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Inky-Republic

By Inky-Republic
in Of Nibs & Tines

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Inky-Republic Mint

Inky-Republic

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As you will have gathered from my previous posts, I have taken a liking to the nibs Leonardo puts into their Momento Zero Pens - particularly the stub nibs of which I have now purchased several.

 

These are #6 nibs manufactured by Bock - and needless to say, it's a little cheaper to order nibs online as Bock products, rather than re-branded to Leonardo.

 

So I recently purchased a #6 Bock stub, with the same specs as the Leonardo nibs I have purchased previously (and they are indeed perfect overlays of each other). That being said, the nibs are like chalk and cheese to use, with the Bock branded nib being quite scratchy and with a tendency to railroad.

 

So question - do these nibs simply get re-branded when sold to other pen manufacturers, or is there any custom finishing going on?

 

(BTW, I re-finished the #6 Bock nib by hand and it now works fine)

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silverlifter Vintage

silverlifter

Posted
Posted

Ask a Conid owner about their experience with their nibs, versus the stock Bock ones. Or, conversley, a Visconti owner :P

 

I think it comes down to Bock and Jowo having a standard amount of deviation given the numbers they produce, and that deviation being addressed by some pen makers before they ship them (rebranded or not), and exacerbated by others.

Vintage. Cursive italic. Iron gall.

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Bo Bo Olson Ancient Artifact

Bo Bo Olson

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Are the tines aligned? 95% of scratchy is misaligned tines and holding a fountain pen like a ball point.

Bock is not a scratchy nib.

.

..................and Railroading a modern Bock nib is real Heavy Handed.

I could see railroading if pushed in a '38-70 Bock Semi-flex, but not regular flex. Bock of course can make semi-nails and nails..........but I'm only into regular flex and semi-flex.

In reference to P. T. Barnum; to advise for free is foolish, ........busybodies are ill liked by both factions.

 

 

The cheapest lessons are from those who learned expensive lessons. Ignorance is best for learning expensive lessons.

 

 

 

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Erik Dalton Collectors Item

Erik Dalton

Posted
Posted

Ask a Conid owner about their experience with their nibs, versus the stock Bock ones. Or, conversley, a Visconti owner :P

 

I think it comes down to Bock and Jowo having a standard amount of deviation given the numbers they produce, and that deviation being addressed by some pen makers before they ship them (rebranded or not), and exacerbated by others.

I agree. I use a lot of Jowo nibs, and I prefer them. Some shops tune their nibs up before sending out, but most don’t. Every so often a nib will take a bit more effort to get right. I’ve noticed that an Edison banded Jowo Nib is almost always perfect right out of the box as compared to a raw Jowo which for my taste takes a bit of tuning.

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XYZZY Vintage

XYZZY

Posted
Posted

I have always assumed that all things are negotiable Jowo, Bock, or anybody else that does contract manufacturing work. In other words, not all Jowo nibs are made alike. Not all Bocks are made alike.

 

I assume that for some money I could get them to make nibs from 23k palladium. I could probably get them to make nibs from 23k aluminum as well (e.g. Visconti)

 

I could probably pay extra money and get them to cut notches in the sides to make them flex more. (e.g. Pineider)

 

If I wanted to pay them for different (thickness? alloy? hardening?) in order to get a bouncier nib like Leonardo.

 

I could probably get them to spend more time on finishing the tips. Or pay for stricter tests (or, really, buy from better binning of their existing line).

 

If I was skilled at nib grinding and was going to customize all the tips myself anyhow, then it might make sense to pay them less in return for less effort on the tipping. Ditto if I'm just cheap and don't care about quality.

 

If I want my own branding I pay for laser etching. If I don't care about branding, or prefer a nice stamped Bock logo to a craptastic laser etching, then I don't need to pay for a custom logo.

 

If I wanted a really different geometry nib for some reason and wanted to pay not just for custom nib tooling but also custom nib housing and feed tooling, then sure, why not.

 

TLDR: Start with the thing you and I would find as a retail SKU, and then start negotiating customizations. I would expect the primary "standard" is the dimensions used on their nib housings and feeds: those imply dimensions of a nib that can fit, but little about the behavior of the nibs that go with them.

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Bo Bo Olson Ancient Artifact

Bo Bo Olson

Posted
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Bock makes nibs of various levels, 4-5 I believe.....so a Twsbi would not have the same nib as a C'dA.

Don't know what Visconti does with the Bock nib after they get it, but there are complaints.

None by Delta. There are some 20 big companies that use Bock nibs with their own imprint....and they have a choice of nib and I guess feed also. There are threads on it.

 

JoWo makes more a nail nib, so is well liked by the nail users. Some of them don't like soft semi-nail Bock nibs..... :lticaptd: :angry: :P :rolleyes:

I don't like semi-nail nibs either. :unsure: ...chase regular flex and semi-flex. I do have a vintage gold Bock semi-flex nib laying around.

In reference to P. T. Barnum; to advise for free is foolish, ........busybodies are ill liked by both factions.

 

 

The cheapest lessons are from those who learned expensive lessons. Ignorance is best for learning expensive lessons.

 

 

 

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Karmachanic Donor Pen

Karmachanic

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So question - do these nibs simply get re-branded when sold to other pen manufacturers, or is there any custom finishing going on?

 

(BTW, I re-finished the #6 Bock nib by hand and it now works fine)

 

Yes – re-branded standard Bock nib. No refinishing (confirmed to me by an individual qualified-to know). Unfortunately it seems you received the above mentioned standard deviation. Thankfully you were able to rectify said deviation. Happy ending! :)

Add lightness and simplicate.

 

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