New JoWo nibs that need adjustment

[mhosea]

I've been seeing quite a few JoWo steel nibs that have the "inverted grand canyon" problem. These nibs are not defective, but for some reason they weren't adjusted properly at the factory. Only reason I'm mentioning it is that if you have a JoWo nib that's kind of hard starting or skips for the first part of a stroke after a pause, then it may have this problem, and the nib may be an inexpensive adjustment away from being one of your favorites. Unfortunately, I don't think it's one of those easy DIY things that you can tell somebody who has never worked on a nib to do. I'm sure Dan or any other professional nib-worker can handle it. These nibs started out at top and ended up at bottom. They haven't been precisely aligned or smoothed yet, just had the inverted grand canyon taken out. The M nib doesn't actually have a V in the other direction now. Well it does, but only to the extent that the slit isn't straight. Throughout most of its thickness from the writing surface on up, the gap is consistent.

17662

[KrazyIvan]

Any particular brand of pen has these?

[mhosea]

They're pretty common. Most small pen-making operations use either JoWo or Bock nibs. These particular ones are Bexley-branded, but you, too, can have your logo engraved on them if you make a large enough order (e.g. Goulet Pen Company). Brian at Edison pen says he tunes every one before it goes out the door. Obviously Bexley isn't doing that, which is one reason why I generally encouraged folks to buy Bexley pens from Richard Binder, when he was still selling them. Not sure who is selling them now that tunes them before they go out the door, maybe Mike and Linda at Indy-Pen-Dance.

[SteveE]

I'm not sure if Mike and Linda tune them all, but Linda did most certainly tune the one I bought most recently. That was almost a year ago, though.

[Woody]

Interesting you bring that up Mike. . I have a couple of Goulet nibs that are just like that. I have a B nib with exactly that problem. Now must find out how to remove that inverted canyon.

[mhosea]

I've been trying to improve my technique to the point where I could tell somebody what to do, but I'm not even sure what I would tell myself. Part of the goal is to get it done without marring the nib with the pliers. In theory, I want to give each tine a little twist, then realign, adjust the gap, and smooth. Never seems to work out quite so easily.

[SteveE]

Maybe use pliers with nylon jaws? They would have to be strong, high-quality pliers though. . . not the all-plastic ones Richard sometimes sold. Those weren't rigid enough to twist the tines. I know -- I've tried.

[Indy-Pen-Dance]

Just so it is clear in case it is missed on our home page or the cart page of our website:

Because we want you to have the best experience possible when you purchase a fountain pen or nib from us, we tune each pen and nib at no extra charge unless otherwise requested. Nibs are installed in a pen body, filled with Waterman Mysterious Blue ink, tested on better than average quality paper, then adjusted for alignment, ink flow, and smoothed to bring it to the standards that you should come to expect when buying a fountain pen or nib from Indy-Pen-Dance.

[estreet]

Indy pen dance does indeed tunes and test every pen they sell before it leaves their shop unless the client truest otherwise. This came directly from Linda Kennedy

[mhosea]

Maybe use pliers with nylon jaws? They would have to be strong, high-quality pliers though. . . not the all-plastic ones Richard sometimes sold. Those weren't rigid enough to twist the tines. I know -- I've tried.

I know what you mean. I bought this pair

http://www.amazon.com/Eurotool-Nylon-Pliers-Chain-Nose/dp/B003Y7J7GO/

and ground down the sides of the Nylon pads to make them more suitable to fine work, but this particular Nylon formulation is too soft...and too slippery. To be honest, I'm often using my fingernails and working it by hand. I could, however, replace the Nylon with Delrin or something, as the pads are held on by screws.