ldb2000
Member
I started to post this tirade in another thread where someone was saying ALL kit nibs are bad but moved it here to keep from hijacking that thread.
I keep hearing about how bad the kit nibs are and this is not entirely true , in fact my daily writer right now is a Baron with a kit nib and it writes as well as any upgrade nib I have ever used and I didn't have to do a thing to it . Allot of different factors go into what makes a good nib . I have had some upgrade nibs the write like absolute crap and as stated some kit nibs that write as good or better then the upgraded nibs . Most nibs , including kit nibs , will write fine out of the box and if not you just need to take a few minutes to clean them and give them a quick tune up to get them performing properly .
First and foremost don't take anyones word for what nibs are good , even mine . Learn what the differences are and what makes a good nib good . If you are going to sell or give away or even use fountain pens you should know what makes them tick . Customers will buy fountain pens from you more confidently if you can speak with a knowledge of the product you are selling . Look around the net and READ ! There is a ton of information out there on fountain pens so there is no excuse to not know about them . Join the fountain pen network and check out the forums , ask questions and learn .
Kit nibs ; All of our pen kits come from China including the Taiwanese kits (Taiwan is a part of China) but not all the kit nibs are bad just because they come from China . There are several factors that determine whether a nib is good or not and some of these are personal preferences .
1 - Writing smoothness ; This is how smoothly a nib slides across the paper . This is dependent on several factors , how well the tips of the nib are aligned , the quality of the tipping material and the ink used .
The surface of the tipping should be evenly aligned on the two tines , if either one is slightly off then it will leave a sharp edge on the cut of one of the tines that can catch on the fibers of the paper and cause a scratchy feeling as the nib slides across the paper . This is the most common cause for a scratchy feeling nib and is easily fixed by gently bending down the higher of the two tines until they are both exactly aligned . This is a very fine adjustment and doesn't require allot of force to make .
The tipping material should be a smooth round ball shape but some times there are irregularities in the material that leaves sharp edges that catch on the fibers in the paper . This can be fixed by a simple smoothing of the tipping . To do this first make sure that the tines are aligned , then you need some very fine abrasive material like 12000 micro mesh or finer , a brown paper grocery bag will work for this . Best would be to buy a nib smoothing kit available from some of the better pen shops on the net . Load the nib with water or ink by dipping it and draw about a dozen large figure "8"s on the abrasive material very lightly . Be careful not to take too much material off or create a flat spot on the tipping , gently roll the nib as you draw the figure "8"s then dip the nib in some ink and see how it feels on a piece of high quality paper (copier or printer paper is not high quality) , repeat if it still feels scratchy .
The Ink acts as a lubricant and can sometimes make a big difference how well a nib writes . Use a quality ink and advise your customers to do the same . The 50 for a $1 cartridges are not going to be a good quality ink .
Writing smoothness is also a personal preference . Some people like a little tooth and some like the nib to glide across the paper with no feedback , like me .
2 - Ink flow ; This is not just a nib problem but can also be caused by problems with the feed and changing the nib won't help . If you have a pen that keeps skipping or won't start when you start to write , this is an ink flow problem . It can be caused by several factors in either the nib or the feed or both and even from the ink supply itself . If you have a hard starting pen or one that skips the first thing to do is thoroughly clean the nib and feed with a warm water bath with a drop or two of some dish washing detergent . Let the section soak for a little while in the warm water bath to remove any manufacturing oils that may be clogging the nib or feed . Then rinse the section in some warm clean water and use a converter to flush out the section a few times . This will take care of the problem , most of the time . If it don't then it's time to check the nibs tine alignment . There should be an space between the tines from the breather hole to the tip , slightly wider at the breather hole and almost closing up at the tip . This is a difficult adjustment to make because fixing one problem might create another with the same symptoms . To adjust the tines you have to very gently bend both tines up to create a slight gap in the tines . Be very careful with this adjustment , too much will give too big a gap or bend the tines away from the feed and the ink won't flow right . Too big a gap between the tines or feed will cause flooding or stop ink flow completely . Another way to set a proper gap in the tines is to floss the gap with a very thin sheet of brass or plastic . You can buy a nib flossing kit from some of the better pen shops on the net . This kit and the smoothing kit are very good tools to have if you are doing fountain pens .
