Who Make Their Own Nibs

[Bo Bo Olson]

There is nothing wrong with Bock nibs, I have old ones in regular flex, semi-flex, and I believe a 'flexi'/maxi-semi-flex. I have them in gold and steel.

As 'noobie' I was snobbish, thinking Bock was 'second class' ...with no info why I should thing that way. The factories that do still make their nibs, use similar machines, with the same class of highly qualified workers.

Thankfully I did not toss those 'second class' nibs. My nose was up in the air on Degussa too, from ignorance.

 

Bock can and does buy at a much larger volume steel for nibs which is dead expensive for small orders ...1/4th-to a ton. Same with gold, and then it would depend on if they run the gold through a machine to thin the gold or use a standard bought gage.

How the steel or gold is alloyed makes a difference to it's properties. Bock could make semi-flex nibs or nibs a bit more flexible than that, again, but there is no market for them...from the manufactures.

 

Degussa was bigger than Bock, until they decided to get out of nib making @ 1970 or so, when the ball point pens won. They had bought up Osmia's nib factory in 1932.

I have some Degussa nibs too. I have Degussa made Osmia stamped gold and steel nibs, in semi-flex and 'flexi' and can't say the gold is better than the steel or vice versa.

 

If some one wanted to order so and so many thousand semi-flex or 'flexi' nibs, I'm sure Bock would buy the alloy and pull out some old dies and do so. Remind me to do that as soon as I hit the lottery.

Edited June 12, 2013 by Bo Bo Olson

[AndrewThomas]

It seems like this question is a little bit irreverent. Obviously we'd all like to imagine armies of nib-builders building nibs out of a love of the craft. However, on the flip side, most of us have had our nibs worked on, either by professionals or by ourselves. We know how the slightest adjustment, even to a 'cheap' nib, can be made buttery and sweet. So it seems that unless the nib is really, really crappy, the real distinction between an amazing writing experience and a substandard one lies in minute alignments of the tines and the width of the feed channel, not the manufacture of the nibs.

[jar]

Remember, not all Bock nibs are the same.

 

Each manufacturer can specify what they want in a nib as long as they buy sufficient quantity to justify making a run. Then, in addition, many manufacturers further process the nibs in house to create something truly unique. Some go so far as to then run in the nib/feed/section/pen by hand to assure quality.

 

All Bock nibs may be equal but some are more equal than others.

[Vincenz]

for me, the in-house nib, it's an added value (like watche's movement manufacture) because the pen writes like no others pens. This fact add character to the pen.

On the other hand, the Bock nibs that i have tried works very well.

[Aramchek]

AFAIK Cleo Skribent makes their own nibs, and also supplies to others.

"Cleo has selected Bock as their nib supplier, one of the top nib makers in the world. Although Cleo does not manufacture the nibs, the company does high detailed specialty nib finishing work that appears on top of the line pens from other brands." from http://www.penhero.com/PenGallery/Cleo/CleoSkribentPen.htm

 

Even if outsourcing the nib manufacturing doesn't automatically make it either better or worse, since the nib is the "soul" of the pen (coming from someone who doesn't believe in souls!) it is just nice to know that it is made by the same company that the pen is sold as being made by.

[Ginner]

I am new here and curious... is there a real difference in the function (other than the romantic difference)?

Edited June 12, 2013 by Ginner

[UK Mike]

Although the nib may be the soul of the pen, its personality is also determined by the type of barrel material, its weight, size and particularly balance.

 

If that were not so, we could all buy a Universal Bock/Jowo pen and be satisfied, knowing that it was unlikely to be bettered out of the box.

 

Platinum do indeed make Nakaya nibs - and all of them are reputedly hand finished to some degree. Possibly Nakaya has extra attention?

 

Aurora also make their own nibs - although the popular opinion is that these nibs are more toothy than the competition.

