Nib tweaking

by Giovanni Abrate

 

So your pen is a dry writer....

 

The most common complaint with new fountain pens is that the nib is scratchy or the ink flow is too dry.
This article will cover a few methods used to make pens smoother and more reliable writers.

Let's start with pens that write dry.

There may be several causes that make a pen write dry.
First, we will look at tine geometry.
Ink flows to the nib by capillary action: that is, it travels (even against gravity!) from a wider portion of the ink channel to a narrower portion. It will not go in the opposite direction!

You can see the taper of the slit in this photograph taken at the Sheaffer factory and published by Popular Science magazine in 1956 .

 

So, if you look at your nib and the space between the tines is wider at the tip than it is further back, close to the vent hole, ink will not flow towards the tip. This example is an extreme case: I have actually never seen in over 40 years of collecting pens a NEW pen with such a problem (old pens, with damaged and badly repaired nibs are another matter...).

What is often seen, however, is a nib that, seen from the front with a 30x loupe, shows a wider gap at the bottom of the iridium tip (the part that touches the paper) than at the top of the iridium pellet. This makes the ink go to the top of the nib and not where the nib touches the paper! This is a very frequent cause of pens that are reluctant or slow starters... after the nib is pressed against the paper, ink will eventually flow to the bottom of the tip, but ink flow will be irregular and intermittent. What to do to remedy this situation?
If your nib is an expensive gold nib: send it to an expert! Gold nibs are more delicate than steel nibs and are easily ruined. If it is a cheap steel nib (and these are the more likely to present this problem) gently squeeze the sides of the nib at the "wings" with your thumbs, increasing slightly the camber or curvature of the nib and making the two sides at the bottom of the iridium pellet marginally closer together than at the top. This should restore proper flow, but, by making the tines a little closer together, it may also reduce the wetness of the ink trace! How do we make our nib, now that it starts OK and without hesitation, lay down a wetter line?  

You have checked the tine geometry and made sure that:

1.       Capillary action can flow to the tip, by making sure that the gap between the tines is narrowest at the tip

2.       Ink flows to the bottom of the nib, by making sure that gap of the iridium pellet is narrower at the bottom than it is at the top

Still, the ink flow is not sufficient, the pen writes too dry and is not as smooth as you were hoping.

Smoothness requires lubrication, in a nib just like in an engine (or at the bottom of a pair of skis…) and the lubricant in a fountain pen is INK. Let’s see what can be done to increase the ink flow.

There are two factors that regulate the ink flow of a nib (actually, there are more, but these two are the main variables):

1.       the gap between the nib and the feed

2.       the gap between the tines

By increasing either of these two gaps, ink flow can be increased; conversely, making either one of these gaps smaller will reduce the ink flow.

Let’s look at the gap between the nib and the feed first.  The nib has to sit very close to the feed in order for the ink channel to transfer ink to the tip of the nib. Usually, the gap is checked by inserting a very thin sheet of paper between nib and dry feed: if it can enter the gap (with some difficulty), then the gap is believed to be OK. I actually use a very thin piece of transparent acetate instead of paper: paper can leave behind a fibrous residue that interferes with proper ink flow. What to do if the gap is NOT ok?

If it is too narrow, I insert the acetate a little deeper and repeat this action a few times, until the acetate feels “right”: that is until it enters under the nib without too much effort.

What to do if the gap is too large? If the feed is made of ebonite, then it can be set with heat. If it is made of plastic (like 99% of modern pens) the only possible action is removal of nib and feed and repositioning of the two, turning them slightly to find a different place in the section. Sometimes this will work, especially when the problem was caused by improper insertion of nib and feed into the section in the first place.  If none of these work, the pen should be sent to a capable repairperson.

The second (more frequent) reason for insufficient ink flow is a gap between the tines that is too narrow.

How to correct this problem? Fortunately, this is easier than correcting problems with the feed/nib gap! Arm yourself with a good 30X loupe. Look at the nib from the front and confirm that the tines are correctly aligned horizontally and that the two halves of the iridium tip are lined up correctly.

Now you need to increase the gap between the tines.

First method (try this one first; it is often all that is needed):

While holding the pen with the tip of the nib pointing at you, place your index fingers over the top of the nib and your thumbs at the sides of the nib (with thumbnails under the wings, pointing upwards). With your thumbnails, gently press outwards, causing the nib tines to flex out away from each other. Do this gently, almost caressing the nib. The fingers on top of the nib will provide stability while you press outwards with your thumbs. Repeat this as needed, checking ink flow after every attempt. You will get inky fingers! This repair has to be done with ink in the pen!

After a few attempts, using gradually higher levels of pressure from the thumbs, you should reach a point where ink flow is much improved. At this point, check again the alignment of the tines and iridium tip, as this may have caused a misalignment that you will need to correct.

This may sound complicated, but it is not and it only takes a minute, with surprisingly good results. It is messy, but inky fingers should not be new to you, if you use fountain pens!!

Second method:

This will increase the ink flow even in the driest pens! Use “nib floss”. Opinions differ about what makes good nib floss. First: flossing a nib means inserting between the tines a thin shim to force them apart. Ideally this should be done starting at the vent hole, but it can also be done from the tip toward the vent hole, making sure not to exert too much pressure, with the risk of causing a crack at the vent.

Never use a razor blade, a thin pen knife blade or anything sharp and made of steel! They will burr the inside of the tines and ruin the nib. They may also scrape against the ink channel in the feed and ruin it!

A very thin brass shim can be used, with extreme caution. Such shims can be made by cutting pieces from brass sheets that are sold by shops that cater to model trains and model aircraft builders.

Personally, I never use the brass shim: I use a piece of acetate, conveniently cut from and “old” overhead slide (remember those?). Some of the old slides had a coated side to facilitate the adherence of ink toner: I wash the piece of acetate in warm water and make sure that any ink, toner or coatings are removed.

To floss: I gently lift with my thumbnail one of the tines, insert the acetate between the tines and straighten them horizontally. Proceed slowly and in tiny steps and very soon you will have a nib with generous flow. If you go too far, you can bring the tines closer together by criss-crossing them over and under a couple of times. After doing so, re-check for proper alignment of tines and iridium.

That’s it! You now have all you need to start on your way to nib adjustment! Don’t go grinding good nibs aimlessly! In 99% of all cases all you need is aligning the nib and adjusting it for proper ink flow. Get a good loupe and a few cheap steel nibs and start practicing! Keep in mind that gold nibs are much more fragile and prone to cracks.

Go easy, don’t rush and results will come. Come to Pentrace often and share your experiences.

 

Read Nib Tweaking - Part II here

 © 2014 Giovanni Abrate - all rights reserved