Repairing Bent Flexible Nib on Waterman 512 (h)

[dabercrombie]

Hello everyone,

 

I have a Waterman 512 (h) that I’m trying to restore. Mostly, I think it will be a straightforward resac and cleaning, but the nib is slightly bent and misaligned. 
 

All the usual things I try (pushing on thumbnail, gently pushing tines up etc. ) haven’t worked. The nib is pretty flexible and seems fairly thin. It seems to just spring back to where it was with the level of pressure I’m applying. I plan to pull the nib and feed and try to do a more serious adjustment on it.

 

What is the best process once I have the nib out? My plan is to gently bend it back into shape with some pliers without serrated jaws (wrapped with some rubber to protect the nib) and use a nib block to try to smooth it out. Do I have the right idea? I will attach pictures for reference. 
 

Thank you!

Daniel

[GlenV]

I would avoid pliers since barely bent, sometimes if the feed is angled a bit it will rest that way, but if the nib is exactly the same  when you knock out the nib, then the the left tine has a faint bend down it appears,  straighten that and then  can lower the L tine and should be close, would use just fingernail should be fine, sometimes when you knock out the nib it may not hardly be bent at all, be careful those are super nibs and tools are capable of knocking off the iridium.

[LoveBigPensAndCannotLie]

I would say just use your fingers. Also check if the feed is completely aligned. Some misalignment can be due to the feed being off a little, and in that case you won't need to pull the nib at all.

 

Do not use pliers. I am speaking from personal experience after breaking the tipping off a gold nib with specialized nib pliers (let alone normal ones!). The pliers can't do anything you can't do with your fingers, and your fingers are considerably more sensitive than a big hunk of metal.

 

Aligning soft nibs is a pain in the ass, I wish you good luck! Also, from personal experience - if you get it like 95% aligned but can't get it the rest of the way, I would leave it be. These soft nibs are pretty tolerant of a slight misalignment since the softness will align it for you on paper. And that last 5% is the majority of the effort, and also where the mistakes happen for me.

[WalterC]

The vintage flex waterman nibs I have all have a similar bend to them, but write very nicely. I don't know why people back in the day bent them like that. If it were just the bend and it wrote OK, I wouldn't do anything. Any misalignment is a different matter; I don't have experience in fixing that.

[dabercrombie]

Thanks for the advice, everyone. I will avoid the pliers. I will take the pen apart later today and see if the nib and feed are in there properly. I’ll post again after I take a try at fixing it. 

[dabercrombie]

I did it! Thank you everyone for the advice. Nib is fixed. I cleaned it, fixed a slightly bent clip and put in a new sac. 

 

[LoveBigPensAndCannotLie]

On 3/16/2024 at 7:45 PM, dabercrombie said:

I did it! Thank you everyone for the advice. Nib is fixed. I cleaned it, fixed a slightly bent clip and put in a new sac. 

 

 

It looks great! Awesome job. How does it write? Based on how long those tines are it looks like a very fun nib.

[dabercrombie]

@LoveBigPensAndCannotLie thank you! It has been really fun. Not the smoothest in the world but it writes really well. Here’s a picture. (I accidentally wrote 3A. It’s a 2A).