HisNibs.com update --
April 11th, 2008

NOTE:

This is not my usual email update, as the new
pen models I was offering have already all
sold out to my regular customers, in responding
to my direct customer newsletter.

So, I thought I'd still post a couple of non-sale
comments and a link to a very interesting video
on my weblog.

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Whenever His Nibs sets up at a pen show, I'm
always surprised at the gratefulness that
customers express when I take the time --
sometimes a few seconds, sometimes several
minutes -- to closely examine and tune the
nibs of the pens they've just purchased. I've
come to learn that except for the full time
pen repairers or those whose business it is
to modify nibs -- this is virtually unheard of.
Similarly, with purchases through the website
over more than a decade, a nib has never left
His Nibs without that same care and
attention. It's been suggested to me by many
customers that I've done a poor job of
promoting that fact (i.e., *no* promotion)!
More about that in this newsletter.

I have another short pen-filling video
up on the homepage [Array].
This one stars an integrated piston (as
opposed to a removable piston
converter). I'm still trying to work
out the kinks of producing clear audio when
these are uploaded to video sharing sites
like YouTube. My audio settings remain
constant -- but the results vary! Please
excuse the less-than-ideal sound on this
particular one.

On the blog...Elephant Paints
Self-Portrait....an amazing video!

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in this issue
* Nib Inspection
(deleted sale items)
* On the blog...An Elephant's Self-Portrait

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Nib Inspection

In my experience, 85-90% of all new pens --
from any manufacturer -- arrive with
nibs that need some adjustment or tuning
before they will write optimally. In the
golden age of fountain pens, nibs would be
inspected at several stages through the
manufacturing process, and would be further
examined and fine-tuned at the point-of-sale
by knowledgeable pen sales staff. Those days
are long gone.

Although I've never promoted the fact (as it
always seemed such a natural service to
perform for my customers), in more than 10
years of business, no nib has left His Nibs'
Palace without my inspection under high
magnification (typically a 15X loupe) and in
the vast majority of cases a tuning to
eliminate a potential problem. A number of my
long-standing customers have reminded me that
I've been remiss in not mentioning that fact
-- so I've put a 'service note' near the
bottom of each fountain pen page on the His
Nibs website.

It's an oft-quoted truism that fountain pens
are sold these days as jewelry -- not writing
instruments. That's no doubt true to an
extent. However, it's shocking to me when I
read posts on pen discussion boards, the home
of many collectors and users, that talk about
'this or that' brand or model
of pen being a poor writer, without the
poster being aware that in almost all cases
it's their
individual pen that has the problem.

Nib adjustment is not rocket science (as far
as I remember, I've
never worked for NASA) but anyone that has
more than one or two fountain pens should
realize that each one is slightly
different...even the same model from the same
manufacturer. Most commonly, the tines of the
nib are misaligned -- which would cause
scratchiness at the minimum; the slit between
the tines is partially or fully closed --
which would starve the nib of ink and at best
cause skipping; or the slit between the tines
is too wide -- which will either again cause
skipping, or conversely, flooding. There are
other factors -- such as separation of the
nib from the feed for example -- which easily
have an influence on the writing experience.
There can certainly be problems that won't
manifest themselves with a visual inspection
only, but rather become apparent once the
purchaser inks the pen for the first time.
The vast majority of potential pitfalls
however can be caught with a little attention
prior to shipping. I've had very few returns
over the past 11 years -- which benefits
me tremendously.

I'm also continuously amazed by collectors
who have come to accept a poor writer --
right out of the box -- as just part of the
experience of using fountain pens. I'll often
see a comment such as "Well, it's a hard
starter and skips pretty regularly, but I
only paid XXX dollars for it, when it's list
price is XXX". As if a
successful purchase is to be measured by
paying the lowest possible price -- for
something that doesn't work properly. Rubbish!

Find pen sources that take the time to really
inspect your new pen before sending it to you
-- they must be out there! Better yet,
spend some time learning a few simple
techniques to keep your pens 'tuned'
yourself. Try a web search on 'adjust a nib',
or 'tuning a fountain pen', etc. Then maybe
you won't be so disappointed with the pen
that only cost XXX!

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On the blog...An Elephant's Self-Portrait

On the April 7th entry an elephant puts
non-artist humans to shame by effortlessly
painting a self-portrait.

See the video here [Array].

Regards,

Norman Haase
His Nibs.com
www.hisnibs.com [1]
Blog: http://hisnibs.blogspot.com [2]