The Fountain Pen Thread

That would be a stub, italic, oblique or any nib that is wider than it is tall. I have a 1.1 stub that I like a lot. They make different size nibs, and you can even get one custom made, or massage a stock nib to whatever you like.

 

Italic or stub, you depending on the pen you may have to have someone grind that for you. A stub is a halfway point, will give you the look while still being smooth, but not as crsip lines. A cursive italic has sharp corners if you use to much pressure or dont have the angle down the edges can catch, but it looks way more crisp in the line differences

 

You've come a long way James

 

A tear just ran down my cheek.

 

Bear these Photos shows pretty clearly what a stub nib looks like-

 

You guys are killing me. I am going to have to start selling some knives to get some of these beauties.

 

That may be very convenient lol

 

Well when you have good teachers who take the time to teach someone right, its easy to really get into something. A feeling im having all over again at the moment lol, luckily I dont need as many knives as pens

 

LOL, don't be so sure of that. I bet you didn't think you needed as many pens as you have now either.

 

I dont have that many pens, not like them other two, I cant lose a box of pens amd not realize it finding it months or years later forgetting they even existed or anything lol I maybe have ten 6 in rotation

 

That's true, you have been pretty good at getting some good pens and not letting it get out of control. Now, that other guy, who needs this to transport his collection.....not so much

 

Bravo James.

 

How many?

So this image illustrates the difference in specialty nib grinds. It's from the Franklin-Christoph website... worth a look.

 

I just got these four Sheaffers back from Danny Fudge. He did a nice job getting them back into working order, and the turnaround time was lightening fast. These are all old family pens. On was my dad's and one was my aunt's. Both of those (the burgundy pens) are engraved with their names.

 

The burgundy with the triumph nib is one of those pens I've wanted to try for a while, but I was underwhelmed by the two old Scheaffers I had and lost the motivation to keep looking around.

 

I loved my diamond shaped triumph nib before it started leaking... This is all pre-Pelikan days so I probably wouldn't like it now.

 

The nib on the black snorkel is a little loud/rough. It just needs tweaking and smoothing. The other three are really nice to use as they are.

 

If I were to take a fountain pen to my belt sander at say a 600 grit until the width of the nib was the desired size would I be able to create a reasonable classic italic nib......to make a cursive italic would I just bevel and blend the edges, or am I over simplifying this? Is there a magical heat treat or temper I run the risk of screwing up if I experiment on some cheapies?

 

Practice on some cheap nibs and find out. The work after grinding is the trick, get some Knox nibs or something

 

You can read up on grinding nibs here and here. I would definitely start by practicing on some broad Knox nibs set in something like a Jinhao X750 fountain pen. Those pens are cheap, but Knox nibs are $9 each. I think 600 grit would destroy a nib almost immediately. I'd go slowly with lapping film instead. If you work with sandpaper at all, I'd go with a 2000 grit wet/dry to start, then move to lapping film. Nibs work down pretty quickly, and you need to go very slowly. It's good to dip the nib in ink and write often as you grind so you can see and feel what you're doing to the nib.