Not that I'm likely to spend that much money on a pen any time soon, if ever. But I do sorta dream of the Mini Optima - just wish it came in that lovely Mare blue.

So i hear a lot about the "tooth" of this brand and I don't particularly like tooth. in some cases I find it interesting but not delightful.

Is this just a matter of smoothing the nib or is it nib design that is difficult or costly to overcome.

Greetings:
I had an M nib that was real toothy, and I was able to smoothen it easily.
Another went to Deb Kinney, and she ground the M nib into a Stub that is smooth and wet.
So yes - the tooth can be easily smoothened out.
Regards
Moorthi

Fred made an Optima nib that was smooth but still a tad too toothy for my taste into a glassy smooth nib.

He used a 2000 grit and just wrote && over it several times.
I would not do it myself since there is a lot of technique and experience to draw those 5 &s.

But if you are experienced with nib smoothing, it should similar to your other nib jobs.

Talking with john Mottishaw at the LA pen Show this year, he did have some interesting words to say about Aurora nibs. My Dad bought an Optima just like mine after I warned him that the nibs are very toothy. Well, after he bought it, he was totally disappointed with how it wrote and felt. So after he inked it, we walked downstairs and I forced my Dad to go see John Mottishaw.

After carefully inspecting the nib, he called his apprentice over and told her to look at this nib. He says that the Aurora nibs do not have a "Foot". He said it is a nib with a chunk of tipping material on it. He said ALL Aurora nibs are like that and for him to remove the toothyness, he would have to create a foot. So that is what he did. End result was a pretty smooth medium nib.

As for me, I had a medium on my Optima and I traded it for a broad. Well the broad was just as toothy as a medium. So, with that said, I did my own smoothing and the end result was a glassy smooth nib. This is very uncharacteristic of Aurora nibs. People love the toothiness but I sure as heck do not!!! One thing though is that Aurora nibs are wonderful blanks!! Since there is no foot, you can really create something special if you are nibmeister!!!

To answer the question, yes they can be corrected but if you are not savvy with working on nibs, I would leave it to an expert for the best results.


TNS

Hi, KCat! I have found there to be some controversy regarding doing your own nib smoothing. I do my own. I have a couple of Aurora pens (an O/S 88, and three Optimas) that are wonderful writers, but I had to smooth the nibs.

I guess my answer to your question is "Yes, it is just a matter of smoothing the nibs." I got a packet of very fine grit sand paper from Giovanni at Tryphon (no affiliation). With an uninked pen, I sit down and try it against paper and lightly sand the nib against the sand paper using strokes I will normally use in writing. I progress from the most gritty to the finest, going back and forth from the sand paper to writing paper, to get the nib sanded to a glassy consistency, and I rinse the nib under tap water. Then I fill the pen with a moderate amount of ink to see how it performs on paper for real. I have not yet harmed a nib, but I am not aggressive in my approach.

When I am done, I have a nib I smoothed to suit my own handwriting. So far, I ahve been very happy with the results.

I hope this information helps Good luck.

thanks all for all the good responses.

i've smoothed a number of nibs and I've ground some of my own steel nibs. I've yet to feel comfortable with grinding a gold nib though. I know the tipping is still just tipping - it has to do with the replacement cost of the nib if I muck it up! I don't mind replacing a GP nib if I have to.

anyway - this all good info. I doubt I'll actually ever find a way to afford one of these pens but maybe someday. The Optima is one of the few pricey Italian pens I think is really attractive.

I find 2000 grit to be satisfactory for shaping, but I need finer stuff for smoothing. I cannot make my nibs smooth with 2000 grit alone.

For a nib like an Aurora, I use an Arkansas stone to do the initial grind and shaping. Then I will go to 3000 grit then make the jump to 1.5 micron then to a .5 (I believe). I have plenty of inbetween grit but it all depends on the nib. If it is ever so slight then I will start with a 3 micron then finish with a .5

There are some some nibs that are way beyond my level of smoothing and thats when I take them to an expert!!

