Comparison of Fude nib fountain pens for drawing 

I fixed the railroading problem of the Sailor Mannen pen by slipping a razor blade between the nib and feed, then with another blade cutting a bit of the plastic feed off. It totally worked, now I'm happy with it.

Fantastic review! Thank you very much. I have to add that I really love your blog, and want to thank you for sharing your time, your artwork, and your experience with art materials and books so generously. Your blog is the first place i look, and i'm sure there are a gazillion of us around the world who have come to depend on your wonderful reviews.

Following your tip, I bought a Duke 209 and have been drawing and writing for a month. I'm really enjoying it! Thanks!!

Hi, Teoh. Okay, you sold me on the Duke 209. Great review. Thank you.

I was looking for a fude nib, and I watched this very very very useful review. I found a set with 2 duke nibs. one regular M and one fude. I spent all afternoon "playing" with my new pen and loved it. It looks like a brush. So much fun !! Once again, thanks for the tip.

Thank you for a very informative explanation of fude nibs. It makes me want to buy the Duke 209 just to play with it. :)

Thank you for an excellent overview of the fude pens. Helped me to finally decide and get the Duke Confucius.

Thank you so much for the series on these pens! I've really been enjoying using my new Duke 209 and the Fude de Mannen. So nice to find pens that are fun to use and inexpensive.

Very nice and informative video! Thank you! 😊

Thank you so much. Very helpful!

Duke551 - my favorite sketch pen! Thanks!

+Rebecca Nelson I submerge the whole nib into ink and use the piston convertor to suck the ink up. That's how I refill most fountain pens actually.

Thank you Teoh, such an excellent comparison. It’s been very helpful indeed!

I got a Duke Confucius and a Jinhao 8802, both with fude nibs. I love them both! So glad I took your note on how the Confucius is such its own experience; they're both different but they encourage the same speed of the hands. Thanks for the tip man! Also, if you find a Jinhao pen with a fude nib I guess see how you feel about it; that nib basically goes from a Japanese EF (when upside-down) to a double- or triple-broad. Also, idk how often you do this, but inks with good shading are really nice in fude nib pens.

I was using my Duke 209 just this morning and thought, I can do everything I want to do with this one $5 pen. Thanks for the good advice.

Informational! Which ink and paper you used for Duke 55 Confucius? Is waterproof carbon ink OK for it?

This is a great review of fude pens. I never tire of using both my Sailor Mannen and Duke Confucius 551. Whilst it has been quite a simple matter to obtain converters for the Sailor, the same cannot be said of the Duke Confucius 551. With your unrivaled expertises, do you know where I can obtain Duke converters?

Wow thanks for the review! I've been looking for a fountain pen to draw with and these make really awesome lines. What ink are you using?

How would you refill the duke 209?

I have the Duke 551 and the Sailor Fude De Mannen 40 and 55 degrees. What’s frustrating is how little ink the converters hold - it would be great to have eyedropper or piston filler Fude pens!

Just to let you know, thanks to this review, I bought myself a Duke 209! I didn't order one from China though, instead I bought a used set from a US seller that came in a box with the converter and two nibs (medium and calligraphy). I didn't pay more than around $13 for both the price and shipping as it was an eBay auction but it was worth the extra to get it quicker to my house than to wait for it to come over from across the Pacific.

So Teoh, out of all the fude nib pens you have tried, for the money and performance, which one would you recommend? I am looking to purchase a fude pen to get the crazy line variations but I also want a pen that will give me trouble free service. Thanks!

Thanks for this, Teoh. I picked up the Duke 551 (well yeah, it's the prettiest) and although I can't yet do very interesting writing with it I did do some cool drawings with it that don't look unlike my usual style.

Got myself the Duke 209 and filled it with Lexington Gray ink, but hasn’t worked out well. Not sure what’s causing it to skip, poor ink flow, so I stopped using it, The Sailor Fude pen works good with Platinum carbon ink. Recently, emptied and cleaned the Duke 209 and letting it sit because I don’t know what to do. Maybe the Duke 209 would do better with Platinum carbon ink?

How do we order a sailor with a fude nib? Or do they not offer them any more. They only have EF, F, MF, M, b, Music, & zoom. What are the music and zoom?

Awesome review! Can you also please review hongdian 6013 fountain pen fude nib? How does it compared to duke 551 Confucius fountain pen?

Teoh Yi, thank you for such an excellent in depth review of these fountain pens. It looks like the Duke 209 is your favorite among this bunch. 9 years have past, for a bent nib fountain pen, do you still favor the Duke or is there any other pen that I should also consider (

Thanks for the review. I ordered the Duke 209 from eBay and it will come in October.

My luck with the Hero pens was very bad, most pens I bought from Hero were choppy, scratchy and have ink supply problems. 4 out of 5 pens were problematic. the one works just barely.

What ink are you using? I think this style of nib will work best with a good flowing ink. Does that makes sense?

Is the Duke Confucius made from actual bamboo, or is it just a printed pattern? Thanks.

Is it safe to use acrylic ink in the ink converter with these nibs? Thanks!

Cool. Is the Fude nib better than the brush pen or a dip pen or even a flex fountain pen for drawing? Thank you. God bless, Proverbs 31

where can i get fude nib pens???

New subscriber here.

Nice pens I just don't like how cheap they all look... even the expensive ones

Why pressing so much ?!?! (to the others: Give the nib a few weeks to adapt to your hand !