I also bought a Waterman Phileas fountain pen with a medium nib. It was a Christmas present to myself. While I have considered getting a fine nib, I seem to remember reading somewhere that one should not attempt such an operation on their own. I may heed that advice since I don't want a leaky pen. Maybe I'll just buy a Levenger True Writer instead.

--Bob

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Into a fine nib, or a stub, or italic, etc., by one of the various nib masters that you can find via the Internet. Deb Kinney, Richard Binder, John Mottishaw, Dillon Ang, etc. come to mind. It would cost more than a replacement nib/section, but would result in considerable value added to the nib if you're interested in greater character and line variation. Richard Binder's site is a good place to learn more about that and has some pictures of what some reground nibs would produce.

For the cost of the nib and section that was mentioned, it would probably more cost effective to buy a second Phileas with a fine nib. Personally, I find the Phileas fine nib to be quite fine, almost something like an extra-fine, while the medium is quite wide for a medium, closer to a medium-broad. You might actually want something in between.

www.pendemonium.com sometimes has Phileas pens with custom-ground nibs for sale.

My tuppence,
Walter

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The only reason for time is so that everything doesn't happen at once.
B. Banzai?

While walking through the Grand Avenue Mall in downtown Milwaukee a month ago, I was stopped dead in my tracks when my eyes fell upon a store named Daly's Pen Shop. I could scarcely believe it!! A pen store? Only an hour from my house?? I walked into the store, hands trembling with anticipation. I was in heaven. They have a website, too. www.dalyspenshop.com. I subscribed to their electronic newsletter, and that's how I was alerted to one of their sales. $50 later, I ended up with a new Waterman Hemisphere fountain pen. The sale price only applied to the fine nibbed, comet red colored pen. Perfect! That's what I wanted. Strangely enough the pen in the display case had a medium nib. The sales clerk reached into a box of nibs, and voila....a fine nib fountain pen was created. I bet they also have fine nibs for the Phileas, as they also sell those. You may want to contact Daly's.

Bob

Fountain pen nibs - the metal thing itself I'm referring to here, not the assembly - can be replaced. I've done it several times myself. However, you have to find the right size nib. The process was simple, no tools, in each case the old nib came out with gentle tugging, and the new one slipped in like a glove. No leaks, in fact, the pens worked quite a bit better after the operation. I did this with vintage and new pens.

So I would say that in principle, if you could find a Waterman nib or something close to the same size and shape, it could be done. However, despite my success - I can concur that it's difficult to experiment with something that would be $30 down the drain if it didn't work out. Pendemonium sells nibs (www.pendemonium.com) and whole front end assemblies can be found at www.arizonasilhouette.com/Fountain_Pen_Nibs.htm but these are more for standard pen kits -- but one might fit.

I have a Waterman Phileas myself with a medium nib, and I agree, to my taste it writes like a crayon. I'm truly sorry I have it - but I have not altered it in any way yet.

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