Thread: Polishing a fountain pen nib?

Surprisingly no matter the quality of the pen or nib, some may need tuning. More so, others may prefer tuning. A tune will smooth it out, or give the nib a bit of tooth, all preference. Some people like it to feel like spreading grease on glass. Others like a little resistance in there, or tooth, or feedback.

The other side of the coin is often a cheap pen will come to you and no adjustments will be needed. Sometimes on cheap or expensive they're needed, other times just wanted.

I use an Arkansas stone when I want to do some major changes to the nib, like make an italic or cursive italic nib or really round off some edges. It's not that it's very abrasive, it's it is easier for me to control in some aspects. Well, to a nib it IS abrasive, but I have more abrasive micromesh and such that I use if needed.

My best would be try whatever method you choose; be it a stone or what have you. Do very light pressure and check your worth with a microscope or loupe often. Also, write test often.

It's important to know what your nib is doing or what you want to do with it. It may just need a good flush or a flossing. Or, it may need some figure 8's on a paper sack. These often do wonders for a nib that was once great, now acting up a little bit.

Never thought of polishing the nib i think it would be great to have glide over the paper i would use my black arkansas as i would think a softer stone could possibly get a groove in it,i don't think the ink would soak in either but i'm very very curious as to how it turns out

The black ark seems like a good idea. It's hard and slow and I wouldn't care about ink. I never use the ark anyway.

I'm a fountain pen guy from way, so I dig the difference between nib tuning and polishing. I like a nib thats smooth and glides, and the ark may do it.

Have a look at this Mark:

Nib Grinding

In the old days they used water of ayr stones (probably because the quality nibs were gold and were prepared by jewellers, who used WoA stones to buff surfaces prior to gilding, etc). More modern pens are made of a harder gold, and at some point they began adding an iridium pellet (very hard wearing metal) tot he end of the nib for longer life. If it is one of those (they stopped using iridium in favour of another substance when iridium got prohibitively expensive, but the same applies) you don't want to go through the iridium, which is incredibly thin, so a higher grit is much more preferable than a lower grit.

Regards,
Neil

Rather than using a stone on a fountain pen nib, I would suggest that you try a bit of Cerium Oxide on flat leather.

Cerium Oxide is a fairly slow-working polishing compound that is used to polish glass. As such it would (hopefully) be gentle enough to smooth out your pen nibs without taking huge bites out of them like stones or sandpaper.

Of course, if you haven't any Cerium Oxide, you might also try Chromium Oxide or even even Rouge (very slow-working that last one).

Neil, that's a great link.

I tried my Dragon's Tongue, working very light circles (about a dozen), and it shined up real nice. It looks like I've found a use for my wacky Dragon's Tongue!

As a trained calligrapher, I would polish my nibs with 2000+ crocus cloth and Jeweler's rouge at the very least.

But, if the nib is gold plated, it won't require polishing. Gold is good!!!

Be advised that there is a difference between polishing a nib and reshaping a nib for a different purpose. The average person has no idea what we are discussing here.

Reading this, I agree that even a high end fountain pen needs tuning to suit the writer. Believe it of not, I've had several watch makers tell me that a new Rolex needs a going over to smooth it out and allow it to keep better time.

Good luck with that.