Rusty nibs and ink.

[Shangas]

Several months ago, I found a windfall (or so I had believed), in that I had found a box at a flea-market, which was quite literally overflowing with old dip-pen nibs (and I mean REALLY overflowing. When I opened the box I almost couldn't get it closed again! :roflmho: )

 

I have since gone through this box and sifted out the best nibs and put them aside. Today, while cleaning out my bookcase and rearranging stuff, I came across the box again and I'm sifting through it to see what else I can find (there's THAT MANY nibs).

 

My concern is that a good number of these nibs have considerable levels of RUST.

 

My inkwell, which I keep full of fountain pen ink, is used exclusively for dip-pens, I don't fill my FPs from there, for fear of contamination. But my question is, will a rusty dip-pen nib damage the ink (or the nib) if I were to use it? Can I keep such nibs and use them, or are they best thrown away?

[Paddler]

If the very point is rusty, the nib is probably worthless. Things tend to rust faster at the point of sharpest curvature (has to do with charge concentration), so the slit and point tend to go first, all other things being equal. So have a look at the points and slits with a loupe. A rusted point will be really scratchy and that scratchiness will be difficult to fix. A rusted slit will be either rusted shut or too wide; that is trouble to fix also.

 

You can try you hand at nib grinding with the ones that are not too rusty. Just remember that the shorter you make the nib, the juicier it will write. The slit gets wider as you go toward the breather.

 

Don't get rust in your ink supply. I don't think it will do any chemical damage; the rust could clog one of your other nibs.

 

A good way to clean up a rusty nib is to use a soldering tool with a stainless steel brush on the end. An electronics supply house will have these.

 

Paddler

 

[jbb]

If a rusty nib still writes then I'd use it. As far as particals in dipping pen ink goes, I've been using metallic powders in my ink lately (gold and the like) and if one can still write with that in ink I don't think a bit of rust is going to do much damage.