Glossary
Tipping
The welded ball of hard alloy at the nib tip.
Tipping is a small bulb of hard, wear-resistant alloy welded to the end of the tines and then ground and polished into a writing surface. It is why a good nib survives decades of writing without wearing flat.
The size and shape of the tipping — round, stub, italic — determines your line. "Tipping material" is also why nib repairs are specialist work: once it is ground away, it cannot be reapplied at home.
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