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Thread: Experimenting with Polishing

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    Senior Member SkyCyclePilot's Avatar
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    Default Experimenting with Polishing

    If I'm experimenting with a nib I can afford to sacrifice, in order to learn, using 12,000 grit MicroMesh and very light pressure, how much polishing can I get away with? Can I go through the tipping material on the nib in a matter of minutes, or am I removing so little material that I could play around for hours without really doing any damage. What little I've done seems to make no real difference in how the nib writes or feels.

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    Senior Member dneal's Avatar
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    Default Re: Experimenting with Polishing

    I thought you already asked this question. There are too many variables to answer specifically.

    You can polish until you can't. How many strokes or time that takes will vary. Don't do figure 8's

    What are you trying to accomplish?
    "A truth does not mind being questioned. A lie does not like being challenged."

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    Senior Member SkyCyclePilot's Avatar
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    Default Re: Experimenting with Polishing

    You're right. Looking back, I did. I'm getting old. Gimme a break. I withdraw the question, since there doesn't seem to be any way to delete it.

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    Senior Member SkyCyclePilot's Avatar
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    Default Re: Experimenting with Polishing

    Quote Originally Posted by dneal View Post
    I thought you already asked this question. There are too many variables to answer specifically.

    You can polish until you can't. How many strokes or time that takes will vary. Don't do figure 8's

    What are you trying to accomplish?
    P. S. I think I've misunderstood something. I was under the impression that the tip of a nib was steel or gold with only a thin coating of an Iridium-like, super hard material. If that is the case, a person could polish through that thin layer. But, from something I've read, it appears that the entire tip is a piece of hard material welded to the ends of the tines. Does anyone know which is correct?

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    Senior Member Ron Z's Avatar
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    Default Re: Experimenting with Polishing

    Tipping material is supposed to be a welded on pellet of hard material - iridium, or any one of a number of hard alloys. There are some brands that simply use a blob of melted steel, shaped and slit, without any real tipping material. Low end pens like the Sheaffer student pens were made this way. Some more expensive pens like the long discontinued Dolphin were made this way too.

    If you just polish away without purpose or looking at the nib, you could wear away the tipping material without accomplishing anything. I polished away most of the iridium on a nib more than once in my early days! A good loupe is important, using it more so! Look for ridges or lines across the nib. If there is one you'll feel it.

    Richard Binder has a good primer on smoothing nibs. Farther down on the page is a link to download a PDF document of the notes that he hands out at his pen workshops. It's worth a read before you start on a nib.

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    Senior Member SkyCyclePilot's Avatar
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    Default Re: Experimenting with Polishing

    Quote Originally Posted by Ron Z View Post
    Tipping material is supposed to be a welded on pellet of hard material - iridium, or any one of a number of hard alloys. There are some brands that simply use a blob of melted steel, shaped and slit, without any real tipping material. Low end pens like the Sheaffer student pens were made this way. Some more expensive pens like the long discontinued Dolphin were made this way too.

    If you just polish away without purpose or looking at the nib, you could wear away the tipping material without accomplishing anything. I polished away most of the iridium on a nib more than once in my early days! A good loupe is important, using it more so! Look for ridges or lines across the nib. If there is one you'll feel it.

    Richard Binder has a good primer on smoothing nibs. Farther down on the page is a link to download a PDF document of the notes that he hands out at his pen workshops. It's worth a read before you start on a nib.
    Thanks for the clarification. I haven't tried to polish too many nibs, and when I do, I use 12,000 grit MicroMesh with very, very light pressure. Most of my nibs are Jowo, of course. Some have polished easily, providing a nice, smooth writing experience, but once in a while I get one that just doesn't feel right now matter what I do. Even perfectly aligned, some nibs just seem to be pointy and grabby, especially on course, cheap paper. I understand correct alignment, and I do have a loupe and I know how to use it. I think I'm going to give up on trying to smooth nibs, and just buy one of Franklin Christoph's S. I. G. medium nibs. Everyone says they are smooth.

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    Default Re: Experimenting with Polishing

    Quote Originally Posted by SkyCyclePilot View Post
    Quote Originally Posted by Ron Z View Post
    Tipping material is supposed to be a welded on pellet of hard material - iridium, or any one of a number of hard alloys. There are some brands that simply use a blob of melted steel, shaped and slit, without any real tipping material. Low end pens like the Sheaffer student pens were made this way. Some more expensive pens like the long discontinued Dolphin were made this way too.

    If you just polish away without purpose or looking at the nib, you could wear away the tipping material without accomplishing anything. I polished away most of the iridium on a nib more than once in my early days! A good loupe is important, using it more so! Look for ridges or lines across the nib. If there is one you'll feel it.

    Richard Binder has a good primer on smoothing nibs. Farther down on the page is a link to download a PDF document of the notes that he hands out at his pen workshops. It's worth a read before you start on a nib.
    Thanks for the clarification. I haven't tried to polish too many nibs, and when I do, I use 12,000 grit MicroMesh with very, very light pressure. Most of my nibs are Jowo, of course. Some have polished easily, providing a nice, smooth writing experience, but once in a while I get one that just doesn't feel right now matter what I do. Even perfectly aligned, some nibs just seem to be pointy and grabby, especially on course, cheap paper. I understand correct alignment, and I do have a loupe and I know how to use it. I think I'm going to give up on trying to smooth nibs, and just buy one of Franklin Christoph's S. I. G. medium nibs. Everyone says they are smooth.
    Even after you have the best advice in the world some tasks are better left to the experts. A professionally tuned and smoothed nib is on another level, okay it is difficult to justify a major expense on a cheap pen, we all have our break point.

