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pen nib manufacturers


demeter

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Does anyone know how many nib manufacturers there are presently? Perhaps this is a dumb question, but it seems as if nib manufacturing is not a common activity. I'd liken it to steel wool soap pad manufacturing: there are SOS pads, and there are SOS generic pads. Unless things have changed drastically in that industry, virtually all soap pads come from one place. I suspect more than one nib manufacturer, but certainly not a separate manufacturer for each pen company.

 

Finally, would there be less nib manufacturers now then in the 20s and 30s, say?

 

Andrew

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Hi Andrew,

 

There are many fewer nib makers now than there were in the 1930s and 40s when many if not most pen makers made their own nibs. There were companies who made nibs for pen assemblers, Perry who made Osmoroid nibs sold nibs to several other Uk firms as did Myers. Several well known pen makers also stamped Warranted nibs to be sold to other firms, Mentmore for example made steel and gold nibs for many of the small assemblers.

 

These days I suppose the major players in terms of quantity would be the Shanghai Pen Co or whatever they are called, lets just call it the Chinese pen industry in general. Bock make many good quality nibs for various brands, Sanford obviously make a lot of nibs but I don't know whether each of their brands make all of their own nibs or whether some of the lower end nibs are made in one place for all of the brands, Sheaffer still make the inlaid nib in house but whether they make the School pen nibs and all the rest I have no idea. I would hope that Parker, Sheaffer et al make their own nibs but I am sure that someone round here will know the answer.

 

Cheers, John

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Aside from China, there aren't many makers anymore:

 

Many of the higher-end pens you see today get nibs from Peter Bock AG. JoWo Berliner Schreibfeder GmbH, or Schmidt Technology, all in Germany. I know that Bexley and Pelikan nibs are made by Bock. They make nibs for at least 30 other makers, as reported by Rich Horne.

 

I think that Parker, Waterman, Sheaffer, Aurora, Lamy, and Ancora all make their own nibs, IIRR. I'm pretty confident that Sailor, Platinum, and Pilot make their own nibs too.

 

Skip

Skip Williams

www.skipwilliams.com/blog

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Thanks Skip, John and rroossinck for your information. I appreciate it very much.

It must've have been the Bock presentation that I viewed awhile back here, I think, as a link.

 

Quite fascinating. To think so many nibs were actually made in house years ago is astounding. Says much about the rise & fall (& maybe slow re-ascent) of the fountain pen industry.

 

Andrew

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Let me see....

 

To recap on what a few others have said already

 

The companies that make their own nibs Are

Pilot/Namiki

Platinum

Sailor

Sheaffer

Parker/Waterman (I think they are related by the parent company)

Ancora

Aurora

Cross-eventhough Namiki makes some of their nibs

Montblanc

Lamy- I think

 

As for the Chinese Companies, I am unsure how many companies makes their own nibs because you have the largest pen company in China, Shanghai Pen Co as Oxonian said. So I am sure that they make the nibs for Duke, Hero and the countless number of other Chinese pen companies.

 

Ok, upon chatting with Howard Levy of Bexley, he told me that Bock bought out the Schmidt nib manufacturing division a few years ago. Now eventhough there are nibs now that still have Schmidt name on them, they are made by Bock. Him and I chatted about this at the 2006 LA Pen Show.

 

Ok, Bock makes nibs for the following companies and I dont know all of them either!!

Bexley

Omas

DaniTrio

Pelikan

Delta

Stipula

Conway Stewart

Conklin

Marlen/Krone

Laban

Griffos

Visconti

Senator

David Broadwell

Levenger

Montegrappa

Nettuno

Retro 51

Signum

Taccia

Tibaldi

David Oscarson

Ferrari da Varese

Cleo Skribent

Michel Perchin

 

This is all I can think of for right now!! I am sure there are twice as many more companies that have their nibs made by Bock than what I listed.

 

Now here is an interesting thing to ponder on, Bock makes nibs for a vast majority of pen companies BUT I am sure that the Chinese pen company such as Shanghai Pen Co. makes more nibs than Bock does. You also have to take into account the amount of cheaper IPG nibs that are on the market, eventhough IPG nibs are also made by higher quality companies, I heard that some IPG nibs are made in China and in India. There are a few articles on the net regarding IPG nibs, I do know that IPG nibs are made by more than one company and in several countries.

 

This is an interesting topic.

 

TNS

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  • 3 weeks later...

Bock makes nibs for 31 pen companies at present. I have heard that they have started making nibs for companies that used to make their own nibs-no names, just rumours.

There are a few itailan pen makers, supposedly, that still do everything by hand, but no idea if this is true or who they are.

 

I fear it is hard to find the truth amoungst the rumours.

 

You might try in pen turning and see if any of them make their own nibs-I suspect they just modify existing nibs or use kits...

 

Lamy 2000-Lamy Vista-Visconti Van Gogh Maxi Tortoise Demonstrator-Pilot Vanishing Point Black Carbonesque-1947 Parker 51 Vacumatic Cedar Blue Double Jewel-Aurora Optima Black Chrome Cursive Italic-Waterman Hemisphere Metallic Blue-Sheaffer Targa-Conway Stewart CS475

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Forgot Von Graf faber castell, who also make pens for porsche, german comapanies, one of the oldest in fact, still owned by original founders (although they may have bought out the eraliest ones and changed the name), but they make their own nibs and I understand they are very good...

