Custom Nibs - and How to Start Doing it Yourself!
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- Опубликовано: 11 июл 2024
- Drew and Brian respond to a question inquiring about custom nib grinds, and about DIY grinds! Originally from The Goulet Pencast Episode 30. • Nib Grinds, Bullet Jou...
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LINKS TO PRODUCTS FEATURED:
Gene Salorino - Custom Nib Studio: www.customnibstudio.com/
Mark Bacas - Nibgrinder: www.nibgrinder.com/
Diplomat Aero Custom Grind: www.gouletpens.com/products/d...
Visconti Homo Sapiens Custom Grind: www.gouletpens.com/products/v...
Noodler's Non-Flex Steel Nib: www.gouletpens.com/collection...
Magnifier/Loupe: www.gouletpens.com/products/c...
Goulet Nibs: www.gouletpens.com/products/g...
TIMESTAMPS:
0:00 The question
0:28 What is a custom grind?
1:13 Common nib grinds
1:45 Where to get custom nibs
2:48 How to start grinding your own nibs
5:36 Brian's thoughts
8:23 Things to keep in mind
9:53 Brian and Drew's experience in grinding
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Brian & Rachel Goulet started The Goulet Pen Company in 2009 and you can see the evolution of our mom and pop into a full-blown company through this channel. We run a dedicated online store with fountain pens, ink, paper, and other fine writing accessories. Our goal with this channel is to provide fountain pen fans at all levels of experience with comprehensive product reviews, round ups, and how-to videos to answer all the fountain pen questions you may have. Shop at www.gouletpens.com.
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I started off grinding my own nibs due to not finding a lot of nibs suitable for drawing (I'm used to Hunt 102 nibs and Gillott 303s). I finally dialed in a 3XF grind I found great for sketching. The pay off is when I did the grind for another artist (who has done work by well respected nib meisters) and was surprised by how smooth I was able to get a 3XF nib. All that trial and error payed off.
For those interested in grinding, you can get a good start by using Arkansas stones, micromesh, and a quality loupe. I recommend Belomo 10x loupes for all grinding and tuning. 20x for serious magnification.
When you get comfortable, you can graduate to rotary tools and grinding wheels, but be prepared to ruin nibs.
As an ex-jeweller, I would absolutely LOVE to learn this skill. That said, I've only used inexpensive nibs, some have been wonderful, others... I'd practice on lol. Anyone know about any introduction courses? As you say, knowing what equipment you will need and acquiring that is a science in itself.
I learned grinding a few years back as a way to be able to buy a pen with an M nib that I really wanted into a EF. Best summer I ever spent, getting all info I needed on the web. Bought a dozen Jinhao nibs for next to nothing and developed my own grind. Turned a Parker Duofold Centennial M into a perfect EF. Take your time.
I think I succeeded in making my own nib grinds complete with the smoothness/feedback and wetness tuning with Jinhao nibs, having referenced to various gold nib pens in my collection, managed to make the hard-starting Kaweco sport nib writes at the lightest touch with feedback of my own(still can't copy Sailor's though). Kind of reduced the desire to want to buy more gold nib pens for the nib though... my next level pens now remain in the $700-2000 range because of the body(urushis)🥺
tuning an overly slippery nib that often hard starts, to write very light, immediate writing, with a little feedback, is just 👌
As soon as I heard this, I had to write it down somewhere (with a fountain pen may I add):
"we all have to make choices. whenever you're saying yes to something, you're saying no to something else"
I just ground my first nib a few days ago! Managed to get a nice crisp italic oblique; very happy with my results. I used a double-sided whetstone (1k and 6k grit) and a micron paper set from Amazon.
At first I had a nice sharp line, then actually over-smoothed it so it had little line variation. Ground it again and smoothed MUCH less, and now it's perfect.
Still, I have two custom grinds waiting for me from Linda Kennedy and I'm very excited about that 😍 I'm more than happy to pay for someone much more skilled than I am to touch my gold nibs 👀
I reground a few myself, mainly stubs, I started with cheap nibs and I found it easier than expected, but I did a lot of tiny electronics stuff for my physics labs and therefore I might be more familiar with the work under 30x magnification.
Is a newbie nib grinder a "nibbler"? LOL! I want to try!!
If you have a supply of cheap tipped steel nibs (like Noodler's), you can do DIY grinding with a loupe and a few polishing pads. I bought a 6000x, 8000x and 12000x pads. Total cost was about $20 excluding the nibs.