Jim Rouse at Bertam's Inkwell did the same for my Optima. 4-5 strokes and it was good to go! Not glassy smooth, but perfect IMO. No tooth, just a slight texture that is hard to describe. I like glassy smooth also, but I like the texture of of my Optima nib just as much.

As beautiful as I find the Optima, I would also say it is just about the ultimate "user" pen for me (based on much more than just the nib).

I thought I would chime in with comments on my experience. I have a medium nib oversize 88 that is by far the best writing pen I own - of course, its the best writing for me - I gather that others would likely dislike it. Its not smooth, but its not toothy either - its hard to describe - it kind of doesn't glide across the paper, but has a bit of friction that is unlike toothy nibs I've used (maybe Amin is experiencing the same thing). Its perfect for me because it force me to slow down just enough to keep my handwriting nice, and I find it easy to manipulate for a bit of flair in my writing. I have a hard time with my super smooth nibs because my handwriting tends towards the sloppy and I write monster fast if the pen permits - smooth nibs tend to facilitate that. My complaint with Aurora is about nib size and flow. The nibs in my experience run a size smaller than stated - like a namiki/pilot. And the ink flow isn't generous on these, but that can be fixed pretty quickly if you know how to work the tines. I would be very curious to hear more about the tipping process though. Did John give you any more details Noble Savage? Thanks for sharing your experiences everyone.

When you smooth a nib do you hold it against a wheel or do you rub it with the material you are smoothing it with? I admit I know zero about repairing or in any way altering pens so please be kind with your responses!

I call this "tactile connexion with the paper" because in another life I might have worked in marketing.

I do know what you mean -- the first time I had John Mottishaw work on a nib for me, it came back with this sort of feel. At first I was disppointed, because I was expecting glassy smooth. Then I came to appreciate it. Of course, I assume any competent nib person could do glassy, but it's interesting that his default finish is like this.

Of course, the feel of a nib is also affected by the flow -- wetter = smoother.

Best

Michael

I wonder which aspects of nib smoothing are controversial ?

well, if you get a pen and figure you can give it a few swipes to smooth it but you don't know what you're doing - then you send it back to the seller or manufacturer for repair... that is controversial. That's the only controversy I've heard of. I think Giovanni has had pens returned that need tine alignment but the buyer didn't know that and altered the shape of the tipping when it didn't need to be altered.

It would be unfair to use abrasives on the nib, and then send the nib back to the seller or manufacturer for repair. If I use abrasives on a nib, I keep the nib.
That might explain why I have 3 nibs for one Pelikan M200 pen.

yup - unfair, and unethical if you don't disclose that.

But it is done I'm sure.

heh - Blorgy, I have 6 extra nibs. But that was intentional - I bought them to practice on and someday when I feel like grinding nibs again, I'll do just that.

Well, I did my own nib but my Dad was the one who had issues with his optima. Basically, John is puzzled as to why Aurora makes nibs with tipping that is just blobbed on to the nib without having a foot. He said that they are good nibs if you want customization because thy come totally unmodified and it can be easily ground to what ever style the customer wants. But his issue is that a majority of people want to have a pen that writes perfectly smooth right out of the box. So for him, he has to do a few extra steps to get the tipping to resemble a standard nib.

You can learn a lot from a Nibmeister especially the techniques he uses to get a pen writing smooth and also increasing ink flow. I picked up a few tricks by watching him do his work. His apprentice is a really nice girl who is a graduate student that took to pens. From what she told me, she can strip apart and replace a piston in an OMAS in no time!!

I have two Auroras and love them both. One is a Forest Green Optima with a Medium nib and the other is a Mare with a Broad nib. The Green Optima does have some tooth but I quite like it. The broad nib is smoother and also a terrific writer.
Since we`re on the topic of dentists, Aurora tooth sounds like something worthy of nitrous oxide.

Thanks The Noble Savage. That is quite interesting, and your absolutely right that most folks want a smooth writer out of the box. The other puzzling thing is that if I were to want another Aurora 88 with the same nib tip that I already have (which I was in fact considering), I likely wouldn't get the same tip on the new one.