New Life For Osmiroid Italic Nibs

[Redback]

During the late 1950s and early 1960s, I used Osmiroid pens and nibs almost exclusively for sketching and writing. After retiring, I decided to take up pen and ink sketching again and remembered my Osmiroids, Alas, the firm had closed down but I did manage to find an Osmiroid Artists' nib unit on eBay. Also, someone in FPN had posted that the nib unit screwed perfectly into Koh-i-Noor / Rotring Rapidograph Technical Pens, Model 3050 (or maybe 3060 - not quite sure) from around 1950/60. eBay came to the rescue again and I'm happy to report that the Model 3060 Rapidograph and the Osmiroid Artists' Nib have functioned perfectly for a couple of years.

There are several Rapidograph 3060 models on eBay right now and this is a good image of one.<<https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/KOH-I-NOOR-RAPIDOGRAPH-3060-No-00-TECHNICAL-FOUNTAIN-PEN-Box-Instructions/173026160148?epid=941720224&hash=item284929ae14:g:6FgAAOSwdjdaLbV->>. The pens are piston fillers and usually uncleaned. Because they were technical pens, they were often used with pigmented (Indian) inks, which clogged and gummed up the works and threads, making it difficult to take the pen apart to clean it thoroughly and swap the nib.

If you get a dirty, jammed up one, (you'll know because you won't be able to unscrew the nib unit) I've found that the original Windex window cleaner works just as well as most pen flushes/cleaners. The main lesson is to be patient and give the lower half of the pen a good, long soak. There was a good article about cleaning these pens on the web <<https://crythebird.com/2013/06/01/howtocleanrapidographpens/>>. Probably a year ago, someone had two of these Rapidographs for sale on eBay that had been fitted with Esterbrook nibs.

[teapot_rabbit]

Thank you so much for this post! I recently found a box with a bunch of Osmiroid and Platignum nibs, and one and a half Osmiroid pens while cleaning out my grandmother's house. The pen is in pretty bad shape but some of the nibs are salvageable. I'm seriously considering getting a custom pen made for the nibs - my grandmother was always doing little calligraphy cards and things for us grandchildren, so the idea of being able to give the nibs new life as a way to remember her makes me very happy.

[dms525]

Thank you so much for this post! I recently found a box with a bunch of Osmiroid and Platignum nibs, and one and a half Osmiroid pens while cleaning out my grandmother's house. The pen is in pretty bad shape but some of the nibs are salvageable. I'm seriously considering getting a custom pen made for the nibs - my grandmother was always doing little calligraphy cards and things for us grandchildren, so the idea of being able to give the nibs new life as a way to remember her makes me very happy.

 

That's really touching! Thanks for sharing. You made my day.

 

Esterbrook J Series pens are quite available. I have had 4 pens made by Shawn Newton with sections that take Osmiroid nibs. Note that he will make interchangeable sections for a pen. So, for example, you can have a pen made that will take Pelikan M800 nibs and Osmiroid nibs, or JoWo #6 nibs and Osmiroid nibs. No affiliation, just a happy customer.

 

Happy writing!

 

David

[teapot_rabbit]

 

That's really touching! Thanks for sharing. You made my day.

 

Esterbrook J Series pens are quite available. I have had 4 pens made by Shawn Newton with sections that take Osmiroid nibs. Note that he will make interchangeable sections for a pen. So, for example, you can have a pen made that will take Pelikan M800 nibs and Osmiroid nibs, or JoWo #6 nibs and Osmiroid nibs. No affiliation, just a happy customer.

 

Happy writing!

 

David

Just did some reading up on Esterbrook J series pens, and then dug out the pen that belonged to my great-grandmother (mother of the grandmother in question) and it's an Esterbrook J. My dad had the ink sac replaced recently, even! I can't wait to try the Osmiroid nibs in Nan's pen - Nan and Granny would both be delighted.

[dms525]

Just did some reading up on Esterbrook J series pens, and then dug out the pen that belonged to my great-grandmother (mother of the grandmother in question) and it's an Esterbrook J. My dad had the ink sac replaced recently, even! I can't wait to try the Osmiroid nibs in Nan's pen - Nan and Granny would both be delighted.

 

So cool!

 

Do let us know how that works out for you.

 

David

[Tuderte]

Hi David,

 

I've been playing around trying to see how I could attach my Osmiroid nib units to a converter and I decided to try a couple of spare converters I had on my desk. The first, a Delta converter which, I believe, is an International standard didn't work because the hole at the bottom was too small for the nipple to be inserted.

 

The second one, however, was a Lamy Z26/27 which, after a sustained effort on my part, seemed to fit perfectly! Unfortunately, I don't have a pen to try it out with .... however, I thought you might be interested to give it a try, given you have all those beautiful pens from Shawn.

 

I'm attaching a photo of one of my Osmiroid nib units with the Lamy Z226/27 converter attached.

 

Cheers

Tricia

 

[dms525]

Wow! Thanks for sharing your success, Tricia! I can't recall if the Lamy converter was one I had tried before .... Hang on while I dig out a nib and a Lamy converter ... Drat! I only have Z28 Lamy converters. Their hole is too small to fit an Osmiroid nib. It seems worth ordering an Z27 converter on the chance it works.

 

David

Edited January 26, 2019 by dms525

[Tuderte]

I would have assumed that they're both the same size - I thought the only difference was the fact that the Z28 had the little 'fins' to ensure that it was properly seated when used with a Lamy Safari?

