Jowo #5 Nib Unit (Nib,feed,collar) In Faber Castell Loom?

June 6, 2018

I was thinking about trying out a stub nib and saw on fpnibs.com (link below) that they sell an entire unit with threads. I am pretty sure the number 5 nib will fit (with just pulling out nib and feed) but I like the idea of just screwing out my one unit already on it (leaving it be) and then swapping it with another unit using the threads. Will the entire unit (nib, feed, collar) fit? Also, does anyone know any other places to get these entire jowo nib units (or other nib units) in the USA? Thank you!

https://www.fpnibs.com/standard/209-9052-jowo-size-5-steel-nib-unit-11-tip.html#/

June 7, 2018

Can't advise whether number 5 nibs (or nib units) will fit the Faber Castell Loom - someone else will have to chip in on that - but I *can* tell you that meisternibs.com is the main US-based distributor for JoWo nibs. They charge $18 per nib unit - and as far as I know they don't offer nib tuning or custom grinds (my main reason for buying nibs from fpnibs.com).

June 7, 2018

thank you! that is very helpful. Halfway there - now just need to figure out if it will fit.

June 13, 2018

No. it won't fit. Faber Castell nibs and feeds are bespoke (sort of, the nibs are a standard #5 size but are made in-house)

Pablo at FPnibs,com can take your loom, fit a nib and channel the feed if necessary. It takes him a few days to test it and ensure things are right, but his work is top notch. I've seen people customize sections of TWSBI pens to fit gold nibs and run enough ink, but I just told pablo to make it work and he channeled the plastic feed bigtime and set it to the nib just right. I have a wet noodle flex nib with a plastic feed that keeps up just fine.

That said, why get rid of the nib from a loom? They make some of the very best steel nibs on earth.

If you want a stub, just get a nemosine #5 stub, it should fit (if you're genuinely curious about this route, just say so, and I can test it for you with my loom and a spare nemosine stub)

Edited June 13, 2018 by Honeybadgers

June 18, 2018

Thank you for you reply. Forgive my delay as I didn't seen an update email to this thread in my inbox. I didn't necessarily want to "get rid of" the nib on my loom but wanted a new screw in nib and I couldn't really find many pens with screw in nib units and I thought what could be easier than just screwing an entire unit in for a nib swap. I am relatively new to FPs so pulling out feeds etc seemed like too much room for error especially when reading how the fins on some of the feeds of pens like TSWBI are very fragile. I looked at my loom and realized it had a screw in unit and I thought I had a Eureka moment until I realized I wasn't sure if the nib housing would fit. That was my thought process anyway. If you know of any other pens with screw in units, I would be happy to look at them too. Thanks!

June 20, 2018

TWSBI feeds are less fragile than you'd expect, I pull the feed on my vac700R quite often for cleaning. The loom comes apart fairly nicely, it's quite a robust pen.

Don't be shy, and when in doubt, wiggle a little bit if it's very firm. just wrap the nib in a paper towel or other "nib gripping" material. Pens can sometimes bey very tightly build from the manufacturer, but once you get them out, reassembly tends to result in a friction fit that is much nicer.

I have a bunch of nib grippers made from old motorcycle tube for FPN members. PM me your address and I'll stick a couple in the mail for you if you'd like.

June 20, 2018

TWSBI feeds are less fragile than you'd expect, I pull the feed on my vac700R quite often for cleaning. The loom comes apart fairly nicely, it's quite a robust pen.

Don't be shy, and when in doubt, wiggle a little bit if it's very firm. just wrap the nib in a paper towel or other "nib gripping" material. Pens can sometimes bey very tightly build from the manufacturer, but once you get them out, reassembly tends to result in a friction fit that is much nicer.

I have a bunch of nib grippers made from old motorcycle tube for FPN members. PM me your address and I'll stick a couple in the mail for you if you'd like.

Hate to contradict, but TWSBI Diamond Mini feeds are an exception here. It's not so much that the fins are weaker, but that the feed and nib are *very* tightly wedged. I bent (but managed not to break) a few fins on mine, but Goulet Pens and fpnibs.com both have YouTube videos detailing just how easy it is for things to go wrong - and Sunny Koh of Straits Pen in Singapore (who custom ground some nibs for me) issued a similar warning.

