A Little Dilemma, Or 'to Use Or Not To Use'

[Yehenara]

I do quite believe I have found the perfect pen for me, but I'm afraid of wearing down the tipping by using it too much. The pen is vintage, and as such, has vintage tipping material, which I heard is less hardy than its modern counterparts. Normally, I write without any pressure applied to the pen at all, with only the weight of the pen itself doing the job, and the only times I do apply pressure are when I'm flexing the nib, which I do fairly frequently in doodles and such.

Are my fears unfounded?

[Pelikan Vera]

use it ....life is to short to not do so.....

[Cryptos]

If you're not going to use it then I guess it's not the perfect pen for you. Just a thought.

[NinthSphere]

What the tube said. I wouldn't own a pen I was afraid of using too frequently. In all likelihood, it'll outlast you.

[vPro]

Use it or you'll regret it

[Sandy Fry]

It's a pen! Use it.

 

David

[JimCouch]

I do quite believe I have found the perfect pen for me, but I'm afraid of wearing down the tipping by using it too much. The pen is vintage, and as such, has vintage tipping material, which I heard is less hardy than its modern counterparts. Normally, I write without any pressure applied to the pen at all, with only the weight of the pen itself doing the job, and the only times I do apply pressure are when I'm flexing the nib, which I do fairly frequently in doodles and such.

 

Are my fears unfounded?

 

In a word - yes. the tipping will be fine, just write with the pen and enjoy. You can check with some of he pen repair people here, but imho pen tips do not wear out from writing. They can be damaged, and modifying a tip will remove some material, but you should be able to write a lifetime with almost any quality pen, modern or antique.

[Shangas]

Fountain pens take ages for the tipping to wear down. I wouldn't worry too much.

[Buzz_130]

You should not be "flexing the nib" with fountain pens that do not have flex nibs. "Fairly frequently," as you describe, means you will spring the nib. This is true regardless of modern or vintage heritage. Tipping material is the least of your concerns.

 

Buzz

[AAAndrew]

Buzz has got it right. The tipping material is most likely iridium, which is much, much, much harder than anything in your paper. You're more at risk of springing the nib than wearing it away. So, as long as you're careful, you should be able to use this pen for a very long time.

 

So, that said, SHOW US THE PEN!!

[Yehenara]

You should not be "flexing the nib" with fountain pens that do not have flex nibs. "Fairly frequently," as you describe, means you will spring the nib. This is true regardless of modern or vintage heritage. Tipping material is the least of your concerns.

 

Buzz

The pen in question is a Waterman's N°52 with an artist's nib that I picked up off these forums. It's not much of a looker, but oh does it write marvellously.

 

Thanks for the replies, by the way. They are very reassuring.

[bardharlock]

Favorite pen and not using just doesn't compute for me. The tipping, as stated, will likely outlast you. If, for some odd reason, it does not, there are nibmeisters that have re-tipping services. Sure, there is a fee to do it, but for my favorite pen I would not hesitate!

[Frank C]

My mother has been using a Parker 51 that her father gave her in the 40s ever since. The tipping is worn, but still there. I wouldn't worry about it too much.

[Namo]

In a word - yes. the tipping will be fine, just write with the pen and enjoy. You can check with some of he pen repair people here, but imho pen tips do not wear out from writing. They can be damaged, and modifying a tip will remove some material, but you should be able to write a lifetime with almost any quality pen, modern or antique.

Tipping won't wear, not in an other 100 years of daily use... If that is what you fear, then yes, you fear is unfounded. If I may: the perfect pen cannot be a pen you don't use...

[ISW_Kaputnik]

If you do wear the tipping material down through extremely heavy use over many years, it could be re-tipped, admittedly at considerable expense. At that point you might decide that it's not worth it and set it aside, but at least you'll have gotten some use out of it, and a future owner might find it worthwhile to re-tip it.

 

Unless you enjoy having it as a display item (not that there's anything wrong with that) or unless you're preserving it to sell, you're not getting anything out of it by not writing with it.

Edited May 23, 2015 by ISW_Kaputnik

[PS104]

Use the pen or let it collect dust

Or mail it to me

[AAAndrew]

If you do wear the tipping material down through extremely heavy use over many years, it could be re-tipped, admittedly at considerable expense. At that point you might decide that it's not worth it and set it aside, but at least you'll have gotten some use out of it, and a future owner might find it worthwhile to re-tip it.

 

Unless you enjoy having it as a display item (not that there's anything wrong with that) or unless you're preserving it to sell, you're not getting anything out of it by not writing with it.

 

 

I can only imagine that if you use a pen so much that you wear down the iridium tip, that pen would have enough significance that you'd probably keep it just as a memento of the gazillions of words written with it.

[ac12]

Use it, but do NOT flex it, until you learn how much to limit your flex to.

 

There are way too many people that seem to be obsessed with FLEXING the nib as wide as it can go.

These are writing pens, not pens to show off how WIDE you can flex the nib.

Once you spring the nib, the nib is destroyed. And a replacement nib, if you can find one, will likely cost you $100+.

 

IMHO, if you really want to fuss with flex writing, get a dip pen and one of several flexible dip pen nibs. Much cheaper. And if you ruin a dip pen nib, it is only a couple dollars to replace it.

[bardharlock]

Or just buy a flex nib pen. Purpose built tools for the correct purpose. Heck, I hear there are even companies out there making inexpensive flex nibs.

[Yehenara]

Or just buy a flex nib pen. Purpose built tools for the correct purpose. Heck, I hear there are even companies out there making inexpensive flex nibs.

The pen in question does indeed have a flexible nib. I would never push it to its limit, though.