Stub Grinding On Jinhao 159

[sodul]

Most of my pens are JinHao 159, mostly because I have big hand and because I "misplaced" a 149 at work (not the fountain version, but still), I'm no longer willing to carry a very expensive pen at work, especially if I'm going to have several for various inks.

 

One of the other great things about these cheap pens is that they write well while the body quality is not top notch (2 of them have the paint peeling after a few months), it makes me more likely to experiment with them. The nibs are also very cheap and easily found on eBay for under $1 per nib (as low as $1.99 for 10, I should have bought them).

 

So since I have a few spare nibs, and a couple of pens I don't mind ruining I gave a try at grinding a stub.

 

This is the evolution of the nib from the original factory Medium to the final result over the course of 3 hours.

 

The nib in pristine condition:

 

On my wet stone. I got that stone for sharpening my camping hatchet years ago. It has a rough side, which I use to remove the material, and a smooth side, which I use to do the angle smoothing. I found found this stone to work well for grinding nibs.

 

After grinding the bottom, top, writing edge and the chisel point the nib looked good enough for my liking:

 

A quick pass on the finer side of the stone to smooth the edges and time to polish:

 

The result is a nice looking stub:

 

For comparison with 2 other nibs. The top one is a factory medium nib, the middle one is the new one, and the bottom one my first grind which is a fine nib, slightly italic that I did last year.

 

While the nib is not butter smooth, it is much smoother than I expected. There is still a little bit of grabbing on the up stroke, especially up/left, but it is barely noticeable when writing.

 

For my next grind I will probably try to use my dremel. It took me 3 hours to grind this nib and since I want to do a broad it would take even longer. Also my wife wants my italic pen now.

[NinthSphere]

Nice work. I've done a 159 1.3ish & an 886 1.1ish, clipping below the tipping & finishing the edge with lapping film. Easy to lose track of time getting things just right.

[sodul]

According to my caliper and measuring a vertical line this would be 0.8mm stub.

 

My wife wants a stub nib mounted on a JinHao 599 as she finds it more comfortable to use. The 599 is probably the cheapest pen that you can experiment with ease, and it is a good writing pen.

[ksm]

Nice work.

I think the edge of the nib with number "6" on the feed is not perpendicular to slit, but whatever works for you.

 

1. Do you find your new stub adequate to writing at fast note-taking speed, or is it too edgy?
2. Did you smooth the corner where edge meets slit? If so, what technique did you use?
3. What was the final grit you've used for polishing the nib? 12000 or did you use fibber-optic lapping films?

[dcwaites]

I took a different approach.

 

Based on a Pilot Custom 742 Sutab (Stub) nib

 

I flattened the end and the bottom surface and then gently buffed it.

[sodul]

Yes there is a little angle. I noticed it while grinding and tried to correct it at first but I was concerned about overcorrecting, and then thought that if my hand wants that angle that's probably how I naturally hold the pen when writing and as such would probably be better for my personal use.

 

1. Yesterday I would have said no, that it was too scratchy, but after I read question 2 I went back to my pads to smooth the nib more. Now it has feedback but is no longer scratchy. I'm able to write as fast with it as with any of my other pens. I just tried to do rapid circles and scribbles and no problem here. It is actually a lot smoother than my Nemosine Fine nib was on arrival.

 

2. I had not paid special attention to that. So what I did this morning is go back to the 3200 pad and make just a few quarter circles holding the pen sideways with about a 30% angle and apply a little pressure to make sure I would get on the inside for each of these corners. Did that in reverse as well, then did normal polishing of figure 8 loops with different angles on the nib (both vertices and sideways angles) then repeated the process on 3600, 4000, 6000, 8000 and finally 12000. Thank you very much for reminding me these edges needed some smoothing, the little extra work has made this nib completely useable for every day note taking, even on american brand lab books and on laser printer paper.

 

3. 12000 indeed, I use micro mesh polishing pads seen on one of the photos. You can find them for $12.50 shipped. I like these pad as they have a foam core which allows them to nicely polish and round up sharp edges.

[sodul]

So since I got pretty happy with how smooth the 0.8 stub turned out I got my Dremel out of the garage to make a wider stub. After reading some of the posts here and some youtube videos I decided to just use wire cutters and then grind the remaining material to get a 1.3 stub.

 

Warning graphical material, viewer's discretion is advised.

 

No going back now.

 

I had made a mark to where my caliper told me the nib was 1.3mm wide, and it did not cut enough, so I clipped again. The nibs are not very hard an the cut was cleaner than I expected. You might notice that the tines were not 100% aligned, something I've been trying to correct while grinding with limited success.

 

After grinding the tip on the stone to make it as flat as my poor hand can, it starts looking like something that might write.

