Nib Polishing

[bobje]

I've been experimenting with the penny technique, and it works unbelievably well on many kinds of nibs.

 

American pennies are ubiquitous, in the United States anyway, and the last penny with the Lincoln Memorial on the back was minted in 2008. Current pennies display a union shield on the back. So you're limited to the millions of pennies minted from 1959 to 1981, if you want real copper. Or from 1982 to 2008, if you just want the ladder/file-like Lincoln Memorial.

 

This is a borderline obsessive-compulsive focus on arcane detail, I realize, but since you're reading a thread about little-known nib polishing tools, you may be familiar with the disorder.

[Bemo]

Title of this thread should be changed to a penny for your thoughts on nib polishing. Lot's of fun this, and yes i will be trying it.

[Erik Dalton]

Great thread. Learned a lot...that's my two cents..lol..

[Gloucesterman]

How interesting. Would a UK penny work too?

I would be willing to wager that if you went to one of the larger banks in any major city they would have a few American coins that people have "cashed" in or converted to local currency. Be aware though, the 95% copper pennies ceased being made after 1982 so you might want to look closely at the issue/stamped date and get an "old" one.

 

It would probably be a LOT less expensive than sending a penny to you.

 

An interesting fact is that it costs the government 1.67 cents to manufacture each penny. Talk about the government and it's level of commonsense! Obviously something is missing from the election criteria here!

[Gloucesterman]

Great thread. Learned a lot...that's my two cents..lol..

As Steven Wright, the comedian, asks, "If it's a 'penny for your thoughts" and one puts their "two cents worth" in, what happens to the other penny? :lol: :lol: - Of course, that's just my opinion.

[penpete]

I have been trying to find out how to polish my italic nibs and having found such a great option thought i would post.

Found a site in UK called www.thepolishingshop.co.uk where you can purchase small felt rollers on a spindle. You can also purchase polishing and super gentle finishing compound. The prices are so reasonable i.e. £10-00 buys product and postage (uk). advice given over the phone was exceptional and, having tried it out on my Lamy italic nibs, easy to do, assuming you have a drill. If this old and currently one armed man can do it then anyone can.

 

Hope this information is useful for someone.

[Mon34480]

Time for me to look for a penny xD

[bizhe]

The other cheap trick is to use smooth glass. Make sure there is no oil on it, and there is water or ink in the pen, then do a couple of 8s at different angles, when you feel a rough spot on the nib, go over it again. I use a glass cabinet door.

[Christopher Godfrey]

This thread is now "competing against" another in which the use of glass has been discussed ad nauseam; but still, the original poster's question was about "polishing" and I assume he meant "smoothing" (although my original reaction was that he meant using something like Brasso on the nib upper and lower surfaces!)

 

I think the danger here (and hence the reaction from tryphon to David Waites' input) is the idea of anyone attempting to smooth a nib that has not first been aligned properly? Richard Binder certainly <does> advocate the use of those nice, cheap buffing sticks; but only after making sure that the tines are in correct alignment. That being the case, how on earth would anyone ruin their nib with these buffing sticks?

 

The <lack> of this first procedure must (surely?) be what causes tryphon's alarm -- obviously, he has seen the results of people trying to smooth without enough prior experience and inadvertently grinding away <one> tine? (That <would> ruin your day, wouldn't it?)

 

To the OP (I'm a bit late, I know) I say: go ahead and do it; but only after you have read up on the notes of someone of experience, like tryphon or Richard Binder.

[lurcho]

You can definitely overuse Micro-Mesh, even if you use it gingerly. (Is it just me, or does a word that can be used as an adjective and an adverb seem to beg for an extra ly in the latter case? 'He left in a timely fashion.' 'He timely left.' That last one sounds plain wrong, don't it?

 

Anyway.

 

I was boasting on a thread a few nights ago about how I'd taken two cheap JoWo nibs and made them great with minor meshing and tine-gapping. The #6 is still suberb, but I've buggered-up the #5 with excessive zeal.

 

It can be done.

 

The advice I ignored was this: Once you're reasonably happy with your nib-smoothng efforts, pack it in.

Edited December 4, 2015 by lurcho

[ppdiaporama]

I'm going to go rummage through my daughter's coin collection to find an American penny from <1981!

 

This is a neat trick ... thanks for sharing.

[Shubhranshu Das]

Hi,

My penny's worth contribution.... Check out videos by SBRE Brown and Brian Goulet (www.gouletpens.com). Both have a number of videos on nib smoothening using fairly normal materials and explain the different issues very well.

I've used their advice and no ill effects so far and am happier with the nibs that I've worked on...

Hope things work out

[virgilio]

I have jsut been reading this thread and chuckling over it. I believe I can claim to be the World's Foremost Authority on smoothing a nib with a copper penny, because I seem to have invented the notion. I started a thread on this many years ago, I think on this site, but I wouldn't swear to it. My five minuts of fame!

[Erik Dalton]

Lurcho said:

The advice I ignored was this: Once you're reasonably happy with your nib-smoothng efforts, pack it in.

 

Some sound advice. Something I learned the hard way over time.

[virgilio]

For further discussion see my new (or rather, very old) thread in the Nibs and Tines section, on polishing nibs with a copper penny