Hammered Nibs-- I Didn't Know This Was a Thing!

[OCArt]

From a Reddit post:

The consensus in the discussion seems to be that this type of nib is done with a grinding wheel and nor a hammer. Reminds me of those fake "Damascus" knife now sold.

 

[Paul-in-SF]

I can just see it -- a little, teeny hammer, a tiny anvil, and a magnifying glass. 

 

Beneath the spreading chestnut tree the village smithy stands,

And 'neath his feet his baby boy with chubby little hands

Doth pound away upon some nibs, to fake for crooked brands

Of fountain pens their merchandise to sell through all the lands.

[Carrau]

You’ve both missed the special factory tour given yesterday (April 1).  Fortunately, there is a YouTube video of the tour. Join Wotan and Loge as they visit Nibelheim (in this version, it must be located under Haight-Ashbury, based on the visuals).  You can hear the dwarves at work at about 2:04- listen carefully for the clinking of the hammers on the tiny anvils of the Nibelungen busy at work for Bock!

 

 

 

[amberleadavis]

Wow great April Fools Joke on the tour, but is the nib real?

[InesF]

10 hours ago, Paul-in-SF said:

Beneath the spreading chestnut tree the village smithy stands,

And 'neath his feet his baby boy with chubby little hands

Doth pound away upon some nibs, to fake for crooked brands

Of fountain pens their merchandise to sell through all the lands.

Lovin' it! 

[corniche]

10 hours ago, Paul-in-SF said:

Beneath the spreading chestnut tree the village smithy stands,

And 'neath his feet his baby boy with chubby little hands

Doth pound away upon some nibs, to fake for crooked brands

Of fountain pens their merchandise to sell through all the lands.

 

- Sean

[corniche]

10 hours ago, OCArt said:

From a Reddit post:

The consensus in the discussion seems to be that this type of nib is done with a grinding wheel and nor a hammer. Reminds me of those fake "Damascus" knife now sold.

 

Not sure if this is a joke or not... but I fail to understand the merchant's logic... if you want a broader line, widen the slit a bit or add more tipping... if you want flex, cut into the shoulders. I would be inclined to believe the hammering affect would make the nib MORE rigid, not less.

 

It looks cool, though.

 

- Sean

[Number99]

The product page of their similar product explains that "筆尖總成錘紋" = "The tip of the pen always becomes a hammer pattern"（DeepL Translation） instead of "Hammered Nibs". 

https://world.taobao.com/item/wap/655738300380.htm?spm=a21wu.27653773-tw.taglist-content.1.289e22f89ofYTB

*The Chinese displayed at the links are in Traditional and Simplified Chinese. Please enable automatic translation in your browser.

 

As for the Bock Nib products, here is a link.

They explain that they are imported from Germany.

They seem to have made a lot of changes to the nibs, shaving all the surfaces off, leaving the logo, etc. 

I wonder if it can be said to be a bock nib if it is customized so much.

Given that there is a line of pens with similar modifications to the cap and barrel, I suspect these are aesthetic customizations.

https://world.taobao.com/item/wap/676835108025.htm?spm=a21wu.27653773-tw.taglist-content.1.289e22f8QwFMjQ

 

Hammer pattern pen from 胖叔鋼筆（fat uncle pen）.

https://img.alicdn.com/bao/uploaded/i2/418534651/O1CN01thU7hs1kECoUIXsVk_!!418534651.jpg

 

Link to zhihu article.（Mandarin）

https://zhuanlan.zhihu.com/p/533009912?utm_id=0

 

*Product pages are cited because they need to show primary information.

Please delete if necessary.

 

 

Edited April 3, 2023 by Number99

[dipper]

Hammered flat ....

[PAKMAN]

53 minutes ago, dipper said:

Hammered flat ....

😲

[Mercian]

15 hours ago, Paul-in-SF said:

I can just see it -- a little, teeny hammer, a tiny anvil, and a magnifying glass. 

 

Beneath the spreading chestnut tree the village smithy stands,

And 'neath his feet his baby boy with chubby little hands

Doth pound away upon some nibs, to fake for crooked brands

Of fountain pens their merchandise to sell through all the lands.

😁👍

[Mercian]

15 hours ago, Carrau said:

You’ve both missed the special factory tour given yesterday (April 1).  Fortunately, there is a YouTube video of the tour. Join Wotan and Loge as they visit Nibelheim (in this version, it must be located under Haight-Ashbury, based on the visuals).  You can hear the dwarves at work at about 2:04- listen carefully for the clinking of the hammers on the tiny anvils of the Nibelungen busy at work for Bock!

😁👍

[Mercian]

5 hours ago, corniche said:

It looks cool, though.

Imagine if that nib were either made of polished gold, or partially-plated with rhodium/platinum after the process of creating its facets.

Now imagine writing with such a nib by candlelight…

 

…it’d be absolutely disco-glitterball-tastic! 💃🕺

[corniche]

1 hour ago, Mercian said:

Imagine if that nib were either made of polished gold, or partially-plated with rhodium/platinum after the process of creating its facets.

Now imagine writing with such a nib by candlelight…

 

…it’d be absolutely disco-glitterball-tastic! 💃🕺

Uh, see,... now you've got me started... I'm gonna get hammered... and hammer all me nibs.

 

- Sean

[OCArt]

@Number99 Wow, thanks for all the good info.  I really like the hammered pen shown at the bottom of this Taobao page and below:

[como]

18 hours ago, Paul-in-SF said:

I can just see it -- a little, teeny hammer, a tiny anvil, and a magnifying glass. 

 

Beneath the spreading chestnut tree the village smithy stands,

And 'neath his feet his baby boy with chubby little hands

Doth pound away upon some nibs, to fake for crooked brands

Of fountain pens their merchandise to sell through all the lands.

 

@Paul-in-SF:Brilliant!!! 😂😂😂 

 

4 hours ago, dipper said:

Hammered flat ....

 

 

@dipper: 😂😂😂 

 

[dipper]

... and to hammer a really big nib you need to have .....

.... a really big hammer!

[InesF]

April fool or not, the nib looks nice.

Such a nib has, at least, the chance to function normally (as soon as you remove the fibre sticking between the tines ...  ) and has the add-on of being an eye-candy (even beyond April 1^st).

[JulieParadise]

55 minutes ago, InesF said:

April fool or not, the nib looks nice.

Such a nib has, at least, the chance to function normally (as soon as you remove the fibre sticking between the tines ...  ) and has the add-on of being an eye-candy (even beyond April 1^st).

 

Oh, I don't think that this is an April's fool joke. Annabelle Hiller made such a hammered nib as a masterpiece to finish her training as a goldsmith. You can listen to her talking about this in a podcast (it was either the Australian podcast The Nib Section or Tokyo Inklings; sorry I cannot search for it now as I am on my smartphone).

[Number99]

17 hours ago, OCArt said:

@Number99 Wow, thanks for all the good info.  I really like the hammered pen shown at the bottom of this Taobao page and below:

As for the pen, I remember reading an article some years ago about a Majohn Ti 200 with an iridescent titanium oxide coating.

I believe that article stated that the pen was heated and hammered.

I didn't mention it in my previous post because now that I've lost the link, that would be my memory talking.

I think that was another article that was published in "zhihu".

If I find it I will post a link to it in this thread.

I remember that it was a beautiful pen with a stunningly different color finish on each individual piece.

 

Edited April 4, 2023 by Number99