Capless Nibs (II)

As in the case of medium nibs, three are the possible fine nibs for the current model of Pilot Capless—the inexpensive one in steel, the now discontinued in 14 K gold, and the well known in 18 K gold. And, again, what are the differences among them?


All three of them were filled with Montblanc Irish Green and have been used on the same papers, mostly a smooth 90 g/sq. m by Oxford. My conclusions are as follows:

— The steel nib is a tad thinner that those in gold. The two gold nibs show no difference in their widths.

— The 18 K gold nib is clearly the wettest of the lot. Its line is significantly darker than those laid by the other two nibs.

— All three nibs are smooth regardless of the paper. The differences in this department are very small.

— None of these nibs is flexible. However, the 18 K gold one is slightly more responsive to pressure.

— As was the case with medium nibs, the steel one comes only as gold plated in chromium-finished bodies. Therefore, those pens show a color mismatch. A strange detail given the fact that no nib plating would be needed to match it with the rest of the pen.


Probably, the richer flow makes the 18 K gold nib the best of the tested nibs, although this, I reckon, is a matter of personal preference. On the cheaper side, the inexpensive steel nib gives an excellent value—it is smooth and reliable nib whose performance is on a par with the other two. Its only problem is, other than the very limited distribution outside Japan, the above-mentioned color mismatch.

In any event, none of the three should be discarded due to its performance—the differences among them are small.

(Pilot Capless, steel, 14 K gold, and 18 K gold; F nib – Montblanc Irish Green)

Bruno Taut
May 27th, 2011
[labels: Pilot, mercado]