What Is A "quality" Brown Paper Bag?

[Sinistral1]

I read that you can smooth out a nib by drawing circles and figure eights on a good quality brown paper bag. If this is true, how do you determine if what you're getting at your local high end grocery store constitutes a "good quality" brown paper bag? Your advise/opinion will be appreciated!

[jar]

I don't doubt that you read that but also suggest that you forget that you read that. It's an old wives tale.

 

Just say no.

[TimGirdler]

I read that you can smooth out a nib by drawing circles and figure eights on a good quality brown paper bag. If this is true, how do you determine if what you're getting at your local high end grocery store constitutes a "good quality" brown paper bag? Your advise/opinion will be appreciated!

 

Jar is correct, it is an "old wives tale." If you are certain you want to do the smoothing, please read as much as you can about it and be sure you get the right tools.

 

A brown paper bag will likely do much more harm than good to your pens.

 

Tim

[mirosc]

My best brown bag is a Micromesh 12000.

Otherwise I stick to what Ron Zorn and other professional restorers say: don't take that

[The Blue Knight]

I found it makes a big difference and it has worked wonders on several nibs. I just used a normal brown sandwich bag.

[Ron Z]

What Is A "quality" Brown Paper Bag?

 

The one that's carrying your lunch, but not smoothing your nib.

 

The brown paper bag trick is one where you use a bag of unknown abrasiveness to try to smooth a valuable nib with unpredictable results. You are much better off using a micro mesh buffing stick or a super fine mylar film to work on your nib.

 

Pen repair people have a small enough of a margin that we have a real interest in minimizing expenses. Stop and consider this for a moment.... would we be spending money on the polishing films and micro mesh buff sticks if a brown paper bag worked just as well or better??

[jjlax10]

Buffing sticks and micro mesh are so inexpensive that it makes using a paper bag absurd.

 

Also, you should look at the tines, as that is often the culprit in these matters, Often you can feel that they are out of alignment by simply sweeping your finger tip along the bottom of the tines. If you feel a scratch, you know it is the tines. Obviously magnification will help reveal this as well and you should not attempt to align the tines without fully examining it.

[Sinistral1]

Things to add to shopping list -

 

Jewelers loop

Buffing stick and/or micro mesh

 

Things to remove from shopping list -

 

Brown paper bag (unless I'm in England)

 

Where are these items usually available from - a jewelry store?

[Ron Z]

Woodbin has the micromesh buff sticks. He might have the loupe too.

[fwyun]

Where are these items usually available from - a jewelry store?

 

Goulet Pens.

 

No affiliation, just a happy customer.

[Sinistral1]

Aw shucks, yet another reason to place yet another order to Goulet Pens! Thank you.

[Indy_Pen_Dance]

 

The one that's carrying your lunch, but not smoothing your nib.

 

The brown paper bag trick is one where you use a bag of unknown abrasiveness to try to smooth a valuable nib with unpredictable results. You are much better off using a micro mesh buffing stick or a super fine mylar film to work on your nib.

 

Pen repair people have a small enough of a margin that we have a real interest in minimizing expenses. Stop and consider this for a moment.... would we be spending money on the polishing films and micro mesh buff sticks if a brown paper bag worked just as well or better??

Excellent point Ron!

[Indy_Pen_Dance]

With regards the loupe:

www.richardspens.com has the BEST loupe available in my opinion. I have three of these, one for each of our work benches and one that travels everywhere I go. I tried many other loupes before Richard's and this is where I felt I had the best ability to see the nibs that I work on. You can also get a smoothing kit from him and buff sticks, etc.

[Sinistral1]

Since this thread is all about proper pen & nib maintenance, I have a question about the use of pen flush products.

 

First, since they are a bit pricey, does anyone have a recipe for making their own?

 

Second, if using a purchased product, can you keep reusing it until it's completely saturated with pigment, like it seems to indicate on the bottle I have? I think my brand is JR or JB pen flush that Goulet Pens used to sell.

[Indy_Pen_Dance]

J.B.'s is great pen flush and I use it on a daily basis at my repair bench. This can definitely be used repeatedly until you can't see through it any longer. I know that many find it a bit disconcerting to squirt the flush from their pen back into a full size bottle of flush (especially if you are using the 20 oz bottles) so I highly recommend taking any number of objects that you would already have on hand (an empty Waterman's ink bottle is my choice, but pick what works for you) and put a smaller amount of the flush into a container that you can keep sealed and then use that smaller amount until you can't see through it any longer. Dump, replace and repeat!

 

J.B.'s is now available in three sizes for those who might not have heard! We have added an 8 oz bottle as well!

[OcalaFlGuy]

If you don't have the patience for mailorder micomesh check out a Sally's beauty supply in your town (or another beauty supply place).

 

You want the 3 different grit manicure sticks $2 or so each. The middle grit is the smoothing grit and is usually gray. Try to get the sticks with the lesser amount of sponginess to them. For this application, less spongy is better.

 

The paper bag Can work but as mentioned already, you never really know What grit it is and it's very easy to clog a nib slit with

bag residue. Ixnay Bagnay.

 

Bruce in Ocala, Fl

[jjlax10]

The other cleaning option is Rapido-eze which I use for restoration projects. You can dilute it in water and it will dissolve inks of all kinds.

[Carl_S]

The thing that works best for me for smoothing nibs is to defer to one of the nibmeisters.

 

BTW, the brown paper bag can clog the tines with paper fibers.