# Nib question for the pros



## wiset1 (Dec 12, 2011)

Okay, so I've been doing mainly rolerball Majestics and I would like to upgrade to something a little nicer...mainly fountain pens. I've read the threads that say that 14 and 18kt gold nibs are the best and add value to the pen by the smooth flow of the nib and prevents pitting and rust from the inks. I've read that Bock nibs are the way to go and that most buyers look for this name over all others. So my question is this...why is a Gold Plated Bock #6 only $8.00 and a Heritance 18kt Gold nib a $125...? Is the quality better in the $8.00 nib or the $125 nib? What do customers truly want?

Almost forgot...does the feed matter or can I use the one that came with the Majestic kit?  Is a Bock feed best used with a Bock nib to include the same question for the Heritance?

Just wondering, Thanks


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## Parson (Dec 12, 2011)

The gold plated nibs may not flex as much as the solid gold version. I don't know much about bock feeds, but I'm guessing they'll be better.

The FP fans I know only want 18k nibs... But they're the limited edition Visconti and MontBlanc crowd ($$$$).


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## OKLAHOMAN (Dec 12, 2011)

Tim, just as technology has gone from the underwood type writer to the modern computer todays more flexible steel nibs give the user about the same movement when in use  as yesterdays gold. All the major nib manufacturers steel nibs today are much improved over yesterdays steel which had virtually no flex. 
Short answer is a steel nib that is guilded is what 99% of fountain pen users need. On the other hand if your restoring a vintage pen that has a vintage steel nib a gold nib would be in order 
Tim, just as technology has gone from the underwood type writer to the modern computer todays more flexible steel nibs give the user about the same movement when in use  as yesterdays gold. All the major nib manufacturers steel nibs today are much improved over yesterdays steel which had virtually no flex. 
Short answer is a steel nib that is guilded is what 99% of fountain pen users need. On the other hand if your restoring a vintage pen that has a vintage steel nib a gold nib would be in order . Or there are those that just have to have a solid gold nib no matter what, it's a prestige thing.


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## IPD_Mr (Dec 12, 2011)

Tim you are comparing apples and oranges. Gold plate and solid gold are way different. You can buy a gold plated charm for $10 but a solid gold charm would be over $100 if it is hollow and several hundred if it is solid. The gold plate is thousands of an inch thick. Solid 18k gold is rather pricey by the ounce. Solid gold will give you more flex which allows for a wider line variance on the down stroke. Your smoothness of a nib is mostly based on how well it is tuned and smoothed. Smoothing is a lengthy process in which you are actually sanding the nib. To do it correctly you last sanding grit is around 50,000. Incidentally 14k is actually better for flex than an 18k. The 18k is softer and more prone to being sprung than it's 14k counterpart.

As a recap, flex is not as much about smoothness as it is about line width variance.  Smoothing a nib is about tuning, sanding and polishing the tip.


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## glycerine (Dec 12, 2011)

wiset1 said:
			
		

> Okay, so I've been doing mainly rolerball Majestics and I would like to upgrade to something a little nicer...mainly fountain pens. I've read the threads that say that 14 and 18kt gold nibs are the best and add value to the pen by the smooth flow of the nib and prevents pitting and rust from the inks. I've read that Bock nibs are the way to go and that most buyers look for this name over all others. So my question is this...why is a Gold Plated Bock #6 only $8.00 and a Heritance 18kt Gold nib a $125...? Is the quality better in the $8.00 nib or the $125 nib? What do customers truly want?
> 
> Almost forgot...does the feed matter or can I use the one that came with the Majestic kit?  Is a Bock feed best used with a Bock nib to include the same question for the Heritance?
> 
> Just wondering, Thanks



The Bock is gold PLATED (it's steel underneath), the Heritance is solid gold... That's why there's a price difference.  What customers truly want depends on the customer... And probably their budget.  The Bock and Heritance nibs will work on "kit" feeds as long as you get the right size.


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## wiset1 (Dec 12, 2011)

Thank you everyone for the feedback!  Being that I've done mainly rollerball pens I thought it would be a nice twist to do some fountain pens with a nib upgrade for my segmented / scalloped turns.  At this point I'm not into marketing or selling the pens, just wanted to do a nice upgrade to a kit.  Being that I know nothing about it I'm happy to get this feedback.

