My Nib Block

[Buzz J]

Two stainless steel taper pins...........$15.00,

Two packs of faststeel epoxy............$8.00,

Sandpaper, scrap wood, leftover polyurethane, many hours of elbow grease......$0.00

Bringing your first deceased nib back to life......priceless!

 

A few pics of my nib block, burnishing tools, and a recent patient.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited April 19, 2007 by Buzz J

[badrsj]

Thanks for sharing - I would also consider "many hours of elbow grease......$0.00" - Priceless - without which this would not have come to life.

Good work

[Gerry]

More info on your taper pins would be appreciated Buzz.

 

Gerry

[Buzz J]

More info on your taper pins would be appreciated Buzz.

 

Gerry

 

The taper pins came from www.wwgrainger.com. They come in a variety of sizes & lengths. Pick "standard" (not threaded) and 18-8 stainless steel. I used a #5 4 1/2" and a #6 4 1/2" (parts # 2KY75 & 2KY81). The #6 goes from .343" - .247" and the #5 goes from .296" - .195". I thought this would cover most nibs.

 

They come with a rough surface, so be prepared to sand & polish them. I used 320/400/600 grit sandpaper then jewelers rouge and finally white rouge to get the polished surface. Same for the burnishing tools, just gring the round tips or the groove first. After all that, they're pretty much indestructable. The epoxy troughs aren't as hard, but seem to be holding up.

 

Buzz

[Gerry]

Thank you Buzz. Very helpful.

 

I've no problem with the polishing etc. But I had no idea where to locate those things... Thanks again.

 

Gerry

[TOB9595]

This looks wonderful from a mechanical view..

BUT...

I've been searching the forum , so I don't embarrass myself too badly ...

What is the purpose of this block?

Smoothing a nib?

 

Well done...

Please educate me a bit.

Tom

[Buzz J]

This looks wonderful from a mechanical view..

BUT...

I've been searching the forum , so I don't embarrass myself too badly ...

What is the purpose of this block?

Smoothing a nib?

 

Well done...

Please educate me a bit.

Tom

 

The block is one of the tools to straighten nibs. Ultra smooth burnishing tools and a little heat can help straighten up bent nibs without adding a bunch of tools marks. A good introduction is Dennis Lively's repair DVDs - its where I first learned of it (http://www.penden.virtualinfamy.com/). Fooling around with nibs is the second or third level of pen repair. I wouldn't think of it until you are pretty comfortable doing the simpler stuff like sac replacement and general disassembly and cleaning.

 

[henri]

Just found this topic by mistake and maybe a ? of mine will be answered.

Is this tool in the same family as an antique nib "Anvil" ?

Have a listing for a current auction and this is listed in the misc.

tools section.

 

just curious .

 

 

 

 

[Tom Pike]

Is this tool in the same family as an antique nib "Anvil" ?

''

 

Probably...

 

"Anvil" is the jeweler's terminology for a device that's placed underneath a precious metal that is to be burnished.

[Cloud]

Does anyone knows where to find such îns in Canada. I've looked at www.wgrainger.com web site but it says it's wholesale a not for consumers...

[gmberg]

Neato!

One thing I don't understand: what are the black insets in the wood block and where do you get them?

Gerry

[Cloud]

If I understand, it's fast steel epoxy mold for working on the back of the nib... but I may be wrong. So they would be made with the nib ''blocks'' and glue

[ggssiso]

Two stainless steel taper pins...........$15.00,

Two packs of faststeel epoxy............$8.00,

Sandpaper, scrap wood, leftover polyurethane, many hours of elbow grease......$0.00

Bringing your first deceased nib back to life......priceless!

 

A few pics of my nib block, burnishing tools, and a recent patient.

 

 

 

 

Jon hi, have made up a nib block as per your instructions without the elbow grease.

 

first Graingers would not supply pins so I had them made up locally,polished them up utilising "wet7 dry" of various grades ,put the pins in an electric drill!

 

with the epoxy put glad rap onto the fast steel and achieved a mirror finish.

 

YOUR BLOCK IS A GREAT SUCCESS THANKS

George.

[philm]

Very, very, very nice. Puts the rest of ours to shame......

 

Thanks for the inspiration.

 

Phil

[mmb993]

This looks wonderful from a mechanical view..

BUT...

I've been searching the forum , so I don't embarrass myself too badly ...

What is the purpose of this block?

Smoothing a nib?

 

Well done...

Please educate me a bit.

Tom

 

The block is one of the tools to straighten nibs. Ultra smooth burnishing tools and a little heat can help straighten up bent nibs without adding a bunch of tools marks. A good introduction is Dennis Lively's repair DVDs - its where I first learned of it (http://www.penden.virtualinfamy.com/). Fooling around with nibs is the second or third level of pen repair. I wouldn't think of it until you are pretty comfortable doing the simpler stuff like sac replacement and general disassembly and cleaning.

