Herbin Glass Pen - Tip Broke

[librigeekgirl]

I am not sure this is the right forum - please advise if this should be posted elsewhere.

 

In February I bought a Herbin Glass Pen from an overseas merchant (I live in Australia, they are in the US). Being a fragile material, I have taken great care in its use and storage. Yesterday, I tried to use it. After dipping it into an ink sample vial, I put pen to paper and it didn't perform correctly ie I got a large drop of ink, then the nib became super scratchy - within about 5 letters it stopped working at all. When I ran my finger over the blob I found a very small (<1mm) piece of glass, and further examination of the nib under magnification showed the broken tip.

 

I have gone back to the merchant and their advice was to try and smooth it with a nail file or sandpaper, or to check FPN. Which I have done, but couldn't find anyone having a similar experience.

 

Does anyone have any other suggestions? I am disinclined to mess about with the nib as it may cause further damage.

 

 

[tmenyc]

There is a company in Italy named Bortoletti (https://www.bortoletti.com/en/Scheda/R/1006/A/crystal-murano-glass-dip-pen-nib) that sells glass nibs. I don't know their girth in the section, or yours, but they look like a good option.

[ajoe]

First of all, Welcome to FPN.

 

I think you received the best advice from the merchant. I have one of those pens and have easily smoothed the tip with 2000-4000 grit sand paper. I just lay the sand paper on my desk like a sheet of paper and start writing, without ink of course. Doodle in circles or anything to keep the pen moving around at various angles. Periodically test the nib on paper to see if it feels the way you like.

 

With that method, there really isn't much you do to ruin the pen.

 

If you can't find 2000-4000 grit sand paper at you local hardware store, try automotive suppliers.

 

HTH

[Astronymus]

As ajoe said, sand paper is your friend.

Do you have a picture of the damaged tip? You'll need external webspace though as long as you don't have enough postings to get permission to store pictures on FPN.

Edited September 7, 2018 by Astron

[librigeekgirl]

Thanks everyone. Off to try and find the sandpaper in my little town. I can try to take a photo, but I suspect that my camera and camera phone aren't up to the task.

[chunya]

Agree with the sanpaper, and you could start of with the coarser one and work your way down to the finest, and then finishing it off with writing lots of figures of 8 on a sheet of micromesh should do the trick.

[Sailor Kenshin]

Nail buffing sticks (4-way, 8-way) might do a better job, since they are padded and conform to the glass tip. At least, that's how I've smoothed the chips on my glass pens.

[Honeybadgers]

a glass dip pen is like a prince rupert's drop. Once they break, they're toasted. Some people can save super, super rare vintage units, but it's not worth it on an Herbin glass pen.

 

China will sell you a glass pen for pennies, and I have found them to be even better than the Herbin one.

 

That said, don't look at the suggested words when you have "Glass Di-----" in the box. Just keep typing.

 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Glass-Signature-Pen-Dip-Pen-Fountain-Pens-Crystal-Dip-Sign-Craft-Collection/152714700600?hash=item238e816738%3Am%3AmKn5b4hr7uH92c_aqbfjqKw&var=452345236575

 

I have pretty much one of these in a special holder that has an inkwell included (don't recommend, the cork kinda stinks, though it is a pretty holder) and the glass pen itself is absolutely flawless, all flutes are smooth and easily engage with the page.