1) the nib pulls straight out with a slight twisting motion. There are no screw threads.
2) the comb is modern plastic and not hard rubber. Thus the ink feed is not perfect. To improve feed, I made 2 light swipes with 600 grit abrasive paper on the top flat surface only. That is the surface that touches the underside of the nib. This takes off the hydrophobic gloss, resulting in better feed. And now that the ink wants to stay on the hydroscopic surface, the nib stays cleaner.
3) I wanted the pen to write a little bit wetter. I ran a scrap piece of 120 size photographic film in the slot, staring at the weep hole. Because the film is polyester, there is no danger of scratching the nib. I found that if I got the slot too wide (after re-assembling and inking up), I could squeeze the nib closed with my fingers and try again. I have heard that some people use a single edge razor blade, but that sounds dangerous both to the nib and your fingers.
4) In examining the nib with a 20X loupe, there is some good news and some bad: the good is that the tip is very nicely rounded and there is nothing to scratch the paper. The bad is the underside (that touches the paper) looks like a baby's bum. That is, there is a rounded crack and capillary action may hold ink up above the paper. To fix this I polished a very slight "foot" or flat spot just at the point where I hold the nib to the paper. In my case, this is the left tine which touches first. You may be different. To accomplish this I bought a 4 sided finger nail buffer from a dollar store. I used the next to finest side and, holding the pen as I do when writing, made 2 light figure eights.
5) After these modifications I examined the tines head on with the 20X loupe and found a tiny bit of mis-alignment. Using my fingernail, I gingerly pulled up the offending tine, re-examining the result after each pull. When the nib was perfect, using the finest side of the nail buffer, I made two more figure eights for a final smoothing.
6) Re-assemble the unit, making sure the nib is perfectly aligned with the comb.
The result is a superbly beautiful pen with a nib just as silky smooth as my Pelikan and my Motlow-adjusted Sailor.
Enjoy! Bob
