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Scratchy Nib (2048 Flexible Fine)


dmorgen

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I just swapped nibs in my Estie for the first time. The first nib (9461) was quite smooth. But the second one, a 2048 Flexible Fine, is extremely scratchy ... and this is after some improvement from when I first started writing with it!

 

Any suggestions? I've never tried smoothing a nib, although I did recently receive the smoothing materials from Richard Binder. Do you think it's worth a try? On his website Richard suggests the 9xxx as being good for practicing, but not the 1xxx or 2xxx. Of course this won't be just for practice. Anything to watch out for, especially because it's a flexible nib?

 

Thanks.

 

Dave

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Dave, my 2048 is scratchy, too (and not greatly flexible.) I improved it a bit by writing on crocus cloth with it. I do use it occasionally, as in the Georgia Peach ink review I recently did.

 

My 2556 (fine) nibs have always been smooth--maybe a coincidence--I don't know. Though not quite as fine as the 2048, the line is pretty fine and the flow is "normal" (as opposed to my 2668 "firehose.")

 

Just go slow and easy on your smoothing, stopping to try the nib often to see if you've got it like you want it.

 

HTH,

Ann

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Although I hesitate to offer advice that differs from Richards, perhaps in the case of Esterbrooks I could offer a little insight.

 

Generally, there's no reason for not smoothing an untipped nib - except that it is very important to appreciate that the steel used is a *lot* softer than say an irridium tip. For that reason, as Ann suggests it is important to work slowly and check often.

 

Secondly, if you are working on a folded nib (geherally the med and broad ones) the nib point is formed by folding the point over back on itself, and filling the resultant cavity with solder. Don't let yourself make the mistake of thinking that it is solid tipping material. Once you wear through the bottom layer of steel, the solder and remaining lower tip pieces make an extremely poor and scratchy point. The only recourse from that point on is to convert it into a stub or italic nib - which isn't necessarily a bad thing, just perhaps a dissappointment if you were looking forward to that ultra smooth medium ball you thought you were going to get.

 

Happy smoothing...

 

Gerry

 

Ann; Your 2668 'firehose' might benefit from an adjustment of the feed to make it fit tighter against the underside of the nib. See the following for an example - and repair suggestions... https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/in...indpost&p=30596

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Thanks Ann & Gerry. I think I'll take the big step & do my first nib smoothing :) !

 

BTW, Richard's point was to not use the 1xxx & 2xxx nibs as practice for smoothing in general, because these nibs are not made the same as typical nibs; so you're not disagreeing. OTOH, I don't recall his covering the topic of smoothing them because you want to use them!

 

Dave

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Great. I have done a fair bit of smoothing, as have many members of the board - say Wim, Keith and KCat. I'm sure you'll enjoy the experience. If you read Wim's article on smoothing, you will get a lot of help.

 

Nib Grinding Article

 

Feel free to ask me anything B/C you'd like - I've made most of the common mistakes at least once :)

 

Regards

 

Gerry

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Richard is right that the steel nibs will respond very quickly to the mylar papers. They way I resolve this is to use finer combinations of the papers. For a steel Esterbrook nib I would start with my 0.3micron disk for shaping, and then move to a 0.02 micron disk for final smoothing. With these combinations I find the steel nib doesnt' wear down so quickly.

 

For an iridium tipped nib like the 9xxx series, this is way too fine and is very slow. So I bump it up to a 1 micron for shaping, and 0.3 micron form final smoothing.

Kendall Justiniano
Who is John Galt?

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Thanks everybody for your advice. I took the plunge today ... this has definitely been a learning experience! :)

 

When I started the nib was essentially unusable. Not only was it always scratchy. But unless I was on the tiny sweet spot, which wasn't very sweet :) , the nib would catch on the paper, often putting a hole right through the paper or tearing it. Also, the ink flow was very dry. (The pen was filled with Noodler's Tianamen.)

 

The finest grit mylar I have is 0.3 microns. So that's what I used, with some water. It took a lot of figure 8's, etc., with stopping to test, but I eventually got the nib to be extremely smooth, except for a few writing angles. Then when testing my results, the nib caught on the paper again & bent a tine! I was able to straighten the tine with some small pliers, and finished getting the nib really smooth ... but now the nib wouldn't write at all!

 

I was able to determine the ink got to the end of the feed but stopped there. I "flossed" the nib, so I knew there was no blockage. I noticed the end of the feed looked a little chopped up. I don't know how it got this way. I guess I might've done it, but I don't see how. The brass I used for flossing conceivably could've done this, but there were no pieces of rubber falling off. Perhaps the nib was this way the entire time.

 

Anyway I also noticed the feed wasn't flush against the nib, it looked bent away (or perhaps the nib was bent). I used the hot water approach I've read about for the first time ... after a few tries the feed fit nicely against the nib. But still no writing!

 

Then I noticed that perhaps the tines were too far apart, except at the very point. For some reason, flossing would temporarily get the tines aligned ... but it still wouldn't write. So I tried adjusting the tines, but this didn't seem to help, except for occasionally writing for a second.

 

Then I decided to use a more flowing ink. So I filled the pen with Waterman Florida Blue. At first this didn't help, but after a short time of doing the same kinds of things, the pen started writing ... and a nice wet line! I'm not sure exactly what I did that was different, except noticing the top of the nib was a little rough & smoothing it ... no idea why this would've made a difference.

 

But now I had another problem ... the nib was scratchy again! Much better than before I started, but all that smoothness disappeared. Since it still would catch slightly, I needed to address it. So more grinding, and I was able to get rid of the catching; but it's still not as smooth as it was, or as I like. But the pen is definitely usable & writes quite well, with a wet line, flex & all. No idea, why I couldn't smooth it now, but I could before!

 

At this point, I had grit all over the place, my hands looked like I took an ink bath, and ink was splattered in many places (from when tines caught & sprung back into position). Fortunately, everything cleaned up ok!

 

Now, 4 hours after starting, I'm writing this message! As I said, it was quite a learning experience, and I have made the pen usable. Any suggestions for mistakes I might've made, or for better approaches I might have tried?

 

Thanks again for your help!

 

Dave

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