Lamy 2000-Lamy Vista-Visconti Van Gogh Maxi Tortoise Demonstrator-Pilot Vanishing Point Black Carbonesque-1947 Parker 51 Vacumatic Cedar Blue Double Jewel-Aurora Optima Black Chrome Cursive Italic-Waterman Hemisphere Metallic Blue-Sheaffer Targa-Conway Stewart CS475

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Actually, many vintage pen companies did make their own nibs, but many also bought them from outside suppliers - such a Bay State Pen Company, who made nibs for a slew of different companies. In fact, many of the old vintage pen makers got their start either sourcing nibs from an existing nib-maker, or they were nib-makers who sourced their hard-rubber parts from someone else. L.E. Waterman started out buying nibs from LeRoy Fairchild, and then switched to Aikin Lambert when the demand outstripped Fairchilds ability. There was a process in the 19-teens when many of the larger companies like Waterman started to bring more of their production in-house and bought up their nib-maker and their hard-rubber supplier. Other companies just started making the parts themselves, while smaller companies remained jobbers, ordering parts from various suppliers and assembling the parts into final pens.

 

Nib making is probably much more consolidated today than it was back then - but then the market is a lot smaller too.

 

John

Edited by Johnny Appleseed

So if you have a lot of ink,

You should get a Yink, I think.

 

- Dr Suess

 

Always looking for pens by Baird-North, Charles Ingersoll, and nibs marked "CHI"

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Nib making is probably much more consolidated today than it was back then - but then the market is a lot smaller too.

 

John

 

Excellent point. Back in the glory years of fountain Pens i would guess fountain pens were sold in the millions per year ...

 

in our modern world, tens of thousands?

Sensitive Pen Restoration doesn't cost extra.

 

Find me on Facebook at MONOMOY VINTAGE PEN

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  • 7 years later...

Forgot Von Graf faber castell, who also make pens for porsche, german comapanies, one of the oldest in fact, still owned by original founders (although they may have bought out the eraliest ones and changed the name), but they make their own nibs and I understand they are very good...

 

Don't know about Graf von but the regular Faber Castell nibs are listed on the Bock site among other company references and while we're at it, I found another surprise in the list - Sheaffer.

Here's the list:

Naturally, this doesn't exclude others listed by TNS.

 

As per the Chinese producers I remember that not so long ago I read somewhere that Schmidt Tech opened a plant in China. Although on one hand they definitively have a lot of different products and services so they may be producing other products there, while on the other hand this for sure doesn't mean that Chinese producers stopped producing their famous nibs.

Current modern daily users: Montegrappa Miya, Omas AM87, S.T.Dupont D-Line, Stipula Etruria Tuscany Dreams, Tibaldi Modello 60.

Current vintage daily users: Aurora 98p, Big Red Lucky Curve, MB622, P51, P75, Pelikan NN400.

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http://i.imgur.com/grKnG0p.png

Looking for a cap for a Sheaffer Touchdown Sentinel Deluxe Fat version

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:D Recently I've been looking for some related info and after a few weeks just happened to bump on this one...just couldn't help myself :blush:

Current modern daily users: Montegrappa Miya, Omas AM87, S.T.Dupont D-Line, Stipula Etruria Tuscany Dreams, Tibaldi Modello 60.

Current vintage daily users: Aurora 98p, Big Red Lucky Curve, MB622, P51, P75, Pelikan NN400.

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Asides from Shanghai Hero, there is the Lotus company that makes nibs in China.

Any references on possible pen manufacturers as clients?

Current modern daily users: Montegrappa Miya, Omas AM87, S.T.Dupont D-Line, Stipula Etruria Tuscany Dreams, Tibaldi Modello 60.

Current vintage daily users: Aurora 98p, Big Red Lucky Curve, MB622, P51, P75, Pelikan NN400.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Worthy bump!

Fascinating... and I agree that it makes sense there are far less products of nibs. Couple both the "mega conglomerate" nature of international business and a relatively niche market, it just makes sense!

 

Thank you for the interesting lists!

Aloha!

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I don't know if Lotus makes nibs for others. The examples I have are quite different from what I see on other manufacturers' pens, but that may mean nothing.

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I don't know if Lotus makes nibs for others. The examples I have are quite different from what I see on other manufacturers' pens, but that may mean nothing.

Does Lotus have a website? thanks!

In case you wish to write to me, pls use ONLY email by clicking here. I do not check PMs. Thank you.

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I don't know. I see their pens in blisterpaks in Auchan Hypermarkets in Beijing. I suspect the company has a website, but it is likely to be in Chinese.

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  • 1 month later...

In an earlier post, I noticed that Conklin pens used Bock nibs. Now that Conklin and Monteverde are made by one company, and the have interchangeable nibs, does that mean they still use Bock nibs?

 

I buy some pens just because they have some historical interest to me. Thus, my 2015 Conklin Durograph purchase. And I know they are made by a company who produces several kinds of pens. It would be good if there was a listing created, and updated, showing the master companies, the brands each produce, and source of their nibs and feeds, and whether these were interchangeable with other brands (inside or outside those made by the master company).

 

Finally, I do not see where Indian nibs and feeds are made. Several Indian feeds have bodies similar to Noodler Konrads and Ebonites. So it would be interesting to know, given the limited production of Noodler nibs and feeds, if substitutes could safely be purchased from India.

 

Thx all for any replies.

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