======================================================================== Nib Noise * Volume 17 Number 12 * March 2019 ======================================================================== Welcome to Nib Noise. I hope you'll enjoy reading this month's issue. PLEASE DO NOT REPLY TO THIS NEWSLETTER! The robot that sends it out hasn't yet learned to read. If you have comments or questions, send email to: richard@richardspens.com To subscribe or unsubscribe, please visit the Free Email Newsletter page on my site: http://www.richardspens.com/?info=nibnoise ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *** READ THIS FIRST *** ------------------------------------------------------------------------ From the very beginning, you heve received Nib Noise as plain text so that you could read it with an email program that wasn't able to handle rich text. Seventeen years ago, that made sense. Today, not so much. Beginning next month, I will be formatting Nib Noise as rich text, which allows me to use italic text, bold text, and links. Most of all, it lets me include images that can *show* you what something looks like instead of just telling you. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *** Where's Richard? *** ------------------------------------------------------------------------ As you read this, Barbara and I have just returned from our first pen show of 2019, the Baltimore-Washington International Pen Show. We have a couple of weeks to recover, and then we'll be off to the Long Island Pwn Show, running on Saturday and Sunday, March 16 and 17. This show is a great place to reel in lots of New York-area vintage. Not too big and not too small, the show draws a good crowd of dealers and attendees, and it's getting better every year. In addition to a wide selection of pens for sale, a squad of highly qualified repairers and nib workers will be in evidence, some of whom were at Baltimore with us. Come on out to Hempstead Saturday and Sunday, March 16 and 17, and visit the campus of Hofstra University. The show will be in the Multipurpose Room in the student center. I'll be one of the nib workers I mentioned above, and Barbara will be making sure I keep my nose to the grindstone. PLEASE READ OUR "TABLE TALK" FAQ TO LEARN HOW WE OPERATE AT A SHOW: http://www.richardspens.com/?info=shows If you plan to come and haven't ever been to a show before, you might want to read my article on Your First Pen Show: http://www.richardspens.com/?shows=firstshow For more information, visit the show's website: http://www.lipenshow.com/ We look forward to seeing old friends and meeting new ones. We hope to see you there! ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *** Richard's Book Store Has a New Book *** ------------------------------------------------------------------------ I've just published my seventh pen book, but it's not about pens. It's about people. The title should be a clue to what it's about: Personalized Pens: History in Your Hand Pen collecting is a wonderful hobby, but when it comes right down to it, isn’t it really about meeting people with whom you share a common interest? Here, in the form of personalized pens, are several very real people with whom I share a common appreciation for pens (and, in some cases, other common interests). All of these people, or the people who loved them, cared enough about their pens to have the pens personalized, forever to be linked to their first owners. This book contains sketches of the lives of 15 people, some of whom did great things and others who did not. All of them were ordinary people, living (mostly) ordinary lives, who happened to own pens on which their names were engraved (or scratched). Each of these people has a history that deserves to be preserved and remembered. http://www.richardspens.com/?bks=richard+pers_pers ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *** The Glossopedia *** ------------------------------------------------------------------------ With more than 1600 definitions and descriptions, more than 950 illus- trations, and more than 2150 cross-references, the RichardsPens Gloss- opedia is the most comprehensive resource of its kind anywhere. Each month, Nib Noise includes a randomly chosen Glossopedia entry. -------- JIS (Japanese Industrial Standards) A set of standards for industrial activities in Japan, promulgated in 1946 to supersede inadequate older standards, and enacted into law in 1949. Beginning in 1949, the JIS symbol has been applied to Japanese products to indicate certification, although some manufacturers did not begin marking their products until the early 1950s. Because certification is not free of cost, some manufacturers have never marked products not intended for export. The current standard for fountain pens and nibs, JIS S 6025:2002, superseded JIS S 6616:1994 on January 20, 2002. -------- To immerse yourself in the Glossopedia, follow this link: http://www.richardspens.com/?gloss= ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *** Broad Strokes *** ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Did you ever wonder when your favorite Japanese pen was made? Although it's iffy at best for most brands, we have Pilot, Platinum, and Sailor to thank for date-coding systems that can nail down most of their pens to the year and month -- and even in some cases the actual day -- of manufacture. I've documented the systems of these three companies in an easy-to-use article: http://www.richardspens.com/?misc=jpn_dates This is the first of several articles on Japanese pens. More will be coming along in the next few months. To help you find reference articles on my site that have been edited recently, there is a handy heading right at the top of the reference index, listing the five most recently added or edited reference pages. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *** The Pen Doctor *** ------------------------------------------------------------------------ The Pen Doctor is a regular visitor to the Nashua Pen Spa, and every so often he puts a few prescriptions up in our site's reference section. Each month (except when I forget), I'll be reprinting one of his pre- scriptions here. -------- Q: Frank Dubiel, while noting that the shell of a Parker 51 must touch the nib, says that if it contacts the nib too tightly it will restrict ink flow. Is heating the shell and either pressing the nib against the shell or the shell against the nib a reliable means of increasing or decreasing the flow in a 51? A: I’m afraid that this is one area in which Frank missed the target. He got his information from a Parker repair manual that was printed just after the “51” was released. The point of having the shell touch the nib was to ensure that capillary action would carry ink to the nib’s slit — but the feed will do the job just fine when adjusted right, especially if it was made in 1946 or later so that it has an ink fissure. The shell does not need to touch the nib. It should be close to the nib so that writing pressure won’t bend the nib upward and damage it, but a slight gap is perfectly all right. Also, as you mention, if the shell is pressed too firmly against the nib, it can force the nib downward and close the slit, cutting off the flow entirely. Adjusting the flow can be done entirely by adjusting the width of the nib’s slit, and that’s how I recommend you do it. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *** Follow RichardsPens on Facebook *** ------------------------------------------------------------------------ RichardsPens.com would like to be liked on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/NashuaPenSpa ======================================================================== If you received this newsletter from Richard Binder, you are a Nib Noise subscriber. If it came from someone else, I invite you to subscribe. To subscribe or unsubscribe, please visit the Free Email Newsletter page on our site: http://www.richardspens.com/?info=nibnoise Note: I will never sell your name or email address. Your privacy is as important to me as it is to you.