Hello! I just bought a pilot varsity and found that the lines are too thick. I then found out that you can grind your nibs to make the lines thinner.

[rebolber]

Does anyone know how to do that? If so, can you tell me how to do it? I really want the lines to be a bit thinner. Thanks!

[rebolber]

Btw, I know that it may be easier to just buy a new pen. The thing is that I went to this hobbey because it is more environmentally friendly. You can refill and reuse the pens.

[A Smug Dill]

3 hours ago, rebolber said:

If so, can you tell me how to do it?

 

I won't tell you procedurally or practically how to do that, but I can tell you that conceptually, one would remove some of the tipping material with an abrasive to reduce the contact surface between the glob of tipping and the paper surface. For illustration only, and not in any way meant to be instructive, one could remove some tipping from both sides to reduce the line width of downstrokes.

 

If you choose to attempt something alone those lines, it'll be entirely at your own risk, and I take no responsibility whatsoever for what you do to your pen.

 

A somewhat more prudent approach would be to at least buy and try several good pens, identify which ones produce ink marks and lines to your liking, then study the geometry of the tipping material on those nibs under a loupe or some other (analogue or digital) magnifying optical instrument, before inspecting the tipping material on your Pilot Varsity pen and assessing whether it's feasible to reproduce the same geometry on the latter, with the skills and grinding tools you have.

[PithyProlix]

Try writing on the flip side of the Varsity's nib and you will get something like Pilot's EF nibs. Because there is plenty of tipping there and because the flip side writes so well I believe they were intended to write with on both sides. 

 

[JosephKing]

6 hours ago, A Smug Dill said:

 

I won't tell you procedurally or practically how to do that, but I can tell you that conceptually, one would remove some of the tipping material with an abrasive to reduce the contact surface between the glob of tipping and the paper surface. For illustration only, and not in any way meant to be instructive, one could remove some tipping from both sides to reduce the line width of downstrokes.

 

If you choose to attempt something alone those lines, it'll be entirely at your own risk, and I take no responsibility whatsoever for what you do to your pen.

 

A somewhat more prudent approach would be to at least buy and try several good pens, identify which ones produce ink marks and lines to your liking, then study the geometry of the tipping material on those nibs under a loupe or some other (analogue or digital) magnifying optical instrument, before inspecting the tipping material on your Pilot Varsity pen and assessing whether it's feasible to reproduce the same geometry on the latter, with the skills and grinding tools you have.

Bravo, Smug. Bravo

[Ergative]

Varsities are tricky to refill, because they're designed to be disposable. It can be done, but I suspect that the feed system and barrel plastic will start giving way after a few repetitions. If the goal is to be environmentally friendly, you should buy a fountain pen that is at least designed for refilling. Pilot Metropolitan (or MR) with a fine nib gives very fine lines, and looks quite snazzy. Platinum preppy is a bit cheaper, more similar price point to a Varsity, and is designed to be refillable. Since it's a Japanese brand, its fine nib will also be much thinner than the Varsity.

[rebolber]

10 hours ago, A Smug Dill said:

 

I won't tell you procedurally or practically how to do that, but I can tell you that conceptually, one would remove some of the tipping material with an abrasive to reduce the contact surface between the glob of tipping and the paper surface. For illustration only, and not in any way meant to be instructive, one could remove some tipping from both sides to reduce the line width of downstrokes.

 

If you choose to attempt something alone those lines, it'll be entirely at your own risk, and I take no responsibility whatsoever for what you do to your pen.

 

A somewhat more prudent approach would be to at least buy and try several good pens, identify which ones produce ink marks and lines to your liking, then study the geometry of the tipping material on those nibs under a loupe or some other (analogue or digital) magnifying optical instrument, before inspecting the tipping material on your Pilot Varsity pen and assessing whether it's feasible to reproduce the same geometry on the latter, with the skills and grinding tools you have.

Thanks for the tip. I know you dont take any responsibilities here. I just did it and it now writes scratchy. Do you know any way to make it write smoother?

[JosephKing]

23 hours ago, rebolber said:

Thanks for the tip. I know you dont take any responsibilities here. I just did it and it now writes scratchy. Do you know any way to make it write smoother?

Do you have something to look very closely at the nib? (10x loupe or the like)

I can think of 4 possible problems off the top of my head

1) the nib may simply need to be cleaned up with a finer grit material (what did you use on your first pass?)

2) the tines may have become misaligned depending on how you performed your grind (in which case you just need to realign then)

3) you may have introduced a new angle

4) you may have made the nib too fine

 

Looking closely at what happened will help you figure out what to do

[Bo Bo Olson]

I know nothing about Japanese pens but what I read here.

I suggest perhaps a Metropolitan which is a relatively cheap refillable pen, in Japanese EEF nib.....and you are in Spider Web country. Japanese EF = western EEF.

The Japanese  EF might be more prevalent in such a pen....Which is still a hell of a skinny nib.

 

Then you don't have to buy micro-mesh, and a loop. And worry about ruining a nib even if it's on a real cheap pen.

Why not buy a Metropolitan. Or what other economical Japanese pens folks here can recommend.