Changing Pelikan Nibs

Kerry Sanderson asks: I’m really getting into the idea of italics and stubs and stuff. I have a Pelikan M600 with an EF nib. Could I have it made into a cursive italic?

Unless your writing is very small, any specialty shape ground on an extra-fine nib will be too small to produce much useful line variation, and it’ll also be pretty “pushy,” exhibiting an uncomfortable tendency to drag, especially on upward strokes.

But all is not lost. Because Pelikan nibs are user-interchangeable, you can buy a broader nib and have it ground to whatever shape you like, italic or oblique or stub. So how do you swap nibs on a Pelikan? It should be obvious, but there’s a little trick to it.

1. To remove a nib, take the pen in your “weaker” hand and place your dominant hand’s index finger under the feed, as shown here:

2. Press your thumb down firmly on the top surface of the nib, squeezing the nib and feed together to keep the nib from shifting on the feed.
3. Unscrew the pen, not the nib, as shown here:

That’s all there is to it. You unscrew the pen instead of the nib in order to reduce any tendency for the nib to roll between your fingers and shift despite the pressure you’re putting on it. This is more important with an M800 or an M1000 than with the smaller pens because these nibs, especially those on the M1000, are sometimes a little loose in the feed and collar.

To install a new nib, follow the same procedure, screwing the new nib in firmly but without brute force.

One word of caution: You can swap nibs while your pen is filled. If you do this, it's a really good idea to turn the pen so the nib is up; if you don’t, you might find yourself wearing a penful of Private Reserve.

Flow Problems in Recent Pelikans

Justin Cleary asks: I just bought a new Pelikan M1000. I love the pen, but the flow is terrible. Sometimes it won’t start, but other times it flows like the Thames. What’s wrong with it?

In the past year or so, Pelikan has changed the manufacture of its nibs; I believe the newer nibs are being made by Peter Bock instead of in Pelikan‘s own shop. Regardless of where the nibs are coming from, the problem lies in this recent change.

Looking at the schematic figure here, you can see two versions of a nib lying on a feed. The upper picture shows the nib lying closely along the surface of the feed for the entire length of the feed. This is how it’s supposed to be. When the nib is in good contact with the feed, the channels in the feed can control the flow because capillary action is able to hold the ink in place. (Note that it’s not necessary for the nib to actually touch the feed; one way to increase a pen’s flow is to raise the nib one or two thousandths of an inch off the feed to allow more ink in the space there.)

The lower picture shows how many M1000 nibs (and some M800 nibs) are coming through now. The nib, instead of being arched to lie along the feed, is simply being bent downward at the breather hole so that the tip of the feed touches the under surface of the nib. There’s a gaping cavern between the nib and the feed, a cavern that is often big enough that capillary action simply breaks down. Turn the pen so that its nib is uppermost, and all the ink flows back out of the feed into the barrel. Turn it nib downward, and gush!

The newer manufacturing technique compounds the problem, making the nib start hard, because instead of creating a slit with its walls parallel as they should be, it creates a V-shaped slit, with the walls closer together on the underside. When you get to the tip, this ends up creating a situation in which capillary action, which wants to pull the ink to the place where the slit is narrowest, keeps ink from reaching the writing pad. With no ink at the writing pad, the nib won’t start.

You can return the pen to your dealer for a nib exchange, but the replacement nib may have the same problem. Fortunately, the problems created by the improper manufacture are curable. A repairer who specializes in nibs and understands how to remedy the incorrect form can easily adjust the nib to work as it should.