My Happy Customer Testimonial for Precision Writing Works

I've had a few fountain pens languishing in storage because their nibs weren't working for me (often they're just too broad for my small handwriting), but I still wanted to keep the pens. My "problem" has been that I don't regularly go to pen shows which is the most direct way to get your fountain pens worked on. And even when I tried once, I found it difficult to sign up for time slots since they got snapped up so quickly. I am not a morning person who will camp out at the beginning of a show to get my name on a write-in list, either. 😅 The last time (and first time) I had a pen custom ground was a couple years ago (IIRC) at the San Francisco Pen Show, by JJ Lax, who happened to have a free time slot become available while I was at the show.

There are many nib specialists out there, but the ratio of customers to specialists is too many (shout out to Milton on Office Space 😆). So just about all of them are swamped and are either not taking mail-in work, or have a huge backlog (months or maybe years long!). I asked around on the Pen Addict Slack if there might be any nib workers who have availability, and Damien from All in the Nib recommended a newer nib specialist, Joshua John at Precision Writing Works, who is taking mail-in orders.

I went through the process for mail-in orders, and found it very simple. There was a quick consultation via e-mail during which I provided side and front views of how I hold my pen so that he could customize the grinds for my pen grip. I ended up sending off my TWSBI ECO Espresso Bronze whose F nib was not F enough, and my TWSBI Diamond 580 Iris whose M nib was even broader. As you may know, I write in block print, so I really like architect grinds. I also don't mind narrow stubs or cursive smooth italic grinds. I have a F stub from All in the Nib which I love using. While Joshua offers many different grinds, I opted for a straight architect on the ECO, and a reverse architect on the Diamond 580, since I'm familiar with these nib shapes and wanted to see how they would compare to other pens I have with the same grind.

I got them back in the mail and tested them on Monday. I'm quite happy with both! The straight architect shape can be kind of sharp (from any nib specialist), but I like the feeling. As I mentioned in my post about the Omas Extra Ogiva I played with a while back, I came to the realization that I prefer feedback from my fountain pens, not absolute glassy smoothness. This may change in the future, but for now, that's my preference. The ECO is the first F architect I've gotten. I realized that my other architects started from M or B nibs (I have one B architect that I'll probably have resized down). You might not think that a F architect has much line variation, but it does.

The forward side of the reverse straight architect on my Diamond 580 writes very finely, probably an EF or even approaching a needlepoint line width. It feels similar, if not the slightest bit "smoother" than the needlepoint nib I have on another pen. Since I have been using the needlepoint on that other pen recently, I'm used to the uber-fine line and don't mind the level of feedback. I do like the size of the M architect on the reverse side; I am slightly wishing I just got a regular straight architect on the 580, but it's good to have variety.

I think perhaps the longest parts of the process was mailing my pens out and getting them back via USPS. The service is quite inconsistent these days and baffling sometimes. I got a package from someone out on the east coast faster than from Texas, which is where Precision Writing Works is based. 🤦‍♀️ I don't recall if it's possible to use a different shipper than USPS, but in the grand scheme of things, it was fine. I'm aware I get impatient.

Anyway, now that I've gotten these pens back and have them inked up with a couple of my favorite inks, I'm preoccupied with sending off another pair of pens for work. 😆 Do note that Joshua limits each mail-in order to two pens each to keep the backlog fair to everyone requesting work. As of this writing, the turnaround time is approximately two weeks. His communication and nib work was great and reasonably priced, comparable to other nib specialists I'm aware of. I look forward to sending more pens out to him sometime in the near future.