I'm a nibster!

[Keith with a capital K]

Maja - Whenever I find myself out your way I'll make it a point to see you and yours and while I am there, I'll give you some tips on how to make an ordinary nib into something extraordinary...

 

My advice is free save for the fact I might ask you to renounce your unholy affection for the Detroit Dead Things...

[Gerry]

The only thing I would add to the current discourse on nib shaping is that if, after following the previous steps, there is still some scratchiness, particularly when there is a little pressure being put on the nib, it might be as a result of the inside corners of the tines digging in.

 

These can be gently eased by inserting the mylar between the tines, and using it in a slightly curved rounding motion, wearing or smoothing the inner corners a bit.

 

I would suggest that you don't bother with this step unless the nib is still catchy, and would caution that too much inner tine rounding may ultimately make the nib hard starting.

 

If you would like a visualization aid - think of looking at the nib end on. Before the earlier smoothing the ends would look like two boxes (squares) just touching with square corners all around. After smoothing, the ends would look like two 'C's, one backwards so the open sides of the 'C's abut. As you can see, there are still the original square corners of the boxes on the inside. It's those corners that may still need smoothing, but certainly not to the extent of the outside ones.

 

Regards

 

Gerry

[Mikeo]

Keith:

 

Now wait a minute! Maja isn't the only one with an unholy affection for ( think they should be called) the Dreaded Wings. Just wait till next year.... I hope!

[Keith with a capital K]

Wings should be breaded and deep fried...

[wimg]

Hi All (saves me from naming everybody separately in this thread ),

 

I just would like to add that I still stand by my opinion, that it is easy. But you do need patience, and take it a step at a time, as indicated by Kendall and Keith.

 

In order to get ideas on how nibs should look, take a peek at Richard Binder's website, for example at his nib primer: Nib primer by Richard Binder

 

Here and in other articles in the reference section you can find virtually all information you need on nib shapes. And let me tell you a (not so) secret: create the shapes in the pictures, and you'll get exactly what was intended!

 

Once you're familiar with the more basic special nibs, you can move on to more complex ones, like the double nibs (one nib normal way around, another rotated 180 degrees).

 

Also, when you have done a few nibs, including smoothing, you tend to get very sensitive to smoothness, and become very critical too. Be careful, because you may get too critical. You really start feeling the tiniest unsmooth spot. My remedy for this is to have a very good smooth pen as a reference, so you can compare, and actually realise that the pen you think is maybe not smooth enough, is well and beyond the smoothness of your reference nib .

 

Regarding the quality of tipping material: yes, it makes a difference, especially with the older pens, dating from times where it really was impossible to purify iridium or its substitutes, and just plain pieces of finely broken ore were used to create the tipping material. These may have cracks, softer and harder spots, etc. Once it was possible to create little drops or balls of tipping material, you find that some of the stuff used is softer than the better quality stuff.

 

It is easier to create a smooth point from softer material than it is from harder material, but the softer material normally erodes much and much quicker than the harder one, and therefore looses its shape more easily, thus becoming less smooth much quicker than the harder one. And the harder ones are harder to shape and smoothen too.

 

Of course, I am only talking about properly tipped nibs here, no rolled steel nibs or whatever.

 

Good candidates for experimenting, IMO, because they are so easily and fairly cheaply replaceable and available, are Pelikan M200 and Namiki VP nibs.

 

Just my 2c,

HTH,

Warm regards, Wim

[Gerry]

Wings should be breaded and deep fried...

With the appropriate hot sauce (suicide is my bent, although some establishments take that too literally)

 

Gerry

[Maja]

  Maja - Whenever I find myself out your way I'll make it a point to see you and yours and while I am there, I'll give you some tips on how to make an ordinary nib into something extraordinary...

 

My advice is free save for the fact I might ask you to renounce your unholy affection for the Detroit Dead Things...

Yeah, right!

 

But seriously....thanks for the offer! I will have to take you up on it someday...

 

Keith:

 

Now wait a minute! Maja isn't the only one with an unholy affection for ( think they should be called) the Dreaded Wings. Just wait till next year.... I hope!

 

Yay! I'm not the only Wingnut here

Go Wings!

