Brands with handmade steel nibs

[peluza]

It is common among the community to say that gold nibs are not better than steel nibs. I disagree since most gold nibs are hand polished and tested one by one while steel nibs are mass produced in automated processes. So, in order for a steel nib to compete against a gold nib, it would need to be hand polished, hand finished and hand tested.

Currently the only steel nibs that I am aware that are hand made are the Kaweco Premium Steel nibs (which cost $50 USD), , the steel nib of a Hero 40 years reform and opening special edition 英雄钢笔1978改革开放40 and Edison Pens. Maybe Faber-Castell steel nibs are also hand polished given their quality. But most steel nibs are not: Pelikan, Aurora, Lamy, etc.

 

So, the question is what brands do you know that offer hand polished, hand finished steel nibs?

 

Since today it was a cleaning day, I share a picture of a clogged feed and how I left it.

 

 

[peluza]

With the help of Ethan from Goulet pens, Joost Appelboom, and asciiaardvark, aPenologist, MouthIt from reddit.

 

The list is:

 

1. Diplomat

2. Faber-Castell

3. Kaweco premium steel nib

4. Hero 40 years of the reform and opening

5. Edison

 

Further, the following brands offer custom steel nibs for a fee:

 

6. Esterbrook Estie

7. Franklin Christoph

[Bo Bo Olson]

Most of my great steel nibs are vintage semi-flex, maxi-semi-flex or better nibs, and they were not hand polished. Osmia and or Osmia-Faber-Castell. Those grand steel nibs are = to the grand gold nibs.

I have a number of 'no name' very fine steel nibs that are semi-flex and my steel Degussa nibs are Easy Full Flex, the first stage of superflex.

 This era is not ornately stamped, like modern nibs....on the whole, outside MB...

 

Is the metal or alloy and nib geometry made to make nice comfortable ride with a springy nib, or a nib a bit softer?

 

Big drums with various polishing compounds....I'm not sure if it was nibs or something else but crushed walnut shells were used and after a few days, every thing gleamed.

I'd rather have that than someone getting paid for how many nibs he 'polishes' in an hour.

 

 

This nib I just missed winning was once hand hammered, annealed with a piece of potato on the tip so the tipping didn't burn off....just missed winning this. It though was only semi-flex....with all that trouble I imagine it was hand polished also. This is from 1927 back when Kaweco made the best nib in Germany. click to enlarge.

 

 

A hand polished nail is still just a nail, be it steel or gold they are nails.

As any can tell I don't care for nails..

 

I like a nice springy regular flex nib/Japanese soft.....in German pens ''70- late '90's outside the Pelikan 200 which still is...be that gold or steel in Pelikan they are =ly springy. I do have two Pelikan Celebrys in equally springy gold and steel nibs.

Really drum polishing did fine....

 

Odd the MB's are drum polished...according to list. with permission of Pentime,

 

My '90 wooden Diplomat, has a 18 K gold nib, it's 'regular flex'. However, it's tines bend easier than they spread. I prefer a match on ease of bend and tine spread. (something I'd not noticed until this second...same for the other Diplomat.)

The above wooden pen is the diplomat.

This Diplomat regular flex steel nib is a bit different, it is a regular flex, but stiffer...it's tine spread is easier...This is actually silver plated pen, but the lighting of the original seller showed it more golden.

I wild guess this also in the '90's.

I only have two Diplomats.

 

I don't see how hand polishing can be better than hours in a drum. Throw them in, go home and look at them in the morning......I'm sure some slapstick engineer figured out how long the drum had to rotate and with what affordable polishing material  to polish the nib; pre-computer.