 

Pilot are believed to have been the suppliers of the nib to the Cross Solo and in terms of writing experience I would support that. Probably Cross nibs are now made themselves from their Chinese suppliers.

 

It becomes clear how so many different pens have similar writing characteristics!

[RMN]

Pilot did also make the gold nibs for the Cross Verve.

And they made the nibs for the Dunhill pens, untill Dunhill became part of Richemont. The AD2000 nibs are Pilot's.

 

Undoubtedly there are many more stories of outsourcing like that.

 

Nothing strange, really. Car companies don't make their own tires etc, and in electronics there are but a few (if any) companies making all components themselves.

 

 

D.ick

[SteveE]

I work for a metal fabrication company near Chicago. Last year one of the smaller European pen companies queried our sales team about our making nib blanks for them. I work in finance, but I was the one who knew more about the form and function of the part than our engineers knew. As it turned out, these would have been pre-plated steel nibs, but the cost of tooling was just too much for it to be economical for the pen company to proceed. We would have had the tooling made in Asia, but not China. We have no qualified toolmaking partners in China.

 

Also, for the machines in our plant, the economical annual order quantities would have been in the hundreds of thousands of pieces. Who could use all those nibs? I imagine that the successful nib manufacturers have equipment that is better suited to the run quantities they need, and they also have "standard" tooling to stamp out standard sized nib blanks that then just need the pen company's logo to be stamped onto them and tipping material applied.

 

Oh, well. I was hoping that we would be making nibs and maybe even pressure bars and other parts. . .

Edited June 12, 2013 by SteveE

[pokermon]

What about Parker and Waterman? I would think at least Waterman makes their own nibs right?

[terminal]

So the list of companies that make their own nibs is now:

 

Cartier, Waterman, Dupont, Platinum, Hakase, Aurora, Ancora, Lamy, Sailor, Pilot, Montblanc, Pelikan

 

 

You can have Guider of India hand make a gold nib in house.

I'm pretty sure Romillo makes their own nibs.

 

I wonder about Caran d'Ache

[terminal]

Digging around a little, I found some threads about this from before:

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/index.php/topic/44261-which-fp-manufacturers-still-make-their-own-nibs/?hl=make%20their%20own%20nibs

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/index.php/topic/122182-which-makers-still-make-their-own-nibs/

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/index.php/topic/32132-nibs/

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/index.php/topic/35178-are-todays-omas-nibs-made-by-omas/

 

So I've taken the liberty of making a new list, factoring in those threads:

• Cartier
• Waterman
• Dupont
• Platinum
• Hakase
• Aurora
• Ancora
• Lamy
• Sailor
• Pilot
• Montblanc
• Pelikan
• Faber Castell
• Schmidt
• Yard o' Lead

There is still some question about:

Wality, Parker, Bic/Stypen, Inoxcrom, Schneider, Cross, Sheaffer

 

Caran d'Ache apparently doesn't make nibs

 

What about the Chinese brands...

[legume]

I believe both Nakaya and Platinum nibs are made by Nakata, and all these companies are under one umbrella. Correct me if I'm wrong.

[Pingu]

Quite surprised at the list of non-inhouse pen brands

 

So... Bock is to fountain pens what ETA is to watches?

[TimGirdler]

 

At the Bock website, it lists manufacturers that out source their nibs to Bock, so I it looks like these manufacturers do not make their own nibs:

 

 

Below please find a list of companies trusting in the quality of fountain pen nibs made by Peter Bock.

• Astoria Schreibkultur
• Bexley Pen Company
• Classic Pens
• Cleo Skribent
• Conway Stewart Manufacturing
• David Oscarson
• Delta
• dns - Drechselstube Neckarsteinach
• Faber-Castell
• Karl Meisenbach
• Kaweco
• Norbert Zeplien
• Sheaffer Pen
• Starbond Europa
• Stefan Fink
• Visconti
• Waldmann

 

 

 

I don't know if anyone has mentioned it, as I have not read the entire thread, but Bexley (and also Edison) use JoWo nibs. Bexley doesn't use the Bock nib, though, I think, they used to use Schmidt nibs.