Hey that's me!!!
Btw this topic did get a (kinda) dedicated video
Ref: i thought that this topic would not get any kinda vid only would stay in the podcast.
Any ways iam happy to see this topic in a semi dedicated vid😊
We thought more people might benefit from this topic - we don't cover it often! Thanks again! - Drew
@@Gouletpens i thought of the same thing after watching the vid. 👍😊
Thanks for asking the question. 😘
I custom ground a couple Lamy nibs (they're easily replaceable and cheap) and a TWSBI nib. The first one I attempted was a cursive italic, and the second was an architect. It did take a while but they turned out extremely well.
The most important thing: GO SLOWLY and check your work constantly. The more material you remove at once, the more likely you are to make a mistake.
That's also the first thing that differentiates an expert nib grinder from a DIYer... an expert could probably do in a few minutes what took me several hours.
I just bought some terrific italic nibs that fit my TWSBIs (#5) perfectly. UK e-Bay Loft Pens Limited. They cost like £2 ($2.60 Shipping is about another $12 but for all the nibs you buy) each. I bought a whole range. Unless you want to write a large sign, get the smallest ones. They shipped them to me in like a week. I think I'm using the 0.38 or 0.50 one. I did give it a tune-up polished 6000 to 12000 (I could've just done the 12000) These nibs are true italics, but in normal writing are only slightly different than a TWSBI 1.1 Stub nib. If you've read this far you probably won't rest until you try it.
I've also DIY ground several nibs. (Brian and the other guy sell pens and nibs. I respect that. I can see sending Drew a TWSBI with my favorite DIY grind to pass along to his custom nib meister and have him custom grind a Pelikan or other really nice pen to match (& probably improve) my grind. I think this would be just about perfect.
Over the past five years, I've made a few italics out of stub nibs. I already had sharpening tools from my woodshop -and I know how to sharpen so I had an advantage.
1. You don't need a grinder or Dremel. Doing the rough shaping with my tools takes only a few minutes - so no power tools. For rough shaping I use Trend 300/1000 grit diamond stone. I also have a set of EZE-Lap Diamond Honing Stones. They're like small plastic sticks. Medium?? 600?? Fine 800, Super Fine 1200. These are really all you need to do your rough grinds.
2. Micro Surface Micro-Mesh pads for cleaning up the scratches, taking off the corners and polishing. The set I got on Amazon goes from 1500 to 12000. (Often I'll run a brand new nib 4000 through to 12000 just to make it smoother. So every pen owner should have a set. Years ago when I used to use Nemosines I found all the nibs to be scratchy but easily tuned-up.)
Why DIY? I've been making italic nibs that tilt for my right hand writing. I hold my pens at about 45° (in both directions.) So a flat italic nib is thin up and to the right, and wide down and to the right. Significantly lessens the italic-ness. Try drawing a picture of how a 45°-45° nib should look - it'll make you nuts. Instead just hold the pen as you normally hold it, set it down on the big stone like it's your paper and draw (pull) enough strokes to flatten the nib - this sets your side to side angle. Then I set the stone up vertically, but parallel to my writing - basically on the lines of notebook paper. I then go up and down, this shapes and flattens the front of the nib. Next do this on the back side of the nib - that's a bit trickier (I just leave the nib in my pen so you're trying to not hit the feed). The front vertical grind sets the thickness of your horizontal line, and it corrects the angle you hold your pen so this line is parallel to the writing lines. The back side grind is just to get it parallel to the front. The front controls the thin line. Doing this to match the angle I hold my pen is why I DIY grind. (I also have some loupes 10x for checking. I also have an 80x microscope that's difficult to use. Not sure they're needed.)
Then I'll knock down the sides with the EZEs but mostly with just the micro-mesh. At this point you should have a nib that is fat vertical stroke, thin side to side - but at the angle you normally hold it. Until you fine tune it, It'll grab and tear the paper. The next step is to use the micro-mesh to round the corners a bit - more rounded= less italic so it's always a compromise. If you have a back up pen, or an extra nib you'll have the confidence to just go for it. My intention when I started was to go too far, ruin a nib and then know how far is too far. I've yet to ruin a nib.
