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I was thinking about buying a stereo microscope ( my budget is around 250$ to 300$ max) , to do various nib works such as grinding polishing etc. I have a very good belomo 12x loupe but the magnification just isn't enough for me. I want to be able to see very fine details on the tipping of the nib which I can't see with the loupe, especially when working on finer nibs. Now I do have a few options on what to buy, but really need someones opinion. The first choice would be the Amscope se400-z ( https://amzn.to/2SbzszH ). Seems like a good deal and has good reviews. The problem is that it does not have variable zoom plus I don't know if 20x magnification would be enough to show me the finer details of the tipping material and if there would be a noticable difference compared to the loupe. The other option is buying a used microscope from ebay, perhaps from a better brand (leica, zeiss etc) but at my budget most of the ones that I find have pretty much 20x zoom at most (usually its even less, around 10x). The third option would be to buy something unbranded from aliexpress (https://bit.ly/2WCgfps I have something like this in mind) which has more zoom and it is variable too. But again I am trying to avoid this, because I am not certain about the quality of the product and due to the fact that parcels outside eu get stuck at customs, I'll be forced to pay something around 20 euros plus 27% of the price of the item (including shipping). Ideally I would like to buy the amscope se400-z, if 20x magnification is enough to see any difference when comparing it to the loupe. So my question is, is it worth it? Will there be much difference compared to the loupe? Does anyone more experienced have any other proposals, such as another microscope that I have not considered? Any information would be much appreciated and helpful

Hi I am Jaspreet from India and I grind nibs. I usually post pics of my grinds on instagram ( handle - Jazzorilla). I am new to FPN and i will be posting pics of my grinds here for constructive criticism. Attaching some pics of a Broad Cursive italic grind on a Kanwrite nib which writes as a smooth B on reverse. - Jaspreet

Hello all, I would like to introduce Toronto Pen Company to the good folks of this community. My name is Salman Khattak and am usually found moderating the Calligraphy forums (as 'smk'). I started this venture (Toronto Pen Company) last year to provide pen tuning and custom nib grinding services to the local community. I have been lucky to receive great support from fountain pen enthusiasts from all over Canada (and abroad). I recently realized that I never updated my profile on FPN to announce all this - hence this post. Details of the nib grinds I offer: TorontoPenCompany.com/prices--process.html Some writing samples: TorontoPenCompany.com/writing-samples.html Store: TorontoPenCompany.com/store.html I also offer Calligraphy workshops from time to time as well as custom Calligraphy services. I am working on a line of greeting cards that should be out soon - I will make sure to make an announcement here when the time comes :-) - Salman