Body oil and stub nibs

[underdradar]

Because of missing iridium, I decided to stub a couple of my nibs. The problem now though is that ink almost stops flowing whenever the nib hits a spot on the paper which had been contacted by the edge of my right hand. If I slip a small piece of paper under my hand to protect the writing surface, everything is fine. But I would like not to have to use that extra piece of paper, if I can help it. Any solution? TIA for all suggestions.

[southpaw]

Just a couple of thoughts:

 

1. try washing your hands to remove excess oil (I have oily skin as well and this helps)

2. avoid the use of hand lotions, creams, etc.

3. try changing inks (some are more sensitive to oils than others).

 

HTH, southpaw

[underdradar]

Thank you,southpaw, for your thoughts. The effect that I mentionned in my initial post above only happens with stub nibs sans iridium. I can write with regular nibs that have their iridium. It seems that the lack of iridium caused my stub nib to be sensitive to body oil on the surface of the paper. I was not expecting that effect since it does not happen with nibs that are tipped with iridium(usually).

[wimg]

Hi underdradar,

 

I assume you have smoothed the stubs you made this way. You may consider making then a little sharper.

 

I reckon it is a combination of factors. Just increasing the ink flow a bit may do the trick too.

 

HTH, warm regards, Wim

[klemenv]

I am experiencing similar problems with my stub and italic nibs. I have found out that Private Reserve, Noodler and Waterman inks are great, while Herbin and Omas are really bad in this particular context.