Pierre Cardin (Probably Fake Chinese/indian) Broken Tip

[paulkraus]

Hello everybody,

 

I have a nicely-looking (black painted metal and golden clip and ring) but poorly built (since the tip of the nib fell off) "Pierre Cardin". Probably cheap, probabily made in China or India, received as a guift set from a company (it was in a plastic box with pierre cardin written on it but just plastic on inside too, so that's another sign it's a fake).

Anyway since it looks rather nice, I was wondering what are my chances of restoring it to be able to write properly again. The problem is that the "iridium point" fell off.

The nib is bicolor, lower area silvery (stainless steel), upper area goldish (separation is in V shape) with some ornaments (like grapewine swirls or S's) and IRIDIUM POINT written on it. Don't have pictures with me.

Shoulder width is 7 mm, nib length about 26mm. I've found some indian site saying this size of nib would be #8...

I've tried grinding the tip with a nail tool (don't laugh) but I only managed to scratch the tool, the nib's steel seems pretty strong.

So if I can't polish it to make it "tipless" then I'm thinking to maybe replace the nib (I'v already dismounted it).

Excepting the size and fitting aspect, is there anything else I should consider? such as compatiblity with the black plastic part that conducts the ink?

Since I don't know the manufacturer, could any nib work if the size is correct?

 

Thank you in advance.

 

Edited March 10, 2014 by paulkraus

[Wolverine1]

Well, not to be a jerk, but, I feel your pen is a lost cause. You would be better off if you bought a new pen instead of trying to repair a Pierre Cardin pen and get it working. Sorry.

[mhosea]

It's probably a #5 or #6. The #6's are ubiquitous nowadays, though I would guess that you need a #5. Unfortunately, I don't have access to either right now, so I can't measure (to compare to your measurements) to see which it is. In the US I would expect to pay between $15 and $25, most likely for both the nib and replacement feed. Not sure what this pen looks like, but maybe a new "Pierre Cardin" pen costs $30? So I agree with Wolverine1, except that fixing it for fun is not out of the question. I would recommend grinding it to a tipless stub. Metal nail files don't need to be hardened very much because fingernails are soft, so you just need to find/borrow some more appropriate tools. Some of the abrasives made for shaping and buffing nails are useful for the end-stages of the project, but to shape the tip you might consider, say, a sharpening stone.

[paulkraus]

Thanks, I was leaning towards the same idea, to try finding a better/stronger file and keep grinding

But since I have no experience whatsovever in this field (repairing a pen) I thought it was better to ask if compatible nibs are easy to fit/match.