic nib.

Besides tipping shape, there is one last thing that affects how a nib writes, and it is probably the most desirable of all traits: flex.

Although it may seem like any other nib, notice that 1) the nib lacks a breather hole and 2) the slit of the nib is very, very long. Although not necessary, these characteristics help to improve the flex (literally flexibility) of the nib, allowing for great line variation. Flex nibs are necessary for lots of script-like calligraphy, such as Spencerian or Copperplate.

Sizes

  Fountain pen nibs come in many different sizes. Round tip nibs generally have a size marking: Extra Fine (EF), Fine (F), Medium (M), or Broad (B). Of course, there are specialty nibs with nibs such as needlepoint extra extra fine (EEF} nibs, or double broad (BB) nibs, but the 4 sizes listed above tend to be most common. Italics and stubs are generally sized by the width of the line that they draw, 0.3mm, 0.5mm, 0.7mm, etc. Flex nibs follow the same nomenclature as round tip nibs, but since their line variation is so large, the entire range is usually given. For example, the flex nib in the picture above is roughly a EF-BB nib.

Different nib sizes are used for different functions. Stubs, italics, and flex nibs tend to be good for art or calligraphy. Round tip nibs are good for general writing. Students tend to prefer EF or F nibs to write within the college ruled lines of notebooks, whereas more expressive people prefer the smoothness and wetness of a B. It's really up to you.

When it comes to fountain pen nibs, almost any material can be used. But the materials must conform to certain rules: it must be malleable enough to be shaped into the very specific shapes of nibs and it must be able to last a long time without deforming or rusting. Some specialty pens have custom made glass nibs, but by far the most common material for fountain pen nibs is metal. Of course, not all fountain pens use the same metal, but there are three most commonly used metals in fountain pen nibs: steel, palladium-silver, and gold.

If we're going to talk about pens, perhaps the most important thing is the nib. This is what differentiates fountain pens from any other pen out there, but don't think that there's only one kind of nib out there. Before going into the different kinds of nibs, let's have a look at the basics of a nib, and how it works.