The next thing to check is the alignment of the nib to the feed . If you look through the breather hole you should be able to see the feed channel just below it . If the nibs tines and the ink channel aren't aligned then you will have ink flow problems . To fix this just look through the breather hole and gently push the nib (from behind the wings) to either one side or the other until the ink channel is in the center of the breather hole .
The final thing to check is the ink supply . Cartridges don't usually have any problems but converters can . Air bubbles in a converter can stop ink flow . Use a converter with a little marble in it to break the surface tension in the ink , this will allow the ink to flow . The ink itself can sometimes be a problem . If you have a pen with an ink flow problem and nothing else helps try changing the ink to a different brand . This should actually be the first thing you try if you have a flow problem . Inks that flow well in most fountain pens are , Waterman's Florida Blue and Parker Quink Black .
After all this if you are still having any problems , you may just have a bad nib or feed or both . It don't matter what nib you are using , you can always get a bad one .
There are some good reasons to change to an upgrade nib . First is to change the line width . To go from a fine to medium or change the shape of the nib to an italic or oblique or calligraphy style nib . Another good reason is that most fountain pen collectors won't buy a pen with a Chinese nib in it .
Also never load an ink cartridge in the pen before you sell it . If you hold on to the pen for any length of time the ink will dry up and could clog the feed causing flow problems and if you try to sell an inked pen to a collector , most likely they won't buy it . Collectors are funny about the inks they put in their pens and don't want to have to clean out an ink that they didn't choose . To allow a customer a chance to try a pen just dip the nib in a bottle of ink . This will put enough ink in the nib and feed to allow the customer to write a couple of lines and see if he likes the feel of the pen , this is also a good way to check all the pens you make to see if the nib writes smoothly . As soon as you are done just a few swishes in a bowl of clean water will clean out any ink thats left .
I keep hearing about how bad the kit nibs are and this is not entirely true , in fact my daily writer right now is a Baron with a kit nib and it writes as well as any upgrade nib I have ever used and I didn't have to do a thing to it . Allot of different factors go into what makes a good nib . I have had some upgrade nibs the write like absolute crap and as stated some kit nibs that write as good or better then the upgraded nibs . Most nibs , including kit nibs , will write fine out of the box and if not you just need to take a few minutes to clean them and give them a quick tune up to get them performing properly .
First and foremost don't take anyones word for what nibs are good , even mine . Learn what the differences are and what makes a good nib good . If you are going to sell or give away or even use fountain pens you should know what makes them tick . Customers will buy fountain pens from you more confidently if you can speak with a knowledge of the product you are selling . Look around the net and READ ! There is a ton of information out there on fountain pens so there is no excuse to not know about them . Join the fountain pen network and check out the forums , ask questions and learn .
Kit nibs ; All of our pen kits come from China including the Taiwanese kits (Taiwan is a part of China) but not all the kit nibs are bad just because they come from China . There are several factors that determine whether a nib is good or not and some of these are personal preferences .
1 - Writing smoothness ; This is how smoothly a nib slides across the paper . This is dependent on several factors , how well the tips of the nib are aligned , the quality of the tipping material and the ink used .
The surface of the tipping should be evenly aligned on the two tines , if either one is slightly off then it will leave a sharp edge on the cut of one of the tines that can catch on the fibers of the paper and cause a scratchy feeling as the nib slides across the paper . This is the most common cause for a scratchy feeling nib and is easily fixed by gently bending down the higher of the two tines until they are both exactly aligned . This is a very fine adjustment and doesn't require allot of force to make .
The tipping material should be a smooth round ball shape but some times there are irregularities in the material that leaves sharp edges that catch on the fibers in the paper . This can be fixed by a simple smoothing of the tipping . To do this first make sure that the tines are aligned , then you need some very fine abrasive material like 12000 micro mesh or finer , a brown paper grocery bag will work for this . Best would be to buy a nib smoothing kit available from some of the better pen shops on the net . Load the nib with water or ink by dipping it and draw about a dozen large figure "8"s on the abrasive material very lightly . Be careful not to take too much material off or create a flat spot on the tipping , gently roll the nib as you draw the figure "8"s then dip the nib in some ink and see how it feels on a piece of high quality paper (copier or printer paper is not high quality) , repeat if it still feels scratchy .
