We are pleased to offer a selection of fountain pens with custom ground nibs to suit everyone's unique style of writing. We hope you'll scroll down a bit and peruse our offering of customized fountain pens and nib units. These are listed in sections according to the type of nib that has been ground. If you don't see what you're after, check out the link below with information about custom grinding your pen or another pen from our website.

Please note: Writing with a custom ground pen will NOT suddenly make you a calligrapher, any more than being handed a saw will make you a master carpenter! It takes practice, sometimes a lot of practice! Many customers like writing with custom ground pens simply because they are smooth writers. Some find that their handwriting improves with just a little work, and practice with a book like Write Now, while others continue with the Tamblyn and Ziller series of penmanship books. A good place to start is with Write Now. And keep in mind, if you have large handwriting, you're going to see the most variations with broader nibs. If your handwriting tends to small or tight letters, finer nibs will be better for you.

The measurements of the nib widths in item descriptions are the width of the tip of the nib. They do not denote the width of a written line. It's nearly impossible to gauge what width your written line will be since many things affect this; paper, ink and pressure applied to the nib. In general, and there are certainly variances since no two nibs are identical, these guidelines may help you relate the width measurements to modern day nib designations commonly used by manufacturers.

Extra Fine: 0.3mm
Fine: 0.5mm - 0.7mm
Medium: 0.8mm-0.9mm
Broad: 1.0mm-1.1mm
Double Broad: 1.2mm-1.4mm

Custom Nib Grinding Available - Please click here for details.

Click here to read what our customers have to say about custom ground nibs from Pendemonium!

Looking to improve your penmanship? Try the Write Now book with a cursive italic fountain pen. You'll see improvement in no time at all with a just a little practice!

Custom Ground Replacement Nibs

We try to keep some of our most requested custom ground replacement nibs in stock. If you don't see what you need, please ask!

Custom Ground Nibs

Pendemonium can have most fountain pens nibs custom ground for you to a cursive italic style or several other styles of writing. You may select a fountain pen from our Writing Instrument listings or we can grind the nib of a fountain pen provided by you.

Custom Nib Styles

Cursive Italic - straight nib end with iridium, corners slightly softened for exceptionally smooth cursive italic writing, suitable for left or right handed writers. A cursive italic nib allows you to achieve nice line width variation for everyday writing. There are no sharp corners as with straight italic nibs, so the nib will not catch on the paper.

Cursive Right Oblique - nib end ground to approximate 30 degree right angle, corners slightly softened for exceptionally smooth writing. (Look down at your right foot and see the outline of your toes! A Right Oblique nib angles the same way.) Many left handed writers prefer Right Oblique nibs. Most people who enjoy oblique nibs, do so because of the way they hold their pen, it angles down to the paper instead of being straight on. Oblique nibs *can* offer some line variation to users, but this is not their main function.

Cursive Left Oblique - nib end ground to approximate 30 degree left angle, corners slightly softened for exceptionally smooth writing. (Look down at your left foot and see the outline of your toes! A Left Oblique nib angles the same way.) Many right handed writers prefer Left Oblique nibs. Most people who enjoy oblique nibs, do so because of the way they hold their pen, it angles down to the paper instead of being straight on. Oblique nibs *can* offer some line variation to users, but this is not their main function.

Straight Italic - straight nib end with reduced iridium, produces a clear crisp italic line. Corners are left sharp for producing traditional Italic style calligraphy. Suitable for left or right handed writers. Straight italic nibs are not usually used for everyday writing, the sharp nib corners can easily catch on your paper if not held exactly the correct way!

Straight Right Oblique - nib end ground to approximate 30 degree right angle with reduced iridium, corners are left sharp for those of you preferring a very crisp line. (Look down at your right foot and see the outline of your toes! A Right Oblique nib angles the same way.) Many left handed writers prefer Right Oblique nibs.

Straight Left Oblique - nib end ground to approximate 30 degree left angle with reduced iridium, corners are left sharp for those of you preferring a very crisp line. (Look down at your left foot and see the outline of your toes! A Left Oblique nib angles the same way.) Many right handed writers prefer Left Oblique nibs.

Stub - nib end ground straight across with rounded corners. Stub nibs will provide some line variation, but not as much as an italic as more iridium is left on the nib and the corners are generously rounded.

