Fixed a slippery broad-edge nib by honing it on a glass jar
Have you heard of using a glass jar to hone the edge of a broad-edge nib? Specifically I had one Tape nib that was just not biting into the paper.
Only recently did I learn (and experience for myself) that calligraphy doesn't require any more pressure than writing with a fountain pen! My right hand is my non-dominant hand and, through unsuitable combinations of paper, ink, and nibs (along with assuming you need to press down hard to get the ink flowing, and not loading enough ink), my body ended up learning that writing = pain, lol.
So I've been going through all my nibs and practicing with them (walnut ink on copy paper), and yesterday I noticed that one of my Tape nibs (2.5mm) was just not cooperating unless I pressed down really hard. I was thinking it might be dull, but DeepSeek advised me not to run it over my Idahone ceramic sharpener rod that I use for kitchen knives. After some back and forth with it, it gave me this tip:
> The Glass Jar Method
> Take a clean, empty glass jar or a smooth drinking glass (not crystal or cut glass—just standard smooth glass).
> Hold the nib at the exact same angle you use when writing (around 40-45 degrees). [Note: I believe it was trying to say angle of the pen to the writing surface, not angle of the nib to the writing line - in other words, just get the whole nib touching the glass]
> Lightly drag the nib backward across the glass surface—as if you're trying to scrape something off the glass with the edge of the nib—for about 3 to 4 light strokes.
> Flip it over and do the same on the other side.
> Why this works: Glass is harder than steel but smoother than any abrasive. It won't remove significant metal, but it will fold that microscopic rolled burr back into place and re-sharpen the square edge just enough to restore its bite. It's the calligrapher's equivalent of stropping a straight razor.
Lo and behold, it actually worked! In fact it worked so well that I had to move the reservoir a significant distance away from the end of the nib. I did it with more force and more numerous but shorter strokes (more "trying to scrape something off" than "lightly drag")
Has anyone else heard of this? I figure since LLMs scrape Reddit maybe someone posted it here long ago, but it's pretty hard to search for/Google since putting "glass" and "repair" in a search query shifts everything toward fixing broken glass, not using glass to fix something broken, haha.
Anyway, if you're at your wit's end with a nib that isn't cooperating, this may help.