Experiments with nib grinding

[Harish N V]

Recently i was in quarantine following a fever that I developed and knew pretty well that it was a mild form of COVID. Anyway it allowed me for some leisure time to grind a few nibs on my own and reap some satisfaction from it. All of these nibs are Jinhao 159 s and the inexpensive pens, the #6 size nibs and a reasonably sized tipping material made this an ideal candidate for experimenting. I would'nt recommend my sort of grinding as the grinding was done with 120 and 180 sized emery papers. These are not recommended for grinding. I had only these materials at the time and hence went ahead with them and did the grinding. 

 

For reference, I used the following videos. 

 

 

Here are the pens and the description of the writing. 

 

1) Jinhao X450 with an architect point: This was really a nice starting point. I thoroughly enjoyed doing this and fortunately i was a bit patient and tentative and managed to not overdo it! 

 It was quite a meditative process and really enjoyed it.

  

 

2) Jinha0 159 : Medium ground to a stub

 

This was quite a learning. I jumped into this in a non tentative manner and overdid it. It writes a bit scratchy and also the horizontal lines are perhaps too thin. 

 

    

 

 

3) Jinhao 159 and yet another stub:

 

This nib was totally destroyed by me and the flow became improper. At the end of the day, a nice experiment. Nothing is lost!

 

  ite fun

 

4) Jinhao 159 and an architect point again:

 

This was some fun. I paid more close attention to it and did it more slowly having had issues with stuhs. This looks more close to an architect point in terms of the nib appearance. But when it writes, I would expect more variation between vertical and horizontal lines.

 

 

 

[Detman101]

The last one...sides probably need to come in a bit. That vertical line should be at least half of the horizontal.
Great grinding though!
I recently made a 1.1 stub into a MAX-line-variance stub nib by grinding the horizontal plane of the nib razor thin with a dremel and keeping the vertical plane wide at 1.1

I had to use my sons kiddie low power microscope to properly see the horizontal plane as my 30x loupe wouldn't get in close enough to see where I needed to smooth and round the tip to keep it from slicing the paper in half on side/cross-strokes.

[amberleadavis]

Well, I think it looks great!

[Harish N V]

10 hours ago, Detman101 said:

The last one...sides probably need to come in a bit. That vertical line should be at least half of the horizontal.
Great grinding though!
I recently made a 1.1 stub into a MAX-line-variance stub nib by grinding the horizontal plane of the nib razor thin with a dremel and keeping the vertical plane wide at 1.1

I had to use my sons kiddie low power microscope to properly see the horizontal plane as my 30x loupe wouldn't get in close enough to see where I needed to smooth and round the tip to keep it from slicing the paper in half on side/cross-strokes.

Yes. The sides have to come in. I have a kanwrite nin for reference and as I can see, it is with the sides. Have to do more work on this nib

[Harish N V]

6 hours ago, amberleadavis said:

Well, I think it looks great!

Thank you

[KidleP]

Sorry I am completely new to nib grinding. If I want 1.1 stub nib should I start grinding M nib or f nib ? Can I grind smaller nib to larger line ? Like grind f nib to m stub nib. 

The last question. I only have stone for grinding 6000/10,000 I don't have micromesh. Is it ok to don't use micromesh ? (I can not find micromesh anywhere in my shopping apps). 

Thanks a lot. By the way great grinding ☺️

[amberleadavis]

50 minutes ago, KidleP said:

Sorry I am completely new to nib grinding. If I want 1.1 stub nib should I start grinding M nib or f nib ? Can I grind smaller nib to larger line ? Like grind f nib to m stub nib. 

The last question. I only have stone for grinding 6000/10,000 I don't have micromesh. Is it ok to don't use micromesh ? (I can not find micromesh anywhere in my shopping apps). 

Thanks a lot. By the way great grinding ☺️

 

No!  If you want a 1.1 stub, buy one from Osprey for $9, it will be much cheaper.

[ASCIIaardvark]

5 hours ago, KidleP said:

Sorry I am completely new to nib grinding. If I want 1.1 stub nib should I start grinding M nib or f nib ? Can I grind smaller nib to larger line ? Like grind f nib to m stub nib. 

The last question. I only have stone for grinding 6000/10,000 I don't have micromesh. Is it ok to don't use micromesh ? (I can not find micromesh anywhere in my shopping apps). 

Thanks a lot. By the way great grinding ☺️

 

a M or F nib aren't 1.1mm wide to start with, so you can't grind them down to a stub that wide.

 

If it's a steel nib, you can clip off the end so you've got 1.1mm wide writing surface, then smooth that into a stub. That's usually the only way to make a nib wider - you can grind M to F but can't un-grind it back to an M (I mean, you can get a welder and re-tip, but that's a much more involved ordeal)

 

If you don't use micro-mesh, your nib may have more feedback than you might like. Check your local hardware stores, they may have micro-mesh.

[KidleP]

On 1/27/2023 at 8:43 AM, amberleadavis said:

 

No!  If you want a 1.1 stub, buy one from Osprey for $9, it will be much cheaper.

😂 I agreed! But that would be no fun. I just bought grit stones, feeler gauge, m size nib from AliExpress. Thanks for advice

. Wanna try some Osprey pen too! 

[KidleP]

23 hours ago, ASCIIaardvark said:

 

a M or F nib aren't 1.1mm wide to start with, so you can't grind them down to a stub that wide.

 

If it's a steel nib, you can clip off the end so you've got 1.1mm wide writing surface, then smooth that into a stub. That's usually the only way to make a nib wider - you can grind M to F but can't un-grind it back to an M (I mean, you can get a welder and re-tip, but that's a much more involved ordeal)

 

If you don't use micro-mesh, your nib may have more feedback than you might like. Check your local hardware stores, they may have micro-mesh.

Thanks for your advice 👍☺️🙏 I just get the concept of nib grinding base on your explanation. So the maximum line width after grinding (horizontal stoke or vertical stoke) can not exceed the maximum line width of nib before grinding. I should buy multiple M nibs or Broad nibs for experiments. (I have a spare M nib so I will try to make 0.5-0.7 stub nib first) The clip-off method is also worth experiment (but I will do the normal grinding method first). Really helpful! 👍 Thanks again. 

PS. I will go to my local hardware store to look for micromesh tomorrow. 

[KidleP]

I just found an interesting article about nib grinding online !! 

there are a way to make nib thinner !! 

very good article, just want to share ☺️😃

http://www.marcuslink.com/pens/aboutpens/ludwig-tan.html

 

 

PS. now I've grind 3 jinhao nibs and ruined 2 nibs 😂 want to make right oblique stub nib.... 

 

 

[Detman101]

Ahhh yes....I remember that page.
I've had more success grinding my nibs into RH-Oblique CIS with my Dremel tool.

Nowadays, RH-Oblique CIS is all I use....it's even pulled me from using Flex nibs!
I LOVE IT!

 

Last night, I had my first experience with "Lapping Film". I received a pair of Mylar sheets from "Goulet Pens" and smoothed my RH-Oblique CIS nib to a level of smoothness that I havent experienced before. Before you ask why, I'll let it be known that I don't try out other fountain pens...simply because it keeps the urge to purchase pens in-check and under control. Yes, I don't go to FP shows or try out FPs at shops...I just use mine...that's all...no others.
Ignorance is bliss.