Editing Fountain pen (section)

===Nib tipping===
[[File:Pilot Parallel.jpg|thumb|An example of a type of an italic nib used in fountain pens. Often used to make art.]]
Gold and most steel and titanium nibs are tipped with a hard, wear-resistant alloy that typically includes metals from the platinum group. These metals share qualities of extreme hardness and corrosion resistance. The tipping material is often called "iridium", but there are few, if any, nib or pen manufacturers that used tipping alloys containing iridium metal since the mid 1950s.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nibs.com/article4.html|title=Where's the Iridium?|website=The Nibster|accessdate=26 July 2016}}</ref> The metals osmium, [[rhenium]], ruthenium and [[tungsten]] are used instead, generally as an alloy, with a little bit of osmium, rhenium, ruthenium and tungsten in a mix of other materials, produced as tiny pellets which are soldered or welded onto a nib tip prior to cutting the nib slit and grinding the tip into its final shape.<ref>{{cite journal|url=http://www.nibs.com/article5.html|journal=The PENnant|volume=XIII|issue=2|date=1999|title=How can we talk about Iridium?|author=Mottishaw, J.}}</ref> Untipped steel and titanium points will wear more rapidly due to abrasion by the paper.<ref name="www.richardspens.com materials"/>