Fixing A Too-Broad #6 Jowo M Nib?

[tvradio]

I recently purchased from Anderson Pens a #6 Jowo M nib to complement the Jowo B nib I got from them in January. Although it says it's an M on my Jinhao 159 it lays down a thick line almost identical to the B nib on my Jinhao x750, and the pen now gushes with the two inks I tried with it (Aurora Black and De Atramentis Petrol). With the stock Jinhao nib the line was more of a F/M and it definitely did not gush (although I used it with different inks).

 

If this is not a mislabeled nib is there a simple way to make it write like it's supposed to? I suppose I could contact Anderson about this and look into an exchange if necessary but I thought I'd ask here first.

 

 

[tvradio]

Jowo B and "M" comparison here. If anything the M nib is broader than the B.

[Runnin_Ute]

I don't have those inks, but if they are wet inks the line will be wider.

[Runnin_Ute]

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Edited April 7, 2018 by Runnin_Ute

[Driften]

You also have to consider that the B you had was M sized. The Jowo #6 B nib I have puts down a western M line. I don't have a Jowo M to compare it to. Like it was said using a dryer ink can reduce the width of your line.

[Bo Bo Olson]

Every nib has tolerance/slop....even if two M's come off the assembly line right after another, one could be a fat M, the next a skinny M.

A skinny M can exactly = a fat F....and still be in tolerance. If either is 1/1000 of an inch back into tolerance you wouldn't really see it. It will still be fat or skinny.

 

It sounds to me like you have a skinny B and a fat M.

 

When the Sheaffer plant closed down, Ron Zorn went there and got a good tour and the secret of nib width tolerance.

And all companies make nibs to their very own standards set by 'market survey's in the Fabled Corner Pen Shoppe for customer loyality....back in the Day of One Man, One Pen,

the fatter Parker nib was not made as skinny as a thinner Sheaffer nib.....or the Parker customer could make a HUGE mistake and buy a Sheaffer!!!!!!!!!

 

Then if a company made it's own ink, that too came into nib width. In once Parker was a fatter nib, it could well have had a dryer ink.....Pelikan has a dry ink. Waterman a wetter ink for a thinner nib.

I don't know enough about Sheaffer inks to know if it's wet or not. But with a thinner nib would expect it to be slightly wetter than Parker's ink.

(Not counting Noodlers of course.....in many Noodler users consider Waterman a dry ink. )

 

JoWo don't make an ink.....so has no philosophy in that direction.

 

Ron Zorn tolerance....as you see a fat lower width and equal a skinny wider width.

"""Sheaffer used a dial indicator nib gauge for measuring nib sizes. The nib was inserted into the gauge, and the size read off of the dial. A given size being nibs that fell within a given range. What is listed below were the ranges given on a gauge that I saw in the Sheaffer service center prior to being closed in March 2008.

Measurements are in thousandths of an inch.

XXF = 0.010 - 0.013
XF = 0.013 - 0.018
F = 0.018 - 0.025
M = 0.025 - 0.031
Broad* = 0.031 - 0.050
Stub = 0.038 - 0.050

*there was some overlap on the gauge. May be 0.035 - 0.050"""

 

By the way....I don't see any of those 'number' nibs being any closer in tolerance as the lettered nibs......a 1.1 to 0.9 (even a hair more or less) would be well into tolerance, of a fat or skinny 1.0 nib.

Edited April 9, 2018 by Bo Bo Olson

[tvradio]

You also have to consider that the B you had was M sized. The Jowo #6 B nib I have puts down a western M line.

You just blew my mind there.

 

And... it turns out you were right! On Friday I contacted Anderson Pens to tell them about my wide M nib and they sent out a replacement nib I just received. (I intended to use the packaging to return my original nib.) But you are correct, because the replacement Jowo M nib is precisely as wide as the previous Jowo M, which is about as wide as my Jowo B !!!

 

That is disappointing. So now I'm stuck with two pretty identical nibs listed as M and B, and what I really want is a Jowo F, I guess.

