Evening,

I posted a while back asking for advice on resacing a Waterman 52V.

I've been using it since then (about three weeks), and I've noticed that one of the tines usually gets stuck under the other on the upstroke of certain letters, which produces a spattering of ink and a terrible noise.

Luckily, I have a macro-bellows set up on my camera, so I was able to capture the nib exceptionally close up (I hope the images aren't too large).

The first picture is the top part of the nib (the side with the trademarks and all that). The second picture is the ventral side (the side with the feed).

The right tine seems to be bent down and inwards a bit, does it not? Is this something I should be worried about?

-DerMann

They do look like they could use a little tweak. This is a reasonable candidate for gentle finger adjustment. Lining them up perfectly with gently bending will smooth things out considerably and should keep the right tine from catching on the top of cursive letters like f, h, k, and l.

Also, take a close look at the tines head on. There's a shadow in the shot from the top side, but it looks like the tines might be closed slightly at the bottom and open on the top side, like this: \/ (viewed head on). They should be completely parallel to each other.

Edited to say that another look at the photos makes me thing the tines are actually parallel...


Cheers,
Tom

One tine is slightly higher than the other. It's called as Ron Zorn told me, "using a thumbnail". Using your thumbnail and put pressure on the tyne you want to line up and try it and adjust to your liking. Good Luck an easy does it.

I'll take a look to-morrow, as right now I can barely see the screen in front of me.

Thanks for the replies, chaps.

-DerMann

The tines do look a bit out of whack. Like Tom said, a bit of finger-pressure should do it. Gripping the right tine with your fingernails, pull it slowly upwards. Use a decent bit of force, but don't yank it. Ease it up bit by bit and stop every now and then an examine the nib under a magnifier. A scribble on paper every now and then helps, as well.

Also - when checking for smoothness - It helps to actually DIP the pen and write with it. Nibs write significantly smoother (sometimes) when dipped, as the ink lubricates the tips and helps the pen glide along the page. Writing with a dry nib can produce a false impression that you might pay for later on...

I think I bent it back a bit, not completely sure.

It does seem to write better, but, as I said, I cannot be completely sure.

I'll have to set up my bellows to see just how much I repaired it.