 

[metalhead]

  On 7/12/2023 at 9:46 PM, peluza said:

 

1. Diplomat

2. Faber-Castell

3. Kaweco premium steel nib

4. Hero 40 years of the reform and opening

5. Edison

Expand  

 

Most brands get one of Jowo/Bock/Schmidt nibs and finish/polish based on their taste. In this list, for eg. modern Diplomat steel nibs in Aero etc are made by Jowo, same for most Edison steel nibs. This is an old but great resource to get information on brands and their suppliers, albeit a bit outdated in cases -> https://danielpi.com/fountain-pens/2015/12/1/nibs-and-who-makes-them

 

To add to your list, some Indian brands that make their own nibs -

1. Mohi pens - affordable pens, but stellar nibs, especially their fine nibs are surprisingly springy and wet, made in house, I prefer them over Jowo EF nibs (you can swap a Jowo nib with a Mohi F in its unit and use in all Jowo unit compat pens). Each nib is polished and tested before shipping.
2. Magna Carta - their steel and Titanium nibs are made in house, and are of a decent quality, the nibs are ok, I like that their units have ebonite feeds which are easier to tinker with if you want to increase flow. Their #8 nibs are individually tuned and tested (although I've had trouble with one in past, so cannot vouch for QE)
3. Kanwrite - OEM for a lot of brands, including FPR semi and ultra flex, one of the largest nib suppliers, also make pens. The Kanwrite Mammoth is a big pen with a #9 steel nib that they fit and tune for each pen by hand. This nib is amazing, the nib size is the hook, but the performance drags you in.
4. Acriv - actually not steel, they make Titanium butterfly nibs in house and test and polish each. these are delicate nibs, but they perform very well.

Here's some of them together (L-R standard Bock, Schmidt and Jowo steel#6, Mohi, Acriv Ti, Magna Carta #8, Kanwrite #9) -

 

Some others that make their own nibs but don't know if they hand polish and finish like gold nibs -

• Nahvalur (most probably they don't)
• GvFC (most likely they do a lot of quality testing and tuning because these nibs are divine)

 

[UpadhyayAbhinav]

  On 7/18/2023 at 2:57 AM, metalhead said:

 

Most brands get one of Jowo/Bock/Schmidt nibs and finish/polish based on their taste. In this list, for eg. modern Diplomat steel nibs in Aero etc are made by Jowo, same for most Edison steel nibs. This is an old but great resource to get information on brands and their suppliers, albeit a bit outdated in cases -> https://danielpi.com/fountain-pens/2015/12/1/nibs-and-who-makes-them

 

To add to your list, some Indian brands that make their own nibs -

1. Mohi pens - affordable pens, but stellar nibs, especially their fine nibs are surprisingly springy and wet, made in house, I prefer them over Jowo EF nibs (you can swap a Jowo nib with a Mohi F in its unit and use in all Jowo unit compat pens). Each nib is polished and tested before shipping.
2. Magna Carta - their steel and Titanium nibs are made in house, and are of a decent quality, the nibs are ok, I like that their units have ebonite feeds which are easier to tinker with if you want to increase flow. Their #8 nibs are individually tuned and tested (although I've had trouble with one in past, so cannot vouch for QE)
3. Kanwrite - OEM for a lot of brands, including FPR semi and ultra flex, one of the largest nib suppliers, also make pens. The Kanwrite Mammoth is a big pen with a #9 steel nib that they fit and tune for each pen by hand. This nib is amazing, the nib size is the hook, but the performance drags you in.
4. Acriv - actually not steel, they make Titanium butterfly nibs in house and test and polish each. these are delicate nibs, but they perform very well.

Here's some of them together (L-R standard Bock, Schmidt and Jowo steel#6, Mohi, Acriv Ti, Magna Carta #8, Kanwrite #9) -

 

Some others that make their own nibs but don't know if they hand polish and finish like gold nibs -

• Nahvalur (most probably they don't)
• GvFC (most likely they do a lot of quality testing and tuning because these nibs are divine)

 

Expand  

This is a wonderful and knowledge rich information sir! I was worried about the quality control of Kanwrite Mammoth #9 steel nib, but now that you have told that it is individually hand tuned, I am surely going to buy it. Thank you so much!

I wanted to know, if you have any knowledge or experience about the Kanwrite #9 14kt gold nib too? What is its feel, quality, bounce and flex?