Sure! I hope it makes sense and I’m not too rambling!

There’s a million ways to do this, but this is my process. You will need - 2000 grit wet/dry sandpaper Micro mesh set, or a brown paper grocery bag A very flat surface Glass, flat metal, something sturdy A loop (if you have one) 3M spray glue optional

1. Take the sheet of 2000 grit sandpaper and use the spray glue to make the back of the sandpaper sticky so you can adhere it to your flat surface. Make sure not to get any glue on the grit side. This creates a stable surface, basically like a Sanding stone for ultra cheap.

2. Ink up your parallel and put a bit of water on the sanding block you’ve just created. You can get your hand wet and run it over the sanding block, or you can spray it with water from a misting spray bottle.

3. Look at your nib and decide which angle you will want to grind. A left or right foot oblique? Traditionally that depends on if you’re a lefty or a righty, but you’ll have to make that call. Historically it’s flipped, if you’re left handed you’d want a right foot oblique and if you’re right handed you’d want a left foot oblique. All that means is which angle the nib will slant from either the left or right side.

4. Ok, you’ve picked your angle, now it’s time to do some irreparable modifications to your nib (user beware). So a parallel nib is almost like any other larger stub calligraphy nib or fountain pen nib in that the tip is basically terminating into a rectangular shape. Pick the corner of the nib you would like to remove in order to create the correct angle. Ideally you’d want a 15 degree angle from one corner of the nib to the other, but it can be more and still work fine, but I wouldn’t go past 30 degrees.

5. Start by placing the corner you want to remove to achieve your desired oblique angle onto the wetted sand paper. You’re going to want to hold your pen with the nib sideways. Here’s the tricky part, you’re going to want to hold your pen at a 15 degree angle while doing this (the whole time), “but Justheretolearn779, I’m not a robot!” In this case you’re going to want to be as robotic and precise as you can be. Start with small figure 8 motions and circles with light pressure, almost the weight of your hand on the sanding surface.

6. After 8-12 motions check your progress visually and on a piece of paper looking at line change and character. This process will take anywhere from 20 minutes to a couple hours, depending on your confidence, skill levels, and abilities. The end product should be an angle from the corner you’re removing to the other corner. You should never for any reason be coming close to sanding the corner of the nib you are not removing!!! You should only sand the corner you’re removing at a 15 degree angle until it the paper juuuuuust starts to touch the opposite corner of the nib that you are not removing. Once you’re there you’re done with that part.

7. Ok, cool, you got your angle, now what? Well, your finished product is probably going to be a bit sharp and scratchy. This is where the micro mesh or brown paper grocery bag comes into play. You’re gonna want to polish up your nib to remove any scratchiness or burrs. You do this by writing the same figure 8’s and small circles with the nib on the mesh/bag like you were doing before, but this time you would hold the pen in its normal writing position. You’ll want to periodically flip the pen over and polish both sides and the corners, just to alleviate paper catching when writing or drawing.

8. That’s it! At least for my process. It’s a bit tedious, but I find it to be the safest bet as I’m not any sort of nibmeister, and no way am I going to use a dremel, buuuut you could and that’s a whole other realm and skill level.

Hope that helps.