Nib Experts, Help Me Out?

December 22, 2014

Lamy has tipping...was at the Factory. Is on my CPM-1, Safari, Persona OB (more obvious being a 18 K gold nail nib)...made into a CI due to it being a nail, and having no line variation. Sold my 27, it too had tipping, an OM.

I imagine Jo Wo also is tipped, in it has to fight Bock. Can't see Twisbi going from a tipped Bock to an untipped Jo Wo.

The Esterbrook 1xxx, 2xxx didn't have 'Iridium' tipping, so would only last 1 1/2 or so years of constant use....no problem today in no one is going to be writing with it 8 hours a day, 5 days a week. 'Iridium' tipping was the 3xxx&9xxx, which cost more but was expected to last 7-10 years of constant use in the One Man, One Pen days.

December 22, 2014

A lot of that could be easily misunderstood by members, so I'd like to add a little clarification.

Tipping is iridium or some other hard metal that is welded to the end of gold nibs (and many steel nibs). This is the wear-resistant portion of the nib that touches the paper. Gold in particular is too soft to withstand the friction / wear.

It is initially in a "ball" shape, and is ground to the desired width. It retains much of that "ball" shape on the writing portion, although the top of the nib is usually ground flat or to a peak. (think a Montblanc nib vs a standard Bock Nib).

That ball of iridium (or similar material) - i.e.: the tip or "tipping material" can be further ground into other shapes. Grind it at an angle and it is an oblique, for example. Nibmeisters (and factories) create stubs and italics by grinding the top and bottom of the material flat. They round the edges and corners to make it less "crisp" (i.e.: smooth), which sacrifices some line variation (the difference in width between the down stroke and cross stroke) as you go from crisp italic to cursive italic to stub.

Hand-ground nibs (by someone who knows what they're doing) do not lose the tipping material. I'd be happy to photograph nibs I've had ground or that I've ground myself. The fact that the tipping material is still present (and is the writing surface) is plainly evident. A quick visit to John Mottishaw's, Richard Binder's, Greg Minuskin's and many other similar sites will yield a wealth of pictures of ground nibs, attesting to this.

Well said Dneal, here's a photo that illustrates your point. It's a friends Parker 51 that was originally a very broad point with regular round tipping. I've re-ground it and you can clearly see the area where the silver color tipping material is.