Nibs: Steel / Titanium / Gold / (Genius) Iridium

[CapeWind]

I found it quite interesting to see research on how (even the major pen manufacturers) are labelling their nibs. (In particular "Iridium/Genius Iridium") which often only carries a trace amount of iridium).

 

I own several fountain pens (rabbit hole after all) but only a couple of them have gold tips. First, as a South African (one of the largest miners of gold) I can tell you that most of the advertising about the " investment value" of gold nibs is plain bunkum. Second, ever since grade school I've had the habit of pressing too hard on my pens. It's now become my writing style and a gold nib has just too much flex to stand up to that style.

 

Since there doesn't seem to be too much of disclosure on just what our nibs are made of, what I'd like to know is if anyone here had actually worn through a nib? If so would you say it was wholly/predominantly. the nib quality or was it (as I would suspect) a mixture of writing style, paper quality, general maintenance?

 

Please share!

[JosephKing]

I'm a fountain pen beginner compared to a lot of folks around here but the general opinion is:

 

1) the tipping on the end of nibs are usually made of a wear resistant material, and not of gold or any other material that the rest of the nib is made of; nib makers learned this lesson a long time ago.  It would take years to wear through it, if at all, unless...

 

2) some papers contain materials that are very abrasive (example: titanium dioxide). If you write on these papers exclusively, you could wear through the nib rather quickly.

 

3) Unfortunately, I haven't worn through a tip to help answer that angle of your question, but I have read and watched videos of tips that were poorly bonded to the rest of the nib and just broke away.  That would be related to the quality of the nib you mentioned

 

4) if wearing through tips is an issue, you could consider inks that are marketed as "lubricating", to help reduce some of the friction between the tip and paper

 

5) you could also consider tips that have more material to wear through (i.e. broads, double broads, etc...)

 

6) the general feeling around here is that the real benefit of using a fountain pen is in how very little pressure is required to write.  It might be hard to undo years of practicing, but if you can, try to lighten up.  This lowers the normal force, which lowers the friction, which lessens the wear, and lessens the more immediate threat of springing the tines, which leads to...

 

7) the flexibility of the nib is due to a lot more than just the gold content; nib geometry, material composition, the production process, all contribute to the flexibility of the nib.  Example: Sailor's H marked gold nibs and Platinum's non S marked gold nibs are generally regarded as being stiffer, while FPR's steel ultra flex is rather flexible

[maclink]

11 hours ago, JosephKing said:

---snip---

7) the flexibility of the nib is due to a lot more than just the gold content; nib geometry, material composition, the production process, all contribute to the flexibility of the nib.  Example: Sailor's H marked gold nibs and Platinum's non S marked gold nibs are generally regarded as being stiffer, while FPR's steel ultra flex is rather flexible

Agreed with most that you wrote.

 

To add to this point about gold content, 18K gold nibs are often stiffer than their 14K counterparts.  I have 14K nibs that are quite springy and 14K nibs that are rather stiff.  OTOH, I have steel nibs that are fairly springy, although the ubiquitous steel Jowo and Bock nibs are quite stiff.