Burn the nib

[abhinav]

just curious

 

 

What happens if we burn the nib (for 2-3 secs)??

 

Edited November 19, 2008 by abhinav

[jmkeuning]

just curious

 

 

What happens if we burn the nib (for 2-3 secs)??

 

 

 

Burn? As in - to destroy by fire? I suppose you will destroy it. By fire.

 

Now, if you are asking about heating a nib, then the next questions have to do with the material, the temperature, distance from the heat source, etc.

[Robert Hughes]

By heating the nib and cooling it at different rates you affect its temper. You could change its microcrystalline structure, which is one of the ways nibmeisters affect the flexibility of a nib. Don't practice this on one of your good nibs, you might ruin it.

[Clydesdave]

Wow! Being a metal worker, I want to know how this turns out.

 

 

[lapis]

I do assume you mean the naked nib itself with zero feed, or?

 

Curious 3

[ANM]

If you have a dip pen straight from the store with an oil or waxy coating on it, about one second pass through a flame will remove it so the ink will not ball up on the nib but don't EVER do that to a fountain pen.

 

edit. Sometimes heat, like from a hair dryer is used to loosen up stuck parts on a pen being taken apart for repair or to soften the hard rubber feed to make it pliable, but hot water (never boiling hot) is safer and under no circumstances should anything ever get burned.

Edited November 19, 2008 by ANM

[Titivillus]

If you have a dip pen straight from the store with an oil or waxy coating on it, about one second pass through a flame will remove it so the ink will not ball up on the nib but don't EVER do that to a fountain pen.

 

edit. Sometimes heat, like from a hair dryer is used to loosen up stuck parts on a pen being taken apart for repair or to soften the hard rubber feed to make it pliable, but hot water (never boiling hot) is safer and under no circumstances should anything ever get burned.

 

 

Yep I burn off all of the dip nibs I use. Just a quick pass and a clean off is all I do.

[wykpenguin]

I used to burn my dip pens too. Ever since my lighter went kaput, I changed to washing with soap. Both methods work and I have never killed a nib by burning it, no matter what other people may say.

 

Being a college student, I feel disgraced when the clerk at the store asks me what cigarette I want to get with the lighter. When I say I don't smoke cigarettes, the expression usually goes to "so you don't smoke cigarettes" or "are you an arsonist or something". But that's off on a tangent.

Edited November 19, 2008 by wykpenguin

[RevAaron]

Tell them it's for cooking your horse before you hit it. That will have the effect of confusing or shocking them into silence.

[Shangas]

I also "burn" my dip-pen nibs to remove the oil from them. A lit match held under and around the nib for a couple of seconds does the job. I hold the nib itself with a pair of tweezers instead of my fingers, though. Safety precaution - nibs conduct heat VERY well...Ouch!!

[Rob G]

I use Windex with ammonia. Doesn't burn unless you get it in an open wound.

 

[abhinav]

By heating the nib and cooling it at different rates you affect its temper. You could change its microcrystalline structure, which is one of the ways nibmeisters affect the flexibility of a nib. Don't practice this on one of your good nibs, you might ruin it.

 

I heated my fav. pen (Parker Beta - its cheap but best acc. to me).....nd the pen is working gr8.....no problem at all....i guess we heat the fine nibs they open up a bit nd flow increases in it.......just a thought

 

[BerneseMtDogEatsArco]

Procedure:

 

1. Make sure that the pen you're heating is made of CELLULOID NITRATE.

2. Apply open flame.

3. Cry.

 

 

(This is sarcastic and please do NOT HEAT CELLULOID!!!!)

 

[abhinav]

Procedure:

 

1. Make sure that the pen you're heating is made of CELLULOID NITRATE.

2. Apply open flame.

3. Cry.

 

 

(This is sarcastic and please do NOT HEAT CELLULOID!!!!)

 

 

 

haha.....

Edited November 20, 2008 by abhinav

[bgray]

What's REALLY fun is...after making a celluloid pen, gather up the shavings, set them on the driveway, and light it.

 

WHOOSH!

 

Pretty cool. However, this is a great reminder to ALWAYS clean up celluloid swarf from the lathe.

 

If you are turning metal AFTER turning celluloid, it's quite possible for the metal swarf to come off hot enough to light the celluloid!

 

I've never experienced this, but I HAVE had a fire at the lathe (and no, I'm not telling!)

 

[Ink Stained Wretch]

just curious

 

What happens if we burn the nib (for 2-3 secs)??

The feed catches fire :roflmho: ?

 

I tried this with a "bronze" dip pen that wouldn't take ink at all and nothing useful happened. When I applied more heat that dip pen just became soft and useless.

[hari317]

I heated my fav. pen (Parker Beta - its cheap but best acc. to me).....nd the pen is working gr8.....no problem at all....i guess we heat the fine nibs they open up a bit nd flow increases in it.......just a thought

 

Hey Abhinav, the beta has a plastic feeder and heating the nib with a open flame could have damaged the feeder. Usually the pen repairers here use a match flame to heat up the ebonite feeders in order to heat-set them nicely to the nib. This has the effect of a nice controlled flow from the pen. If the feed is conformed tightly, the tines seperate, as a result increasing flow.

[svejk]

What's REALLY fun is...after making a celluloid pen, gather up the shavings, set them on the driveway, and light it.

 

WHOOSH!

 

 

I must first confess to having acquired wisdom from that instant of terror when a beautiful fountain pen caught fire. Caught fire just does not do it justice.

 

When my daughter came home with the assignment of collecting safety warnings from things in her home and explaining them in class I suggested that we look on some of my containers of gunpowder (I am a target shooter). One of them was: "If spilled do not clean up with a vacuum." It took us a bit to realize that if the bag on the vacuum was missing or had a hole in it then the spilled gunpowder would be blown over the motor with its sparking brushes. Instant excitement!