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Is A Flat Foot On A Nib Always Bad?


SicEmBears

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You're missing the point. Nibs can be perfectly smooth, as you say, without a hint of a foot, but a foot is one way to do it. It has to be done right, of course, or you'll get sharp edges, and a foot limits the sweet spot.

 

John Mottishaw writes:

 

Creating a foot. The foot will act as a plane under which the ink will flow. When working with a light pressure, on the right paper and at the right angle, the nib will hydroplane. This effect can happen for one person and not for another. It also can be elusive. The "flat" necessary for this effect, if it has sharp edges can catch and drag. A tip with a foot can be heaven or hell.

- https://www.nibs.com/blog/nibster-writes/smoothing-scratchy-nibs

 

Now I see what you mean. Still, I personally think the foot on the lamy 2000 hurts its appeal more than if they'd just put a ball on it. That, or just go all out and make the EF a ball and the rest slightly stubbish. If you're gonna go for a flat foot, might as well slightly stub the nib.

Selling a boatload of restored, fairly rare, vintage Japanese gold nib pens, click here to see (more added as I finish restoring them)

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Now I see what you mean. Still, I personally think the foot on the lamy 2000 hurts its appeal more than if they'd just put a ball on it. That, or just go all out and make the EF a ball and the rest slightly stubbish. If you're gonna go for a flat foot, might as well slightly stub the nib.

 

I agree completely. I thought I loved my L2K, but I hardly touch it. And it's because of the sweet spot. I feel like I like it, but in practice I tire of it.

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And that is why Lamy2000 (mine in F nib) can never be the pen I carelessly doodle with. It certainly has a sweet spot 'problem'. Magnified pictures of the tipping will explain itself.

 

I don't know if things have changed recently, I got mine 2years ago.

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  • 3 weeks later...

I smoothed out my Lamy steel nib with 12,000 grit micro mesh. Although it writes well, I noticed that there is a little flat foot that was created. I read online that a flat food is bad. I didn't polish for more than 10 seconds so I'm not entirely sure if I created the foot or not. Should I worry about this and possibly try to fix it? Thanks.

 

Some nibs come from the factory with feet! (Sailor I'm looking at you.)

 

The best nib is the one that writes well for the one who is going to use it. I've worked the heck out of nibs until I was happy with them. By some people's standards, I ruined the nib. But it writes well in MY hand, and I am the one who is going to use it. So it's really only a problem if you're concerned about resale value.

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Thanks for the response. At this point I don't think I'm going to mess with micro mesh anymore lol. I've attached pictures of the nib (sorry for the bad quality closeups).

https://imgur.com/fpngallery/dphuAAk

Edit: lazy not yellow!

 

Hi,

 

If you had shown me the pictures and not told me that you'd done anything to the tipping, I wouldn't have noticed.

 

I don't have a Lamy F nib at hand, but I took a look at an M, and it's not perfectly round either.

 

Like others said, if it works, then it's good, and most importantly, as Minddance wrote, "the art is to know when to stop." Especially because due to the nature of the smoothing / grinding process, it's not possible to get removed material back.

 

alex

---------------------------------------------------------

We use our phones more than our pens.....

and the world is a worse place for it. - markh

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Anyone who is accosting you for a ten second run on micro mesh is insane.

Excluding for the moment the mental faculties of fellow FPN members from this discussion, I'd say it depends. I've got a vintage pen, gold nib with iridium tip. Ten seconds of micromesh will change that iridium tip beyond recognition. On the other end of the spectrum, ten seconds won't do much to my modern 1.1mm steel stub. The effect of ten seconds depends on other factors as well: how much force is applied, if it's done dry or with water or ink as a lubricant, if the micromesh is on a soft or hard surface, the original shape of the nib, the kind of micromesh (12k can be pretty aggressive), etc. In general, I'd say better safe than sorry so stay away from it unless you know what you're doing. The risk decreases as the hardness of the nib and the size of the nib increase. So generally a steel B means less risk than a steel EF, which in turn means less risk than a gold EF.

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.... I may be a little bit late ....

 

But I have seen Lamy nibs with tipping that looks exactly like your nib.

 

I think you should be OK - Pokey!

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  • 3 weeks later...

I've posted here, multiple times, that a flat foot is the path to a super smooth nib. Yes, as others have written, the edges of the flat need to be rounded. But that's very easy.

 

Here are a couple of nibs that I've flattened. They aren't perfectly flat, rather they are flattened.

 

fpn_1537591501__duke_116.jpg

 

fpn_1537591567__sailor_realo.jpg

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  • 2 weeks later...

I agree completely. I thought I loved my L2K, but I hardly touch it. And it's because of the sweet spot. I feel like I like it, but in practice I tire of it.

Someone posted that you can use the feel of the ears that hold the cap on to quickly center the nib by feel. I have found this helpful, and I can easily center the ef 2000 nib for writing, even in dim light. I have some arrested macular degeneration, and this was a real help. The 2000s are fast becoming favorites.

"Don't hurry, don't worry. It's better to be late at the Golden Gate than to arrive in Hell on time."
--Sign in a bar and grill, Ormond Beach, Florida, 1960.

 

 

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