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What's A Jowo Nib?


sandy101

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Hello, a lot of members talk mention Jowo nibs, and fitting them to cheap Chinese fountain pens. What exactly is a Jowo nib? Is it a brand, or is it an abbreviation for something? It's not something I see in the UK.

 

Thank you.

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Jowo is a manufacturer of nibs; they don't (as far as I know) make pens. Many pen makers use their nibs so that they don't have to get into the nib making business as well. Some of these would include TWSBI and Edison. They can also be had separately and put in pens with broken or subpar nibs- I think Goulet's nibs are made by Jowo.

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Jowo is a manufacturer of nibs; they don't (as far as I know) make pens. Many pen makers use their nibs so that they don't have to get into the nib making business as well. Some of these would include TWSBI and Edison. They can also be had separately and put in pens with broken or subpar nibs- I think Goulet's nibs are made by Jowo.

 

+1, JoWo is a German nib manufacturer, who produce pens for use by pen manufacturers. Goulet Pens sell their own branded JoWo nibs, #6 size only; so do Anderson Pens. Brian Gray of Edison Pens is (I believe) the JoWo distributor in the US - you can get a wider range of JoWo nibs, #5 and #6 sizes, stainless steel or gold, from his Meisternibs website (www.meisternibs.com). The other big European (also German) nib manufacturer is Bock - between the two of them, these guys supply a pretty extensive "Who's Who" of fountain pen brands.

 

I own a few pens with JoWo stainless steel nibs - 4 TWSBIs (with a few spare nibs, and 2 more pens on the way), plus about 5 Goulet nibs. Both companies definitely 'tune' and 'tweak' the nibs a little before selling, but in my experience JoWo nibs are pretty smooth writers, even their EFs (at least when compared to some other manufacturers).

 

I don't know of any English resellers - or Australian, for that matter - but maybe someone on FPN can tell you if JoWo sell direct to Europe, and/or whether they have a European distributor?

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Thank you for the replies. I saw Jowo and wasn't sure if it was a brand or an abbreviation, or which country the name originated from. I've checked e-bay and the internet now I know its a European manufacturer and found some sources. Oddly enough, the majority of hits are American sites, rather than European ones.

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In the UK you can have a look at MrPen, the Parson's Essential carries Italix branded JoWo nibs (if not they are really identical copies), on the continent you can find unbranded JoWo nibs for example in Spain (FPnibs). Probably other locations as well that I did no yet stumble into.

 

PS of course you there is the source of all JoWo Berliner Schreibfeder GmbH (website currently down)

 

Edited by El Gordo

Ik ontken het grote belang van de computer niet, maar vind het van een stuitende domheid om iets wat al millennia zijn belang heeft bewezen daarom overboord te willen gooien (Ann De Craemer)

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  • 3 years later...

I was going to ask this question myself as I hear Brian Goulet mention them a bit.

I'm learning as I go. I am slightly obsessed with Fountain Pens!

www.penspaperink.com

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Thank you for the replies. I saw Jowo and wasn't sure if it was a brand or an abbreviation, or which country the name originated from. I've checked e-bay and the internet now I know its a European manufacturer and found some sources. Oddly enough, the majority of hits are American sites, rather than European ones.

 

 

Like Bock they are wholesale only and not interested in retail sales. Their wonderfully 1996-style web site is here. Interestingly they are also the firm behind another product: ABM guitar parts whose authentic 1950s style brass bridge and tail-piece in die cast aluminium transformed my Gibson Les Paul into the little monster it is today.

 

These odd sounding names for some German firms are created by combining the first syllables of multiple words to make something mellifluous. Adidas (Adi Dassler), AlDi (Albrecht Diskont), Leica (Leitzsche Camera), KaWeCo (Koch & Weber - KoWeCo didn't sound good?)

 

No idea who founded JoWo but they claim a history to 1852 on their website. I read on a German board that they are a spin off from the 1840s founders of steel nib production in Germany, Heintze & Blanckertz who still exist as calligraphy nib specialists, but the poster didn't substantiate that claim.

Less is More - Ludwig Mies van der Rohe

Less is a Bore - Robert Venturi

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Bexley uses Jowo now (after they dropped gold nibs)

Ranga, India, offers Jowo nibs on several models as an option to Indian nibs and Bock nibs.

If you look carefully you probably find others, typically some of the smaller companies are forced to turn to these nibs if they want good quality.

Nib making is a complex matter, only few makers are still left around, besides the big names (and even big names have some of their nibs made on order by companies like Bock).

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As AidenMark said, JoWo does not make business with end users.

I have tried to find them on offer here in Germany but unfortunately no one offers them here.

Bock nibs can be had rather easily, but not JoWo.

 

The only dealers were in UK or USA or Spain and shipping costs were exorbitant.

So obviously nibs made in Germany are only available via re-import! :wallbash: :headsmack: :gaah:
OK: my pens now have Bock nibs! :P

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As AidenMark said, JoWo does not make business with end users.

I have tried to find them on offer here in Germany but unfortunately no one offers them here.

Bock nibs can be had rather easily, but not JoWo.

 

The only dealers were in UK or USA or Spain and shipping costs were exorbitant.

So obviously nibs made in Germany are only available via re-import! :wallbash: :headsmack: :gaah:

OK: my pens now have Bock nibs! :P

 

Hello Brandywine:

 

I've had about twenty JoWos from a small Spanish outfit called fpnibs.com. I know you mentioned Spain, but I just looked up their current prices and you may be pleased to find that they'll charge you €10.20 per nib and €6.90 for shipping, a cost that stays put for several nibs.. You have to pay a couple of euros if you pay by debit card or PayPal and there's VAT on top.

 

I was doing this for my own future reference, but here are two examples of the total cost to Germany (I just changed the country field since I'm in the UK, though it's all the same anyway):

 

One nib (plain stainless steel): €20.69.

Three nibs: €45.38.

 

I think I used to get 3-6 nibs at one go and the shipping didn't go up. This is how to reduce the shipping charge per nib, of course.

 

Hope that's helpful.

 

(I've no affiliation with this company at all, but I have bought most of my nibs from them and I like them.)

Edited by lurcho
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