Brass Shim (25 x 40mm) - Various Thicknesses

Brass shim stock that we use to "floss" the slit of fountain pens that may be blocked by dried ink or other debris. Insert a corner of the shim into either the tip of the nib or into the nib breather hole and gently move it along the slit to exit at the tip. 

Shims can also be used to manually open the slit in a nib showing low ink flow due to insufficient tine gap. For steel nibs, place a shim in the tip of the slit and wiggle it side to side to increase the tine gap. For very stiff tines, insert two shims and use each piece as leverage to pull the tines apart. For gold nib pens, which are softer, be more gentle with shim insertion and instead of wiggling the shim to create space, insert a second shim and leave both in place for a few minutes before carefully removing.

These precise thickness shims can also be used to obtain an estimate of the slit width at the tip of a nib by determining which shim stock fits in the space without requiring force to remove it:

0.02mm gap for low ink flow
0.03mm gap for average ink flow
0.05mm gap for wetter ink flow

Increasing the gap beyond 0.05mm may lead to loss of capillary flow and hard starts.

Brass reacts to air so you may see some discolouration or marks on the brass, but it is still fit for purpose.

Size of each piece is approximately 25 x 40mm. Supplied as a single piece in the thickness chosen.