Smoothing Dip Nibs Used In Fp's

May 31, 2018

So I currently have a zebra dip nib in a Noodler's Ahab with a ranga ebonite feed, and after a couple weeks, the nibs start to get a hair scratchy, I'm guessing due to a little bit of rust building up between the tines. I'm not really an avid dip pen user outside of this role (rather, I always dry them carefully and have never used one to rusting) so I was wondering if people smoothed them without killing the hair-thin lines.

I just got a box of titanium coated G nibs to try next, but I want to see how much life I can get from this nib. I find that evaporation-prone pens tend to rust dip nibs way faster, as the konrad doesn't rust as quickly, and a jinhao with a dip nib almost outright refuses to rust (I had one stay buttery smooth for almost six months)

May 31, 2018

Long ago, when steel pens were new, and expensive (like $1 a nib in 1810), people would attempt to “repair” them. Rust between the tines is the hardest to fix. Check alignment first and make sure the tines aren’t misaligned. Some extremely fine wet/dry sandpaper, like 2000 grit polishing paper from an automotive shop, might help. You can also try your expensive micromesh, but the rust may muck it up.

I think Inkyfingers has tried this before.

But if your going to keep your nib on the pen, then just expect to replace it often. Titanium slows down his process, but doesn’t prevent it. That’s why they used to be sold by the gross.

May 31, 2018

That's pretty much as I expected, I am comfortable throwing them away - they are disposable, but the titanium nibs are almost $2 apiece, so the longer I get out of 'em, the better.

I have some 3,000-10,000 grit arkansas stones that I may try since they don't care about rust and are easily cleaned/flattened.

May 31, 2018

That’s what Peregrine Williamson suggested President Thomas Jefferson use to repair his steel nibs, though they didn’t have a nice hard, black Arkansas. https://thesteelpen.com/the-steel-pen-table-of-contents/peregrine-williamson-part-2/