Diamond 580 Rose Gold Nib De-Plating

[Steveg58]

Hi people,

I have a Diamond 580 in Rose Gold purchased back in 2013. I pulled it out a few days ago for some reason or other and I was shocked to discover that about a quarter of the plating was missing from the nib. I checked the nib under my 15x loupe but I was not able to determine if the underlying steel was corroding or not. I clean and dry my pens carefully before prolonged storage although I guess it is possible that some residual moisture was trapped in the cap.

 

Has anyone seen anything like this on a TWSBI nib before? I've seen something similar on a Waterman Elegance nib but there the pen came to me after not having been cleaned for several years and underlying steel of the nib was clearly corroding and where it was corroded the plating was also being lost.

 

Does anyone know of a way to prevent this? I have several pens with gold plated nibs and it is not obvious what the type of steel underneath is going to be.

 

[Sui-Generis]

While I am approximately ten thousand miles away from being an expert (on absolutely anything), I did see a review a little while back involving iron gall inks eating through plating and in some cases even the underlying metal.

 

I don't suppose you happen to have used any iron gall inks perchance?

[Jamerelbe]

This is a fairly commonly reported issue with TWSBI's rose-gold plated nibs - it seems to be the reason they've discontinued making them. I'd advise reaching out to TWSBI to ask for their help, but suspect they won't be able to replace your nib unless they've retained some residual rose gold stock.

 

Still worth asking what inks you've used - some nib coatings *are* highly sensitive - but I suspect it's more the nib than the ink that's the problem!