Making a Rotring pen body

[richardandtracyParticipant @richardandtracy]

Mick,

If you were seeing that sort of wear on the point of your nib, there's a high chance it was an untipped pen. As many of the cheaper makers of pens were going into oblivion because of the ball point in the 1950's/60's/70's they tried to compete by reducing costs to below the minimum. One way of doing this was to fold the tip of a steel nib over so it looked like a proper 'iridium' point, and another (even worse to my view) was to braze a tip of 'something/anything/who cares what so long as it looks like a tip' (often brass) on the end. The wear properties of both these methods were very poor and you would get the sort of wear you describe at pretty much the speed you describe. It was done mostly to school pens by brands in the UK like Platignum, Osmoroid and one I never had personal experience of: Mentmore. Quality brands (Onoto being one in 1956) refused to join in the race to the bottom and quietly ceased production without compromising their quality.

If the tip had been proper 'iridium', as found on something like the Parker 51, it takes decades to make a significant foot on the end. I was given a Parker 61 at age 13, and used it as my only pen for 25 years writing an average of 20 pages a day for most of that. With a loupe I can see that the ball shape has flattened a little, and it's just possible, though difficult, to feel the foot I wore into it when changing the angle I hold the pen at. (the body of that pen gave up, and I now have that nib in a Parker 51). That is the level of wear you should expect from the 'iridium' on a nib, and it applies whether you are right or left handed.

These days, I have discovered I prefer broad italic nibs, and deliberately grind the tips of the pens I get to make them into the shape I want, so I don't have to wait 50 years to wear in the nib to eventually get an italic shape…

Regards

Richard.

[Anonymous]

Richard I wasn't arguing against a "proper iridium" nib I was commenting on the throwaway phrase which I know to be false albeit my apparent use of an inferior nib.

Posted by Gordon Brown 1 on 18/06/2017 07:58:35:

The issue of not lending your pen to someone else because it will damage the tip is a myth I'm afraid.

[John FlackParticipant @johnflack59079]

. Mick berrisford……..a fountain pen with a ball tip…..unusual combination😈😈

I started work in 1952 as a junior clerk in the ledger office a the West India Docks. Biros, available from 1946,, were banned by Head Office, First task was to choose the style of nib to fit the TWO pensholders issued.The ledgers were the size and weight of a council paving slabs ,….. red ink for non chargeable entries, black for chargeable entries. About mid 60s HO announced that Biros were to be issues to staff (Red and black of course!). No body had thought to inform the clerk in charge of stationery who had amassed sufficient stock for that century and the next. He dumped the lot in the WPB. The sight of so many attractively designed boxes, each style of nib with its own name I went into "might come in useful " mode…………..now if anybody has a polite suggestion as to what to do with several thousand pen nibs………………………

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

John, plenty of nibs with ball or rounded tip for example here

[Gordon Brown 1Participant @gordonbrown1]

Posted by Mick Berrisford on 19/06/2017 08:48:21:

Richard I wasn't arguing against a "proper iridium" nib I was commenting on the throwaway phrase which I know to be false albeit my apparent use of an inferior nib.

Posted by Gordon Brown 1 on 18/06/2017 07:58:35:

The issue of not lending your pen to someone else because it will damage the tip is a myth I'm afraid.

Mea culpa, lack of precision on my part! You are of course quite correct in respect of some of the nasties that were produced at extremely low price points, Platignum being a prime example. As Richard has said, doesn't happen at all if the nib is tipped with a suitable material and the overwhelming majority of fps do have a hard tip material, even Platignum produced a number of models with "iridium" tips and some with 14k nibs. If a nib is ground specifically for a leftie it could well catch in the paper if used by a rightie, and a sharp cornered stub may do the same for anyone, but I've loaned many a pen to lefties and had no damage occur at all. However, I only collect fairly high end pens so all have good quality nibs.

As for a fountain pen with a ball tip, the innovative Japanese manufacturer Sailor produced just that, the Sailor Trident. I used to own one and I can confirm that it wrote just fine at any angle at all, very like a ballpoint in fact.

[John FlackParticipant @johnflack59079]

Gordon brown…….i said it was an unusual combination!!!!!!!!!!!

Jason b………..Mike said ball tip, if you asked for ball tip pen you would be offered a biro type?? Rounded tip suggests a blob with no angular edges . 38C in the conservatory its too.hot to bother.

John

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