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Nickel Plating A Steel Nib


roycalligraphy

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I don't know if it belongs to this forum but I am a bit concerned about this for a while now. Apparently I have a good collection of vintage nibs which I have been collecting since last summer . The real problem starts after a little much of use a nib if not properly cleaned develops signs of rusting and it just blackens out and after a while it just dies a quick death with the ink splattering and other stuff . Now I would really want to know if Nickel/Silver/Gold plating the steel would help . I have once tried Silver plating a Copper nib which was successful to some extent but nevertheless it just blackened later with the tines going bad etc. I have never tried Nickel plating though I have a Joseph Gillot No 1156 which is chrome plated and works kind of okay if you want broad lines . Please reply and help.

 

 

 

PS: Forgive my English writing skills since I speak and write Hindi and Urdu normally and occasionally Bengali and English is not really my forte but I do enjoy English Literature.

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Since there is no tipping, the tip of the nib will still wear down.

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Flexible steel nibs wear out due to the stresses of being flexes repeatedly as well as being used with acidic inks. Iron Gall inks typically used with pointed pens were quite acidic but produced lovely hairlines and bold dark shades.

 

Some companies did offer nibs plated with different materials that would stand the corrosion from acidic inks better e.g. the Esterbrook 956 Radio is a plated version of the Esterbrook 128 nib. The marketing material had different names for the material but it was most likely Nickel. These nibs did last longer than regular versions but that point is moot if you are not using acidic inks.

 

I use Noodler's Black with about 50% water added for dip pen practice. It is a safe ink and produces results that are quite acceptable for practice without shortening the life of the nib due to corrosion. My nibs still do wear out though. I can compensate for the tines wearing out by grinding them very carefully (yes it can be done but isn't really worth it IMO) but over time the tines will get misaligned which is pretty much impossible to recover from.

 

These nibs were always designed to be disposable. My advice is to enjoy using them and not worry about throwing them away when they are done. There are plenty of modern nibs that produce lovely results. The Leonardt Principal EF and the Hunt 101 are quite capable of matching the dream nibs IMO.

 

- Salman

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You're fighting a losing battle. In my opinion, nickel plating will not significantly forestall the corrosion of a steel nib.

 

--Daniel

"The greatest mental derangement is to believe things because we want them to be true, not because we observe that they are in effect." --Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet

Daniel Kirchheimer
Specialty Pen Restoration
Authorized Sheaffer/Parker/Waterman Vintage Repair Center
Purveyor of the iCroScope digital loupe

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  • 2 weeks later...

 

There are plenty of modern nibs that produce lovely results. The Leonardt Principal EF and the Hunt 101 are quite capable of matching the dream nibs IMO.

 

 

I so totally agree. In my relatively short time doing pointed pen calligraphy, I have noticed that it's always beginners who obsess about having vintage nibs. They all seem to make the trek to www.zanerian.com to start off, devour everything there, become convinced that they have to have the dream points (or as near as they can get), and then make endless posts about how many nibs they've bought, how big their collection is, how expensive vintage nibs are now, how inferior nib steel is today (with not a shred of evidence for that), and how bad modern nibs are. By contrast, all those calligraphers I know who are producing beautiful work never devote a lot of time to nibs, because they're busy writing. Sure, if you gave them a box of vintage nibs they liked, they'd be grateful, but in the meantime they just buy modern nibs and get on with the job.

 

And, out of all the many people who do post examples of their work, there are very few indeed who come anywhere near reaching the limits of modern nibs. What does it matter if nib A is capable of a slightly finer line than nib B if your hairlines are nowhere near as fine as nib B can get anyway? Or if your basic curves are flat and your lines are wobbly? It's probably just me, but I think that a lot of what is accepted as being great penmanship today is not a patch on the work of the old masters. I see people take up the hobby, put in a couple of years’ work, then proclaim themselves masters or teachers, when their work still shows the sort of basic mistakes that would have had Zanerian teachers telling them to try again!

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Oh, dhnz, your comments are harsh. Probably true, but still harsh. I have many years of practice in Italic and a few years in Copperplate. I would not even try to match the work of the old-timers. Then again, I wouldn't even try to match the work of modern-day masters. That's why they are called masters. On the other hand, I love my own, humble handwriting. It is clear, legible, and -- somedays -- capable of a bit of beauty.

 

Recently I have started back in Yoga and meditation again. First lesson: accept yourself for what you are today, try to do better tomorrow. I bring that attitude to my handwriting, practice a small page every morning. About ten minutes of careful writing. Gets my day off to a good start. And makes my hobby a lot more fun, a lot more rewarding.

Yours,
Randal

From a person's actions, we may infer attitudes, beliefs, --- and values. We do not know these characteristics outright. The human dichotomies of trust and distrust, honor and duplicity, love and hate --- all depend on internal states we cannot directly experience. Isn't this what adds zest to our life?

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… I would not even try to match the work of the old-timers.

 

Why on earth not? The thing is that the old-time masters were not superhuman. Everybody has seen that example of Lupfer’s script when first admitted to the Zanerian and heard the story of how he was told he shouldn’t return, but he got good through hours of practice every day. It was a career for those guys then, so naturally they put in the hours needed. People today are equally capable of producing results as good, but they’re not going to get there in only a couple of years, especially if they practise for, say, just an hour a day. Now that’s absolutely fine if you’re not looking to be any more than a low- or moderate-level writer. But if you’re setting yourself up as a teacher or calling yourself a master (or letting others call you a master), I think you need to be much better than that. I’ve been learning Spencerian for quite a few years now and I’m nowhere near the level of the old masters but that’s absolutely what I’m aiming for. (Not to teach, though – I have no interest in ever teaching.)

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