Just wondering if a vintage Sheaffer Triumph nib can be reground to something wider than the fine or XF it was made as? thanks!



Doug

Ya gotta live within the available tipping material. Some increase in width might be obtained by stubbing, as the flatter grind is larger than the round point presents, but the increase is not dramatic.

What you have is UU -> [I] (if my ascii art is understandable).

Perhaps this is more obvious: (I) If this represents the rounded point you start with (end on view), then the increase is found by grinding up from the bottom of the existing point. The straighter the sides, the less increase in width.

Regards,

Gerry

PS: Awaiting the pronouncements from the masters...

There is more than one way to handle this. If it's a great pen and worth spending the money on, you can have it re-tipped (i.e. they can weld a bigger blob of material onto the end and start over). Obviously, this is more expensive and time-consuming than just reshaping what was there to begin with.

In most cases it would be less expensive to purchase a replacement nib for the pen from a reputable dealer than to have it retipped and ground to a fatter nib.
nibs.com carries vintage nibs and also does retipping....

thanks to Gerry, David and Tom for your insight. I now understand what is involved, and i appreciate your input. I think maybe the best course of action for a wider nib on a treasured pen may be to take one off a donor pen; in my case, take a medium Triumph nib from a pen from the same era (same filler type), and replace the fine nib. thanks all!



Doug