TWSBI Eco, nib and feed remove easily; Diamond 580 and Vac Mini (in my experience) require a bit of wiggling, but are fairly co-operative; but the Diamond Mini is another story. If you manage to remove the nib and feed *once* without incident, it'll be easier the second time. But get it wrong and you're in a bit of bother!

fpnibs.com video:

[These days the sell the Mini gold nib in a full assembly.]

June 20, 2018

No. it won't fit. Faber Castell nibs and feeds are bespoke (sort of, the nibs are a standard #5 size but are made in-house)

Faber-Castell nibs are made by Jowo. Graf von Faber-Castell nibs are made by Bock.

June 21, 2018

Hate to contradict, but TWSBI Diamond Mini feeds are an exception here. It's not so much that the fins are weaker, but that the feed and nib are *very* tightly wedged. I bent (but managed not to break) a few fins on mine, but Goulet Pens and fpnibs.com both have YouTube videos detailing just how easy it is for things to go wrong - and Sunny Koh of Straits Pen in Singapore (who custom ground some nibs for me) issued a similar warning.

TWSBI Eco, nib and feed remove easily; Diamond 580 and Vac Mini (in my experience) require a bit of wiggling, but are fairly co-operative; but the Diamond Mini is another story. If you manage to remove the nib and feed *once* without incident, it'll be easier the second time. But get it wrong and you're in a bit of bother!

fpnibs.com video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HyIeURfba1k

[These days the sell the Mini gold nib in a full assembly.]

Do you think this video applies to the Vac700R or Vac Mini? I really don't know much about Twsbis

June 21, 2018

Do you think this video applies to the Vac700R or Vac Mini? I really don't know much about Twsbis

Neither: this primarily applies to the Diamond Mini (the nibs and feeds for the Vac 700R / Vac Mini aren't as tight a fit inside their collars).

June 21, 2018

Hate to contradict, but TWSBI Diamond Mini feeds are an exception here. It's not so much that the fins are weaker, but that the feed and nib are *very* tightly wedged. I bent (but managed not to break) a few fins on mine, but Goulet Pens and fpnibs.com both have YouTube videos detailing just how easy it is for things to go wrong - and Sunny Koh of Straits Pen in Singapore (who custom ground some nibs for me) issued a similar warning.

TWSBI Eco, nib and feed remove easily; Diamond 580 and Vac Mini (in my experience) require a bit of wiggling, but are fairly co-operative; but the Diamond Mini is another story. If you manage to remove the nib and feed *once* without incident, it'll be easier the second time. But get it wrong and you're in a bit of bother!

fpnibs.com video:

[These days the sell the Mini gold nib in a full assembly.]

Okay, so my sweeping generalizations stand corrected. most twsbi feeds are easy to remove. I don't actually have a diamond mini.

I know I've only been here about a year, but you'll eventually learn that I tend to speak in fairly broad, sweeping generalizations and can be hyperbolic from time to time. I'm a paramedic who has to talk to a broad range of people from every level of education, upbringing and mental status, so I usually talk "broad strokes"

So I will never be offended if you want to point out a detail where what I'm alluding to isn't true

June 21, 2018

Faber-Castell nibs are made by Jowo. Graf von Faber-Castell nibs are made by Bock.

Really? I was under the impression that they were in house. I could've sworn that I was told by FC themselves when I asked if they could sell nibs directly, but going back to my email, she didn't actually answer that part of my questions.

Good to know. I should ask Josh of Nemosine where his nibs come from. He also has a very unique shape and scrollwork design. I do know that Josh inspects every nib that he gets and will do some simple smoothing/tuning if required. Which is amazing for $20 pens.

June 26, 2018

Neither: this primarily applies to the Diamond Mini (the nibs and feeds for the Vac 700R / Vac Mini aren't as tight a fit inside their collars).

That is really good to know. Now I wonder if the any standard jowo number 5 nib unit can be swapped in like with the diamond mini but with either the Vac700R or Vac mini?!?!?! I love how that whole unit can be swapped with the diamond mini.

June 26, 2018

That is really good to know. Now I wonder if the any standard jowo number 5 nib unit can be swapped in like with the diamond mini but with either the Vac700R or Vac mini?!?!?! I love how that whole unit can be swapped with the diamond mini.

