with abrasive paper - 400, then 800 then 1200, and then the polishing surface of a nail file, to something like a stub, rather than the original blobby B. What can I do to buff the nib to super smoothness, short of writing continuously for 20 years?

http://fp.vandebilt.net/html/ngFPNv102.html

http://www.marcuslink.com/pens/nibs.html

Good luck & don't take any advice from me on nib smoothing.

Certainly not any of the stuff you mentioned, Eric.

Please do not use anything more coarse than 3000 or 4000 grit pape, or rather mylar, for shaping the nib. Finsishing it to ultimate smoothness, you need 12000 grit mylar.

Warm regards, Wim

Align first -- only use abrasive to address defined defects, and then only until they are minimized. You can grind and polish forever on a nib with the tips out of alignment without fixing it.

Peter