 

Now, back to the topic at hand....

Wim, thanks for the advice. Of course, as Keith said, seeing it done first-hand would be ideal, but if that is not possible, then written advice (with pictures) is very helpful too. Having said that I hope you don't mind if I steer people towards your excellent nib smoothing article on Pentrace:

"Nib grinding experiences" article by Wim G. (from Pentrace.net)

[Guest Denis Richard]

Maja - Whenever I find myself out your way I'll make it a point to see you and yours and while I am there, I'll give you some tips on how to make an ordinary nib into something extraordinary...

 

My advice is free save for the fact I might ask you to renounce your unholy affection for the Detroit Dead Things...

I would at least have tried to negotiate a meal...

[Maja]

Maja - Whenever I find myself out your way I'll make it a point to see you and yours and while I am there, I'll give you some tips on how to make an ordinary nib into something extraordinary...

 

My advice is free save for the fact I might ask you to renounce your unholy affection for the Detroit Dead Things... 

I would at least have tried to negotiate a meal...

Mais oui, Denis! Sheesh!

Of course, we would treat you to a fine dinner if/when you get out here, Keith...

[Keith with a capital K]

There will be food?

 

I am so there.

 

Can I play with the fur kids too ?

 

[Maja]

There will be food?

 

I am so there.

 

Can I play with the fur kids too ?

 

Yeah sure....But I have to warn you: when they greet people (including my husband and I who see them very frequently) they act like they have springs on their paws...They jump up & down and up & down and.....(ie. wear long pants! )

[wimg]

Hi Maja

Now, back to the topic at hand....

Wim, thanks for the advice. Of course, as Keith said, seeing it done first-hand would be ideal, but if that is not possible, then written advice (with pictures) is very helpful too. Having said that I hope you don't mind if I steer people towards your excellent nib smoothing article on Pentrace:

"Nib grinding experiences" article by Wim G. (from Pentrace.net)

Thanks for the kind words!

 

I did a FPN version, BTW, you can find it here:

Nib grinding experiences

I posted it somewhere on FPN too, but can't remember where...:bonk:

 

Kind regards, Wim

[Maja]

Hi Maja

Now, back to the topic at hand....

Wim, thanks for the advice. Of course, as Keith said, seeing it done first-hand would be ideal, but if that is not possible, then written advice (with pictures) is very helpful too. Having said that I hope you don't mind if I steer people towards your excellent nib smoothing article on Pentrace:

"Nib grinding experiences" article by Wim G. (from Pentrace.net)

Thanks for the kind words!

 

I did a FPN version, BTW, you can find it here:

Nib grinding experiences

I posted it somewhere on FPN too, but can't remember where...:bonk:

 

Kind regards, Wim

Hi Wim,

You're welcome!

You mentioned your nib grinding article in this FPN thread from Dec. 2004...

Best wishes,

Maja

[Bo Bo Olson]

Hello Mike,

A Pelikan like an Esterbrook, has an easy to change nib. It is one of thier advantages.

 

So you can order from Pelikan what nib you want, instead of worrying about butchering your nib.

 

Look though up in the parts on nibs, in I think from what I read, that Pelikan is a bit thick for the size. I do not remember that distinctly in that I have no Pelikan, so it slipped my mind in exactly how much thicker they point, that what other companies do.

 

I had inherited some 7 fountain pens, and just as I was about to flea market them, because some were so pretty, I looked in the net. I got hooked on fountain pens.

 

I too am interested in smoothing up the nibs. Bought a 10x loop today, to take a look.

 

First I need to find the proper way to hold them, before I start smoothing what might not need to be smoothed. They are of course set to an other's hand than mine.

 

 

Luckily I had this old book, on how to learn to handwrite ...so must learn. Unfortunatly for me, it is an English book from London, and from 1955, so it is filled with English pens, and I have already discovered wants of pens I do not need. I have 8... And after a quick glance, the book seems to be teaching Italic....dam....well, hen scratch in Italic should to be interesting. I was not planning on Italic...

 

I will get a Esterbrook stub nib, as soon as I can. That was my plan and as far as I was going to go towards Italic.

Pelikan also like I said has an easy to change nib section.