Nib *making?*

[NewPenMan]

I've seen the same YouTube videos as everyone else regarding fountain pen manufacturing, including what happens to turn a bit of metal into a fountain pen nib.

 

Is nib-making something that one shouldn't even consider attempting without the array of machinery shown in these videos? Or, once upon a time, were metal nibs all hand-made?

 

Seems the rise of the fountain pen as we know it coincides with the industrial revolution and the ability to greatly speed up fine operations to small objects..

 

Has anyone here actually made a nib?

[watch_art]

If you have a really talented jeweler friend with a laser welder and willing to spend some time on this, and you want to make a feed, and then spend a lot of time setting it up to work nicely so it doesn't drip drip drip, then yes it can be done.

[Wolverine1]

Shawn- are the pens pictured above pens that are current models that you offer?

[NewPenMan]

Is the laser welder to do with putting on the tipping? cutting the nib slit?

[watch_art]

Shawn- are the pens pictured above pens that are current models that you offer?

 

They are, but not with those nibs. I'm not offering the oversize custom nibs as an option anymore. I'll still put them in a pen every now and then, but you can't order it for a custom pen.

 

Is the laser welder to do with putting on the tipping? cutting the nib slit?

 

Tipping.

[fabri00]

Tipping is for sure difficult, but also cutting the tines has to be a big problem.

I have no idea how they do that, and having a saw so thin is almost impossible.

[Tweel]

I think nib slits are cut with tools such as rubber bonded abrasive cutting wheels, which are available with thicknesses down to around 0.1 mm.

 

Kerry (see "Industry Specific Applications: Miscellaneous")

 

Signi

 

Hayes (see last sentence of description)

 

Very thin jeweler's slotting saws might be another possibility (e.g. the thinnest of these), and I could imagine that in the old days it might have been done with something like thin copper wheels coated in diamond dust. I think dip pen slits are simply sheared in the process of stamping them out.

Edited January 16, 2017 by Tweel

[Frank66]

My amateur impression is that once the slit is cut even to a wider than ideal width, the slit is narrowed and standardized by pressing the nib on a certain shape nib block / press.

[Meltemi]

I don't think that nibs were always made with such a thin slit - Look at vintage nibs. Some have very wide slits. I believe that they were bent a little after that in order to bring the tines together.

Edited January 16, 2017 by Meltemi

[Bo Bo Olson]

At the Lamy factory they use the super skinny rubber wheels to cut the slits.....and then the nib does something strange....it widens out and has to be heated up to close it up again....at least Lamy steel nibs.

There are some 20 steps of stamping and cuts that go into making a Lamy nib. They had a single thin steel bar showing all the different steps.