Stubs and italics are taking over my pen collection. Why? Well, I like line variation and, being a lefty, flex is not easy for me. But I have a light touch and a fairly consistent writing angle, so it’s easy for me to skate even the sharpest italic across the page.

You can make pretty much any nib into an italic or a stub, if you know a friendly nib-grinder, or have the guts to grind away at a nib yourself with a little care. Not many factory options exist nowadays — maybe we should all be happy with F, M, B? — but if you know where to look, you can still track down some pretty special nibs, whether your budget is £20 or £1,000.

Let’s take a look at some of the options.

JoWo 1.5 mm stub

This is the entry-level option, alongside the 1.1mm. It’s steel, untipped, and pretty unsophisticated — but cheap. Mine’s Edison branded, but you can get these anywhere, and they’re cheap enough that you can play with them without worrying about screwing up.

Nemosine 0.6mm stub

Nemosine sells both 0.6mm and 0.8mm stub. I’ve had two 0.6mms and both have been rubbish out of the box, but with a quick tune, they perform nicely, and the imprint on the steel looks distinctive. Again — cheap and cheerful. A great size for daily writing.

Franklin-Christoph Music Nib

This JoWo-fit steel nib is untipped and has three tines, spanning 1.9mm. The sunburst-effect imprint is cool, and mine is in “shadow” finish, so it’s gunmetal grey. I have it installed in an Opus 88 Demonstrator with Edelstein Star Ruby, and it’s my show-off pen.

Mike Masuyama fine cursive italic (JoWo)

Mike Masuyama takes orders via Franklin-Christoph — a great reason to buy one of their pens! This is a JoWo fine steel, cut to a cursive italic. It’s smooth, wet, and crisp. I love it.

Conid fine cursive italic (Bock)

It took Conid two goes to get me a working cursive italic, and this one still has an off-centre slit — I blame Bock for that, though. It writes smoothly and wet, and it’s narrow enough to use every day. It started as a cheap Bock steel, of course, but the pen attached to it is on the pricier side…

Pelikan Italic Broad

Ah, what a beauty, especially with Kin-Mokusei in its veins! Surprisingly this is not the widest nib here, but it’s a personal favourite, and I am sad that Pelikan has discontinued this nib.

Pilot

15 BB stubbed

I believe this was stubbed by Pablo at FPnibs, but it started out as a

15 size BB in a Pilot 845. It’s wetter than the usual Pilot nib, and while the line variation isn’t as great as some of the nibs here, it’s great fun.

Aurora italic (modified)

I already posted about my experiences with this one. Worth a read.

Nakaya cursive italic (John Mottishaw)

A Nakaya will cost you a fair amount of money, and John at nibs.com charges an additional $55 for an italic grind. I think it’s money well spent. This sharp little nib is a perfect writer.

Montblanc BB

Send any new Montblanc in for a nib exchange and you can get a fat BB installed, just like this one. The line variation is great (although it’s not officially called a stub), and it’s a beautiful chunk of metal.

Kaweco vintage OBB

I had to include this one, although you’ve not got much chance of picking one up! I borrowed this vintage Sport from a friend, and it came with this tiny, wet, flexible oblique double broad. It lays an incredible line. They don’t make them like this any more.

Take your pick

If you want a tipped factory italic only? Well, as above there’s Montblanc and Aurora. Also worth a mention are the range of italics from Conway Stewart back in the day. Platinum, Pilot and Sailor all do Music nibs, too — I’ve used a Platinum one and it’s very nice.

Don’t mind a steel, untipped nib? Lamy sells a range from 1.1 to 1.9, and there’s the JoWo 1.1, 1.5 and Franklin-Christoph Music that I showed above. Kaweco also do special calligraphy nibs.

And for grinding? FPnibs in Spain (but only for nibs you buy through them), John Sorowka in the UK, Conid, PurePens and others grind when you buy from them, and there’s a wealth of nibmeisters in the US: Dan Smith, John Mottishaw, Richard Binder, JC Ament and others. The world is your oyster.

What is the difference between a stub nib and a cursive italic?

A stub tip is cut straight across the top and is the easiest to use of the three, since it has somewhat rounded edges and corners. A cursive italic point is similar to a stub except sharper, giving more line-width variation between the vertical and horizontal strokes.

What is the difference between JoWo 5 and 6?

Many pen makers use JoWo nibs. JoWo

6 nib is the most preferred and common nib. Size

6 means that the nib unit's feed is 6 millimeters in diameter. Size

5 means the feed is 5 millimeters in diameter.

What is the difference between broad and stub nib?

Unlike standard nibs, which are designed to have rounded tips, stub nibs are shaped to have a flat end. This results in different line variations as you write. Stub nibs mimic the look of calligraphy as they produce narrower lines on a cross stroke and broader lines on the downstroke.

What is the difference between italic and normal nibs?

Stub nibs have rounded corners to make writing more comfortable. On the other hand, italic nibs have sharper edges to emphasize the variety in the lines. These nibs tend to give more feedback, and it may be more difficult to find the sweet spot when you're writing with an italic.