This Is How I Tune My Nibs

[andybiotic]

The reasons for why we "write" figure 8s are because 1, so we can feel where the rough spots are and tune them specifically and 2, so that the final tuned result will be adapted to your specific writing style, your figure 8s.

 

 

Mike Masuyama has said that smoothing doing figure 8's can Cause babybottoming.

 

Circles and regular letters with perhaps a hair more emphasis in the direction of needed smoothing, just not the 8s. (Note this is smoothing with some sort of abrasive even the not the best idea paper bag, NOT doing figure 8's say testing a nib on paper.)

 

Bruce in Ocala, FL

 

 

...isn't an 8 just two circles on top of each other? I still like doing figure 8s better...

Edited October 12, 2012 by andybiotic

[Ytland]

Sheesh, the amount of backlash is surprising. It reminds me of a razor-blade thread that was up around a month ago. I'll say the same thing here as I did there: so long as you're willing to practise and go slow on cheap pens, you may have the next nib-tuning bestseller on your hands!

The reasons I wouldn't personally use this are twofold:

1) The effects of cardboard/paper bags are inconsistent at best, especially with the circular motion you have going there. The grain will be different in all directions, so you won't get an even grind very easily.

2) If cardboard/paper bags are your thing, they're usually suited for finishing nibs as a final step rather than any significant smoothing/reshaping. Micromesh is your go-to for that.

Hence you'll probably find that it's quite an inefficient machine since it's not abrasive enough for reshaping, but too violent for gentle smoothing either.

 

These are personal preferences though. How the pen writes at the end of the day is the most important thing, not your unorthodox methods of getting there. So if you find that you're getting good results using your invention, then stick to it! ost more pics! Be a pioneer

 

Keep it up

Jack

Edited October 12, 2012 by Ytland

[79spitfire]

Well, I have to say, I have never before seen the words "Hole saw, Electric drill and Cardboard box" posted with 'tuning my nibs'!

 

:roflmho:

 

Good luck with that!

[RobW]

I would buy a $5 ticket to see Richard Binder's and Ron Zorn's faces when they read this thread.

 

:roflmho:

 

Bruce in Ocala, FL

Make it $50!

[penrivers]

Hm. Interesting. I probably would have used sandpaper.

 

But that's me.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I know that would have ruined the nib! But -- what if it didn't?

Well Lisa, I think it kill the nib tip in 3 seconds,..... maybe 5.

[bogiesan]

Pretty cool, playerx, practical application of simple tools to solve an esoteric problem.

I'd use that method on a couple of old Sheaffer school pens and italic Nononsense nibs but, just because I don't trust my skills, I'd not attempt to polish up my more expensive Sheaffers. Well, maybe if I gained a bit of confidence...I have two steel inlaid Imperials that are a bit scratchy and can dig in on upstrokes. Maybe just a touch on whirling cardboard.

[ANM]

I don't know anything about cheap modern nibs but I have handled maybe 400-500 pens in the last 40 years and maybe two of them seriously needed smoothing. At least 50% needed some attention to the nib but not actual smoothing to any degree.

[Bo Bo Olson]

A long time ago...like 2 1/2-3 years ago I read about using a good quality brown paper bag, in it was much less abrasive than micro-mesh.

I was also very cheap; being retired.

 

The advice was to smooth up a nib, not grind it, or smooth away form and shape of the nib.

Call it taking a steel to a knife, which 'returning an edge', not sharpening a knife; giving it the edge. There is a big difference.

 

In that I buy vintage pens that have sat in a desk drawer for a generation or two, there is micro-corrosion on the 'iridium'. I wish to 'smooth' that off with out grinding/smoothing a nib.

 

The way I use a brown paper bag is to use 4-6 fifteen second sets of 'smoothing' checking after each set to see if the pen is smooth enough.

 

At regular writing pressure, I do circles left and right, squiggles up and down, left and right. I have stopped saying use the figure 8, over the last few months, since I heard it can cause baby bottom.

 

I didn't use much figure 8 as is, when that was the last of a fifteen second set of removing micro-corrosion preceded by the circles and squiggles.

 

I think some folks may have done way too much figure 8, instead of three or four seconds, per set.

