His Nibs.com --

[His Nibs]

HisNibs.com update --

April 11th, 2008

 

NOTE:

 

This is not my usual email update, as the new

pen models I was offering have already all

sold out to my regular customers, in responding

to my direct customer newsletter.

 

So, I thought I'd still post a couple of non-sale

comments and a link to a very interesting video

on my weblog.

 

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Whenever His Nibs sets up at a pen show, I'm

always surprised at the gratefulness that

customers express when I take the time --

sometimes a few seconds, sometimes several

minutes -- to closely examine and tune the

nibs of the pens they've just purchased. I've

come to learn that except for the full time

pen repairers or those whose business it is

to modify nibs -- this is virtually unheard of.

Similarly, with purchases through the website

over more than a decade, a nib has never left

His Nibs without that same care and

attention. It's been suggested to me by many

customers that I've done a poor job of

promoting that fact (i.e., *no* promotion)!

More about that in this newsletter.

 

I have another short pen-filling video

up on the homepage.

This one stars an integrated piston (as

opposed to a removable piston

converter). I'm still trying to work

out the kinks of producing clear audio when

these are uploaded to video sharing sites

like YouTube. My audio settings remain

constant -- but the results vary! Please

excuse the less-than-ideal sound on this

particular one.

 

On the blog...Elephant Paints

Self-Portrait....an amazing video!

 

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in this issue

* Nib Inspection

(deleted sale items)

* On the blog...An Elephant's Self-Portrait

 

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Nib Inspection

 

In my experience, 85-90% of all new pens --

from any manufacturer -- arrive with

nibs that need some adjustment or tuning

before they will write optimally. In the

golden age of fountain pens, nibs would be

inspected at several stages through the

manufacturing process, and would be further

examined and fine-tuned at the point-of-sale

by knowledgeable pen sales staff. Those days

are long gone.

 

Although I've never promoted the fact (as it

always seemed such a natural service to

perform for my customers), in more than 10

years of business, no nib has left His Nibs'

Palace without my inspection under high

magnification (typically a 15X loupe) and in

the vast majority of cases a tuning to

eliminate a potential problem. A number of my

long-standing customers have reminded me that

I've been remiss in not mentioning that fact

-- so I've put a 'service note' near the

bottom of each fountain pen page on the His

Nibs website.

 

It's an oft-quoted truism that fountain pens

are sold these days as jewelry -- not writing

instruments. That's no doubt true to an

extent. However, it's shocking to me when I

read posts on pen discussion boards, the home

of many collectors and users, that talk about

'this or that' brand or model

of pen being a poor writer, without the

poster being aware that in almost all cases

it's their

individual pen that has the problem.

 

Nib adjustment is not rocket science (as far

as I remember, I've

never worked for NASA) but anyone that has

more than one or two fountain pens should

realize that each one is slightly

different...even the same model from the same

manufacturer. Most commonly, the tines of the

nib are misaligned -- which would cause

scratchiness at the minimum; the slit between

the tines is partially or fully closed --

which would starve the nib of ink and at best

cause skipping; or the slit between the tines

is too wide -- which will either again cause

skipping, or conversely, flooding. There are

other factors -- such as separation of the

nib from the feed for example -- which easily

have an influence on the writing experience.

There can certainly be problems that won't

manifest themselves with a visual inspection

only, but rather become apparent once the

purchaser inks the pen for the first time.

The vast majority of potential pitfalls

however can be caught with a little attention

prior to shipping. I've had very few returns

over the past 11 years -- which benefits

me tremendously.

 

I'm also continuously amazed by collectors

who have come to accept a poor writer --

right out of the box -- as just part of the

experience of using fountain pens. I'll often

see a comment such as "Well, it's a hard

starter and skips pretty regularly, but I

only paid XXX dollars for it, when it's list

price is XXX". As if a

successful purchase is to be measured by

paying the lowest possible price -- for

something that doesn't work properly. Rubbish!

 

Find pen sources that take the time to really

inspect your new pen before sending it to you

-- they must be out there! Better yet,

spend some time learning a few simple

techniques to keep your pens 'tuned'

yourself. Try a web search on 'adjust a nib',

or 'tuning a fountain pen', etc. Then maybe

you won't be so disappointed with the pen

that only cost XXX!

 

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On the blog...An Elephant's Self-Portrait

 

On the April 7th entry an elephant puts

non-artist humans to shame by effortlessly

painting a self-portrait.

 

See the video here.

 

 

Regards,

 

Norman Haase

His Nibs.com

www.hisnibs.com

Blog: http://hisnibs.blogspot.com