Gone are the days of huge companies in which the entire process concerning the nib, from design to assembly, was assumed by the brand. Today, most brands are responsible for the design and assembly of their parts, but delegate a large part of the manufacturing of their components to other companies as a result of specialization, as has happened in other industries.
The complexity of the processes, as well as the cost of specialized machinery, is often only profitable when producing large quantities.
In particular, the production of nibs is one of the processes that has been most affected. Today, brands that manufacture their own nibs include:
- Platinum
- Sailor
- Aurora
- Lamy
- Scribo
- Parker
- Pelikan
- Waterman
- Cross (for some of its pieces)
- Visconti, which debuted as an in-house nib manufacturer in 2020 for its 14K and 18K gold pieces, Giotto and Giottino
Also, JoWo and Bock stand out as specialized nib manufacturers. Both brands are German and produce the nibs of the pieces designed by many of the brands which Iguana Sell sells.
Does this mean that the nibs of different brands produced by the same manufacturer are the same quality? Not at all, because both JoWo and Bock meet the quality requirements set by each manufacturer, which is in charge of supervising and guaranteeing certain standards for its clients.
The history of JoWo nibs dates back to 1852. The company began as the first German manufacturer of steel nibs and today is behind some of the best fountain pen brands in the world.
Among our brands, you will find nibs manufactured by JoWo for Montegrappa, Esterbrook, Conklin or TWSBI parts.
Conklin and Twsbi, nibs manufactured by JoWo
Bock is an independent family business that was founded by Peter Bock in 1939. Founded in Germany, Bock nibs are used for writing all over the world thanks to the fact that many brand manufacturers and jewelers rely on their quality.
Some nibs of S.T. Dupont, Gran von Faber Castell or Caran d’Ache are manufactured by this company, as well as the steel nibs of the Visconti pieces.
Some of the Bock-manufactured nibs: Visconti (stainless steel nib) and Graf von Faber Castell
Precisely because it is the writing brand that sets the quality and functionality requirements for each of its third-party components, the nibs manufactured by JoWo and Bock should not be compared in a generic way. However, based on the experience of our customers, they emphasize that:
- Bock nibs tend to be a bit stiffer than Jowo nibs, although with excellent ink flow and a soft tip.
- Bock fine nibs write wider, a characteristic that has been emphasized by those who have tried them.
- JoWo's STUB point is quite rounded at the edges, which makes the writing experience more "forgiving"; Bock tends to be sharper, which makes the content more accurate, resulting in a good writing experience.
- The Jowo nib has a slightly wetter flow, which allows for richer color saturation on the page, showing perfectly the shading of the ink.
- The Bock nib still has a little more bounce than the Jowo, but the smoothness and consistency of the line are essentially the same.
Jowo nibs
Bock nibs
In-house nibs
In case you missed it, and don't know what the difference between Japanese and European nibs is, we encourage you to read our guide to choosing the perfect nib for your fountain pen in our blog.
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