The Vac Mini is a whole different ball game - I'd say the answer is 'no' (though swapping nibs into the existing nib unit is not too difficult).

The Vac 700R takes #6 nibs, and has its own proprietary swappable nib assembly - I don't own one so can't comment on compatibility with the JoWo nib units, but I'd guess that, once again, you're restricted to swapping nibs into the existing assembly.

[From what I understand, based on correspondence with fpnibs.com, the Vac 700/700R nib is custom designed by JoWo for TWSBI, and has less front-to-back curvature than a standard JoWo #6 nib - the latter will fit into the feed OK, but won't sit quite as snugly.]

June 27, 2018

I have a full flex 14k JoWo #6 nib in my vac700R. The first time that feed comes out it's a little tight, but is very smooth and easy after that with a nice friction fit. just be careful of the little tail on the end of the feed, but I managed to break that off in another feed I was modifying and it wound up not doing a thing to impact flow, so be careful not to break it, but if you do, it doesn't seem to matter whatsoever.

The Vac700R uses a whole swappable SECTION, not the nib/feed assembly. The section, feed, and nib are all together and unscrew from the barrel. It is convenient as heck for swapping nibs, I have one for a stub, one for a broad, one for an architect, and one for my superflex wet noodle. But disassembly for cleaning is pretty regular for them all, and they all disassemble nicely.

June 30, 2018

For a more gentle distribution of force when pulling feeds out of collars, a bicycle rubber tube is helpful it can lessen the probability of damaging fins and causing nibs to misalign in this process.

I disassemble all my pens for thorough ultrasonic cleaning and I have not encountered any problem at all, except for a Delike metallic kaweco-inspired pen: that nib cannot be removed easily. And I stopped using the pen as a result. I will not use pens that I cannot thoroughly clean.

Thursday at 07:27 AM

On 6/21/2018 at 1:23 PM, Honeybadgers said:

I should ask Josh of Nemosine where his nibs come from.

@Honeybadgers Did you? Thanks.

I had heard that FC outsourced everything fountain pen to an OEM they recently bought.

Thursday at 08:29 AM

Is it Vivapen in Slovenia? I found them when looking for more designs and colours of the Greenfield school pen - the nib of which is remarkably similar to that of the Loom (and the Midori).

2025-01-17T10:47:58Z

On 1/16/2025 at 2:27 AM, mke said:

@Honeybadgers Did you? Thanks.

I had heard that FC outsourced everything fountain pen to an OEM they recently bought.

Nemosine nibs seem to be jowos to me. They fit the same pens.

2025-01-18T03:18:46Z

21 hours ago, MuddyWaters said:

Nemosine nibs seem to be jowos to me.

Many years ago, someone said Nemosine nibs are "Knox nibs" and Knox is said to be a German company. Never did I see a clarification of that topic. It is still muddy waters. 🤣

Anyone with connection to PenChalet, could you please ask them. Apparently, PC have/had a business connection to Knox.

edit: I kept the emails with the Jowo rumours. Beware: "these are rumours"!!!!!!

1) Someone with connection to Jowo sold rebranded Jowo nibs as Knox nibs.

2) When Nemosine shut down their business to focus on Birmingham Pens, they offered the Nemosine nibs as Germany-made nibs (this sentence is a fact). Eventually, Nemosine nibs were also rebranded Jowo nibs. I just saw, they still do.

If these nibs really are made in Germany (or shall we say sold by a German company, see below), you have the reasonable chance that they are made by Jowo or Bock. There is no other main manufacturer in Germany. Even Montblanc sometimes used nibs made by Jowo - for them.

Finally:

3) Jowo steel nibs and housings are said to be made by a Taiwanese company. Someone said the Jowo person in the US had a slip-of-tongue and revealed this fact. Some people point to Dayacom due to the similarity between Dayacom and Jowo nibs. See pictures below.

Bigger nibs: https://www.dayacom.com.tw/product_02.php?product_id=1814&prod_item_id=1

Smaller nibs: https://www.dayacom.com.tw/product_02.php?prod_item_id=1&product_id=1815

Feeder and housings: https://www.dayacom.com.tw/product_02.php?prod_item_id=1&product_id=1818