Gold VS Steel Nibs - Is It Worth The Upgrade? 

Great presentation! The only gold nib I’ve tried is in my medium nib Pilot Elite 95S, so I’m not really in a position to say much about gold nibs when compared with one another. I can, however, say that as far as feel is concerned nibs can be highly dependent on QC, tuning, nib size, paper texture and ink lubrication. No two otherwise identical nibs are always exactly alike in how they feel and write. I’d take a well tuned steel nib over an improperly tuned gold nib. Flex nibs are certainly nice to have, but otherwise, the risk of damaging or misaligning the nib outweighs the novelty factor for myself.

Very helpful, thanks for sharing.

Definitely worth getting Lamy gold tipped nibs. I put them on my Lamy Idios. That’s what Lamy should have done in the first place. In Australia 🇦🇺 Lamy charged AUD $ 300 for that fountain pen with a steel nib and they didn’t sell. I bought 2 for $60 each in the end. Gold tipped nibs are much nicer to write with- much softer. Get a good quality pen like a Diplomat with a gold nib. Sublime.

Great demo! Thanks. I have both gold and stainless steel nibs - I honestly can’t say the gold nibs are not better the steel. For me, the grind and polishing have much more influence on the writing experience, than whether it’s gold. So I hope folks don’t feel left out just because don’t have gold nib pens. You make a great point about all nibs being composite metals, with no standards on how much gold content is actually present. If there’s a difference, it’s very subtle, and many people (me included) can’t feel one at all. The one exception was a vintage Pelican that I tried. Its gold nib was very flexible, but it was worlds apart from gold nibs today.

Thank you! Very useful ❤

Pilot has excellent nibs, if not the best out of the box. Now the holy grail nib is the one that you grind it yourself and perfectly suits your writing, even a custom steel nib can become your edc.

Great video! One of the advantages of gold is the corrosion resitance. I personally prefer steel since I avoid corrosive inks

Most of my nibs are gold, but I have three pens with steel nibs that I consider excellent, and one, a Diplomat Aero, is superb. It’s one of my five favorite pens. It’s in a medium cursive italic grind and is wonderfully smooth; flex isn’t an issue. I haven’t tried that pen with a gold nib, but I strongly doubt that it would be worth it to me. I’ll admit that I’ve bought most of my pens with an eye to the aesthetics rather than the writing quality, they only came with gold nibs, and those nibs were part of their aesthetic appeal. All have performed admirably as writers, but if I were buying a pen just for the writing experience, I’d go with a high-quality steel nib. And I much prefer to get line variation from the nib grind rather than from flex. I have a couple of vintage pens (Conway Stewart and Omas) with extremely flexible gold nibs, and a modern Pilot with a gold FA nib that’s also pretty flexible, but I find that a fussier approach to line variation than nib grind. I almost never use those pens.

Interesting, thank you!

For a more appropriate comparison, compare a pilot steel nib vs a pilot gold nib. Or a Pelikan steel nib vs a Pelikan gold nib, to really see the diference. Lamy swappable gold nibs are not the best ones.

Good video, thanks. You got my sub since some time. I prefer a nib that is not too smooth and certainly not too flexible. I then feel like I have less control over my writing. When it comes to Lamy, I prefer the black coated steel nibs. However, one should not forget that the different types of paper on which one writes also produce different impressions. Greetings from Belgium.

I tried a few gold nibs ....didn't like them...soft and got a little paranoid, bout damaging them ....would of cost a bundle , just to get the nib repaired..and even more to replace a gold nib but with a steel nib....more relaxing and easy to replace nibs. They write similar...good enough for me.

Is the 630 still your favorite steel nib?

Helo there and thanks for the very educational revieuw/comparison. I just bought myselve as a guilty plesure a Lamy Dialog cc Medium 14k Au nib. She is a very wet, smooth writer and I tought her very tip too was gold, It isn't! It is made of Iridium, an insane hard metal, polished to nearly military personels shoeshining for parade. I love my new pen, her size, weight and balance are as if she were designed with my hand in mind.

Worth it? Yes! Speaking from experience, it is absolutely worth it; on a LAMY pen. Other pens from other brands? Maybe, maybe not. LAMY? Yes!

I have found the differences between steel and gold nibs to be almost minimal. One of my favorite nibs is the Leonardo Elastic Steel nib made by Jowo. If they were available separately I would attach they to many other pens. As for gold nibs, there is no question about my admiration for Pilot nibs - so smooth and consistent.

Hi, could you clear my doubt? a F nib uses more ink than a M one?

I dig the video, but to demonstrate that gold doesn't mean flex, chosing a tiny supported nib vs a large steel nib, is kind of funny. And yeah, if the nib is soft, I do find gold more pleasing. Also yeah, it is important to remember the tipping material isn't gold. Sort of how fake diamonds shimmer more that real.

Lamy's Safari line nibs are pretty good steel. If you're gonna go gold, get their 2k's. That's a "worth it" step up.

Not worth it on a Lamy.

The only reason I have for buying gold is too much disposable income.