Custom Nib Grinds

[syngent]

So after playing with Doug's, or at least one of Doug's customs I'm curious if anyone else out there in Nib Land has some customs they would like to share, from what made you decide, to how you picked who you picked, and of course pictures

everything and anything Custom Nib wise is welcome here

 

[ChefJohnBoy-ardee]

I want to get my Sheaffer Imperial IV in medium CI'd. Just haven't sent it out... The nib on it is currently out of tune but it doesn't drip or make a mess or anything. It writes great with great line variation. If it had a sac I would show a sample.

 

[nemo]

I've had a few nibs ground through the years and my best writers come from people with lots of experience. There are a lot of "nibmeisters" out there. Are they all good? Hmm ... I would ask about a guarantee ... what if I don't like the way it writes now? See what they can do for you. I know that Mike Masuyama is good, John Mottishaw, and Greg Minuskin are too. Binder is out, only grinds at pen shows.

Pendemonium (no affiliation, yada yada) has a woman that grinds nibs for them, Letta ... that's who grinds my nibs (like this one). Letta worked for Sheaffer in Fort Madison, Iowa for over 43 years. She has ground nibs inside the old Sheaffer factory for over 30 years and never took a day off. I hear she's fast -- she must be, for the low price they're charging right now!

Anyway, grinding takes material off, so you can't make a nib wider unless you weld more tipping material back and that's very expensive. It isn't for everyone. One more thing, if you have a nice or expensive nib, I would send it out and not try it yourself.

 

[andrew98]

I'm sending a pen out for a custom grind tomorrow. It's going to Letta at Pendemonium, per Doug's recommendation. It's a broad nib in a Taccia Momenta (gorgeous pen). I'll take photos of the work and post them in this thread after it comes back.

I can't decide whether to go stub or italic. I've used an oblique stub before, and it was nice. Smooth and user friendly. I've never used a proper italic. Up until now it's been untipped italics like the Pilot 78G Broad.

Anyone have a recommendation? Thoughts? Advice?

-Andy

 

[drathgeb]

My first impression of italics was from a Lamy Vista with a 1.1. Very smooth and a great price for something you're not sure about. I liked the way it dressed up my writing so I ordered a Franklin-Christoph with a M italic ground by Masuyama. It deffinately took some getting used to. It had a really scratchy feel on the paper and it seemed to skip a lot. It was so frustrating I actually put it up for a few months. When I inked it up again I worked with it a bit more and it is now one of my prefered nibs. Just like a good beer; once you try one you want to try them all.

 

[andrew98]

once you try one you want to try them all.

Stub it is. I'm avoiding italics forever! The last thing I need is some new aspect of this hobby that makes me want to buy more fountain pens.

-Andy

 

[rider4life]

How can you guys let your vintage pens have their nibs ground? As much as I'd like to try a custom grind I'm honestly afraid of losing the buttery-smoothness of my vintage Sheaffer nib. Do you buy a crap pen and send that off?

Cheers,

M.

 

[gks]

Binder is out, only grinds at pen shows.

Binder isn't completely out. If you have a pen that he carries and the nibs are interchangeable, just order a nib unit from him. You can custom order the grinds for those nibs. He just doesn't accept pens for grinding. Example, if I want a custom ground nib from him for my new M800, I can goto his site, and order up a nib for it and have it custom ground to my liking. Because he carries Pelikan nibs.

Same for Edison nibs and Bexley and any others that have swappable nibs that he carries.

 

[nemo]

How can you guys let your vintage pens have their nibs ground? As much as I'd like to try a custom grind I'm honestly afraid of losing the buttery-smoothness of my vintage Sheaffer nib. Do you buy a crap pen and send that off?

I don't send off any vintage. As a matter of fact, I discourage that. It's only these modern things with a gigantic iridium blob that I change.

It would be a crime to grind an early Pelikan nib!

 

[andrew98]

How can you guys let your vintage pens have their nibs ground? As much as I'd like to try a custom grind I'm honestly afraid of losing the buttery-smoothness of my vintage Sheaffer nib. Do you buy a crap pen and send that off?

I don't send off any vintage. As a matter of fact, I discourage that. It's only these modern things with a gigantic iridium blob that I change.

It would be a crime to grind an early Pelikan nib!

My Taccia Momenta has a gigantic iridium blob that I wasn't really enjoying. I also wouldn't have a vintage nib ground.

-Andy

 

[Suzuki]

I agree about not having vintage nibs ground as a general proposition - the only time I would grind a vintage nib is if I was very unhappy with how it wrote and there wasn't an easier way to get a different writing experience.

I don't know how it was back in the day, but I find that lots of new pens have nib issues, including higher end pens.

On the stub vs italic issue, if you're a lefty, you're likeliy better off with a stub. Most lefties push the pen across the paper and my experience is that its easy to catch corners - I don't have this problem with stubs.

 

[andrew98]

Thanks Chris. I'm right handed, but I still think I'll go for a stub. I'm going to get a Franklin-Christoph 65 at some point, and I'll probably get that with a medium italic. drathgeb very generously offered to send his F-C with medium italic my way, so I can give it a try.

-Andy

 

[celestino]

Doug, where is Letta located?

 

[ChefJohnBoy-ardee]

Fort Madison, Iowa where Sheaffer used to be located.

 

[nemo]

Doug, where is Letta located?

She's been the in-house nib grinder for Pendemonium in Fort Madison since right before Sheaffer shut down there.

 

[59chop]

Does anyone have any experience with / recommendations for UK grinders? I'd like to have my new Waterman slimmed down a little, but I've had bad experiences with USPS lately and cant justify the risk.