Humor me here ... let's say you've spent 50 + years in Gregg school (perhaps just auditing) ...

Then you get offered an affordable scholarship to a school of fine arts in Rome.

But your owner says "NO! You are unique enough. You must stay there in that drawer."


How does the nib feel? Let's be ambiguous:
1 - How does it feel ... when you write with it (if you do)?
2 - How does it feel ... being alone, neglected...denied the right to LIVE!...?
3 - How does it feel ... When you jab it through your hand? (JK )

I rest my my case for grinding your nib.

pb2
(Yes, I'm afraid I do think I'm funny sometimes.)

If anyone lacks the heart to grind a perfectly spiffy 1551 or 1555 I have a whole tin full of slightly damaged nibs that I will gladly send to pb2 on your behalf and you can pay him for only the grinding.

Adam

I'm sending him a perfectly ordinary 2668 to make into something more useable. Will let you know the outcome.

Why do you only notice spelling errors AFTER you send?

I had to write a nice thank you letter tonight my My wifes uncle who was nice enough to send me a nice CD with huge selection of Jazz. (Some nice Louis Armstrong, Count Basie, Duke Ellington, ect...)

Anyway in all honesty, I started to write the letter with three pens and settled on pb2's nib inked with El Lawrence for just the right look. And no, I am not a paid supporter, but what the stub grind does for these rather plain steel nibs, even more so on one like a 1551 (aka: sewing needle) is stunning!

Oh.. and while I am at it, pb2 don't forget I still need your address to send those nibs to!!

I have more that 10 pens with italic, stub and O nibs. They are Pelikan, Rotring, Osmiroid and even Esterbrooks with osmiroid nibs. Sheaffer makes italic nibs with pen attached for under 5 dollars. I cannot for the life of me see why you are so hell bent to mutilate good nibs that are no longer in production in order to make nibs when when there are so many already available, many of which are as good as, or better, and in many cases cheaper than any you could make.

If you must, take System of Adams kind offer and use some that are already messed up.

"Hell bent" or "heaven sent" ~ "mutilate or "liberate" ... just 2 differing points of view.

I respect yours, but those who "cowboy -up" to the new adventure are enjoying it just as much as you might enjoy the status quo. Just a fresh experience. I may even do Botox to eliminate my frown lines.

pb2

Well I see you are bound to do this. I wish you well in your business enterprise. I just don't see the economy of sending off a nib, spending 15 dollars and waiting two or three weeks to get a nib when i can drive five minutes, plop down 5 dollars and come home with a new pen with the same kind of nib attached. I suppose I should be glad that you are not offering to drill out the bottom of an antique oil lamp so as to be able to put on a light bulb.

If I have 25 or so bum 155xs and that is .000001% there sure are a lot of nibs in the wild!

Wait, I may have more nibs than most people...

OK, NOS renew points are not as common as they once were. I haven't gotten a wad of them in over a year.

I do like the idea of grinding away at nibs that have broken or worn severely. None of us will be seeking someone to re-tip a 1555 anytime soon. Thus, modifying nibs that are otherwise dead is a good idea, it puts them back into use.

If someone wants to buy an NOS nib, take it out of the box and grind it to an italic so be it, it isn't my nib. I will also offer to trade you a de-tipped one suitable for grinding in trade.

Just some thoughts on this.

Todd

Okay, I just counted... I have 97 1551 (some damaged, some used, some mint) I have 64 1555 (same thing)...

I think I have enough of these...

Adam

You know my Momma used to always say "If you don't have anything nice to say..."

I just have to point out, the "Economy" of sending it out?? First, in the pen world, $15.00 is chump change. I am sending a Parker nib which is not damaged, just well worn and too fine / scratchy to Greg Minuskin. This nib will be re-tipped to make it a nice med-fine stub nib. Does anyone slam Greg and his re-tipping pens into stub nibs?? I dare say not! When pb2 grinds a cheap un-tipped 1551 nib or a 2668 into a stub nib, why does he to be flogged? Limited supply of Estie nibs, yes... However VASTLY more than any other pen that was sold without replaceable tips. I am paying $60.00 to have Greg do my Vacumatic nib, and that is $20.00 more than I paid for the whole pen! You say the cost is not worth it?? I would love to see what kind of China made junk you can bring home with a nice rounded italic nib and yet can draw ink from a bottle for $5.00?

I like my vintage pens, I do not wish to write with a Wing Sung, Hero, Jinhao, or some other e-bay fake junk. I could have bought a Hero over my Parker 51 and have a pen that looks the same to the typical on-looker, however a Hero will NEVER be a Parker 51 and a $5.00 stub nib fountian pen will never be an Estie with a custom ground nib.

Now I do understand the need to keep the good nibs, NOS and the like, but there is a lot of damaged nibs just kicking around that can be saved and put into good use. Personaly, I would rather my children's children pick up an Esterbrook with a wonderfull flowing italic nib and say "wow.. this is nice" over something that writes like a finish nail dipped in ink and think, I am so glad I have my Bic, this is such a piece of junk.


EDIT: Ummm, Adam.... you have issues.

I just got done unpacking 27 Estie Desk Sets... He, hee, ha, haw, ho-ho their coming to take me a away... Those little dark men in their little white coats...

Adam

Thanks for all the thread participation folks. I've enjoyed it.


Adam ~ If you want, send me 5 of your outcast nibs and I'll grind one free for each of the participants who have made this thread fun to be part of thus far, including one for myself as a memento. ANM, you are included if you want.

