I do most of my calligraphy with a 1.4mm Mitchell nib, no reservoir.
Now, I like to think my 'nib care' is pretty good. I don't leave them wet. I clean them regularly. I use a gentle pen cleaner mixture (1:10 ammonia to water). I haven't gone through a lot of nibs and this one lasted almost two months of daily used, but by god it feels like I kill a lot of nibs. In the six months I've been practicing, I've got a little graveyard that contains 6 nibs of different sizes. The poor things never stood a chance against my clumsy mits.
A couple died to bad preparation - not knowing exactly how to clean them. One died to dropping a pen. The others just gradually stopped working, tending to flood ink onto the page, and it sucks because it's a slow degradation but I suspect it's down to the kind of ink I use. It's Chinese ground ink sticks which are very acidic. I love the control that grinding my own ink gives, but one bad bit of grit seems to just be the end for these Mitchell nibs.
If you're a user of Chinese ink sticks for Western calligraphy, any tips on extending the life of nibs would be great, because I feel like a tosspot right now.
