Recommendation Tools For Nib Grinding

[mke]

I have many Chinese pens which need a nib makeover. Can you recommend me some basic tools? Perhaps some links?

• Grindstone (such as Rotring Arkansas stone)
• Crocus paper (or emery paper, grade 8/0)
• Powerful magnifying glass (but preferably a jeweler's 10 or 20x loupe)

With your recommendations, I can try to find similar tools in Japan. Sellers on Amazon Japan increase the price of Amazon US by 5-10 times. No way that I would buy with them.

 

Thank you

 

 

[Karmachanic]

A set of Micro Mesh pads and a 10X loupe. Belomo is well regarded.

[FarmBoy]

Hard felt wheels on a slow arbor and rouge

[Honeybadgers]

I don't like doing it all this way (especially initial shaping when the nib needs heavy work) but the cheapest option is to get good sandpaper (I don't recommend wood specific paper as it'll wear down quicker, autobody sandpaper works best) and a smooth marble (or faux marble as long as it's not a textured surface) floor tile from a hardware store for about $0.75, and a can of low strength spray adhesive. Spray the tile, stick on some 400 grit, 800, and 1600 grit sandpapers, and use that for most of the work. It's basically a poor man's machinist block, but I've used it for quite a few cylinder heads.

 

And for final polish, cheap nail buff sticks (go from the 1600 grit to the second coarsest on the buff stick, ignore the coarsest) really do a good job.

 

A loupe or is MANDATORY, as is a good source of light. Don't look at the nib head on. flip the nib upside down and tilt it at an angle that you'd use to write under a bright light. That's your contact surface.

 

For major reworking of tipping, a cheap dremel with a fine grinding wheel set to its lowest speed is great. I use a cheap panavise to hold the dremel while I work the nib.

 

I like mounting the nib to a dowel that I sanded down to fit the nib, and hold the nib in place with O rings. Alternatively, a super cheap dip nib holder should do a good enough job holding both #5 and #6 nibs.

Edited May 21, 2019 by Honeybadgers

[jekostas]

You need 4000, 6000, 8000 and 12000 grit micromesh sanding pads (the larger circular ones) and a good 10x loupe. That's it. Unless you're actually trying to grind your nibs ex. making an italic, a 4000 grit micromesh pad is plenty aggressive enough to quickly refinish the tipping on a nib.

 

400 and 800 grit sandpapers are way too aggressive for use on nibs. 1600 grit sandpaper is also way too aggressive, unless you're doing grinding work. Don't use generic nail buff sticks or cheap sandpaper, you need properly graded abrasives. Micromesh pads are $2-3 at woodworking shops like Lee Valley tools, and will last months.

 

Also, unless you already have significant experience working on nibs, power tools of any sort are a bad, bad, bad idea.

[loganrah]

If you're in Japan you are in the best place in the world for grinding stones. I've successfully used Shapton Glass Stone 16,000 grit to do some nib smoothing, but any stone which is designated for (professional) sushi knife or Kamisori razor finishing should be fine enough grit (both require grits finer than 12,000 in their finishing stages). If you want to reshape the nibs significantly a lower grit is probably helpful, but again I'd say the kind used for sushi knives and razors would work well. I know large stones of those kinds can be very expensive, but the smallest stones, which is all you need for a nib, aren't too expensive.

[fabri00]

In any TokyuHands you can find sandpaper 8000 and 12000 from Tamiya.

[ac12]

I would use a micromesh pad or nail buffer.

A stone would wear under the nib, creating "ditches" in the stone. At least the somewhat soft stones that I have will do that. And after a while it might become difficult to use. Maybe the new high tech stones are harder and won't wear.

 

A SLOW turning grinding wheel is much better than a Dremel.

My Dremel at its slowest speed is still turning FAST. So a mistake will remove tipping material FAST

 

You NEED a good light source.

Most loupes do not have a light, so in order to see the tipping, you need light.

 

I found that a 10x loupe is generally good for 95+% of my work. Get a GOOD one.

I have a 20x that I probably used less than 10 times.

[FarmBoy]

I'd go with a hard felt wheel 2-3" OD and rouge on a slow arbor. Good to move both the abrasive and the nib.

[Honeybadgers]

  On 5/24/2019 at 1:49 AM, jekostas said:

You need 4000, 6000, 8000 and 12000 grit micromesh sanding pads (the larger circular ones) and a good 10x loupe. That's it. Unless you're actually trying to grind your nibs ex. making an italic, a 4000 grit micromesh pad is plenty aggressive enough to quickly refinish the tipping on a nib.

 

400 and 800 grit sandpapers are way too aggressive for use on nibs. 1600 grit sandpaper is also way too aggressive, unless you're doing grinding work. Don't use generic nail buff sticks or cheap sandpaper, you need properly graded abrasives. Micromesh pads are $2-3 at woodworking shops like Lee Valley tools, and will last months.

