How Easy Is It To Knock Tines Out Of Alignment During Normal Use?

[WilsonCQB1911]

Is a fountain pen like a raw egg or porcelain doll? Do I need to treat it as if I am holding the Mona Lisa? During normal use and writing, how many of you have experienced misaligned times and how easily does it occur?

[Ernst Bitterman]

Normal use? Almost never, apart from that old Italian "51" knock-off with a point apparently made of lead. But my notion of normal use may vary, since I've used FPs since I was about ten years old and listen when they tell me I'm starting to press harder than they're like.

 

A hard-boiled egg, as very least.

[lmarine0510]

During "normal use", misaligned tines should never be a problem. They become problematic when one tries to overflex a pen or constantly bears down on it like they would on a cheap-o dollar store ballpoint. If you flex a nib too hard, you'll eventually hit a point where you spring it, meaning that when you let up on it, the tines don't return to their normal position. If you are reasonably careful with your pen and don't abuse it, misalignment of tines shouldn't ever be a problem.

[jar]

It also depends on the pen. Really cheap pens often have really cheap nibs that are thin and soft. In vintage pens third tier companies often used really thin gold nibs so they could advertise "gold nib" but that also meant they were easily misaligned.

[vondauster]

Honestly, I've never experienced a misaligned nib from daily, normal use. In fact, in over 51 years of using fountain pens pretty much exclusively, the only damage I've ever done to a nib was dropping one on a hard floor when I was 11 (that was my first pen, a Wearever).

 

Generally, nibs begin to wear to conform to how you hold your pen relative to the paper surface. In other words, fountain pens usually improve with use.

 

Will

[Bo Bo Olson]

As long as you don't accidentally bang a good nib, no. By me it is seldom I bang a nib, but it has happened.

 

It is easy once you have a 10-12 or even 15 X good coated, good glass loupe to fix it.

Press the up tine down from the breather hole, until it is under the lower tine...2-3-4 times for 2-3 seconds.

It is seldom one has to press one tine down and the other up.

Edited October 19, 2014 by Bo Bo Olson

[hari317]

On a good fountain pen, no.

 

But some pens are defective with a loose fitting nib, or the nib and feed are loose in the sleeve since the sleeve has cracked or some such issue. In such pens the nib will come misaligned very fast.

[ac12]

No, as long as you do not write with a lot of pressure, or try to flex a non-flex nib.

[Blade Runner]

Unless pressing abnormally hard, you shouldn't have that prob. I've never experienced it.

[de_pen_dent]

I have had an occasional issue with a really flexy vintage MB nib (I am a left-handed over-writer and really do not get along with flexible nibs, which are meant to be pulled and not pushed).

 

But other than that, no issues whatsoever.

[dragos.mocanu]

Well, I suppose it depends what you mean by 'normal use'. Some people find it normal to poke holes in the paper with their nibs (old ballpoint habit maybe?!)..that's why I never lend my fountain pens.

[View from the Loft]

As I never apply pressure, unless there is already damage to the nib/collar/sleeve, it just can't happen during writing with me. Drop a pen, yes, I've managed that.

 

But for a pen in normal condition, no, mis-alignment of the tines will not happen so long as you don't apply abnormal pressure during writing.

[fschiavelli]

I have never had that problem. I am careful and write to suit the pen. If I feel the need to press harder, I stop to see what else might be happening, like running out of ink!

[Black Spot]

what are you doing holding my Mona Lisa?

[chas0039]

It also depends on the pen. Really cheap pens often have really cheap nibs that are thin and soft. In vintage pens third tier companies often used really thin gold nibs so they could advertise "gold nib" but that also meant they were easily misaligned.

Big + on the differences. I have a Nemosine with a German nib that bends like aluminum foil. Most quality nibs are sturdy and most tof the cheap Chinese nibs are very rugged. The cheap German, not so much.

[Miles Hand]

Normal use would include recapping the pen after use, wouldn't it? I've sometimes thought it might be possible to catch the tines on the cap threads or the inner cap if you were unlucky or careless. Has that ever happened to anyone?

[View from the Loft]

Normal use would include recapping the pen after use, wouldn't it? I've sometimes thought it might be possible to catch the tines on the cap threads or the inner cap if you were unlucky or careless. Has that ever happened to anyone?

 

Nope, not managed that one in thrity plus years of fountain pen ownership.

[Miles Hand]

Good. That's one less thing to worry about.

[amberleadavis]

I've received exactly one nib with misaligned tines and I"ve been told that the Osmoid was a super cheap nib and prone to this happening. LahLahLaw just sent me 33 pens that he'd customized or stubbed -(that included the entire collection of inexpensive pens for a pen club.) LahLahLaw is AWESOME. Not one of those pens had a misaliged nib. BTW, I feel ashamed that I was not out of pens while he had 33 pens, but really, they weren't all mine!