Several weeks ago, I presented a project I am working on about learning to grind nibs on the Pilot Varsity, which has a steel nib in a medium point. It is difficult to tell in the photo above, but the Varsity on the left is the one that I ground down to a fine, possible medium fine. The one on the right is the standard medium point that has not been modified. I am still saving up for a better camera, so I was not able to get a better image than this for comparison.
Here we have a writing sample comparing the two Varsity pens. Again, the one on the bottom has not been modified. If you look at several of the letters closely, you can see a fairly dramatic difference in the line width.
Overall, I have was quite satisfied with the results, but there is some scratchiness on the upstroke that I am not a fan of. After consulting Tyler Dahl, of 777 Pen Repair, I will be utilizing a rotary tool to work on reshaping subsequent Varsity nibs so that I am not burning through the fine grit sandpaper so quickly. Steel eats up buffing material pretty quickly, unlike 18-22 karat gold, which is obviously much softer.
This has been a fun project so far, and I will be looking to acquire some gold, iridium-tipped nibs soon so that I can get practice with softer material, too.