 

Also, unless you already have significant experience working on nibs, power tools of any sort are a bad, bad, bad idea.

 

 

For re-shaping, 400 and 800 are perfectly adequate, and oftentimes not even aggressive enough. Iridium is hard as hell, we're not sanding pine here.

 

I've been going back and forth between cheap buff sticks and graded abrasives and I can say unequivocally that the results are no different. If anything, the softer buff sticks give a more effective all-over polish on everything but crisp italics. It's not like the buff sticks have random little patches of 200 grit interspersed in them. But the difference is negligible. Only problem is that if you want to buy online, you can't get good micro mesh pads for anything approaching a reasonable price unless you buy in bulk.

 

Cheap sandpaper, I concur, just doesn't last long enough. Don't use woodworking stuff either, it's nowhere near as tough as autobody unless you're using the very, very expensive pro stuff.

 

If you're just resurfacing a nib, I wouldn't even go down to 4k. 12k is usually plenty. But if we're talking grinding and arkansas stones (which are a good tool) then get yourself a pack of 20 jinhao #6 nibs for $10, and practice grinding on them before touching a nib you value. That's what matters most.

 

It's easy to over-do it with a dremel and impregnated silicon wheel, but they are also a great tool. Practice on junk or cheap nibs bought for this specific reason, but they are really useful tools even at a low-medium experience level.

Edited May 26, 2019 by Honeybadgers

[Honeybadgers]

  On 5/25/2019 at 7:00 AM, ac12 said:

I would use a micromesh pad or nail buffer.

A stone would wear under the nib, creating "ditches" in the stone. At least the somewhat soft stones that I have will do that. And after a while it might become difficult to use. Maybe the new high tech stones are harder and won't wear.

 

A SLOW turning grinding wheel is much better than a Dremel.

My Dremel at its slowest speed is still turning FAST. So a mistake will remove tipping material FAST

 

 

If you're going automated, you're going to remove material fast. no way around it. Might as well practice on throwaway jinhao nibs with the actual tools the nibmeisters use.

 

Arkansas stones and other high quality grinding stones are extremely hard and wear resistant. They will wear grooves, but you should also have a facing stone and work in different angles. I don't like grinding this way because it's insanely tedious, but if you already have them, you can use them. Definitely don't recommend it on cheap, soft composite stones.

[katerchen]

I use diamond Lansky stones (coarse and medium) to get the tip shape I want and then a set of increasingly finer micro mesh pads (this is what I got https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003ELH7AI/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1 )

 

If you use diamond stones, be careful. They can take a lot of material (kind of the point), so go in very small increments. Buy some nibs and cheap Jinhao x450s from eBay to practice on.

[fabri00]

Mke disappeared ...?

[mke]

No, I am listening. I am still searching for some of the tools. Some are at Amazon JP for 10 times the price of Amazon US. I also try to findout what people use in Japan.

 

This tool e.g. http://pelikan.livedoor.biz/archives/52053826.html

Info found here: https://www.fudefan.com/2019/05/pen-trading-2019/

 

 

Additionally, I am educating myself regarding nibs. That takes time.

Edited May 30, 2019 by mke

[Ramchandra]

Smmoth glass balls works for me.

I just draw circles on it clock and counter clock wise.

[Honeybadgers]

  On 5/30/2019 at 8:33 AM, mke said:

No, I am listening. I am still searching for some of the tools. Some are at Amazon JP for 10 times the price of Amazon US. I also try to findout what people use in Japan.

 

This tool e.g. http://pelikan.livedoor.biz/archives/52053826.html

Info found here: https://www.fudefan.com/2019/05/pen-trading-2019/

 

 

Additionally, I am educating myself regarding nibs. That takes time.

 

I would be VERY interested to learn more about that tool and if it can be obtained by end-users.

[Pen_Padawan]

So someone turned a toy car into a grinder? For a laugh sure, funny. But even the author of the first article noted some of the basic problems. If you want to try nib grinding I would just get a table grinder or a Dremel with adjustable speed.

[Honeybadgers]

  On 6/2/2019 at 12:22 AM, Pen_Padawan said:

So someone turned a toy car into a grinder? For a laugh sure, funny. But even the author of the first article noted some of the basic problems. If you want to try nib grinding I would just get a table grinder or a Dremel with adjustable speed.

 

 

Oh christ I didn't read the text and didn't put the two together

 

[MuddyWaters]

Are there any videos that show how to grind and polish nibs? I mean beyond polishing on micro mesh

[mke]

> So someone turned a toy car into a grinder? For a laugh sure, funny.

 

There is at least one person who is doing extraordinary work with that "laughing tool".

My recommendation: don't make pejorative comments about something which you haven't seen/used by yourself. Never good.