Buying Replacement Nibs For Vintage Pens

[sobalamandra]

I'm back to fountain pens after a long maternity leave (surprise: being a stay-at-home mom for a very demanding baby and a Tornado Toddler does NOT mix well with a love for fine writing instruments).

 

I went back to work three weeks ago so I dusted out my collection and felt the old passion coming back. Oh, all those wonderful pens, all those colorful inks, how I have missed them!

 

I don't remember anything practical, though -- where to shop, how to change a mommified sac, etc. Looking at some vintage pens that I have restored a few years ago, I can't even imagine doing it again now.

 

So, help me: where would I start if I wanted to change the very scratchy #5 metal nib of some old Welsh End of Day pen? The nib is easily removed, and by playing a little bit with newer pens that I have, I noticed that the TWSBI Eco nib seems to be the right size, so what do I do now? Where do I shop, and how can I be sure that the nibs I'll buy will fit?

 

Thanks so much in advance!

Edited October 25, 2018 by sobalamandra

[katerchen]

If a #5 fits, try him:

 

https://www.birminghampens.com/collections/nibs

 

Goulet also carries #5/#6 nibs but they are more expensive.

[sobalamandra]

I will have a look there, thank you!

 

The thing I'm unsure of, though, is that on many pens, the nib is narrow and slightly rounded around the feed so it can't fit on some other pens, whereas on my Welsh pen, the nib base is wider and lies almost flat on the feed. How can I know if the nib I buy will fit on the feed of a given pen?

[Bo Bo Olson]

Do you have a 10 X good glass loupe or a cheap Chinese 30-40 X loupe = same thing?

 

Perhaps all you have is a nib misalignment, one tine is higher than the other. @ 95 % of scratchy is that or holding the fountain pen too high like a ball point, and gouging little grand canyons into the paper.

 

With a strong loupe 10 x, you can see if the bottom of the nib is gouged. That too could make it scratchy. Happened to me once...and I don't know to this day how that happened.

The first can be cured in 59 seconds.

The other with a three strength nail buffer.

 

No a Honking Big magnifying just won't do. The cheap Chinese lighted loupe will work.

[ac12]

 

I will have a look there, thank you!

 

The thing I'm unsure of, though, is that on many pens, the nib is narrow and slightly rounded around the feed so it can't fit on some other pens, whereas on my Welsh pen, the nib base is wider and lies almost flat on the feed. How can I know if the nib I buy will fit on the feed of a given pen?

 

 

You can't.

Especially if it is a non-standard nib.

 

In my case, even with a standard nib, I have to do a test fit. Because what looks close to my eye, may not be a good or even close fit.