 

A $15 lesson. Now I'm questioning whether I want to try buying yet another $15 steel nib to improve some $3 pens, when I could do something like get a nice import Pilot Lucina for under $45. Sigh...

[Bo Bo Olson]

Sooner or later you will have enough B and M and F nibs that you can release your 'exactly' matching falsely marked width to the wilds.

Between tolerance and different companies standards, I expect all nibs to be off up to a 1/2 a width, thinner or wider...depends on if you are tossing hand grenades or horseshoes.

 

Does it leave a nice clean line with proper ink? Then don't worry too much. Look at the positive view point, one of those nibs would be nice to stub.

[BlueJ]

I agree that there is a lot of piece-to-piece variation in nib widths. I had a Jowo B nib (since reground to 0.8mm stub) that definitely wrote a wet broad line, and I also have a Jowo M that writes a fine-medium line nearly the same as a Jowo F I compared to on someone else's pen.

[tvradio]

Sigh. I think I'm going to give away the M nib, which seems to be the broader of the M & B nibs.

 

I've had feed issues with both my Jinhao x750 and 159 where it takes upwards of 30 seconds to be ready to write after being stored Jowo nib-up, so I think that perhaps this experiment has run its course. I have a few cheap pens that write more reliably than this Jinhao/Jowo combo (Preppy/Plaisir, Metropolitan, Delike New Moon) albeit with narrower nibs. So at this point I think I'm going to take time to research and save up for something unhesitatingly reliable in a Euro-M.

[Aditkamath26]

My medium was pretty normal but drier than normal that it was uncomfortable for me to use as there was feedback and dryness in every stroke. You might wanna reduce the ink flow of your medium and increase the ink flow of your broad.

Increasing ink flow is pretty easy with a brass shim.

Or you could press fown the nib slightly (take it slow or you might end up springing the nib.) on a hard surface like glass.

Decreasing ink flow is harder. You might end up severly misaligning tines, and overlapping tines. So go real slow. Take the pen and orient it in such a way that you see the nib tip towards yourself so that you can see the both tines and also the feed from the front. Then, lift the right tine and slightly move it towards the left tine. Then repeat the same with the left tine. This is to ensure no misalignment. Then try the nib. If you need it drier, repeat the process. After each cycle, do try the nib. And remember....GO SLOW. I have destroyed a nib in the process.

On an additional note, you could just try switching the X750 feed with the 159 feed. Who knows, it might just work right.

[tvradio]

I've got stop/start problems but not wetness problems. Depending on ink these nibs can be ridiculously, annoyingly wet, so I'm not letting my shim near them.

[TSherbs]

My experience with Jowo nibs is that I find useful only the F and the 1.1 (stubbish). The Ms have been fat gushers and make my writing look worse than the terrible mess that it already is. I would never bother with a B, but that is just my opinion.

[tvradio]

I ended up giving away the M nib as it was at least as broad (sometimes broader, depending on the ink!) as my Jowo B nib - which is also too wide and too much of a gusher for everyday use. I've cleaned out my Jinhaos and put them and the nibs (2 Jinhao M, one Jowo B ) into storage. Not sure what I'll do with them, to be honest.

 

At the Big Apple Pen Club meetings I've attended I've had the opportunity to try many, many different pens and nibs, and I've come to the conclusion that my attempts to make quality B pens from Jinhaos and Jowo nibs was not necessarily the best route forward.

 

My everyday writers are now a Delike with a bent Waverly-style EF nib, three Platinum Preppys (03 and 05 widths) and a 05 Plaisir. The Platinums all write very well, they don't dry out, and they're dirt-cheap. I thought the aluminum-bodied Plaisir (which uses the same section and nib as the Preppy) would be a step up in feel, but it's actually annoyingly slippery and I prefer the $3 Preppys. The Delike is a strange beast and I'm not crazy about it with the Aurora Black it's currently inked up with; I'll give it one more shot with another ink before I decide if I want to get rid of it....

Edited April 30, 2018 by tvradio