Vast Difference Between Identical Nibs

[adhoc]

I have two Lamy extra fines, both filled with Noodler's Massachuset's 54th, yet they write drastically differently. One is significantly lighter and somewhat broader than the other. Any suggestions on next steps?

 

Thanks!

 

[jar]

Hi. Welcome home. Pull up a stump and set a spell. Sounds delightfully normal. One of the wonderful things about fountain pens, even the mass produced ones like Lamy is that each pen will have its own personality.

[framebaer]

When I "binderized" nibs at Richard's studio, I was always struck by how different supposedly identical nibs were from the factory, especially Pelikan nibs.

[TimGirdler]

I totally agree with Framebaer! As Jim has suggested, there are no two nibs that are identical. If you give me 10 different JoWo nibs (which are considered the best non-proprietary nibs at this time) with the same tip size and I'll have to treat each nib differently to optimize it.

 

Tuning nibs according to Richard's standards means that, in the end, each of those nibs will be very close to each other after they're tuned. But, they'll start from different places--sometime wildly different!

 

And Pelikan?! They're really different from each other. It's shocking, really. But, it's further confirmation that your best chance of a getting a good nib is to get a tuned nib.

 

Blessings,

 

Tim

Edited February 7, 2014 by TimGirdler

[Biology]

Lamy nibs are all factory machine made with very little hand work involved and as a result are wonderfully consistent (saw a cool video of their manufacturing process). I would get a jewelers loop, or a 100x magnifying glass, something with higher magnification than a reading glass and lower than a microscope (although if you have a scope available use that for SURE). I would look at the possibility that the tines are misaligned. Slight misalignment in the nib tines can greatly influence the flow of ink and therefore cause either very dry narrow lines or very broad wet lines. I had this issue with my Joy 1.5 nib. I took a look and there was obvious misalignment. Bent it slightly, little at a time, while the nib was off the pen, and boom. A tell tale sign is if the nib is just a little scratchy going in only one direction (up, down, left, right, cross ways, cat ways, owl ways). Lamys are very smooth so if it is at all scratchy it warrants a closer look just to make sure your nib is as it should. If it is still scratchy with tines aligned it might just be a rough nib bu that will not have an affect on wideness or wetness.

[Inkling13]

You can think of nibs like diamonds. Imagine trying to shape a nubbin of super hard material, and expecting them all to come out the same. No 2 diamonds are ever alike, but they can be close. Same with nibs, even though there are machines to do it, there is a lot of variation just due to how technically difficult it is.