Nib tuning at the counter: what happens

Nib tuning is free on pens bought from us and costs ₹150 on pens bought elsewhere. People bring in pens that scratch, skip, write too dry or flood the page. Most of these problems can be fixed at the counter in about fifteen minutes. Here is what Kunal does.

First, he inks the pen if it is not already, and writes with it on a pad of smooth 80 gsm paper while you watch, then asks you to write a line in your usual hand and at your usual angle. Many problems come from the angle a person holds the pen, not the pen itself.

Then he looks at the nib under a 10x loupe. He checks whether the two tines are level with each other, whether the gap between them, the slit, is even, and whether the tipping, the small ball of hard metal at the end, is smooth. A scratchy pen usually has misaligned tines, with one sitting slightly higher than the other. He presses them gently into line with a fingernail or a soft tool.

If the pen writes too dry, he opens the slit a fraction; if it floods, he closes it slightly. For a rough tip, he smooths it on very fine abrasive film with a few figure-of-eight strokes, checking after each pass. Too much smoothing ruins a nib, so he goes slowly. Some problems are not the nib: a cracked feed, a dried converter or old ink inside. He tells you before doing anything that needs parts, and quotes first. Bent or broken tipping usually needs a replacement nib, which we can order.