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Bock Nibs... Ugh! :(


TassoBarbasso

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Hi Folks,

 

is it just my impression, or something is wrong with Bock nibs, lately? Of the 10+ pens I've bought with a Bock nib in the last few years, not a single one of them had a properly working nib out of the box: all required some fixing, tweaking and adjusting.

 

Among the newest pens I bought, both had horrible nibs, so bad that they were in fact utterly useless. Both had to be sent for repair.

 

Any thoughts? Is Bock cutting on their quality control, or something?

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My only experience with Bock nibs has been the two which I got with my Karas Kustoms Fountain K Mini. Both needed tuning (an EF and a 1.1mm stub), both are fine now. It does seem like I pretty much only see complaints about Bock nibs, but that could be selective memory on my part...

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My experience has been just the opposite. Almost none of the pens I've bought regardless of the nib manufacturer have needed any tweeking.

 

My Website

 

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My experience has been just the opposite. Almost none of the pens I've bought regardless of the nib manufacturer have needed any tweeking.

 

Wow, that's a lucky experience! I've been 100% OK only with Japanese makers.

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Wow, that's a lucky experience! I've been 100% OK only with Japanese makers.

It seems so. And it has been consistent for over a half century. There have only been a handful of pens where tweeking was needed and those were taken care of by the seller.

 

My Website

 

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Just put a Bock Titanium nib on a new Bexely and it is a bit scratchy, but it starts right up and the flow is fine, with no skiping. of the pens I have bought recently there is only one that is causing me issues and that one will be on it's way home for some attention as it has a starting/skipping issue.

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I guess I'm one of the lucky ones: in the last few years I've acquired two Bock nibs, one on a pen and one loose, and neither had any problems. The Titan nib, in particular, is just perfectly crafted.

fpn_1375035941__postcard_swap.png * * * "Don't neglect to write me several times from different places when you may."
-- John Purdue (1863)

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I also can say that I've had a favorable time with bock nibs.

My first Bock nibs were the ones that come in the Kaweco sports. Notoriously dry writers, but not through any fault of the nib. It's the rest of the pen that doesn't want to supply enough ink to the nib.

A few months ago I went on a shopping spree, buying lots of Bock italic nibs from a seller in the UK. #5 & #6 nibs of grade 1.5 and 1.9.

They all went on Ahabs or Konrads (the #6'es), or FPR Jaipurs or Himalayas (the #5's). All have worked perfectly out of the box. No tweaking whatsoever.

Oh and btw, the Kaweco nibs, they've all been transplanted into the freebie eyedropper pens that come with each FPR order, performing very happily indeed.

Edited by pepsiplease69
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Oh and I forgot to mention, all of my Monteverde 1.1 stubs (allegedly made by Bock) have all worked perfectly out of the box. No tweaking at all.

 

There's something about Bock nibs that suits my hand better. I can't explain it, the overall shape of the nib, how forgiving it is, etc.

 

Given the choice between a JoWo and a Bock of the same nib grade, I'd choose the latter 9 times out of 10.

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I believe I have a manufacturer-tuned Bock nib on one pen brand, on one or three of those pens. They are a bit coy about the details. All behave perfectly in the modern idiom. In fact my experience for all new pens is exactly as described by jar, except over not so long a period :)

X

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As a general rule I haven't had problems with brand-name pens that use Bock nibs - apart from Kaweco, which tend to write much drier than I would like. Companies like Diplomat tend generally have excellent QC measures before their pens head out the door - and may well do their own custom 'tweaking' to ensure adequate smoothness and flow.

 

What I *have* found is that pen manufacturers who get their start on Kickstarter, and who don't have much prior experience with fountain pens, will sometimes just order a bunch of Bock nibs and throw them into the pens, then ship the lot off without checking to make sure the nibs are all A-OK. That's the only place (other than Kaweco) that I've encountered problems. To be fair, most of the Kickstarter pens I bought wrote just fine, too - but there were one or two nibs that I had to adjust, and numerous complaints from other backers online...

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I have not had any problems with them. I like to stick them on Jinhaos and give them to folks as their first fountain pen.

 

I probably went through a dozen loose nibs in the last couple years and have not had a problem with them. I got all of mine through my local pen shop. They order a bunch of them with their name stamped on them for their local pen making venture. Maybe the way they have them customized makes them better.

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I own half a dozen Bock nibs and only had issues (out of the box) with 2 Nemosine branded ones. I managed to make the Stub 0.8mm somewhat workable but its still very rough to scribble with- the other Bock pens I have (Including Karas Kustoms) which have a Bock branded nib- no issues what so ever.

 

Like all manufacturers there is always going to be a few lemons.

 

Interestingly, I own a bunch of Jinhao's too and never had an issue with those contrary to some of the experiences by some in this thread.

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I had to to a lot of work on a stub I bought for my Liliput, and a few minutes work on on the the fine that came with it, but after adjusting them they write really nicely. The broad nib that came with my Namisu wrote well straight off.

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I had a phone conversation with Brian Gray some time ago regarding Bock nibs and he mentioned the same thing.

 

The quality of Bock nibs is not upto snuff. It has gone down ever since the original Mr Peter Bock passed the business down to his sons. (my recollection of the details may be sketchy)

 

I mentioned to him that I cannot find a supplier or retailer in the US from where I can get Bock italic nibs and I get all my Bock nibs from Beaufort in the UK.

 

From my 2-3 years of experience with Bock nibs I don't find them problematic at all.

 

It's possible that the quality wasn't that great in the past and now they are trying to clear their reputation.

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I had a phone conversation with Brian Gray some time ago regarding Bock nibs and he mentioned the same thing.

 

The quality of Bock nibs is not upto snuff. It has gone down ever since the original Mr Peter Bock passed the business down to his sons. (my recollection of the details may be sketchy)

 

I mentioned to him that I cannot find a supplier or retailer in the US from where I can get Bock italic nibs and I get all my Bock nibs from Beaufort in the UK.

 

From my 2-3 years of experience with Bock nibs I don't find them problematic at all.

 

It's possible that the quality wasn't that great in the past and now they are trying to clear their reputation.

Karaskustoms.com sells them on Stateside.

You do not have a right to post. You do not have a right to a lawyer. Do you understands these rights you do not have?

 

Kaweco Supra (titanium B), Al-Sport (steel BB).

Parker: Sonnet (dimonite); Frontier GT; 51 (gray); Vacumatic (amber).

Pelikan: m600 (BB); Rotring ArtPen (1,9mm); Rotring Rive; Cult Pens Mini (the original silver version), Waterman Carene (ultramarine F)

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I'm pretty lucky. The only bad nibs I have are those that I have made bad

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  • 1 year later...

*does the thread necromancy dance*

 

I've brought four Bock fine #6's from a supplier here in the UK and have had exactly 50/50 hit & miss with them.

 

All the nibs were purchased as 'upgrades' to Jinhao X450 and X750's, two of them have been faultless, the other two have been so scratchy that they literally scrape the top of the paper off.

Arguing with people on the Internet is like playing chess with a pigeon. No matter how good you are at chess, the pigeon will just knock the pieces over, s**t on the board and strut around like it's victorious.

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I have two, EFs, both in the Namisu Nova.

One a Ti the other SS.

 

Both are fantastic. Im sorry 😐 youve experienced issues.

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