 

Buffing pads just like with the 0.8 stub:

 

And it writes, very slowly:

 

The nib has an alignment issue, that's why I picked it compared to others: no big loss in the worst case. I'll try to fix that tomorrow and see if I can get it smooth enough to be useable. I'm not expecting anything like what I got on the 0.8 stub, but right now it does bite in the paper and pulls fiber especially on up strokes, even on my Rhodia pad.

 

[fly_us]

OMG, wire cutters. Just when i thought i'd seen everything.

 

Luckily it is a Jinhao nib.

[sodul]

Yes wire cutters

I kind of took inspiration fro the instructions from Noodler's:

 

They sell 2 non tipped nibs for $2 with zero profits for the very specific purpose of people fiddling with the nibs. In the video he cuts the nib and spends just a few seconds polishing it and then simply start playing with the pen after setting the nib. He then goes an cuts a few more nibs to demonstrate different types of italics.

 

This JinHao nib costed me under $1 shipped and I have 10 spares so I'm not worried about destroying a few nibs. I would obviously never do this to my Waterman's.

 

We are tinkerers I think these pens are perfect to experiment and learn.

[sodul]

Here is an other example where he cuts a 2mm italic nib but also increase the feed flow with a saw blade.

 

[NinthSphere]

I haven't seen that vid, but yeah, wire cutters are how I went about my 159 & 886. Gives you a nice straight edge to start if you line things up right. You should have no problem getting it nice & smooth. I do grinding with the film on a hard surface though to keep the edge straight across rather than rounded & I do a more shallow angle on the facets. My grinding was styled after the work on the Italix broad italic.

[Randal6393]

I started out with grinding only and have seen no reason to change. Tried Nathan's wire-cutter-clip on a few cheap nibs and didn't like the result. Yes, I got an Italic nib out of the deal but the performance was poor. Too much metal comes off the tip and the length is not enough for my tastes. So I stick with grinding.

 

Converting a nib is best done in stages, I think. First, flatten top and bottom. Then square off tip. Next cut the 45 degree chamfer. Now smooth and test. How is the sweet spot? How much ink flows? Too wet? Too dry? If too wet, would a longer chamfer allow a slower, drier flow. Relationship of feed to nib? Too close to writing angle? Too far away? With practice, it is possible to convert a nib from ball to italic in about thirty minutes. Or less. And wind up with a nib that is smoother and writes better than the factory nib by far.

 

Enjoy,

[the_gasman]

I started out with grinding only.

Thanks Randall,

Do you use a Dremel for any of the grinding or do you do it all with a stone?

 

Cheers, David.

[fly_us]

For the grinding, not sure how other people do but i prefer stone over Dremel. I used to use Dremel but i found stone give me more control. It is slower, yes, but i'm not in hurry anyway.

[Bill Wood]

Great read. My problem is the smoothing after I've made my cuts. Is it figure 8s all round then test? I can't get it quite right. I always end up with something that feels like a pencil, even with the smoothest grade of pad.

Edited February 25, 2017 by Bill Wood

[Inky.Fingers]

I find that for extra smooth a rubber wheel is in order.

 

For extra smooth... You need a ladies touch..Find a ladies nail polishing block or stick. Work carefully on long strokes at 45 degree. The polishing sticks with soft padding allows the nib to sink into the pads. Hence it polishes all corners beautifully.

[sodul]

My first grind was to make a fine italic (the bottom nib on the 3 nibs picture) and I was able to smooth it pretty well with the pads you seen in my pictures. It is not as smooth as my Pilot MR Fine though.

[Bill Wood]

Well you can do what Nathan does -- but do you really get a smooth Italic? Really? Sure you can use cutters - but that automotive sandpaper he's using you can use to square off the nib. It's all fast and dirty until you take the nib to work - (or as I call the big show) - Not taking anything anyway from Nathan. But I think the final smoothing of gradients of 45 degrees takes a little time. The fast the dirty is fun to see - but we do know that it takes a little longer for a performance nib that's usable. Randals got some great tips for griding.

Edited March 17, 2017 by Bill Wood

[Randal6393]

Thanks Randall,

Do you use a Dremel for any of the grinding or do you do it all with a stone?

 

Cheers, David.

Sorry, David,

 

Didn't see your question until today. Nope, stones and hand work only. With lots of looking with a magnifier and test writing. The process becomes one of dialling everything in, finer and finer. I say stones, but nail buffer files, micro-mesh and mylar pads are included.

 

Best of luck,

[sodul]

Yes, what Nathan is showing is probably still very scratchy. The 1.3 Stub I did is smooth, a lot smoother than the reverse on my Fine Pilot MR. I did spend significant time grinding and smoothing it properly after the cut. The wire cutters is a great time saver as grinding away 2 mm of the tip would have taken a long time.

 

Here is an other example of a successful brutal nib modification followed by some smoothing: