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Regrinding My Varsity Nib To A Fine!


Aditkamath26

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Hello and greetings to all of you!

I was quite happy with my Pilot Varsity/V-Pen. But the only problem for me was with the nib being a very fat Japanese medium (even fatter than a JoWo medium). It was also very wet with its original ink contributing to fatness.

Now 15 year old me was curious about grinding my Parker Urban nib to one size down to probably a fine or at least remove its baby's bottom. But the fear of ruining it forbade me to. Then it dawned upon me. I took my Varsity and sat down for an hour or so and reground that medium to almost a nice fine. How I did it? Here you go:

 

1)Took my mom's nail buffer and started running the nib on the coarsest side first for about 45 minutes to get it to a fine (Relax, it takes time on that thing. The reason I didn't grind it to an extra fine was the time).

2)Then after I got it to where I wanted, I smoothed out the nib from all sides making a consistent shape.

3)Then took a cup and smoothed the pen on its underside by drawing figure eights until I was happy.

 

36781031525_16d07149db.jpg

 

Now I am really proud of myself as this is the first nib grind I have done and achieved success with it. The Varsity writes beautifully with a fine consistent line with consistent ink flow wit Pelikan 4001 Royal Blue. Feel free to ask me anything!

 

 

Thanks for reading,

Adit Sreesh Kamath

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Congratulations. Great result. I think your step 2 was critical to your success.

"Don't hurry, don't worry. It's better to be late at the Golden Gate than to arrive in Hell on time."
--Sign in a bar and grill, Ormond Beach, Florida, 1960.

 

 

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Or you could have just turned the nib upside down. It still writes just as eagerly as right-side-up, but the line is considerably finer.

Until you ink a pen, it is merely a pretty stick. --UK Mike

 

My arsenal, in order of acquisition: Sailor 21 Pocket Pen M, Cross Solo M, Online Calligraphy, Monteverde Invincia F, Hero 359 M, Jinhao X450 M, Levenger True Writer M, Jinhao 159 M, Platinum Balance F, TWSBI Classic 1.1 stub, Platinum Preppy 0.3 F, 7 Pilot Varsity M disposables refillables, Speedball penholder, TWSBI 580 USA EF, Pilot MR, Noodler's Ahab 1.1 stub, another Preppy 0.3, Preppy EF 0.2, ASA Sniper F, Click Majestic F, Kaweco Sport M, Pilot Prera F, Baoer 79 M (fake Starwalker), Hero 616 M (fake Parker), Jinhao X750 Shimmering Sands M . . .

31 and counting :D

 

DaveBj

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Congratulations. Great result. I think your step 2 was critical to your success.

Thank you! Yes it was quite important as the nib will have somw scratch but as I was using a nail buffer it doesn't develop a whole lot of scratch as compared to maybe sandpaper.
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Congrats on your success in your first ever try on regrinding a nib. Impressive results.

Thanks a lot!

 

Great improvement!

I love the new line it puts!

 

Or you could have just turned the nib upside down. It still writes just as eagerly as right-side-up, but the line is considerably finer.

I could but it was a bit dry and scratchy and also I needed that nib grinding experience.
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I've had great results going the other way to stubs & sharper italics.

JJ

Great to hear. That is my next target :)
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  • 3 years later...

Hi! I also bought one and found that the lines are a bit too thick for me too. I jsut started this fountain pen hobby and would like to know how you did it. Thank you!

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