Jowo Nibs 14K Vs 18K

[rammarur]

I have seen many forums on steel vs gold nibs. Article by Brian Gray helps a lot in taking the right decision. Can someone tell me the difference between JoWo 14k nib and 18k nib? I am talking about stock nibs and not the ones tweaked by the meister.

[jar]

Other than the percentage of gold?

[rammarur]

Is there a difference in the way they write? Which one is better?

[jar]

Neither is better; it is simply a matter of an individual's preference. It's likely that there will be as much variation between two 14K or two 18K nibs as between a given 14K and 18K nib.

[rammarur]

Thank you for responding. That helps.

[Bo Bo Olson]

18 K gold bends easier than 14 K and if over stressed stays bent-broken. 18 K often don't have the spring back of a 14 K so is called 'soft'/mushy.....depending on the flex of the nib of course.

 

A nails a nail, and there are gold and steel nails. There you pay for the gold bling only. It takes a weight lifter to get tine separation with a nail.

 

Semi-nail, press real hard and the tines spread 2X a light down stroke....no difference between steel and gold."Springy" like a Falcon...MB nib has good tine bend, but still only 2 X tine spread.

 

'True' regular flex is seldom made anymore because the Ham Fisted Ball Point Barbarians bent the nibs so often the companies stopped making them.

When mashed will spread the tines 3X a light down stroke.

In the tine spread of 3 X set are 'true' regular flex, semi-flex that requires half that pressure to max at 3 X, and maxi-semi-flex that requires half of that, or 1/4th the pressure to mash a 'true' regular flex nib to 3x.....gold or steel.

Superflex is for another day....and somehow due to nib geometry and alloy mix there are superflex gold nibs.....that you are not ready for.....superflex in gold or steel requires a feather light hand.

 

Nibs come in nail, semi-nail, 'true' regular flex, "Springy" like a Falcon or MB nib, semi-flex,and superflex.

A 18 K semi-flex like a Pelikan 1000 requires a lighter hand than a 14K vintage Pelikan 400 semi-flex in 18 K semi-flex is not as rugged as 14 k, and will bend and stay bent.

Semi-flex is found mostly on vintage nibs.

I really don't feel any difference between 14 K and steel in 'true' regular flex, nor in semi-flex. But those are 'good' nibs.

[mmg122]

Richard Binder discusses this issue on his website, Richards Pens.

 

http://www.richardspens.com/index_m.html. Search "Nib Materials".

 

I think this will help you.

[rammarur]

Thanks everyone!

[rammarur]

18 K gold bends easier than 14 K and if over stressed stays bent-broken. 18 K often don't have the spring back of a 14 K so is called 'soft'/mushy.....depending on the flex of the nib of course.

 

A nails a nail, and there are gold and steel nails. There you pay for the gold bling only. It takes a weight lifter to get tine separation with a nail.

 

Semi-nail, press real hard and the tines spread 2X a light down stroke....no difference between steel and gold."Springy" like a Falcon...MB nib has good tine bend, but still only 2 X tine spread.

 

'True' regular flex is seldom made anymore because the Ham Fisted Ball Point Barbarians bent the nibs so often the companies stopped making them.

When mashed will spread the tines 3X a light down stroke.

In the tine spread of 3 X set are 'true' regular flex, semi-flex that requires half that pressure to max at 3 X, and maxi-semi-flex that requires half of that, or 1/4th the pressure to mash a 'true' regular flex nib to 3x.....gold or steel.

Superflex is for another day....and somehow due to nib geometry and alloy mix there are superflex gold nibs.....that you are not ready for.....superflex in gold or steel requires a feather light hand.

 

Nibs come in nail, semi-nail, 'true' regular flex, "Springy" like a Falcon or MB nib, semi-flex,and superflex.

A 18 K semi-flex like a Pelikan 1000 requires a lighter hand than a 14K vintage Pelikan 400 semi-flex in 18 K semi-flex is not as rugged as 14 k, and will bend and stay bent.

Semi-flex is found mostly on vintage nibs.

I really don't feel any difference between 14 K and steel in 'true' regular flex, nor in semi-flex. But those are 'good' nibs.

Thanks for the information, I looked at my grandpa's pen collection and noticed that all 14k nibs don't have flex. Looks like it depends on what kind of alloy it is. One 14k nib is a nail while the other is super-flex.

All in all, vintage pens had great nibs indeed, interesting stuff. However for fast writing, I love the steel Jowos.