What Company Makes Jinhao's Nibs?

[OakIris]

Wondering who makes the nibs for Jinhao. I did a search but found nothing.

 

I only have a few Jinhao fountain pens but like the nibs on them. I do wish there were more nib size choices than medium, medium or medium, however. I would love to go to the source and see if more interesting nibs are available. Please let me know if you know who manufactures their nibs.

 

Holly

[bfoutch]

Probably by Jinhao. Try their website:

jinhaopen.com

[OakIris]

Probably by Jinhao. Try their website:

jinhaopen.com

Wondering why you think Jinhao makes their own nibs; I was unaware that any of the Chinese pen companies did so but you could be right of course. Their website is nice but no info there about nibs. I emailed them to find out more about them; if I get an answer, I will post it in this thread.

 

Holly

Edited February 8, 2017 by OakIris

[Bluey]

Wondering why you think Jinhao makes their own nibs; I was unaware that any of the Chinese pen companies did so but you could be right of course. Their website is nice but no info there about nibs. I emailed them to find out more about them; if I get an answer, I will post it in this thread.

 

Holly

Hero definitely do for sure because they make nibs for others. I've also heard that Jinhao make their own nibs too as I'm almost sure they have their own manufacturing facilities. The nibs of Jinhao and Hero don't feel like they're related.

Edited February 8, 2017 by Bluey

[OakIris]

I stand corrected! So Jinhao and Hero do indeed make their own nibs, and perhaps other Chinese companies do as well. So many Chinese pens have "Iridium Point Germany," stamped on them that I made assumptions I shouldn't have.

 

I hope I will get a response from Jinhao and find out if they can provide people in the USA something besides medium nibs. One of the nibs on the Jinhao's I have (purchased from China) is stamped "F," though it too was supposed to be a medium nib, according to the eBay item description, so it would appear that they do make different nib sizes. The vendor must have made a mistake! I don't know why they only offer medium nib pens for export.

 

Holly

Edited February 8, 2017 by OakIris

[richardandtracy]

The 'IPG' stamp fools many people.

What it frequently means is:-

 

'The dollop of iridium on the end of the nib could well have been made in Germany. But it might not have been if we were too lazy to change the stamp or regard 'IPG' as foreign for 'This is Good Quality, so there'. However, the iridium was almost certainly welded to the nib while the nib was being manufactured outside Germany'

 

Only that's a bit big to stamp on a nib!

 

Regards,

 

Richard.

[Bluey]

I stand corrected! So Jinhao and Hero do indeed make their own nibs, and perhaps other Chinese companies do as well. So many Chinese pens have "Iridium Point Germany," stamped on them that I made assumptions I shouldn't have.

 

I hope I will get a response from Jinhao and find out if they can provide people in the USA something besides medium nibs. One of the nibs on the Jinhao's I have (purchased from China) is stamped "F," though it too was supposed to be a medium nib, according to the eBay item description, so it would appear that they do make different nib sizes. The vendor must have made a mistake! I don't know why they only offer medium nib pens for export.

 

Holly

Not exactly. I'm sure that Hero do but not totally sure that Jinhao do.

 

I think Jinhao tend to make more for Western markets and so they make them broader than stated on the nib.

 

I only have some Jinhaos and a Hero but none of mine have IPG written on the nibs.

Edited February 8, 2017 by Bluey

[OakIris]

lol, Richard - I know what you mean. Here is a discussion of what IPG means on the Edison Pen site: IPG Nibs. What does "IPG" Really Mean?

@Bluey - None of my Jinhao's have IPG on the nibs, either, but I have seen/read about many Chinese pens that do - whether or not, as Richard commented, the nibs were really made in Germany. Brian Edison indicates that IPG probably only indicates that the tipping material was sourced from Germany

I take it you haven’t had much luck with nibs made in Germany? I love my German-made nibs on my Lamy's and my vintage Pelikan and I have read many positive things about JoWo nibs, too, including those they make for Goulet Pens. Your comment that you prefer nibs made in China to those made in Germany thus surprised me, and I admit it is the first time I have heard anyone offer that opinion.

Holly

Edited February 8, 2017 by OakIris

[Bluey]

 

lol, Richard - I know what you mean. Here is a discussion of what IPG means on the Edison Pen site: IPG Nibs. What does "IPG" Really Mean?

@Bluey - None of my Jinhao's have IPG on the nibs, either, but I have seen/read about many Chinese pens that do - whether or not, as Richard commented, the nibs were really made in Germany. Brian Edison indicates that IPG probably only indicates that the tipping material was sourced from Germany

I take it you haven’t had much luck with nibs made in Germany? I love my German-made nibs on my Lamy's and my vintage Pelikan and I have read many positive things about JoWo nibs, too, including those they make for Goulet Pens. Your comment that you prefer nibs made in China to those made in Germany thus surprised me, and I admit it is the first time I have heard anyone offer that opinion.

Holly

 

No, not at all unfortunately. They're very generic and a bit lax on the old QC.

