Who Makes The Best Nibs Today

[FOUR X FOUR]

@FOUR X FOUR: I am fairly certain that Porsche are not in the nib-making business. Their nibs may very well be nice and smooth; but I bet you that they came out of either the Bock or the Jowo factory...

Oh, thanx. I'm just now starting learn that just because a nib says brand A, it may be made by brand B

[Nanor]

I'm sure I saw a video clip once of the Bock factory with some Pelikan Souveran nibs on the production line.

Pelikan are doing well on this thread so far, but do they make any of their own nibs? or am I mistaken?

[jar]

I'm sure I saw a video clip once of the Bock factory with some Pelikan Souveran nibs on the production line.

Pelikan are doing well on this thread so far, but do they make any of their own nibs? or am I mistaken?

For awhile Pelikan did farm out nib production to Bock but then brought it back in-house.

[jar]

There is of course no universal answer but based on my personal experience I'd rank sources today as...

 

ST Dupont for the most consistently smooth, reliable, forgiving and responsive nibs by far closely followed by Caran d'Ache.

 

For English made pens the answer is simple; Yard-o-Led.

 

Among the Japanese makers I would rank them as Platinum, then Sailor with Pilot the most inconsistent of the three.

 

In German companies I'd rank Graf von Faber Castell at the top, then Montblanc with Pelikan the most inconsistent.

 

Italy is tough. Montegrappa, Aurora, Ferrari da Varese, Delta and OMAS all offer great nibs these days and I can't really choose between them. Signum is pretty close but not quite as consistently great in my experience. Visconti seems to be the least consistent these days.

 

But the one company that so far, even with all the ownership changes, continues to amaze me is Sheaffer. With the latest ownership change to AT Cross I have to suggest a wait and see position.

[Cargoblues]

Difficult to answer but if I want to be honest with myself, the best I use is my Pilot Vanishing Point's nib. Then come Montblanc 149 and Boheme, Pelikan 140 and Parker Duofold.

[Highbinder]

I don't have the largest dataset but from my pens, and pens I've had in the past, I would rate the Japanese nibs the best - both Pilot and Platinum have been great!

[FOUR X FOUR]

Visconti Palladium Dream Touch nibs are the most pleasurable nibs I have assailed paper with.

They certainly are

[FOUR X FOUR]

@FOUR X FOUR: I am fairly certain that Porsche are not in the nib-making business. Their nibs may very well be nice and smooth; but I bet you that they came out of either the Bock or the Jowo factory...

The first time I replied to you I was polite and humble. On second thought. I don't care who Porsche pays to make their nibs. If the nib says Porsche on it, that's what I'm gonna call it.

[rbeef]

Does Italix have their own nibs? I don't have a lot of pen and vast majority of my pens are cheap Chinese ones, but I own one Italix pen which has the smoothest nib I ever used.

[max dog]

So far for me the best overall experience has been Montblanc in modern nibs anyway.

 

There may be fancier nibs boasting flexy or zoomy line variation, but like Claudio Arrau playing the simple Moonlight Sonata, I have yet to find nibs with as much character as Montblanc.

[DrDebG]

My very favorite nib is my Mike Masuyama medium italic semi-flex nib set in my Franklin Christoph Panther 40. It is wonderfully smooth, yet with a definitive edge.

 

I also love my Delta stub nib in my Delta Horsepower. Again, a smooth as butter and a very consistent writer.

[Nanor]

Does Italix have their own nibs? I don't have a lot of pen and vast majority of my pens are cheap Chinese ones, but I own one Italix pen which has the smoothest nib I ever used.

 

They appear to use JoWo nibs. I don't have one but, I suspect Italix are good at post production nib tuning, because so many people agree about how smooth they feel.

[akustyk]

I really enjoy the variety of nibs made in-house. Most of the in-house nibs are of excellent quality. The "generic" nibs by Jowo and Bock are also quite good, but they usually are too much alike, with too little
personality.

 

Nibs are very much a matter of taste. I like different nibs for different reasons. Sailor and Aurora are the best writers, they grab on to the paper and write more reliably than any other nib I own. Pilot and Pelikan are very smooth, but can sometimes skid, and offer very little feedback. Montblanc nibs are excellent, too.

 

My personal favorite are Montblanc nibs from the 1950s and OMAS nibs from the 1980s and 1990s.

 

Finally, a good nib without a good feed is nothing. In my experience, ebonite feeds work best, particularly with iron-gall inks. Even the inexpensive Indian pens with simple nibs and ebonite feeds write better, in my opinion, than all those modern pens with Jowo or Bock steel nibs and plastic feeds.

[mirosc]

This week I'm inclined to name Romillo, because he made the nib exactly to my specifications.

Next week ... not so sure

[vnnil]

Pilot or Sailor. Never have had a bad one OOTB.

[drafty]

For me, Montblanc and Waterman on the fancy end. The MB 146 has the perfect combo of feedback, glide and wetness. My Waterman (Edson) never skips a beat even if it is rigid.

 

However, on the other end, Lamy nibs are crazy smooth. For the price of a Safari it makes no sense. If smooth is your bag, that is.

[Tancred]

Theblackpen asks a great question - which leads me to ask a follow-up question: what about the business end of the pen? The bit that keeps a Mont Blanc from simply being a plutocrat's pacifier?

 

Who makes the best nibs? Who makes the mechanism that most perfectly expresses the personality of the writer? Or makes for the best experience of making little marks on paper?

 

ST Dupont makes by far the smoothest nibs out there. Whether they are 'the best' is a matter of debate as many writers prefer nibs with feedback.

Sailor and Pilot nibs are also regarded as excellent ones.

[Feanaaro]

Pilot and Aurora

[drafty]

 

 

In German companies I'd rank Graf von Faber Castell at the top, then Montblanc with Pelikan the most inconsistent.

 

Have to agree with Jar here (not that it's difficult).

 

Consistency might be causing the differences of opinion here more than many other factors.

 

So I will say my earlier statement about MB/Waterman nibs was subjective. Mine are great...but then I went through a bunch of bad ones in the testing phase of the purchases!

 

Also if you are more into EF nibs than, say, stubs, then you will likely say a different nib manufacturer from one t'other.

[Joshua J.]

I've seen too many wonky nibs to say I'm happy with any given brand, and I haven't seen enough to find a brand I'm happy with.

Buy the pen that suits you and send it to a nibmeister.

After learning to tune my own nibs the difference between the best "out of the box" nib and something I've polished myself is night and day.

I know a pen is writing "properly" when I can put dots on paper while holding the paper up in the air, and practically never skip (just make sure the feed is saturated). Often times I still need to widen the ink channel to get it writing wet enough though, so it can be hit or miss whether it's just the nib or the whole pen that needs tuning.