Now work through the micro-mesh to make it smooth. If it doesn't seem to be getting less scratchy, go back several steps. (maybe you're at 4000 and it's not getting better -- go back to 2400. The way grits work is they only remove the last grit's scratches. So don't skip steps. 8000 cannot take out 2400 scratches. So all-day at 8000 isn't as nearly good or as efficient as a few minutes stepping through the grits. (Sharpening is an entire skill and well worth learning. My cynical tip? If you're watching a video and some guy is going on and on about his Japanese water stones - skip it and find a more practical video. Those wet stone fetishists spend more time flattening those stones than they do sharpening anything. The stones cost a fortune - and you don't need them. My 300/1000 synthetic Trend diamond stone will last forever and never need flattening. For chisels and plane knives the next steps after my Trend I use Scary Sharp. It's like micro-mesh on a piece of glass. Costs less than $20 and also never needs flattening. I've been doing this stuff for years. When you buy a new chisel - do you sharpen it? I now do a bit of tune up using Scary Sharp - it's just that good. The only possible next step is leather stropping. Years ago Fine WoodWorking magazine did an electron microscope test on all this. )
You can almost never really destroy a nib. When I first started DIY grinding I ground the little hard bit completely off a Nemosine. I went way too far, but I liked how it wrote. In those days was writing for hours every day and found that every two weeks or so the nib would get scratchy - so I'd just draw some infinity symbols on a 12000 micro-mesh pad and it tuned right up. I'm still afraid to DIY grind a Pelikan nib, I'd suggest first trying those UK e-Bay nibs, and every fountain pen owner should have some micro-mesh pads just for tuning up. You can't do any damage with them and you'll quickly figure out how to eliminate scratchiness. And if you want to go farther, get a set of the small EZE-Laps- they're good enough to grind a nib to any shape you want. I really like having italics that fit how I hold my pens. Hope this helps.
Me ayudo bastante. Muchas gracias por tu tiempo y explicación.
I did not know what it was! Thanks
I'm getting into this part of the hobby now.
I was successful the first time for some reason. Even though it does have hard starts a little.
For nib mods i use 6-10k Gridt sharpening stones and polishing wheels... It does most of the job for what i need, and im happy that i found this method :)
Brian, appreciate you, I actually started buying nibs from China and learned nib grinding, then started buying the Goulet nibs to work with. I think you replaced 2 of the nibs I misground even though I only asked for 1 replacement. More companies need to be like Goulet. Keep doing what you do.
Thank you for the kind words, Michael! - Drew
I have enough cheap pens to practice on and know where I can get more nibs. Being able to turn an ordinary stock pen into something special would be super satisfying.
Thank you for covering this topic! I was looking for more info a few weeks ago when I found a needle point custom grind secondhand... I looked up Kirk Speer (Pen Realm) and took a gamble! Turned out to be a great purchase~ I have wanted a TWSBI for a long time, but I always hesitated because I only use extra, extra fine nibs, like the Japanese EF. I really lucked out with an honest seller! I know she paid more for the nib than the TWSBI Eco, and she sold it to me for a nice discount! Now I just want to try a Platinum 3776 UEF... but it's hard to go back from the piston filling TWSBI :D Would you compare UEF to a needle point grind? -it's really the only size nib I'm interested in. I write super tiny!
My first grind was a DeLike EF that I could not stop paper testing.
Initially I it to an unwritable condition. Weeks later goat it to a somewhat medium stub that is smooth and a pleasure to write with.
My next effort, for fun, will be a Jinhao medium nib. But I assure you nibmeisters need not worry.
First! Really enjoying these Q&A’s
I’ve been looking into this for a while now. Perhaps it’s time to get that starter kit from Goulet 🤔
I customize dip pen nibs so they work smoothly for lefties (because while some are great, some are absolute trash for lefties) but am not sure I'd jump into that for fountain pens. Definitely seems like a way to ruin a bunch of nibs, agreed. That being said though, getting a nib that previously only worked for right handed people to be functional and buttery smooth for a leftie is very, very satisfying.
I too have "played around" with grinding my own. Drew hit the nail on the head - consistency. Being a scientist and executive, I am a ultra-detail oriented and am very consistent in most of what I do. But I can not get consistency in my nib grinds. Part of it, I believe, is the inconsistent materials being used on the nib. But also, it is just something that takes time, time and more time - which I don't have. I have gone back to the excellent nib meisters - Kirk Speer, Mark Bacas, Audrey Mattson at Franklin-Christoph and of course the incomparable Mike Matsuyama who ground my very first cursive italic nib. It is worth the time and money to have them grind my nibs.
