Various Nibs On Jowo Housings

[terim]

We get asked asked fairly frequently if it's possible to put vintage or upgraded nibs on some of the Ranga and PSP-Ranga models that take the JoWo screw-in nib units. Everybody seems to have a favorite nib that they would love to see deployed on an oversized pen with a modern converter/cartridge filling system.

 

The main challenge we've faced is that the nib needs to be the correct thickness and shape to fit securely between the JoWo feed and the JoWo housing. Too thin and it will wiggle around, too thick and you risk cracking the JoWo housing. We don't want to be bending and changing the nib profile, because we don't want to risk cracks in the nib itself.

 

Here's a photo of some JoWo compatible nib units which have successfully been put together using non-JoWo nibs. The leftmost two nibs are from the modern Sheaffer Balance series, then one from the Sheaffer Connaisseur series, then a Montblanc Boheme nib (the same used on the 146, I think), then a generic 14k nib, and then a Waterman 17 from the Hundred Year Pen and Emblem series.

 

http://www.peytonstreet.com/pens/ranga/nibs_on_jowo_1.jpg

 

(All nibs needed to be heat set at least once against the plastic JoWo feeds.)

 

Of course, everyone's holy grail is to get a super-flex dip pen nib with this type of set-up. I can't say that we have successfully accomplished this more than once or twice, as it is very hard to maintain good ink flow to the tip without a nib slit or an overfeed, at least with the JoWo feeds,

 

Let me know what you think, I'm sure no one will hold back. I'd be interested in experiments others have done in a similar vein. I'm sure you could do the same with a Bock configuration.

 

TERI

 

[mpkandan]

We get asked asked fairly frequently if it's possible to put vintage or upgraded nibs on some of the Ranga and PSP-Ranga models that take the JoWo screw-in nib units. Everybody seems to have a favorite nib that they would love to see deployed on an oversized pen with a modern converter/cartridge filling system.

 

The main challenge we've faced is that the nib needs to be the correct thickness and shape to fit securely between the JoWo feed and the JoWo housing. Too thin and it will wiggle around, too thick and you risk cracking the JoWo housing. We don't want to be bending and changing the nib profile, because we don't want to risk cracks in the nib itself.

 

Here's a photo of some JoWo compatible nib units which have successfully been put together using non-JoWo nibs. The leftmost two nibs are from the modern Sheaffer Balance series, then one from the Sheaffer Connaisseur series, then a Montblanc Boheme nib (the same used on the 146, I think), then a generic 14k nib, and then a Waterman 17 from the Hundred Year Pen and Emblem series.

 

http://www.peytonstreet.com/pens/ranga/nibs_on_jowo_1.jpg

 

(All nibs needed to be heat set at least once against the plastic JoWo feeds.)

 

Of course, everyone's holy grail is to get a super-flex dip pen nib with this type of set-up. I can't say that we have successfully accomplished this more than once or twice, as it is very hard to maintain good ink flow to the tip without a nib slit or an overfeed, at least with the JoWo feeds,

 

Let me know what you think, I'm sure no one will hold back. I'd be interested in experiments others have done in a similar vein. I'm sure you could do the same with a Bock configuration.

 

TERI

 

Respected Ms. Teri,

 

Great Experiment that resulted in Fruitful.

 

Regards,

Kandan.M.P

Ranga Pen Company

[UDog]

Great idea, Teri. Are you going to offer them for sale too?

[terim]

These are all available as an upgrade for someone buying a Ranga that accepts the JoWo screw in units. They add between $50 and $100 to the price. Customers should contact us to reserve one of these nibs.

[Bill Wood]

Thanks Teri. Great resource. I have a couple of sheaffer balance nibs I'll pop into jowo housings.

 

Bill

[jgrasty]

I've put a Waterman #5 flexible nib into a JoWo #6 nib unit. I reverse engineered the JoWo #6 feed and section and milled them from Nikko ebonite. Here's the nib in a Edison Nouveau Premiere.

 

There are two problems with using an off-the-shelf JoWo nib unit with a vintage flex nib. First, the tip curvature of the JoWo feed rarely matches a vintage nib. Most vintage nibs want a flat feed with no tip curvature on the feed. Second, the JoWo feed doesn't really provide enough ink flow for a very flexible nib. These were the reasons I had to make my own.

 

http://bettygrastymd.com/jgrasty/wp-content/uploads/IMG_00581.jpg

 

 

http://bettygrastymd.com/jgrasty/wp-content/uploads/IMG_04581.jpg

 

[Calamus plasticus]

JoWo nib units are more picky than Bock ones.

I have set MB 146 and Duofold Centennial nibs on Bock nib units without any modification: You just take out the Bock nib and insert the MB or Duofold. The Pelikan 800, on the contrary, do not fit on the Bock unit.

[watch_art]

The only thing I would be careful about is splitting the housing by pressing in different nibs. If the housing is split it could just leak and drip.