I still do figure 8's, but I'm not doing minutes of it on a brown paper bag.

 

Could that advice about not doing figure 8's have more to do with micro-mesh????

 

There were a couple of nibs that I hit the paper bag with again, a bit later, because there was still a bit of drag. On the whole, for what I was using a brown paper bag, it was successful.

 

I was going for nice and smooth,not as trying for smooth as butter, in that many of my nibs are the little as possible expensive 'iridium' pre'66 German nibs.

 

I don't want to wear away the 'iridium' but to smooth what is there, with as little abrasiveness as possible.

 

Wet Glass like in a 'hand held' mirror can also work, or cardboard boxes.

 

Rapidly spinning clamped paper bag is not controllable if one wants to keep the max of a slight 'iridium' tipping.

Micro-mesh would be less abrasive, in that one checks often.

 

I don't think one should use sand paper, which some do, nor the spinning brown paper bag trick.

 

I think a dremel even if properly mounted and at the slowest speed, would be too fast for nib grinding, but I don't know for sure. There might well be members with such a light touch.

I'd prefer a bigger wheeled slower machine.

Edited October 12, 2012 by Bo Bo Olson

[ethernautrix]

Well Lisa, I think it kill the nib tip in 3 seconds,..... maybe 5.

 

Yeah, but... but what if it didn't?

 

 

 

 

 

You know that I'm kidding, right? I don't have a drill. I have a battery-operated screwdriver. That might work.

 

I have a desk fan. I could somehow attach the nib to one of its blades and hold the sandpaper -- or brown paper bag -- up to it.

 

Ideas, me, I got 'em!

[watch_art]

I use a dremel on slow speed with either green or orange grinding wheel - whatever is handy. I've seen video of Binder using the dremel cutoff wheels and Pendleton uses those too. Whatever works. How is spinning cardboard worse than a cutoff wheel, Binder?

Is it based on experience?

 

Devil's advocate of course...

[TimGirdler]

I use a dremel on slow speed with either green or orange grinding wheel - whatever is handy. I've seen video of Binder using the dremel cutoff wheels and Pendleton uses those too. Whatever works. How is spinning cardboard worse than a cutoff wheel, Binder?

Is it based on experience?

 

Devil's advocate of course...

 

Not meaning to answer for Richard, there is a difference in what Richard and Pendleton do with a grinding wheel and what has been suggested in the OP.

 

Richard, Pendleton, and I tune nibs without machinery. In other words, nib tuning is done by hand with loupes, 2000-grit sand paper squares, 12,000-grit buff sticks, and fiber optic lapping film. At almost every step of the process, the nib is evaluated by visual inspection and writing on proper paper.

 

What Richard and Pendleton do on the grinding wheel is intended to created a stub, italic, cursive italic, etc. nib, not tune a nib.

 

What has been suggested, while being a novel approach and quite inventive, likely does more grinding to a nib and less tuning.

 

-Tim

 

PS. I really love the looks of your pens.

Edited October 12, 2012 by TimGirdler

[watch_art]

Good point.

 

and thanks!

[ravantra]

I love extreme "solutions" to mundane problems. I am considering wrapping my treadmill in brown paper to get rid of the rotation effect of the drill. Linear baby!

[watch_art]

:roflmho:

[79spitfire]

It reminds me of this (about 2:32, or so) LOL

 

:roflmho:

[penrivers]

I love extreme "solutions" to mundane problems. I am considering wrapping my treadmill in brown paper to get rid of the rotation effect of the drill. Linear baby!

Not bad idea, I'l send you mine, I hate my treadmill.

[ArchiMark]

Ooh! Ooh! Ooh! Muldoon..this is exceptionally fascinatin'.... .~ Toody ~

 

oooohoooh.mp3

 

Fred

and it ain't yellow.... .

And I still want a Waldorf Salad..

 

Do_You_mind.mp3

 

 

[Freddy]

Ooh! Ooh! Ooh! Muldoon..this is exceptionally fascinatin'.... .~ Toody ~

 

oooohoooh.mp3

 

Fred

and it ain't yellow.... .

And I still want a Waldorf Salad..

 

Do_You_mind.mp3

 

 

 

Fred who is laughing...... ......