does hitting the metal part of cap/bottom of ink bottle directly with your nib damages it?

February 25

For example, when uncapping or capping the pen and the nib slides or hit/bumped the cap or any metal part of it, say clip; hitting the bottom or side of ink bottle; the screen of laptop; accidentally letting the pen roll over the desk and bumping into something; does this damages the nib? I have heard 14ct gold nibs are soft and fragile. So does these misalign the twines, damages/bend the nib, or potentially do damage to the pen?

February 25

2 hours ago, penmaster6969 said:

For example, when uncapping or capping the pen and the nib slides or hit/bumped the cap or any metal part of it, say clip; hitting the bottom or side of ink bottle; the screen of laptop; accidentally letting the pen roll over the desk and bumping into something; does this damages the nib? I have heard 14ct gold nibs are soft and fragile. So does these misalign the twines, damages/bend the nib, or potentially do damage to the pen?

That would depend on how hard the impact. Gold nibs are softer than stainless, of course, but they are usually built to last, (hopefully). So small bumps and taps are not likely to cause damage.

That being said, I had a friend that rather than clean his nib occasionally, would neglect it a bit, let it get dried up or clogged, and then when he went to write and it wouldn't feed he would tap the tip of the nib (not lightly, mind you) on the paper or on another surface to try to get it to flow. Absolutely irritating to the point of teeth grinding. OCD meltdown on my end. After a period of time, he began to complain about how it wouldn't write very well and the lines were wonky. Honestly, I just shook my head and shut my mouth. You can't fix stupid.

Laptop screen? Why would that even occur?

Edited February 25 by manxxcatt

February 26

11 hours ago, Gaius Maximus said:

That would depend on how hard the impact. Gold nibs are softer than stainless, of course, but they are usually built to last, (hopefully). So small bumps and taps are not likely to cause damage.

That being said, I had a friend that rather than clean his nib occasionally, would neglect it a bit, let it get dried up or clogged, and then when he went to write and it wouldn't feed he would tap the tip of the nib (not lightly, mind you) on the paper or on another surface to try to get it to flow. Absolutely irritating to the point of teeth grinding. OCD meltdown on my end. After a period of time, he began to complain about how it wouldn't write very well and the lines were wonky. Honestly, I just shook my head and shut my mouth. You can't fix stupid.

Laptop screen? Why would that even occur?

I was holding the pen on the same hand (between my middle and index finger, pointing away from me) that i use to point something on the screen.

February 26

but how about bumping or the pen nib hitting the cap every time you remove it?

February 26

13 hours ago, penmaster6969 said:

but how about bumping or the pen nib hitting the cap every time you remove it?

Unless you're really hammering it pretty hard I would say you're not going to do any damage. As I said they're designed to take daily punishments. If you have a concern that maybe your nib is off, you can always get it looked at to make sure that your tines are aligned properly or if any damage has ensued. The manufacturers know that there are going to be a certain amount of bumps and bruises along the way, so your regular bumping on the cap or whatnot is probably not going to do any damage. Good quality pen nibs are actually somewhat sturdy. I have seen some extremely El cheapo pens that the nibs are pretty weak. All in all your regular daily bumps going in and out of the cap or the occasional oopsy is probably not going to do any kind of significant damage.

I myself am constantly tapping the sides and whatnot and I've never done damage to a pen. I make it a habit when I do a good cleaning to pull out my eye loupe and just take a good close look and make sure that there's no movement in the tines.

Edited February 26 by Gaius Maximus

February 27

If metal nibs were that delicate, we'd gone back to sturdy crow and goose feathers long ago.

Wednesday at 05:59 PM

On 2/25/2025 at 4:14 PM, Gaius Maximus said:

That being said, I had a friend that rather than clean his nib occasionally, would neglect it a bit, let it get dried up or clogged, and then when he went to write and it wouldn't feed he would tap the tip of the nib (not lightly, mind you) on the paper or on another surface to try to get it to flow. Absolutely irritating to the point of teeth grinding. OCD meltdown on my end. After a period of time, he began to complain about how it wouldn't write very well and the lines were wonky. Honestly, I just shook my head and shut my mouth. You can't fix stupid.

Right now, I am envisioning myself smacking that guy on the back of his head with my flat hand, taking the pen off him and leaving with it, never coming back. 🙃

Friday at 02:42 PM

On 3/5/2025 at 10:59 AM, carola said:

Right now, I am envisioning myself smacking that guy on the back of his head with my flat hand, taking the pen off him and leaving with it, never coming back. 🙃

@carola

Thus, why I closed my mouth. Before harsh language and violence ensued. Lol.

🤬