    On your other post I referred to a YouTube post, Brown (and others) have vids on smoothing nibs

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    Senior Member SkyCyclePilot's Avatar
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    Default Re: Experimenting with Polishing

    Quote Originally Posted by RobJohnson View Post
    Quote Originally Posted by SkyCyclePilot View Post
    Quote Originally Posted by Ron Z View Post
    Tipping material is supposed to be a welded on pellet of hard material - iridium, or any one of a number of hard alloys. There are some brands that simply use a blob of melted steel, shaped and slit, without any real tipping material. Low end pens like the Sheaffer student pens were made this way. Some more expensive pens like the long discontinued Dolphin were made this way too.

    If you just polish away without purpose or looking at the nib, you could wear away the tipping material without accomplishing anything. I polished away most of the iridium on a nib more than once in my early days! A good loupe is important, using it more so! Look for ridges or lines across the nib. If there is one you'll feel it.

    Richard Binder has a good primer on smoothing nibs. Farther down on the page is a link to download a PDF document of the notes that he hands out at his pen workshops. It's worth a read before you start on a nib.
    Thanks for the clarification. I haven't tried to polish too many nibs, and when I do, I use 12,000 grit MicroMesh with very, very light pressure. Most of my nibs are Jowo, of course. Some have polished easily, providing a nice, smooth writing experience, but once in a while I get one that just doesn't feel right now matter what I do. Even perfectly aligned, some nibs just seem to be pointy and grabby, especially on course, cheap paper. I understand correct alignment, and I do have a loupe and I know how to use it. I think I'm going to give up on trying to smooth nibs, and just buy one of Franklin Christoph's S. I. G. medium nibs. Everyone says they are smooth.
    Even after you have the best advice in the world some tasks are better left to the experts. A professionally tuned and smoothed nib is on another level, okay it is difficult to justify a major expense on a cheap pen, we all have our break point.

    On your other post I referred to a YouTube post, Brown (and others) have vids on smoothing nibs
    From what little I've tried on regular Jowo nibs, I think I'm done trying to do the smoothing myself. I agree - some things are best left to experienced experts. I have a Parker Duofold, and an Edison Beaumont. The Parker has a gold nib, and the SIG I'm considering would be for the Edison. I won't touch either of those nibs.

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    Senior Member dneal's Avatar
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    Default Re: Experimenting with Polishing

    Quote Originally Posted by SkyCyclePilot View Post
    Quote Originally Posted by dneal View Post
    I thought you already asked this question. There are too many variables to answer specifically.

    You can polish until you can't. How many strokes or time that takes will vary. Don't do figure 8's

    What are you trying to accomplish?
    P. S. I think I've misunderstood something. I was under the impression that the tip of a nib was steel or gold with only a thin coating of an Iridium-like, super hard material. If that is the case, a person could polish through that thin layer. But, from something I've read, it appears that the entire tip is a piece of hard material welded to the ends of the tines. Does anyone know which is correct?
    Ron gave you the quick answer - a hard material welded to a softer material, usually a platinum group metal welded to gold or steel; although modern steels don't require it (particularly with cheaper or disposable pens).

    The question came across as something along the lines of "how long does it take before I ruin it", and the answer remains that there are a lot of variables to account for. Even if we got some objective answer, like "1238 strokes on 12000 grit micromesh"; I don't see any great utility in that... so I asked what you're trying to accomplish.

    If it's just trying to get the smoothest nib you can (and I've experimented with that), there are still a lot of variables. Paper type and quality, nib size (a B will always be smoother than a UEF), etc...

    There are a lot of nib smoothing guides, and I usually post Richard Binder's as well; although I find Jet Pens' guide really good too (and thanks to whoever originally shared it here). Which guide you use is important, because there are a lot of bad guides as well. Anybody (myself included) who wore a flat spot on a nib doing endless figure-8's discovered that pretty quickly.

    Once upon a time, end users were expected to possess basic skills for maintenance and tuning. Smacking the side of a TV or adjusting the UHF tuning knob. Using a choke on a carburetor. Adjusting tension on a bicycle chain. Manufacturing has gotten to the point where most of that is accounted for. Things either work or they don't, and if they don't we replace it or find someone who can repair it. User serviceable is often frowned upon.

    The internet is littered with people who don't like the way certain pens feel or write out of the box. Labor costs for fine tuning are prohibitive, so this issue is unlikely to be fixed. That leaves people with a few options. An incomplete list off the top of my head:

    - Find a brand with consistent manufacturing tolerances (the Japanese, primarily).
    - Find a brand with individual tuning (rare, but more prominent with "custom" makers)
    - Find a brand or store happy to exchange until you find one you're satisfied with
    - Learn to tune a nib to your preferences

    You seem to be leaning to the last option, and I think it's a task or skill most people can learn.
    Last edited by dneal; December 8th, 2022 at 09:26 AM.
    "A truth does not mind being questioned. A lie does not like being challenged."

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