 

I bought several Z26/27s because one of the pens I have is a Lamy Vista and I didn't want to see the red part of the converter through the barrel so I think I bought three or four the same. I hadn't yet fitted one to my Lamy Joy - in fact I haven't even used the Lamy Joy - mainly because I use the 1.1 Lamy 'italic' nib in my AL-Star as my normal writing pen. I don't see any variation in line width with that nib - at least not good enough for italic writing, but I think it's perfectly acceptable as an 'everyday' writer. The Lamy 1.5 nib gives more variation, though - that's the one I have on the Vista.

 

I'm thinking I should re-fit the converter onto one of the Osmiroid nib units and try filling it with ink - just to see whether the fit is good enough for it not to leak .... at least, then I'll know.

 

I'm on my way out now but I'll give it a try this afternoon and post back ...

 

Tricia

[Tuderte]

Today I used a different nib unit - just to make sure that the previous one wasn't a fluke! Again, I had to be quite insistent pushing the nib unit into the Lamy Z26/27 converter but it only took perhaps 30 seconds for it to be correctly fitted.

 

I then filled the converter with ink and wiped off the nib unit and converter to see whether there was any leakage from the point where the converter fits over the nib unit. There didn't appear to be any.

 

I quickly wrote a sentence with the nib unit (as is - i.e. unattached to a pen barrel) and discovered that I had ink over my middle and index fingers but I'm sure it came from the top of the nib - at the point where the nib fits into the nib unit - not from where the converter fits over the nib unit.

 

I left the converter in an upright position (nib down) in a small bottle for about 45 minutes to see whether any ink leaked from it. There was no leakage.

 

I then flushed out the converter and pulled out the nib unit - I might add it's much easier to remove the nib unit from the converter than it is to insert it.

 

I'm attaching a few photos so you can see how it went!

 

Tricia

 

 

 

 

 

[dms525]

Tricia.

 

I ordered a few Z26/27 converters from Amazon. They are supposed to be delivered tomorrow. (Yes. Sunday.) I will let you know what I find, but your experience certainly makes me optimistic!

 

David

[Tuderte]

David,

 

Fingers crossed! Wow, what service - Sunday delivery. Here, even the post is delivered every second day but never on weekends, so I'm never quite sure which day the mail will arrive. However, the couriers from Amazon are far more reliable. Look forward to hearing how your converters work out.

 

Tricia

[bobje]

Here are a couple of posts regarding the inner opening diameter of various converters.

 

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/339692-ink-catridge-for-wingsung-pens/?p=4121498

 

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/338960-delike-converters-anyone-found-a-good-substitute/?p=4096065

[dms525]

Tricia,

 

Good news and bad news. The good news is that the Z26 Lamy convertors I received do fit on my Osmiroid nibs, with a bit of work. The bad news is that the sections of pens I have that take Osmiroid nibs are too narrow to accommodate the convertors. I am going to look into have a couple custom-made sections for pens I have.

 

David

[Tuderte]

David,

 

I'm relieved that it wasn't just a fluke 'one off' with the Z26 converter that I had!

 

What a shame that the sections won't accommodate the converters, though. I'm guessing they're a couple of those beautiful ones from Shawn? It would be great if he could make you a few 'extra' sections for the pens you already have. I think I've seen on his site that he will make more than one section for a pen. I'm not at all technical and I have trouble visualising how things fit together, too, but if the sections you have at present are too narrow to accommodate the converters, does that mean that a new section, which is broad enough for the converter might be too broad to correctly fit the barrel? I really don't know what I'm talking about here - and perhaps my terminology is incorrect but I'm thinking of the diameter of the part that screws into the barrel at the point where the section meets the barrel.

 

Good luck! And please let me know how you fare .... as I believe I may have mentioned, I'm on Shawn's 'wait list' (months away at this stage) for a couple of pens for my Osmiroid nib units and it would be great if the Z26 converters could be used as a 'standard' converter for them. One of the things I was concerned about was whether there was a hope of finding a converter that could be used with Shawn's pens, apart from a sac or an eye-dropper. I hadn't gone as far as asking him about it - it was just a thought that I had 'rolling around' in my mind.

 

Tricia

[Tuderte]

Bobje,

 

Thanks for the links to the converter specifications .... although I notice that it says in one of the posts -

 

Hero wide throat - a common standard, basically same as Parker / Aurora / Lamy 3.2mm throat diameter

 

I've searched quite a bit and been unable to find anything that suggests the Lamy Z28 throat diameter is different from the Lamy Z26/27 throat diameter. However, David confirms that he is unable to attach the Osmiroid nib unit to the Lamy Z28 converter because the throat is too small, but, 'with a bit of work' they will fit the Lamy Z26/27 converter. This suggests to me that the Lamy converters have two different throat diameters. We don't know from the post which particular Lamy converter it is that has the 3.2mm throat diameter.

 

As I know the Z26/27 works, I'll buy a supply of these and hope that they all have consistent sized throat diameters.

 

Tricia

 

 

[bobje]

Tricia, I will ping Mech and we’ll see if there’s a source for wide-mouth converters.

[bobje]

Here is a converter with a listed inner diameter opening of 3.4 mm.

 

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.com%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F153052568732

[Tuderte]

Bobje,

 

Thank you so much for that! I think it's well worthwhile for me to order a few just to see whether they're compatible - it's not as if the price will break the bank!

 

Tricia

[77kath]

What about this version? The squeeze mechanicanism is corroding, as you can see. Some of these nibs are pretty good.

 

[BaronWulfraed]

I think I have that set sitting in front of me...

 

Unfortunately, the nib/sections are proprietary, compared to the older style which apparently can be converted to Esterbrook use. {I'm presuming it is the lighting -- as your "copperplate" nib appears to have a steel grey region, rather than be solid copper color}