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Is there a special use for these 3 dip nibs?

The crazy one with the crossed tines has me stumped as to how to even begin using it. It says No. 20 on it. Wait! is it deformed!? Are the tines supposed to be straight?

The one on the far bottom left I'm guessing is maybe a flexy nib? It says B 99 or 5 99 on it.

And as you look at the profile of the bottom right nib, you can see it has a strange metal piece on the backside. The nib is stuck into the pen holder pretty good, but what I can read on it says Res FR 1000.

Thanks for your thoughts and help.

Top nib and bottom left nib appear to me to be "sprung" -- in other words, damaged. As in, no longer usable. Actually the top nib was probably intentionally damaged, the bottom one had too much pressure applied to it.

The bottom right nib is equipped with a "reservoir" -- designed to hold a bit of ink in order to get the pen to write longer between dips. The reservoir itself may need to be adjusted, so that it comes a bit closer to, or even touches, the underside of the nib.

That top one looks broken to me too.

hi kudzu!

wow, I can't believe that first one--it looks like somebody bent the tines to try to use it for some kind of outlined lettering...but I don't see how it could hold ink to be able to do that.

Maybe you could use it as a teeny tiny backscratcher?

The second one is sprung...looks like one of mine after a day of usage. And the last one has a reservoir for holding ink; looks a bit bent, though.

I have your vial ready to go, by the way!

You can tell something is wrong because they have breather holes and slits, but the current positioning of the tines won't use them at all. You could dip with them but it would be about as effective as dipping with a literal nail or needle.

I suspect the presence of someone under the age of twelve.

When I look at these nibs, all I can think of is "Ouch!" Could some genius have thought he was "customizing" the top nib?

I will definitely throw away the 2 nibs that have been abused, maybe tweak the one with a reservoir to see if I can make it useable. AND, jbb, kindly and magnanimously sent me some flexy dip pen nibs which arrived yesterday. (What a generous gesture, jbb! ) Now I have some totally
functional (with the accent on fun) flexy dip nibs to experiment with.

AND, Inkcommunicado is sending me some of her awesome Russian Aubergine (Rasputin's Revenge) ink to try out. (By the way, I see you posted on the ink exchange forum - I hope others take you up on the exchange, too.)

So, my old dip pen nibs seem a disaster - thanks to all who commented and helped me sort out what I had - but I've now got new tools to practice this part of the art of fountain pen writing. Is this a great network or what!?

I'll trade you a good flexy nib (or two!) for that crazy first one, if you haven't thrown it away yet. Seriously! I can think of a few pranks I could use it for... ;D

As soon as I get the Russian Aubergine, I will have your mailing address and will happily mail that crazy first nib to you with the proviso that you share your prank with us! And if you have any flexy nibs that you want to recycle, I'd love them. It's hysterical watching me try to write with a dip flexy pen! I was sort of getting the flex writing with a #2 Wahl pen nib, but the dip pen aspect of writing with a flexible nib is a different sort of challenge for me but I continue to enjoy practicing (thanks again, jbb!) even as I chuckle at my lack of control.

And, Inkcommunicado, when I read your comment about using that crossed tines nib as a tiny backscratcher, I literally spewed my iced tea at the screen!

I don't have in mind in any cruel pranks, definitely--but I'm notoriously hard on nibs (my used ones are only worth scrap metal! but I have some spare new ones you might find interesting). A soft bronze dip nib usually lasts only a few hours for me...so the next time one of my friends gives me a hard time and asks "What damage did you do today?" --I'd love to see the look on their faces if I pull out that crazy nib!

I'd also like to figure out some way I might be able to use it on my mom. I like to play practical jokes on her--she's never fooled, even for a second, but she gets a lot of amusement out of the fact that I keep trying. She gave me my first set of dip pens--her old Speedball lettering set from the 1940's, as well as her old fountain pens...maybe I could put the nib on a fancy handle, wrap it up and give it to her for her birthday, claiming it's a very powerful, "haunted" pen that I bought for an exorbitant sum on eBay. She won't believe it's haunted, but she might believe I'd be dumb enough to buy such a thing on eBay...

Or I could tell her it's a very fancy, travel-sized backscratcher!

Inkommunicado - that crazy nib is on its way to you. Enjoy it, however you use it. And thanks for the Russian Aubergine. You'll see my limited and pitiful efforts to duplicate the amazing color variation you got. I'm still working on using flex nibs. Even getting the basics down is much harder (to me) than I thought it would be. So, when I see your's, jbb's or antoniosz' elegant sample writing I am in total awe. Your results all look effortless. Good inspiration. Thanks.

Yay! Thank you! I'll send you some good flexy ones in return. I'll look for some that are extremely cooperative.

Writing with flexy dip nibs is much more difficult than writing with flexy fountain pen nibs, in my experience. Dip nibs are generally sharp, and much softer than FP nibs. It takes practice, but if you can get the hang of writing with dip nibs, flexy fountain pens will seem like a breeze.

I look forward to seeing your samples! If I ever figure out how to post images, I'll put up some more of mine as well.