Baby's Bottom: Long-Term Consequences (E.g. Damage)

[Sapientia]

Hi all!

 

First off: if this has been discussed elsewhere and I failed to find the thread, I apologize and would appreciate a re-direct (google hasn't helped either)

 

I got a Pelikan M805 with a medium nib and love it. Suuuuuper smooth. However, it has a few hard starts, but not enough to bother me or to get me to risk anything by doing any nib work. Upon close inspection it seems there might be a bit of baby's bottom.

 

I have seen tons of stuff online about what that is and how to fix it. But my unanswered question is: what happens if I don't fix it? Might there be any long-term consequences?

 

Thanks a bunch for your help!

[Tweel]

Cumulative annoyance is probably the most dramatic possible outcome. If the baby's bottom is slight enough, a year or two of writing wear might even fix it for you -- that happened with my previously-unused Snorkel.

[lurcho]

I just did an inventory of some of my steel nibs, and curiously one or two with pronounced baby's-bottom write excellently.

 

However, in general, it's a pain in the bottom, and usually means that you don't quite have the feather-light touch that is possible with a perfect-flowing, non-babied point.

 

If the writing experience is nice, I'd leave it. I ruin more nibs than I improve by messing around without abrasives.

 

However, it can be done, and I'm probably more cack-handed than most. If you feel brave, look at (for example) Matt Armstrong's video on the DIY treament for this problem. Or Stephen Brown's, at this link:

 

[ac12]

For me it would be an annoyance, that would become a PiA.

So I remove it.

The problem is you need a HARD abrasive. If the abrasive medium is soft, it will flex into the baby bottom and you won't eliminate the profile.

[Erik Dalton]

You can use 12000 grit micro mesh, but place the micro mesh on a hard countertop, glass table, hard cover book, something hard. This will help focus your efforts and make things go more quickly. Make sure the pen is inked. The ink acts as lubricant. You can wipe it off before it dries to preserve the micromesh. I know you've seen all the videos. Do a little bit at a time until you're happy with it. If you go slowly you'll be just fine.

Or: you can do nothing and no harm or damage will come of your nib with normal writing. If it is giving you hard starts take care not to press too hard to get it going. That will eventually cause damage.

 

Btw: the Stephen Brown videos are excellent.

[rwilsonedn]

As others have suggested, the only long-term damage would come from frustration: pressing down on the pen too hard (or throwing it at something) when it skips once too often when you are in a bad mood. If that's not a risk, you have no worries. If that is a risk, you can always send the nib assembly to a nibmeister or return it to the seller and have it professionally dealt with. That way you don't have to learn the skill on an expensive nib that you basically like.

ron

[Sapientia]

Thanks everyone!

I'm also an avid S BRE Brown fan