The solid gold over plated is a given, but reading over some past posts I see where people wanted Bock over the other nibs.  Wasn't sure if the Bock plated nib was still more desired than the Heritance...?  Just asking questions so I can learn.

Thanks guys!


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## PenMan1 (Dec 12, 2011)

Here's the redneck version:
Let's say a co-worker came into your office to answer your phone while your were at lunch. Said co-worker picks up you pen with its finely-tuned, hand-ground 18K gold nib and writes you a phone message on his or her lunch bag.

Since you prized pen has now been ruined and with the price of gold hovering around $2,000 per ounce, you would be forced to open a Texas sized can of whoop azz on the co-worker. No matter HOW WRONG it may be, the laws of the U.S. does NOT recognize fountain pen mutilation as an "assaultable" offense. YOU'D GO TO JAIL!

With the GREAT ADVANCEMENTS in technology, such as Nintendo DS, GPS, Wii, satellite TV and all sorts of savvy "do dads", man-made "alloys" now perform with the same or greater accuracy than the solid metals of old.

This means that the same co-worker could now just take you to lunch, and you could replace the nib with a nice new gold-plated steel nib AND use the lunch bag to tune your new $15 nib!


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## SteveG (Dec 12, 2011)

Andy...
There is a serious flaw with your response (Post #7). You WOULD NOT leave that pen with that nib just laying around, unsupervised, waiting for the next lunch bag to write on. Everything else you said was OK:biggrin:


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## wiset1 (Dec 12, 2011)

Mark was kind enough to PM me a serious link that offers answers to questions I wouldn't have thought to even ask.  Thank you Mark

The link: http://edisonpen.com/page.cfm/Articles

Take the time to read through the 2nd and 3rd article


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## IPD_Mr (Dec 12, 2011)

wiset1 said:


> The solid gold over plated is a given, but reading over some past posts I see where people wanted Bock over the other nibs. Wasn't sure if the Bock plated nib was still more desired than the Heritance...? Just asking questions so I can learn.
> 
> Thanks guys!


 
The Bock nib is a world wide know product.  It is recognized by no only FP people but by manufacturers as one of the industry's finest.  This is why several of the world's best known FP makers have Bock make the nibs for them and not in house. (Oct issue of Pen World)   Heritance nibs were designed by a turner (DCBluesman) for pen turners.  It is not made by a recognized nib manufacturer.  The other major difference between the nibs is that the Heritance nibs are a true semi-flex and the Bock while described by Bock as manipulative, is a much more stiff nib.  While proper flex can help in the smoothness of the way the FP writes, the real reason for a smooth writing nib is the way that it is tunes, sanded and polished.  As I had mentioned in the earlier post, the flex is simply to give you line variation on the down stroke.  Some good flexy vintage nibs can give you a line that is fine to double broad depending on the stroke and the pressure.  The flex in a steel nibs is made possible in the treating of the nib when it is manufactured and by the properties of the metal used in making the nib.  I am by no means a metallurgist so I do not know all of the components in making one steel more flexible than another.

Hope this helps and please feel free to let me know if this doesn't make sense.


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## wiset1 (Dec 12, 2011)

Thanks Mike!  This has ALL shed light on the FP world for me and really answered all of the questions I had...even ones I didn't know to ask.  Just awesome!


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## lorbay (Dec 13, 2011)

Nice Andy I love rednecks.

Lin.


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## jasontg99 (Dec 13, 2011)

Tim,

    Fantastic article!  Thanks for the link.

Jason




wiset1 said:


> Mark was kind enough to PM me a serious link that offers answers to questions I wouldn't have thought to even ask. Thank you Mark
> 
> The link: http://edisonpen.com/page.cfm/Articles
> 
> Take the time to read through the 2nd and 3rd article


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## wiset1 (Dec 13, 2011)

Yeah, amazing article! I contacted Brian who wrote them and he's a really down to earth easy going type. Always good to pass along great information like this to others. Hope everyone takes the time to read them.


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## alphageek (Dec 13, 2011)

wiset1 said:
			
		

> Yeah, amazing article! I contacted Brian who wrote them and he's a really down to earth easy going type. Always good to pass along great information like this to others. Hope everyone takes the time to read them.



Agree with this!!!  I met Brian at his booth at the Chicago pen show once!   Great guy  and shared lots of info!


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