Hello to all. I'm new here, so let me introduce myself (juanseba).
I'm 36 now; I began writing with fountain pens when I was 12 or 13 years old. I started in a new school for junior high (in 7th grade) and the new teachers were not as tolerant of my handwriting as my elementary school teachers had been, so I was forced to take in-school remedial penmanship lessons, three hours a day for 30 minutes during lunch hour. My penmanship tutor did not use calligraphy pens in said classes but suggested them to me for individual out-of-school practice. As any young teen wanting to spend time with his friends during school lunch rather than being stuck in extra classes, I tried to hurry the process along, so when I saw a set of Sheaffer calligraphy pens in Costco of all places, I asked my mother to buy them for me and have never looked back. I'm a diehard Sheaffer fan, in part because they were my first, but even more so because my first two non-Sheaffer fountain pen buys (a Cross Aventura and a Pilot Metropolitan) turned out to have rather disastrous outcomes.
I could say more about the pros and cons of my Sheaffers or talk about my non-Sheaffer pens, but getting to the point, my question is about the aforementioned Pilot and Cross instruments. The Cross wrote magically when it was new, buttery smooth, but after months of use it began to progressively give more and more feedback until it became downright scratchy and started to snag (and rip) the pages of both the regular school composition notebooks and the legal pads that I have to use at work. I bought the Metropolitan later; it was more disappointing out of the box because it didn't glide over the pages like the Aventura, plus I have to use it posted since I frequently write standing up while away from my desk so I have no other place to put the cap and my Metropolitan's cap has always steadfastly refused to stay posted for very long. In any case, it too started to give more feedback with time, and has recently become scratchy as well. The tines of the Aventura's nib were aligned, so I tried smoothing it out, to no avail. I thought to do the same with the Metropolitan's nib but decided to ask for advice first.
I noticed something about the tines of both pens when I looked at them under magnification, which is that, although aligned, they have become ever-so-slightly curved. I take very good care of all my pens, and I always keep them clipped upright in my shirt pocket; neither pen has ever been dropped uncapped and they've both been always in my sole posession. The Metropolitan, which is flexier than the Aventura -which is itself flexier than all my Sheaffers- is pictured in the attachment. I have never seen this with my hard-as-nails Sheaffers even though some have over two decades of intermittent-but-not-infrequent use. I assume the curve is due to the metal yielding under my usual writing posture and pressure over months and years. My question is... can these tines on this nib be straightened in the hope of making said nib not scratchy?
Thanks in advance to all.metropolitan.PNG
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