Nib Ink Rot?

[Jeph]

This is the nib from a Waterman Skywriter I am working on. The outside of the pen is in great shape and it came apart with only minimal effort, although the sac was petrified.

I removed the nib and saw this. I have seen lots of corrosion in my time, but not in a pattern like this. It looks more like meteor strikes than corrosion pits, especially in the way that some of them overlap. I am going to re-use the nib, but I am curious as to what causes this?

Skywriter Nib.jpg

Thanks

[AndyT]

Very curious. Those two regular craters under the "U" definitely look like mechanical damage. If they were pyramidal in shape I'd say hardness testing, but as it is most likely a machining slip up.

[Jon Szanto]

I believe it really is just chemical corrosion. It usually starts with just a tiny pit - pen people call stuff like this "flea bites" - and then it starts working it's way deeper and wider. I've seen this kind of pitting on Waterman nibs.

But I'm not a nibmeister, so I would certainly bow to those with much more history viewing this sort of thing...

[AndyT]

... "flea bites" ...

Oh, that's interesting - razor people have "flea bites" too, when a micro-pit turns up right at the edge. Dashed annoying, especially when there's only one of them ...

Anyway, I'll bow to what you said, Jon. Now I'm wondering about the composition of the alloy, and of the ink that could do that to it.

[bluefeathers]

I started developing similar rust on my Waterman Phileas nib, and would love to know how to remove it. It seemed to get worse after testing noodler's golden brown, so I wonder if particular inks also have something to do with it (besides of course leaving ink in the pen for many years untouched).

[Ernst Bitterman]

The damage happens through ink lying in the pen and concentrating. Some might start out relatively neutral, but as the water goes the pH gets more extreme, and the resistance of the metal fails before it. It's not specific to an ink, but to a poor practice I'll bet we're all occasionally guilty of-- I've some Osmiroids and a mid-'80s Waterman that have points made of lace.

[bluefeathers]

Thank you for explaining how it works, Ernst. Yes, unfortunately that was years before I knew anything about proper care for fountain pens, I've learnt my lesson!

[Jeph]

I bought a nibless Geha Schulfueller for the cap.
When it arrived, I unscrewed the cap and it made a "scrunch" sound.
I dumped out the barrel and this is what came out.
The nib wasn't missing, it was just rotten nearly out of existence.

Ink Rot.jpg

[cwent2]

I bought a nibless Geha Schulfueller for the cap.
When it arrived, I unscrewed the cap and it made a "scrunch" sound.
I dumped out the barrel and this is what came out.
The nib wasn't missing, it was just rotten nearly out of existence.

Ink Rot.jpg

wow!