Safari and Lamy nibs

[Woody]

I'd like to get another Safari All Star - but I don't have a lot of luck with the Safari nibs. I usually pick up about 3 nibs and one is nice and smooth. I can practice I guess and align and smooth - but I'm getting to a point that I don't like to do that anymore. How are Lamy people finding the nibs these days. Has QC gone up a bit ? Thanks

-Bill Wood-

[85AKbN]

I have four fine nibs that write with no problems; two 2000 14k, two Al-Star steel. All purchased in the last month and a half. I've used Noodler's black and Asa-Gao on any paper I can write on. Nibs are still stock, with no adjustments.

[KrazyIvan]

I only noticed the difference when I bought my Vista. This was about 3 or so months after I had my Safari. My Safari is the black charcoal with a black nib. The Vista had the regular steel nib. It (the regular steel) was much smoother than my Charcoal. So much so that I had to ask the seller (I bought it used) if they had smoothed the nib. They had not. Since then, I have noticed that pens with black nibs tend to be a little scratchy. I did have one exception. My Lamy Logo, which I purchased new, and with a 1.1 mm nib, needed a bit of adjustment/smoothing. The Vista and Safari were purchased in 2010. My Logo was purchased this year.

[Woody]

There was a bit of a bad stretch about 8 months ago (reported an etailer) - The reseller asked Lamy about their QC control - and since then apparently it's been pretty good. I've found when you get a good nib it's amazing - and if you get a poor one it's really bad. The only thing I've done to any lamy nib is floss it just a bit with a brass shim and I usually take the nib off when I'm cleaning the pen. I have 3 Lamy's now - all star, Vista, and a blue safari. The Blue still writes badly - the other two are just fine. Time to pick up a few nibs. Really not costly at all. Just a big annoying.

[Sailor Kenshin]

I have about a dozen Safaris, Al-Stars and Nexxes...not a bad nib among them.

They are all different sizes and colors, one NOS, and bought over a stretch of several years.

[79spitfire]

I've only ever gotten one that was a bit scratchy, and that was a couple of years ago now. All of them I've bought since have been very smooth.

[discopig]

From experience, the only scratchy Lamy nibs I ever got were EF. F, M, B and others were all some of the smoothest nibs I've tried. EF seems to be really hit and miss but for others QC seems good enough.

[velo]

I have lots of Lamy nibs and none of them are scratchy. I just realised how good/lucky that is.

I invested in some micromesh from Goulet's. It's very easy and quick to smooth a nib.

[Senecabud]

So far at least a dozen Lamy nibs, including: F, B, 1.1mm, 1.5mm, and 1.9mm

No problems with any of them, either initially or after heavy use.

[kokopelli]

As far as I could try after cleaning my medium, dry nib by taking off, rinsing in water and putting the nib back on the flow and smoothness improved greatly. My other Medium nib needn't this cleaning, though, Lamy Blue Black ink was a bit dry and jumpy on this nib too. F nib on the same pen is almost perfect but I started using Diamine in my Lamy's anyway.

The latest 1.1 nib I got (just today) seems to be working without problems. None of the four nibs had misalligned tines. Well, the steel looks a bit too hard to be misalligned by use actually.

[Koyote]

I've just recently bought F, 1.1, and 1.5 nibs.

The 1.5 was perfect; the 1.1 is a tad dry but usable - I can spread the tines to give more ink flow if necessary; the F was unusably dry, but after spreading the tines it writes beautifully.

All had tines that were perfectly aligned. I think the dryness is by design, as these pens are intended (somewhat) for school use, and that means cheap paper - which would allow more feathering with wetter nibs.

[Woody]

Maybe I'll give it a try again. I've had about 4 mediums. 2 were scratchy. So I'll look at an Al star and maybe order an extra black medium with it. Just gets a little annoying. Also $15 US is more in Cnd funds.

[nujnay]

Black nib might be the problem. I got a Neon Coral with normal EF nib and Charcoal with black F. And Charcoal is scratchier :/

[nujnay]

**update**

I took out the nib and thoroughly flushed the pen's feed using a converter and water. It feels much better now.

[sgage]

Black nib might be the problem. I got a Neon Coral with normal EF nib and Charcoal with black F. And Charcoal is scratchier :/

I have the Charcoal Black with a F black nib, and it is smooth as silk. Ditto with the F nib on my ocean-blue Al-Star. The only scratchy nib in my Lamy collection is the F nib on my blue-green Al-Star. If I get the angle just right, it's not bad at all, but if I stray just a touch from that, it gets scratchy

[ac12]

I've had a few, but all were relatively easily adjusted to the point that I cannot tell which were the bad nibs.

[CK007]

I have three Lammy's I write with: my yellow Safari is ice and wet, my blue Al star is scratchy but usable butis getting better with use and finally graphite Al star which is delightful to use especially with my new orange lamy cartridges. So all in all a bit of a mixed bag for me.