 

Just FYI.

 

Tim

[rabiosocorazon]

The new Visconti Opera mosquito comes with a nib made in Visconti factory.

[Harlequin]

<snip>

 

So I've taken the liberty of making a new list, factoring in those threads:

• Cartier
• Waterman
• Dupont
• Platinum
• Hakase
• Aurora
• Ancora
• Lamy
• Sailor
• Pilot
• Montblanc
• Pelikan
• Faber Castell
• Schmidt
• Yard o' Lead

There is still some question about:

Wality, Parker, Bic/Stypen, Inoxcrom, Schneider, Cross, Sheaffer

 

Caran d'Ache apparently doesn't make nibs

 

What about the Chinese brands...

 

I think it's been mentioned a couple of times the Bock now makes Sheaffer nibs (and has for years) and that Schmidt doesn't make nibs at all, only feeds. Additionally, Waterman and Parker are both are owned by Newell Rubbermaid, so I am guessing they probably share nibs, just like Platinum and Nakaya- so they should also be grouped as one entity. The same goes for Montblanc and Cartier, since Richemont owns both of those brands now.

[mohan]

Dear terminal,

Wality have their own nib production unit at Kanpur, India.

[max dog]

Thanks everyone for your input.

 

Here is a tally so far. There is some dispute about whether Bock or Jowo supplies nibs for some brands, so I went with what is posted at the Bock website currently. Faber Castell is listed on the Bock site also, so I removed it from the in-house list.

 

I never realized there are so many fountain pen brands out there.

 

Brands who make nibs in-house (in no particular order):

Cartier

Waterman

Dupont

Platinum

Hakase

Aurora

Ancora

Lamy

Sailor

Pilot

Montblanc

Pelikan

Yard O Lead

Visconti - select models

 

Brands that outsource to Peter Bock:

Astoria

Bexley

Classic Pens

Cleo Skribent

Conway Stewart

David Oscarson

Delta

Dns-Drechselstube Neckarsteinach

Faber Castell

Kart Meisenbach

Kaweko

Norbert Zeplien

Sheaffer

Starbound Europa

Stefan Fink

Visconti

Waldmann

Krone

Signe Audiard

Lepine

Elie Bleue

Omas

Graye Tighson

Cleo

Taccia

 

Brands that outsource to Jowo of Berlin

Monteverde

Dani Trio

Conklin

Marlen

Waterford

Tibaldi

Signum

Libelle

Montegrappa

Stipula

Lominchay

TWSBI

 

Brands outsourced to other:

Nakaya made by Platinum

 

To be determined:

Cross – Inhouse in China these days?

Parker?

Caran d’Ache?

Wality?

Inoxcrom?

Schneider?

What other brands did we miss?

What about other Chinese and Japanese brands?

 

Big mystery is who makes nibs for Parker? Is it Waterman in France who make Parker nibs, or does Parker make Waterman nibs?

 

 

Please continue to provide input to this list.

Edited June 13, 2013 by max dog

[Aramchek]

Cartier has the same owner (Richemont) as Montblanc, so it seems likely they share the same nib plant.

I seem to recall Yard-o-led actually outsources nib production, but I can't recall where (or if...) I read that. I need a memory upgrade.

Parker used to make their own nibs in their Newhaven facility - there was an interesting article about it, its location is one of those things I've forgotten. Since manufacturing of their pens (apart from those made by Luxor in India or whoever-it-is in China) has been moved to the Waterman factory in France, I would expect their nibs are made there.

I believe Inoxcrom do indeed make their own nibs.

Ratnamson (India) make their own gold nibs but buy steel nibs from other makers.

One slightly confusing sidenote is that there is a brand of Indian nibs called "Platinum" which apparently has nothing do with the the Japanese company. Or, presumably, the metal.