Editing The Pen Addict 667/transcript (section)

== Pen Tuning and Smoothing Discussion ==

* From Chris, wonderful email I received. Said I wanted to follow up on the question about whether the pen experience is still the same after tuning and smoothing. And this is related to the stock stub nib conversation that we're having to where you're taking a stock stub nib and making it a more narrow stub nib. So, Chris is a nib grinder based in Australia. Says, to me, tuning and smoothing don't affect the pen. I'm sorry, I apologize. This first part is about the tuning and smoothing. Like, are you changing the original intent of how the pen nib was finished? So, two-parter, my bad. But, the tuning and smoothing don't affect the pen experience the company intended. The tip material is chosen by the company. And smoothing just removes any blemishes. The glide over paper is mostly determined by the material they use. There might be an exception for pens like Sailor and Graffon Faber-Castell. I don't have concrete proof, but their unique pencil-like feedback is because of their unique grit finishing, which is unique to their company. Like, I could get, like, with Platinum, right? Like, that's the one you and I always bring up. It's like, they probably have a particular finishing process, right?
* That gives it this unique feedback. And maybe you could, I don't know, I do think maybe you could change, like, how a Platinum feels. Like, if you over-smooth that, right? And then you all of a sudden get into, like, a more glassy nib for a Platinum. I don't know. Something to think about. But, yeah.
* So, that's one part.
* One part of that. And so, he says, aside from that, the stock feed is unique to each pen company based on their feed design, which I totally agree. So, that is basically, like, ink management, flow management, making it wetter, making it drier, adjusting the tines to account for that. Final follow-up, which is what I really want to discuss here, is reducing the stub from 1.5 millimeter to a smaller size. It says, the wingspan doesn't have to be reduced much until the feed shows through, only the sides get trimmed down a bit and the whole feed is still hidden. And I'll attach a sample video of a 1.9 millimeter stub converted into a 1.5 millimeter cursive italic. So, this is a good video to get a good visual. And here's where I get to do my favorite thing on the entirety of the Pen Addict show, is I get to be pedantic.
* This is a Lamy nib. And Lamy nibs, if you're familiar with them, are triangular in shape. And I think most people that are getting generic stub nibs are using the more of a Yovo shape, where it comes down a little bit differently from the wings into, like, a diving board type of situation with the nib. And I still think, like, it will be totally fine. Like, I think it'll be totally fine bringing those edges down, taking, like, a 1.5 Yovo to, you know, something finer. I still want to see the visuals for myself on that. So, like I said, I think I said this in the last episode. When I go to the DC Pen Show, that's probably my next Pen Show. I'm going to take, like, a stock 1.5 Yovo and see how small we can grind it. The reason why people don't do this is because there's already a 1.1 Yovo. So, maybe I should take a 1.1 Yovo and try to go to, like, a 9 or a 09 or even finer, right? So, there's different ways. So, it's not a universal stub design, but I think this is a common stock stub design for Yovo nibs. And you see this in a lot of Maker Pens. But then, again, a lot of companies design their own nibs. You know, you look at Pilot. You know, they're going to have their own stub and Sailor's going to have their own stub design. And those are probably much more easily modifiable. They're also not starting at 1.5, right? They're starting from a much narrower base and a different style of tipping. So, this video looks great. And I can definitely see that on the Lamy nib there. And I'm still super curious to get a Yovo nib modified. So, I think I will work on that for no reason other than science and just see what I think. And the more I think about it, the more I think I need to probably start with a 1.1. Because there's no reason to ever get a 1.5 ground into a 1.1 when the 1.1 exists. So, this is my thought process and my level of pedantry that I enjoy.
* So, the more information that we find out about this, the further we get from actually answering the original question as to whether a 1.5mm stub could be ground to a cursive italic.
* Yeah. No, I think the answer is clearly yes. Like, I think it's clear this can be done.
* I'm mostly worried as when we get into this next pen that I want to talk about, the visual aspect of what I'm using matters.
* And if I don't like the visual of that nib, am I going to enjoy it as much? And maybe it doesn't change. You look at the Lamy nib that Chris ground, it looks exactly the same. Which is great. That's good news. Right? Like, I think way back to the original question. Grinding it can be done. I just want to know if I personally am going to be happy with it, how it looks. So, that's a good segue, Myke, into the Colotino fountain pen, which I reviewed this week. Franco Colotino. Franco Colotino. Into the wall. Oh, come on. At swimming pool. Come on. These are F1 jokes, folks. Yeah. That was one of the races of all time. If you like F1 and you're a pen addict member, you're going to be checking out your feeds pretty soon here.