Round Pointed - Most of the fountain pen nibs you purchase and use have round pointed nibs in varying widths from extra fine to extra broad. We can reduce the nib width of any of your round pointed nibs to a narrower width, ie: broad nibs can be ground to fine points.

Please Note - When nibs are ground, some iridium is removed. We can make nibs narrower, but we cannot increase the size of your nib. We can only grind the iridium that is on the pen to begin with. We are not set up at this time to do re-tipping of nibs.

As with any type of pen repairs, there is always a small risk factor that something could go wrong during the grinding process. We inspect nibs before grinding to look for signs that may indicate the iridium is not stable - some iridium tipping becomes pitted over the years and is difficult to fully polish to a smooth writing surface. Other times, iridium tipping may have hidden bubbles inside or on the edges that can break open when grinding. We just want you to be aware that unforeseen things can happen when grinding a nib. We do our utmost to try to avoid any nib accidents and are pleased to report that to date, we have not lost a single nib!

Nib Smoothing

Many of us have fountain pen nibs that are not as smooth writing as we would like them to be. This can be caused by a number of factors and may even be related to the paper you are writing on as opposed to the actual surface of your nib end. If the surface of your nib end - the iridium tipping material is the culprit due to poor initial grinding or wear from use, we can finetune the surface for smooth writing.

Pricing & Details

Our nib grinder has over 50 years of experience in grinding nibs. Normal turn around time for nib grinding services is about 2-4 weeks from the time you send your pen until the time it is returned to you. From time to time, we are away or our nib grinder takes a few days off and we note any delays in grinding on our News & Updates page.

Our Keep It Simple Philosophy! We grind nibs while they are ON the pen, this enables us to keep the grinding fees low, possibly the lowest of any nib grinding services currently available. This means we do not disassemble your pen and have to reassemble your pen. This also means there are a few nibs we are unable to grind, primarily hooded nibs like the Parker 51 series where the hood and feed are just too close to the nib and the risk of nicking the hood is high. These types of nibs can be removed from the feeds and sent to us separately for grinding. We have also discovered problems with grinding Lamy 2000 nibs and TWSBI nibs. Unfortunately, they have not been meeting our high finished grinding standards. We ink test each pen we grind for smoothness before it is returned to you and make sure the flow is adjusted properly.

In spite of their popularity, custom nibs are not for everyone! Please take a moment to read the info above on the various nib grinds. We'd like to get it right for you the first time. If you have questions or aren't sure if a custom nib is for you, please email and we will be happy to answer your questions.

Custom nib grind pricing:
Any custom grinds to fine, medium or broad nibs $20 each
Any custom grinds to (or from) extra fine nibs $30 each
Smoothing to any size nib $20 each
Straightening $20 each

Shipping and Handling fees:
Basic shipping fees for 1-5 pens is $6 via USPS priority mail in the US. Insurance is suggested and is available for $3 for the first $100 and $1 for each additional $100. If you are sending more than 5 pens or if you are located outside the US, please email with details & we will provide shipping info.

Payment Info:
You may pay for your nib grinding by including a check or money order in the package with your nibs. You may also pay by credit card using the secure order form on the website, use item description: Custom Grinding. We will not charge your credit card until the pens are ready to be sent back to you. We do not recommend sending cash through the mail, and doing so is at your own risk.

How to Pack Your Pen:
Please Note - Fountain pens are fragile objects and we recommend that you wrap them securely in bubble wrap and then pack in a sturdy cardboard box for their trip to Fort Madison. Bubble bags are easily torn in postal equipment and do not offer adequate protection for your pens. PVC tubes inside of a bubble bag can easily tear the edges of the bag and escape from the envelope! It is rare that a pen does not arrive safely, but we urge on the side of a little bit of extra care and packing when you ship them. Remember to EMPTY all INK from your pens before shipping!

Include your Contact Info:
Every day, we receive many packages of nibs for grinding. Remember to include your contact info: name, address, email and phone number in the package you send us, along with nib grinding instructions.

Send your Pen to:
Pendemonium
PO Box 4088
Kingman, Arizona 86402

We recommend John Mottishaw at nibs.com for nib services we are unable to offer. John is an expert at re-tipping, crack repair and adding flexibility. Click here to check out some of John's before and after work, the results are truly amazing.

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