Is mylar paper really necessary for nib Smoothing?

[top pen]

I will confess I never really toyed about with nib smoothing in the early days of buying fountain pens however I had a Parker Jotter fountain pen sitting on my desk that I hadn't used in about 3 years that was very scratchy. I recently bought a pack of various grades of micro -mesh for a different project and I decided to try smoothing the nib on the Jotter working my way up from 1500 grit to 12,000 grit. I know 1500 is very coarse but it was so scratchy I didn't see a problem and the pen was pretty much fit for the bin.

Anyway by some fluke I managed to turn the scratchiest nib to probably the smoothest I have. So my question is are things like mylar paper really necessary when 12,000 grit seems to produce buttery smooth results?

I'm not about to start experimenting on higher end pens rather build up some experience on budget pens with the aim of smoothing my M200's nib in a few weeks.

[mhosea]

IMHO, the the 12000 grit Micro Mesh is plenty fine enough to stop at. Some folks find even that too smooth for their liking. The main thing, IMHO, is to stop the tipping from scratching/digging into the paper. Once that is accomplished, the smoothness you want is a matter of personal taste. I use the Mylar sheets more as the penultimate stage of grinding, not so much when smoothing. I use it to produce a more precise and uniform surface, but usually the 12000 grit Micro Mesh is the last thing to touch the tip, anyway.

[top pen]

IMHO, the the 12000 grit Micro Mesh is plenty fine enough to stop at. Some folks find even that too smooth for their liking. The main thing, IMHO, is to stop the tipping from scratching/digging into the paper. Once that is accomplished, the smoothness you want is a matter of personal taste. I use the Mylar sheets more as the penultimate stage of grinding, not so much when smoothing. I use it to produce a more precise and uniform surface, but usually the 12000 grit Micro Mesh is the last thing to touch the tip, anyway.

Thanks I've got a few Jinhao and Parker Vectors I think I will try my luck at next.

[tandaina]

I just use micro-mesh. Hadn't heart of mylar paper until your post so I'd say: no, it isn't necessarily.

[Special K]

Hey Top Ten, I'm sure you already have a loupe. Make sure that it's not just a matter of your tines being slightly off. This will sometimes confuse people into thinking their nib needs smoothing

[Giovanni Abrate]

Please, before you do any grinding or smoothing, read this!! I speak with 40+ years of experience...
http://www.newpentrace.net/articleGA04.html

[mhosea]

While we're tossing references, here's one worth reading, IMHO.

http://www.richardspens.com/pdf/workshop_notes.pdf

Obviously Richard's process makes good use of the Mylar lapping film, which is what you're seemingly wondering if you can avoid, but other than the tine alignment issues that it covers, I would call your attention to the very first part of section VI. Often enough the manufacturer has over-smoothed the edges, so you may not need to do this, but other times it's the answer to the mystery of why you can't get a nib to feel smooth. If you remove enough material to the point where there is a sharp 90-ish degree angle leading from the writing surface into the gap, more "smoothing" becomes futile. This edge needs to be a smoother transition (without over-doing it, of course, because that would give you Baby's Bottom instead--very smooth but annoying starts and skips).