What Has To Be Done? Gold Nibs Without Iridium

[kircher]

I've got two parker arrow nibs, one sheaffer's 33 nib, and one waterman nib without their iridium tips. What would you recommend doing? should i turn them into italics, is there a way to sell them, are they worth having them repaired, are there other options that i couldn't think of?

Edited March 29, 2015 by kircher

[hari317]

Gold nibs can be retipped. Greg Minuskin -USA, John Mottishaw -USA and I believe one person in Spain? offer this service.

[kircher]

I know they can be retipped. I assume retipping would cost about 50-70 dollars for each nib. I can buy a restored parker vacumatic with the same arrow nib for about the same money, while a sheaffer pen with the 33 nib costs maybe 20 dollars. The waterman's nib could be more expensive, but i don't have the corresponding pen. I wonder whether retipping is even remotely convenient in these cases.

[sidthecat]

Is convenience an issue? We're talking about obsessions here.

[kircher]

well, there must be method in madness. If would not spend 200-280 dollars to have four nibs retipped that i can buy (together with the rest of the pen) for half that money. What about italicising them?

[mitto]

I did italicise two of my gold nibs. A very good option for me that is.

[dms525]

FWIW, OMAS, a rather respectable pen manufacturer, makes at least some of its italic nibs by cutting the tips, including the iridium bead, off the end of round nibs. They write very well. In theory, the 18Kt gold will wear down faster. You might not use any one pen enough for this to ever be a problem. For photos, see this topic:

 

Omas Ogiva Albas: Two Itali...

 

David

Edited April 1, 2015 by dms525

[FarmBoy]

The nibs you list are not worth the investment involved in getting them retipped as replacement nibs are lower in cost than the retipping process. (figure 70-80 at retail) BUT, if you desire a broad, stub, italic the cost may well be lower than finding an original nib assuming you could find one.

 

51 nibs fall into this category. A used F nib will run around $35. A 1.0+ stub will run you ~$100 installed and adjusted (they can pose challenges). A factory stub (about .9mm or so) will run you >$100 if you can find one.

[balson]

The old point of view was that the best course of action was to grind them down into stubs. but the more recent argument is that the gold will quickly wear away with use, and at some point it will loose so much that it effectively cannot be retipped. so it becomes an ethical argument.

 

i think if its between melting a nib down and grinding it to a stub i think grinding it would be the way to go. if its a rare or uncommon nib that still is not worth retipping i would say to sell it or hold onto it until it is worth doing, but if its a really common nib with a really low value, like an eversharp skyline nib. the one exception i would make to this would be a low value nib that is flexible. vintage flexible nibs are prone to damage, so they might be worth hanging on to.

 

There was one site that would buy damaged nibs for over melt. I thought it was fivestarpens, but i did not see it on there "what we buy" page. if you can figure out what site that was that might be the most ethical way to sell them.