Fountain pens have been manufactured ever since the 18th century. However, with improvements in science and technology, the manufacturing techniques too have undergone significant changes.

There are many phases involved in the making of fountain pens. First, large bands of metal are fed into automated machines to stamp out small circles. These circles of brass are then shaped into the pen parts by compressing the metal into various moulds, to provide it strength and durability. This process produces each specific pen part. The parts are then cleaned properly so as to remove the excess oils used in this process called stamping.

The cleaned parts then go for cutting. In this stage, the stamped-out barrels and caps are cut to the exact measurements of each particular pen. Even though this is an automatic process, some pieces are cut by hand operated machines. From the cutting stage, the metal pen pieces next go on to the polishing stage. The barrels and caps are placed on spindles and pass under circular polishing brushes to remove oil used during polishing.

After this process, the top line pens go to receive gold or platinum plating on various parts, while the other pens go directly to the nib fitting stage. For the top line pens, nib making is a highly specialized, manual process while for normal pens it is usually automatic. The nib metal is fed into a presser that compresses the metal and this gives the nib a tapered thickness whilst developing the spring of the nib. The tip is then coated with a mixture of hard metals and the ball is manually welded into the nib. It is then cut to create the forks that are later calibrated after being engraved. Most pen makers even make the non metal parts of the pens in their factories along with the ink cartridge bodies.