The Ink acts as a lubricant and can sometimes make a big difference how well a nib writes . Use a quality ink and advise your customers to do the same . The 50 for a $1 cartridges are not going to be a good quality ink .
Writing smoothness is also a personal preference . Some people like a little tooth and some like the nib to glide across the paper with no feedback , like me .
2 - Ink flow ; This is not just a nib problem but can also be caused by problems with the feed and changing the nib won't help . If you have a pen that keeps skipping or won't start when you start to write , this is an ink flow problem . It can be caused by several factors in either the nib or the feed or both and even from the ink supply itself . If you have a hard starting pen or one that skips the first thing to do is thoroughly clean the nib and feed with a warm water bath with a drop or two of some dish washing detergent . Let the section soak for a little while in the warm water bath to remove any manufacturing oils that may be clogging the nib or feed . Then rinse the section in some warm clean water and use a converter to flush out the section a few times . This will take care of the problem , most of the time . If it don't then it's time to check the nibs tine alignment . There should be an space between the tines from the breather hole to the tip , slightly wider at the breather hole and almost closing up at the tip . This is a difficult adjustment to make because fixing one problem might create another with the same symptoms . To adjust the tines you have to very gently bend both tines up to create a slight gap in the tines . Be very careful with this adjustment , too much will give too big a gap or bend the tines away from the feed and the ink won't flow right . Too big a gap between the tines or feed will cause flooding or stop ink flow completely . Another way to set a proper gap in the tines is to floss the gap with a very thin sheet of brass or plastic . You can buy a nib flossing kit from some of the better pen shops on the net . This kit and the smoothing kit are very good tools to have if you are doing fountain pens .
The next thing to check is the alignment of the nib to the feed . If you look through the breather hole you should be able to see the feed channel just below it . If the nibs tines and the ink channel aren't aligned then you will have ink flow problems . To fix this just look through the breather hole and gently push the nib (from behind the wings) to either one side or the other until the ink channel is in the center of the breather hole .
The final thing to check is the ink supply . Cartridges don't usually have any problems but converters can . Air bubbles in a converter can stop ink flow . Use a converter with a little marble in it to break the surface tension in the ink , this will allow the ink to flow . The ink itself can sometimes be a problem . If you have a pen with an ink flow problem and nothing else helps try changing the ink to a different brand . This should actually be the first thing you try if you have a flow problem . Inks that flow well in most fountain pens are , Waterman's Florida Blue and Parker Quink Black .
After all this if you are still having any problems , you may just have a bad nib or feed or both . It don't matter what nib you are using , you can always get a bad one .
There are some good reasons to change to an upgrade nib . First is to change the line width . To go from a fine to medium or change the shape of the nib to an italic or oblique or calligraphy style nib . Another good reason is that most fountain pen collectors won't buy a pen with a Chinese nib in it .
Also never load an ink cartridge in the pen before you sell it . If you hold on to the pen for any length of time the ink will dry up and could clog the feed causing flow problems and if you try to sell an inked pen to a collector , most likely they won't buy it . Collectors are funny about the inks they put in their pens and don't want to have to clean out an ink that they didn't choose . To allow a customer a chance to try a pen just dip the nib in a bottle of ink . This will put enough ink in the nib and feed to allow the customer to write a couple of lines and see if he likes the feel of the pen , this is also a good way to check all the pens you make to see if the nib writes smoothly . As soon as you are done just a few swishes in a bowl of clean water will clean out any ink thats left .
, I found that the steel nibs from Heritage pens(Heritance nibs) are a very good replacement for kit nibs, while some kit nibs are ok, the quality of the Heritance nibs is immediately felt in the writing, that has been my experience; once I install the heritance nib I have peace of mind that my customers will have a quality pen with a quality nib. Of course, there are others that may sell quality nibs also, but since I found a good thing I will stick to it. Amos