 

Another point is that both Chinese and German nibs are equally smooth but the latter frequently has babys bottom whereas the former doesn't, suggesting that they're generally of better quality.

Edited February 8, 2017 by Bluey

[OakIris]

Interesting conclusion, Bluey. I have never yet had a nib with baby's bottom - knock on wood - and hadn't read that German nibs were known for frequently having this problem until now. Guess I have been lucky!

 

Holly

Edited February 8, 2017 by OakIris

[OakIris]

I received a response from Jinhao yesterday. Here is the email Lisa sent to me:

 

Thanks for your inquiry ,
This is lisa from Shanghai Qiangu Stationery Co.,Ltd . Our pen brand is jinhao .
Glad to know you are interested in our pens and you like our Fountain pens , About the fountain pen nib which factory we purchase i do know , because i am interenational sales department , also if you have contact with the fountain pen nib factory ask them if you can replace the nib of item #950, they maybe also not know , this pen is our factory produce . the nib factory only provided the nib .

I had do Pen's more than 10 years, i think if you want to repalce the middle fine nib to other kinds , should change the grip and the tongue , if your quantity is not big enough , it is also can not replace the nib , as for change the grip and tongue need open mold .

Attachment is our new catalog ,please check it ,

Any other question and inquiry ,please feel free to contact with me ,


Best Regards,
lisa

 

A little confusing because of the language barrier but I THINK she said that the nib factory is separate from Jinhao's manufacturing facilities. Sadly, she gave no information about who the nib manufacturer is or how to contact them. She almost seemed to indicate that the nib factory folks wouldn't know how to replace the nib - "they maybe also don't know" - or was she trying to say that they only made medium nibs?? She went on to say that to change out the nib - "repalce [typo] the middle fine nib to other kinds" - you need to change out the feed and feed holder - if that is what "should change the grip and the tongue" means - which, in fact, should not be the case, at least in my experience if you are just replacing a #5 nib with another #5. Oh well, contacting them was worth a try!

 

Holly

Edited February 9, 2017 by OakIris

[Bluey]

Thanks for sharing about that.

It's odd how her name is "Lisa", given her level of English. It seems to be similar in British firms with outsourced call centres in India where workers have to adopt English names such as "Paul" or "Clair" to make them international friendly.

 

So maybe they don't make their own nibs then, although it's possible that the nib manufacturing centre is separate because the methods are so different.

[OakIris]

lol; I was a bit surprised by Lisa, too, but that does seem to be the trend for over-seas call centers. In my job I often get calls from employees of a company called Sterling Talent Solutions, calling to do education and employment verifications. Everyone there has a very heavy Indian - or Pakistani?? - accent. The call center is obviously NOT in the USA, and their names are all quite anglicized...."My name is John Smith....." Uh huh, sure it is!

 

If I could read and write Chinese I could probably do the research and find the answer, but as I only know English it would appear that there is no way to find out who makes the nibs for Jinhao fountain pens. Unless you want medium, replacement nibs for the Jinhao's will have to come from elsewhere.

 

I have become enamored of the Jinhao #950 fountain pens, their porcelain and blue series depicting different figures from famous Chinese paintings. They are inexpensive, heavy, cheap Chinese pens and I really like the way they look and feel. I now have 5 of them - well, I have two, the Dragon and the Bamboo, and have 3 more on order. I would like to have different nibs on several of them, just so I don't have 5 similar looking (though different, lol) pens with basically the same nib on them. I have ordered a couple of #5 JoWo nibs from FPNibs in Spain, one with a stub grind on it and am hopeful that their nibs will do the trick for me!

 

Holly

[Bluey]

I think it's because many names in such places are extremely difficult to remember and even more difficult to pronounce, so it's all about making the face of the company seem more friendly and approachable.

As an Englisdh speaking American, you're probably not going to want to deal with Company X when you routinely have to remember to ring back Sanjitahhabbatasticma or Xianjaminimo about the leaking tap each week (not saying you have a leaking tap, but you get the point). Much easier to remember Paul or Peter (customers generally don't want to feel awkward or stupid for not being able to remember or pronounce such names, and company bosses are now beginning to understand this).

 

Do what everyone else does and buy a Goulet nib - they're friction fit so they're really easy to slide out and change. If any are difficult to remove, just put the kettle on, pour the almost boiling water into an old cup, and then dip the nib 'under water' for 20-30 seconds and it will slide out.

The Goulets provide lots of different nib options from EF through to snub.

 

I'm partly certain that the Jinhao pens with their medium-only nibs were the inspiration for Goulet pens to offer the Goulet nibs. Or it allowed them to provide the vehicle for selling the nibs more widely. Or something like that.

 

You;ve made some good choices in pens. I quite like that bamboo one but I've never got around to buying it. One day maybe.

Edited February 9, 2017 by Bluey

[Helen350]

Wondering who makes the nibs for Jinhao. I did a search but found nothing.

 

Holly

 

The X450, X750 & 159 also come with broad nibs. Fine & extra fine will have to be purchased through Goulet or Bock.