Well said! - Drew
I once bought a $1 Chinese pen and the nib came extremely bent. I broke it trying to fix it then I did grind it myself with nail files hahahah Metal file and polishing file. I wasn't able to do the nib I wanted but I made a "thin" broad nib in the process and it's smooth and consistent so... success.
are you sure that wasn’t a fude nib
The real question about grinding nibs is finding one pen and the which nibs fit that pen. Noodler's is easy. You sell nibs that are made for most Noodler's pens. Which pens do your own Goulet nibs fit? Size is so confusing. Lamy Safari nibs are relatively inexpensive on a good starter pen. I have a Lamy Safari and purchased an extra nib to make my own Architect's nib. Gena ground one of those for me on my TWSBI Eco and I love it. I will just try to copy her shape.
Brian, what I just heard from you about nib grinding is some hardcore all or nothing thinking. This type of thinking can rob you of a great deal of joy in life. You dont have to be a virtuosos to be able to enjoy something. I understand the desire for excellence. Music for example. I have been playing electric bass for nearly 30 years. I can cop a good groove and stay deep in the pocket and stuck to the beat like nobodies business. That said, there are many, many bass players who are light years beyond me in terms of ability, knowledge etc. But, I don't let that discourage me. I keep playing because I love it. You should cut yourself a break and just play some music because it feels good to catch a groove. It is good for your soul to say the very least. Too, if you look into what Rudolph Steiner or Georges Gurdjieff or Pythagoras and so many others through the centuries have had to say about music it gets quite profound. And that isnt even the really cool stuff about music. It goes far deeper to a level most people have zero clue is even possible. "Music is the handmaiden of Gnosis."
I’m comfortable smoothing stub nibs (steel not gold). I’ve tried ultra smooth with micron paper. It seems the micron paper makes it scratchy. Anyone else experience this?
Can you do a video on strange fountain pen stories?
Do you have one to contribute? :) - Drew
Funny enough inwaa gonna post a nib grinding video on my channel, but I talked so badly in it and it was hard to hear and understand me properly so I didn't upload it
I believe that Lamy steel nibs are also rather inexpensive (10 USD a piece on Amazon.de), and they're pretty good out of the box, so you have a great base, and they're compatible with virtually all Lamy pens.
I succeeded with creating stubs out of cheap point nibs, but that's as far as I go. I couldn't grind down acceptable fine or thinner points.
One of the tricks of nib grinding is knowing when to stop. I've ruined many nibs to learn this.
"Retail store"? Goulet Pens has a retail store? Where is it located?
We do not have a retail store. Sorry if that was accidentally implied! - Drew
If tipping materials are generally something like iridium, why are gold nibs considered to be smoother writers than steel nibs? (Or is that a misconception? I've never used a gold nib since they cost so much).
It has to do with the rest of the nib. The tip has less to do with the smoothness aspect. It has more to do with the whole nib being gold. The whole nib creates bounce. Hence a larger nib will be smoother than a smaller one. I'm sorry, it is sorta hard to explain. Think of the tip as tires and the rest of the nib as shocks.
gold nibs simply mostly given more care to the shaping and smoothing(never 100% though, just quite better chance, some company still do gold nib dirty), reputable steel nib makers will have the steel ones smooth and okay, but once you find a nib with certain feedback, character, you'll find that there's more to it than simply smooth writer; an enjoyable writing experience only for you, combining feedback, line quality, slipperiness, and the shape/weight of the pen, and this has been proven to be not related to the gold content.
Pilot gold nibs are tuned quite different to each nib size, or even pen style(like the E95S being stunningly smooth and slippery compared to Custom74), as if they expect the user to write in certain manner. Sailor has more feedback on the gold nib, while their steels tend to be smoother and less sharper, Platinum's 3776 has completely different idea of feedback compared to all other nibs in Platinum's line, etc, and those are just 3 brands that I know rather well and have
Fascinating. Someday I will get a gold nib, but unlikely I'll ever experience enough of them to perceive the nuances you guys have described.
@@maverator Eh, I only have the pilot e95s however plan to get the Lamy 2000 soon. 1 good pen is really all you need~
And once you can handle the Goulet nibs, the Pelikan M1000 spare nib is just $237US! 😉.
1.1 and 1.5nm Stubs are the answer for a ruined nib grind
#forthealgorithm
I ruined 1 nib and done. I realized I don't have proper equipment to grind a nib. 😁
😬
Dont't tempt me with a good time.
Hey Brian, we miss you in your blue office. Hope you are well. No offense, but Drew is no replacement for your episodes.