 

Buzz,

 

I can't access that URL. I get a forbidden message. Can you verify?

 

Yhanks,

 

-Mario

[artaddict]

Oh, I want one!

 

Great work, JJ!

Edited November 17, 2008 by artaddict

[Buzz J]

Mario,

 

The link was to Dennis Lively's web site. I guess it is down now. Dennis produced a couple dvds on pen repair that show up on ebay from time to time. I think the nib repair was in the second volume. (Please note that I do not heat nibs like the dvd.)

 

From what I gather, Dennis has endured a series of health issues and has a spotted history as a search of FPN would reveal.

 

I'm a visual learner, so the dvds were a good introduction to pen repair. They aren't perfect, but I benefitted from them.

 

John

Edited November 17, 2008 by Buzz J

[antonio ilmonaco]

Hi,

 

Thanks for the nice pictures, i have a question concerning the use of this tool.

When you install a nib on the tapered rod, it cannot be properly seated on the rod because the iridium tipping protrudes a little under the nib. Wouldn't it be wise to drill a small recess in the rod for the nib point to sink in?

Besides, i would be interested in the techniques used with the burnishing tools. Do you straighten the nib by hammering, prying, heating?

I have myself straightened a nib or two, but even though they write very satisfactorily you can still see they have been unbent, despite numerous efforts to obtain a perfecly straight look. How is final aspect achieved?

 

All the best,

Antonio

[Buzz J]

Antonio,

 

Let me preface my comments the following: I am a hobbyist, not any kind of expert. I work on my own pens. The guys who do this for a living run circles around me. What I say below may be laughed at by the pros, but it is what works for me.

 

It is good to remember that the gold of the nib is softer than any of the tools it is likely to encounter. That means the nib is most likely to be scratched, gouged or generally disfigured by any manipulation. Like a doctor, my first rule is do no harm. That means no hammering or prying - only gentle persuasion. In most cases, you can avoid buggering up a nib to get it back into shape.

 

If the work allows it, I try to use rolling (as opposed to sliding or scraping) motions with the burnishers. I'm less likely to scar the nib that way.

 

The idea of a hole or indentation for the tipping is OK, but where would it go on the taper? The nib slides up or down to come to the point where the nib and taper curvature most closely match. I guess you could score a tip width line across the entire length of the taper. But then you would likely leave an imprint on the bottom of the nib when working from the top. I don't work on a ton of nibs but I don't think I've ever popped one off on the taper. I just go lightly with a lot of patience when working close to the tip.

 

I don't think heat is necessary. Gold seems forgiving enough without any tempering. Perhaps it would help in the case of a really sharp bend, but someone who knows metallurgy would have to opine on this.

 

In addition to the nib block, I've got several pair of pliers. The ones that get the most use have 1 flat side & one round side. These are good for right & left bends. I keep some kind of cushioning on the working faces to protect the nib.

 

That's the basics. I think this will cover most of the nibs you'll encounter.

 

Good luck,

 

John

 

PS here is a better layout:

 

http://i307.photobucket.com/albums/nn312/BuzzJ/Nibblock.jpg

 

 

editted to add photo

Edited November 18, 2008 by Buzz J

[someonesdad]

Nice idea. For you folks not familiar with them, taper pins are standardized and 50-100 years ago were a lot more common than they are today. They are used to hold two items in alignment; e.g. hold a gear to a shaft. The gear and shaft were drilled through with a drill, then a taper pin reamer was used to ream the hole to match the size and taper of the associated taper pin. The pin is tapped in and seats firmly; the taper is a "self-holding" taper. The pin could be removed, the parts taken apart, reassembled, then the taper pin helped everything to get back to proper alignment. Spring pins are used today instead, as they are cheaper and the hole only needs to be drilled, not reamed.

 

Taper pins, like steel dowel pins, are usually hardened and ground steel.

 

They are still available. Call a local industrial supply or fastener supply or even a local hardware store (not Lowes or Home Depot). You can also try places like MSC, McMaster-Carr, J&L, Enco, etc. For the latter, be prepared to have to buy a box of them. An excellent technique would be to take a bag of fresh doughnuts to a machine shop and ask to see the supervisor -- tell him you'd like to trade the doughnuts for a few taper pins.

 

If you have a metal lathe or a friend with one, you can easily make an equivalent. Use some drill rod and cut a taper. American standard taper pins have a taper of 1/4 inch per foot (about 1.2 degrees included angle), but there's no reason to cut an identical taper -- something close will work fine.

 

Buzz, you do nice looking work...