Bought a Sheaffer No Nonsense Calligraphy Set from eBay. Have a couple of other Calligraphy sets of pens with interchangeable choices. An Osmiroid and a Platignum set too. It isn’t over the top with getting different sets. They do all act differently. And one’s Medium or Fine nib isn’t the same as the other ones. Also how they present and act on different papers is very different too. Not so much the feedback noise or scratch. More the ink flow. Generosity or sparse in delivery matters to avoid frustration. Choice to whether a hand made cotton porous paper or a lighter GSM weight with smoother surface can change your writing style in the blink of an eye. 

The Sheaffer No Nonsense pens themselves are nicest to handle and work with. More weightier and have balance once the pen cap is posted and an air of ‘substance’. The caps are screw types. Nibs have a nice consistent flow too. Require their own Sheaffer cartridges. I do have a Sheaffer ink converter but it is housed within the Sheaffer Taranis. The Fine nib I love and is such that writing of a general nature is perfectly best served. The other two are indeed targeted for disciplined Calligraphy work. A template chart for line spacing came with the boxed presentation. It also has a calligraphy lettering book fir learning. I have a couple of other example books too. As said, bought from eBay for about £7.00 it was a great buy. Two pens, nibs and a number of different coloured cartridges. I’m unfortunately not a fan of the discipline to write in intentional Calligraphy script fashion. I feel it’s like being asked to write a poem to frame or a load of wedding invitations. Nothing wrong with that as an interest at all. It’s just that when you are asked (and I have been) and you are your own worst critic……you are so embarrassed to hand over the result. 

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Above Nibs left to right are Osmiroid 5, Sheaffer No Nonsense 1 and Platignum 5. The other nibs are, as you see, in the pens. So a decent choice really.

The Osmiroid I have had experience with since school days back in the 1960s. Wrote continually with it for school presentation exercise book land. The Calligraphy set bought about a year ago. Again from eBay. It has a more reluctant flow with the Extra Fine and Fine nibs that I prefer. The Medium nib is a lovely choice for general writing too. The Copperplate Script point is flexible and flows wonderfully. The pen is extremely light and the cap, a snap fit, houses poorly. But is fine when posted for writing weighted balance. The overall ambience? It’s cheap and basic to be honest. But it is still an enjoyable pen to use. Cartridges are international and common. So plenty of choice. My old school Osmiroid with Medium nib is a lever filler. I also have an Osmiroid end cap presser bar ‘twister’ filler, but the Medium nib scratches the paper like it has inherent fleas. 

The Platignum is as light as a feather. Again a Calligraohy cheap set option. But boy! Does it write well. Extra Fine nib continually in place out of choice, it is often picked up first for general thoughts to write down quickly. The other choices of nibs have been tested and like the Sheaffer, from Medium and wider, they are best suited for disciplined writing. It has a strange ridged, fairly thick rubber ink converter that you squeeze between thumb and index finger to suck up the ink from the bottle. Simple as simple goes. But it is effective. Although if it ever splits! 

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Interestingly. I have a Mentmore here in the photographs too with a Medium German generic nib. States Novochrom Deluxe Etats Unis on the nib. The generic nib had a lever fill barrel that I broke on trying to remove to check the ink sac. It wasn’t filling well and the lever was loose too. Luckily the Mentmore barrel took the generic screw section. Trouble is, the brass button ink filler has no presser bar inherent and I need to find out how to get a replacement with correct length. The pen’s cap is of unknown make but is a vintage too, very much the barrel’s colour and material and has a beautiful Bakelite end. No clip though. So with all it’s put together parts I call it Frank-pen-stein. All in all though, this Novochrom Deluxe nib is a beautiful writer. Medium, but towards the finer end. Flows well and it skips across paper like it has found a meadow of wonderful wild flowers and is dancing with delight! 

Got to put a bit of flowery nonsense in a blog that is just very dry information haven’t you?