Gold nibs rant

I'm trying to get back to a writing rhythm after a disruptive...many weeks. So, in trying to kickstart my writing habit, I'm going to blather about fountain pens again.

The other reason for writing, is because I've been browsing fountain pen eye-candy again as stress relief. And as I browse, I'm reminded of an annoying fountain pen myth about gold nibs.

The myth: gold nibs gives a higher quality writing experience.

Now, as someone who has been writing over a year now with a gold nib, I can say definitively, "No. The writing experience is pretty much exactly the same as a steel nib."

Of course, it's true that the nib could be softer if the pen was designed to be softer, but there are many gold nibs that are actually just as hard as their steel counterparts. Especially in the Sailor pens.

Yes, this is also a Sailor pen rant.

See, the Sailor brand has reached this weird mythological status. It is, objectively, one of the most collectible brands out of the big three Japanese fountain pens (the big three being: Pilot, Platinum, & Sailor). Unlike Pilot (who focuses on releasing new pens only when they've got some kind of new gimmick) or Platinum (who only rarely releases new editions that focuses on design change), Sailor is a company that has three basic designs (1911, Pro Gear, and Pro Gear Slim) for which an unending slew of different colors are released annually in an attempt to entice buyers to buy the exact same pen in a different colorway.

Since consumers like to rationalize away their reason for spending extra money buying a pen that is functionally the same as another pen, Sailor's fanbase has built this mythology of how Sailor is super special and writes better than any other pen ever.

Remember how I said earlier that I wrote with a gold nib for over a year? Yeah, I was writing with a Sailor Pro Gear Slim.

This Pro Gear Slim specifically.

So, does the mystical Sailor nib have a pencil-like feedback? Yes. Does it have a very nice balance in the hand? Yes. Are the colors really pretty? Yes. Is all that worth $100+ or even $200+? No. Does the nib "bounce" or "cushion" my writing? No. Is my handwriting better for having a Sailor nib? No.

And at the end of the day, the most comfortable writing experience for me continues to be the Pilot Kaküno, a steady steel nib that doesn't hard start, writes at the angle I want it to, flows consistently, and has a nice long grip mildly contoured to keep my fingers in an ergonomic tripod grip. If I'm drafting a three thousand word chapter, the pen I want in my hand is the $12 Kaküno, no exceptions.

That's right, the $100+ Sailor Pro Gear Slim delivered a writing experience that's worse than the $12 Kaküno. Gold nibs aren't special. Gold nibs do not write better. Gold nibs are not more comfortable.

(I'm still keeping my Pro Gear Slim, since despite performing worse than the Kaküno, it still writes better than a ballpoint and I like changing colors between entries in my journal.)

Quite frankly, until someone presents data from a double blind test that shows the gold nib out performs their steel counterparts, I consider the gold nib myth to be thoroughly debunked.