[mmg122]

I've really liked all the nibs on my Jinhao pens. Although they are almost all mediums, they write more like a broad which is AOK by me.

[Jerome Tarshis]

To an old man, the widespread occurrence of medium nibs in Chinese pens has an air of the implausible, or indeed of the very funny. During the early years of this century, when I was looking at Hero pens, people in Europe and North America were complaining that the Chinese pretty much refused to make pens with anything but a fine or extra fine nib, because they were manufacturing for their domestic market and could not take seriously the idea that they could sell pens with medium nibs.

 

That seems to have changed dramatically.

 

As for Iridium Point Germany, I see no reason to believe it has anything to do with tipping material made in Germany. The idea that a company in China, not bound by EC or German law, would scrupulously import tipping material from Germany before labeling the nib Iridium Point Germany, seems 100% unbelievable, and I wonder what authoritative source ever existed to support such an idea.

[rochester21]

I`d like to see the day when german companies will produce nibs for chinese pens. First of, China is the great factory of the world, not Germany, which now is specialized on making high-end, high-added value products. Like Montblanc and Pelikan fountain pens, for instance.

 

There seems to be a lingering myth about the invincibility and uber-quality of german-made pens and all other stuff. This might have been the case 50 or 60 years ago, not necessarily now. Things change, quality drops. Top fountain pens from reputable companies made in the 1940s for instance make today`s luxury fountain pens look like disposable ballpoints made for kids- and in a sense, they are.

 

Nowadays you spend 300 dollars on a Pelikan or 600 dollars for a Montblanc and discover issues you shouldn`t be having, like misaligned nibs(this is mostly true for Pelikan). And the way they fix things nowadays is by simply discarding the damaged bits and put in new ones, because automation among other things has made specialists scarce on the job market and therefore very expensive. So quality drops again.

 

In the meantime, Japan and China both took advantage of all the know-how that got exported from the western world and slowly but surely they developed their own tech at a lower price because the work force is much cheaper, which in turn accelerated the rate of automation in Europe and North America because of added competition in the market.

 

Anyway, this is why we pay more for pens "made in Germany" than for pens made in Japan or China. Dollar per dollar, you`re almost always better off with an asian pen/nib than with a german one.

 

From a manufacturing perspective, to me Japan today is like Germany in the 50s, while today`s Germany is like Britain during the colonial era. China today is like Japan at an early stage. There is a growing possibility that 30 years from now, all major pen brands will be owned by chinese companies. Crazy times, i tell ya

[Ink Stained Wretch]

Somewhere here on FPN there is a thread about a factory in the so-called People's Republic of China buying all of the machinery from a German company that had made fountain pen nibs. They bought it all, set it up in their own factory and began producing the nibs. They changed nothing, including the dies that are used to stamp the nibs. Thus the "Iridium Point Germany" stamped on so many recently made fountain pen nibs from Asia.

 

The fact that some people think that they are getting something from a fabled German nib manufacturer probably doesn't hurt sales either, and so there is a shady business disincentive to change the die.

[perfectstranger77]

Thanks for sharing about that.

It's odd how her name is "Lisa", given her level of English. It seems to be similar in British firms with outsourced call centres in India where workers have to adopt English names such as "Paul" or "Clair" to make them international friendly.

 

 

 

I think it's because many names in such places are extremely difficult to remember and even more difficult to pronounce, so it's all about making the face of the company seem more friendly and approachable.

As an Englisdh speaking American, you're probably not going to want to deal with Company X when you routinely have to remember to ring back Sanjitahhabbatasticma or Xianjaminimo about the leaking tap each week (not saying you have a leaking tap, but you get the point). Much easier to remember Paul or Peter (customers generally don't want to feel awkward or stupid for not being able to remember or pronounce such names, and company bosses are now beginning to understand this).

 

Call centers that work for english speaking countries tell their representatives to adopt english names so the customers they talk to feel more comfortable, I know because when I was younger I worked for a pair of call centers.

 

For chinese people the situation is different, in my last work I teamed with chinese people from Huawei who told me they adopt occidental nicknames because usually chinese names are too difficult for the western world, they may go from serious names as "Alex" to funny ones like "Mr. Happy" (both worked with me in that project).

 

Somewhere here on FPN there is a thread about a factory in the so-called People's Republic of China buying all of the machinery from a German company that had made fountain pen nibs. They bought it all, set it up in their own factory and began producing the nibs. They changed nothing, including the dies that are used to stamp the nibs. Thus the "Iridium Point Germany" stamped on so many recently made fountain pen nibs from Asia.

 

The fact that some people think that they are getting something from a fabled German nib manufacturer probably doesn't hurt sales either, and so there is a shady business disincentive to change the die.

 

Recently I read that this company in Germany which was called "Mutschler" went bankrupt and the company who bought their equipment is located in Slovenia, but for obvious reasons they did not change the forge that stamps the IPG legend, basically the quality is the same as before because the machines are the same. Here is the link where I read it.

 

Cheers.