Email your address: wpb2@comcast.net

Blessings ~
pb2

http://www.hiskidzrock.com/songs/May%20the...%20on%20you.mp3

I think that's a fantastic idea. Please voice your desire to claim one of pb2's nibs in this thread and I will send the appropriate number of nibs to pb2. For myself, I plan to send one in and look forward to sampling the nibmeister at work...

Adam

I'd like one, if only to get a stub for this LJ of mine. It writes well on the 9556 nib, but I think my sig mentions my want of stubs

Sam

*Oh. If, of course, it's practical to ship a nib to the Philippines.

I already have a couple to send you so please feel free to extend the offer to someone else how would like to give one a try.

I would like to try one of these.

Click to view attachment

Hmmm. Let me see... Nope, I think I will turn down your kind offer. I have too many already. BTW all these have factory made italic nibs. Not included in the picture are 7 Pelikans with italic nibs

Edit, None of these are made in China. The 5 dollar pens I was referring to are Sheaffer's and I am delighted to hear that broken nibs are being recycled. I have no problems with that, but that was not the premise of the original proposal at the start of this thread. You may also give the nib you offered me to someone who will enjoy it. They are great fun to use.

Well, looking at that pile, I would have to say you have killer deals in Kansas because I have never seen italic or even flexi nibbed Esterbrooks for $5.00 around here. Dip pens, sure... but a bit hard to keep in the sirt pocket. I wopuld be interested in where I can buy a $5.00 sheaffer with an italic nib becuase I tend to like Sheaffers and have never seen them that low.

You also refer to the Pelikans, were those more than $5.00 each? How many pens in that bunch other than the "$5.00 Sheaffer" cost more than $5.00?
I only bring this up because you so slammed the economics of paying $15.00 to have a nib done when there are so many that can be bought for $5.00.

I almost never see a $5.00 Esterbrook even in black. Yet you have quite a few Esties in that bunch that apparenty have a stub nib in them to boot!

Nice display ANM. I'm glad we all seem to agree that Italic nibs can have more fun. I have used Osmies on my Esties. I have a nice Root Beer Estie with a 3 tined Osmiroid nib. I had to work on it some to be please with it.

But you have to agree with Firefyter-EMT that $5 Italic nibs are not readily available everywhere anymore.

And it stands to reason that a lot of Estie users would rather have an Estie nib and since the special ones are often 20 -40 USD these days, and so, modifying a common duplicate is cost effective. Heck, it's not even difficult to do yourself. I got started by finding a method in "The Dangerous Book for Boys" (I think that's the name, I don't see it on my shelf at the moment ~ good book though.)

I don't know if our good friend Richard works his nifty magic much on these. I know he generally does his mastery on pricier pieces and his time is worth more than mine, so I do it.

By the way ANM, do you neuter your pets?
Nanna Nanna- boo-boo (sorry, I couldn't resist a friendly poke )

All the best ~
pb2

I never intended to imply that all my pens cost $5.00. I only said that Sheaffer calligraphy pens are available for $5.00. Actually they have them at
http://www.discountofficeitems.com/sheaffe...tml?ref=froogle for $3.62 each. The other pens are there to illustrate that, although I appreciate the offer for another nib, I already have too many as it is.

No need to sink to wise cracking. Actually my pet just died. I already said returning usefulness to ruined nibs is a good thing. What else do you want from me?

I am reminded of a fad about 35 years ago of taking nickel plated oil lamps and stripping them down to the brass because they looked so much better and after all they plentiful and cheap. Today the original ones are harder to find and are worth ten times more than the stripped ones. Now people shake their head and wonder why someone would do that to perfectly good lamps.

Sheaffer still sells calligraphy nibs AND pens together for less than five dollars. Check the link in my previous post or go to any office supply store and order one from the catalog. They usually have next day delivery.

All that having been said, can I have a shot at that Red V-Clip if you ever decide to sell... PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That's nice!

Adam

Adam, I will be glad to let you know if I ever decide to sell that pen. I like it too.

I've an idea!

My first 'fountain pen' was one of these $5 Sheaffer Calligraphy numbers- actually, $5.99 at Michael's, thank you very much. I think perhaps it's time to take the pb2/ANM challenge- if there are still some of these 155x italic/stub regrinds left to claim, please count me in! I'd be quite willing to share my findings with this esteemed college of learned penophiliacs. And, as it just so happens, I finally have come into an Estie- a goofie aerometric jobbie I got cheap on eBay.



Aaron

Dear Y'all ~
The free deal was only for the first 5 (including myself) who responded to the thread. It also depends on whether Adam sends me 5 of his nibs. One goes back to him, so it's really a gift from 2 imperfect strangers. =)

A few extras folks are asking for the freebee, I wish I could. I'm not really in this for big bucks, but I have about 4 other jobs, so I don't really have the free time this side of heaven to bless everyone who's asking for a free nib. I'm sure you understand.

So, for clarity sake, my introductory non-free deal is this:
You send me your nib to grind (Estie, Parker 45, Lamy, any stainless steel nib) and ...
I send it back to you with a smooth crisp Pendleton Point Italic....
If you are happy with it, you send me $20. (my conus s&h included).
If you are not happy with it, send it back and I'll try to replace it with the same unground nib.
Fair enough?


Call me goofy (true enough), but I have a lot of trust in this community. And I'd think you'll enjoy what I'd like to share.

PTM (pardon the mush) ~
pb2