Custom Nib Testimonials

I'm very pleased with the work Deb Kinney did on several of my pens -- they were medium point nibs which I never used, and now they have interesting oblique nibs and I use them all the time. In addition, Deb is a pleasure to deal, and did the work quickly -- I got my pens back about two weeks after sending them to her.
Helene S.

Well gang, I've been playing with a new pen this week. Actually it's a transformed old pen. I had a Pelikan 250 -- old style with an OBB nib that was most unsatisfying. (No, let's not start that talk again!) That is no longer the case after a little nib magic by Deb Kinney from Durham, N.C. How one goes from divinity school to working in a law library to being a nib grinder, I just don't know. Ahhh, well then we all come here by strange paths. Anyway, this nib is now much more oblique, much more expressive and just plain fun to write with. Great job from her workbench!
Richard Jarvis Penspiration.com

One of the best parts of the DC show for me -- not only meeting Deb face to face but having returned to me a pen that she had vastly improved with a cursive italic nib. It gives me great pleasure to say we have a very gifted new nibstra among us, and I urge you to add her to the list of our other national treasures.
Carla M.

Hi Deb,
The nib arrived today; it's fantastic! I have an M800 with a fine italic nib by Mottishaw, which has been my favorite signature pen for years; this one that you made is every bit its equal. Thank you, Deb! I put your check in this afternoon's mail.
Best,
Chuck

Deb has altered nibs for two of my pens already and I just sent her two more to do. She does great work and keeps in contact to make sure you like it. I highly recommend her. BTW, for those of you who like a thinner line but also the elegant variation of stub nibs, she made an XF Delta of mine into a small stub, and I really like that it's not too wide but still makes a beautiful line. She's going to be doing the same for two other pens of mine.
Julie B.

Deb
I just got my Filcao back from you, and THIS NIB IS AWESOME! You are so talented! Thank you!
I am more than pleased!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Cheryl A.

This weekend I received my Pelikan Go with the 0.9 mm Debified nib, and my reaction was !wow! Smooth, reliable, but now a nib to compose with, not just scribble a few notes. If your pen is pretty, but the line from your nib is not, send the offender to Deb Kinney! You get back a nib with line smooth and varied, to make even the grocery list poetry. (Which this is obviously not)
Kitty

Dear Deb,
WOW, FANTASTIC, MAMA MIA such a smooth pen. It is instantly my favorite right now. I used it all night at work on Thurs. and Fri. It performs flawlessly. I am ever so grateful for your expertise.
TTFN,
Zig

I need to thank (again) Deb Kinney for the marvelous job she did regrinding the nibs of my Omas Extra (from a medium to a fine stub) and my husband's Recife (a balky medium now an extremely smooth medium). Our pens are now fun to use!
Thanks again!
Leilani

Wow, after hearing all the things you've said about Deb's talents with nib work, I sent her a bunch of pens. I quickly got a selection of several of them back that demonstrated the various options, as I had asked. She turned some REALLY boring, no-fun-to-write-with modern and old pens into BEAUTIES! I can't praise her work enough, I'm thrilled!
marla

I just received a re-worked nib from Deb Kinney. She took an unremarkable Sheaffer Prelude medium italic nib and performed a small magic trick, and now I have a fantastic fine italic, gloriously smooth writing instrument. Count me among the happily Kinneyfied. (Deb, you may take a bow. :-) )
Keith

Deb,
I received the I Castoni in the mail today. Once again, you've worked your magic. The stub is excellent--really smooth. The skipping has stopped, too. Bernard is right about this one--it's a great pen (I was lucky enough to see his Zoss for sale post on the Go75's that you had modified. That cursive italic 75 is still one of my favorite pens!). In any case, I'm going to have to look at my collection to see which pen will come your way next.
Thanks again,
Frank

The first time it happened was at a recent meeting of the Triangle Pen Club. We were at The Mad Hatter, a bakery/restaurant in Durham, North Carolina. The usual passing-around of pens was happening and Deb Kinney casually extracted a Sheaffer oversized Balance whose body was a tad darker than its cap, in a greenish-brownish sort of way, and handed it to me. There was something about her smile as she did so... I posted the cap (carefully, I know about Balances) and put nib to paper.

Did you see "When Harry Met Sally"?

I don't know if people at the other tables actually said "I'll have whatever he's having" but in my memory of that moment that's exactly what happened. Never has any pen performed as perfectly for me. It was as though I could imagine the writing onto the paper. Stub nib, made that way by Deb, so smooth that smooth sounds rough compared to the way this felt. I was nearly gasping.

I had been ill during the weeks leading up to the meeting, so I figured it was the Prednisone that made that pen feel like something that might have been handed me by space-aliens. ("Earthling, your species knows nothing of nib technology. Try this!") I knew better than to make decisions under the influence of steroids. I waited.

Tonight, we met for dinner at George's Garage, so Deb could return some pens she's been working on. The Prednisone is ancient history. Deb handed me my Jefferson reproduction, which now writes wonderfully thanks to her ministering to its nib-needs, and as I was trying it out she oh-so-casually put that same greenish-brownish Sheaffer on the table.

Sober. No steroids. It happened again. Private Reserve Sherwood Green flowed onto paper like teflon. No, teflon has a higher coefficient of friction. It's beyond words.

A heavier pen might not have gotten the same result. Different center of balance? Who knows? Maybe a different ink would be less perfect. That I can experiment with. Because it came home with me. In my pocket. Give up this Sheaffer? Only when it's taken from my cold, dead hand. I felt I needed to explain to the other pens in my shirt pocket that I did not love them any the less.

Tonight, Deb Kinney has taken her place among the all-stars in my line-up of nib geniuses. She admits she has no idea how many hours she spent getting this one right, but I have no difficulty imagining the sun setting and rising unnoticed behind her more than once.

Whew! Thank you for letting me rhapsodize. And thank you, Deb, for being willing to sell a pen that is among, no, is _the_ finest writing instrument I have ever had the joy of using.
Bernard

Contact Deb Kinney about nib work at: debkinney@alumni.duke.edu