Adjusting Tines

[Paddler]

Many times, when I buy a pen in the wild, all the dried ink will not wash out of the slit. In these instances, I can't see any light at all through the slit. Sometimes, there is light coming through in some places and not in others. When that happens, I pull a piece of 00-gauge nylon thread through the slit from the tip down to the breather. That usually cleans out the slit and makes the pen write a wetter line. The thread is safer, I think, because it is nowhere near as thick as the shim stock usually used to floss a nib.

 

Paddler

 

Where do you get this nylon thread?

 

The obvious answer is a large sewing shop, like Jo Anne Fabrics. A large craft shop may have it. I got mine from Cabella's. They have it with their fly-tying supplies.

 

Paddler

 

[Ink Stained Wretch]

Boy. I'm not sure that ANY of my pens really let light through at the nib. Then again, maybe I'm not looking at them properly.

It has to be dry. Any ink will stop the light from coming through.

 

As for nib flossing, I've been using a de-fanged double edged razor blade. I used metal cutters to cut the edges off it. So it fits into the nib slit and can get just about anything out of it.

 

I also have cleaned that blade very thoroughly. I've washed it, soaked it in ammonia and soaked it in 91% alcohol. All of that to make sure that there are no more lubricants left on it, the reason behind the stainless steel razor blade revolution of decades ago, left on the blade. That stuff might rub off the blade and clog the nib slit otherwise.

 

And in fact I've just come from getting a used Pelikano Jr. nib that someone sold me to write better, at all really. I used the razor blade and the fingernails on the nib's shoulders method. Worked well enough.