Flex Nib For Lamy?

[CLaReNCe]

Just wondering if anyone has had any experience with grinding Lamy nibs steel or gold to the point where you can get flex related line variation?

 

I like the interchangeableness of the nibs/ replaceableness of them, and have a few lamy pens- wondering if anyone has had any success with this or you know of someone who has?

 

Thank you for your anticipated assistance.

HaMiSH.

[Stylomeister]

From my understanding 14k gold is the best material for making this modification and not all 14k nibs are well suited. At least this is what I have been told. The modification would also not be cheap I suspect and the slit between the tines having some length e.g. 10mm helps a lot.

 

Dip pens with a small metal resevoir t the back of the nib work really well for this purpose. Like your Lamy these are interchangable too! There are several to choose from and some nice dip pens out there if you know where to look.

 

Otherwise some FPNers like Mauricio have some seriously delightful nibs for sale but these quite understandinly come at a price. These would likely not fit your Lamy and I not would suggest trying either.

[Bo Bo Olson]

I'd suggest getting a pen known for flexible nibs...a Waterman, or a Swan.

 

The Swans with any color will not be dead cheap. Those in Black are 'affordable.'

There are three guys in English Ebay, buy now, that sell re-conditioned Swan-Blackbirds, and tell you how much flex the nib has, Regular...and Swan was more known for it's semi-flex, slightly flexible/'flexi' and full flex nibs.

 

I spend some 6 weeks learning all about Swan, and chasing slowly and low enough to lose all bids. :embarrassed_smile:

 

I had just decided to bite the bullet and buy a fully reconditioned pen, from one of the Buy Now guys, when I found a German Full Flex nib in a local-second hand/low level antique+ ebay shop.

 

That freed up a bit of money for two of the vintage pens I chase.

 

 

Take a look at Swan.

 

Some things you just can not do on the cheap.

 

In black....inexpensive...but good Full Flex nibs are not going to be made at home or cheap.

 

I suggest going the dip pen route....that is very affordable.

Edited February 17, 2011 by Bo Bo Olson

[kernando]

I doubt it'd be worth trying when the nibs are so flat and square in profile. And you realize that going for flex is different from grinding the tip, right?

[CLaReNCe]

thanks guys,

I have been looking at swans, and it seems there are a bunch of different sizes. I have been loooking for a black swan for a while- but either cant find with any guarantee of nib width (ie. sold by someone who doesnt write with a nib), or trashed.. the ones that are re-conditioned seem to go pretty fast.

 

I do realise that tip shape and flex are completely different, thanks, and with regards to dip pens- I have a number of dip pens with varying degrees of flex (I like copperplate writing), but they are not very convenient for carrying in the pocket.

 

I quite like triangulated grips, and light pens- which was my reasoning for asking about the lamy- because despite having more expensive and or heavier pens- I like the surety of the triangulated grip. (I even have a triangulated grip on my dip pen that I use the most). I think I even prefer the Gold nib when it is on a triangulated grip.

 

I will keep looking out for an old waterman or swan

 

Does anyone know that Nib numbers/ codes/ names that are more likely to be flexible- in case I happen upon one, but am unable to try it out- and the seller is not in the know?

 

 

Thanks

[Silvermink]

I don't know that the Z51 form factor lends itself to flexibility - certainly the most I've ever seen from it is a slight spring (which you'd never mistake for real flex) in the case of the 14K nibs.

 

The springiest Lamy nib I've used is a Lamy 99 M nib, but that won't fit any of the triangular-grip pens (it can be swapped into a 2000, though). I wouldn't even call it semi-flex, but it does have enough spring/stubbishness to provide a wee bit of line variation.

[smovlov]

The Lamy Unic Came with a flex or semi flex. This is a photo of a Unic nib on a Orange LE Safari.

Apparently the Safari feed cant keep up with the amount of ink needed for this kind of line variation. One might be able to open it up a bit though. It could also be an issue of the nib pulling away from the feed too far.

 

 

This is the link to the thread where I found the info. On page two halfway down is the post with the above photo of the 585 nib.

[Stylomeister]

Looking around the famous auction site can occasionally yield something nice but it can also prove to be a risky business unless you look for some of the more specialised sellers who include close up pictures of the nib and writing samples.

 

With regards to nib numbeing, I think there will be a few posts on FPN about this. Every now and again you might find a nice nib in a (2) Waterman 52 for example which are not particularly big nibs but the pens are fairly light. As you might imagine however, these are like endangered species as they are collected to virtual 'extinction' and higher prices are commanded as a result. Also beware not all nibs are the same - two Ideal 2 Waterman nibs may look the same but can flex quite differently.

 

With all this said if you are serious and have limited resources a pen show is probably the best place to look as you'll actually be able to see the pen or even try it out. The FPN sales section isn't bad either as the flexy nibs come with nice writing samples like the Wahls that came up just the other day and to be fair, these were very reasonably priced.

[Bo Bo Olson]

As I said about Swans, there are three professionals, on English Ebay "Buy Now" That show the full pen, nib and are re-conditioned.

 

That was the way I was going when I was looking for a Full Flex medium nib, along with Oldfield.

 

Yes, they are more expensive than hunting in the wild. If the Swan is not a Lever filler and you don't have the Pen Repair by Marshal and Oldfield, you should buy reconditioned.

 

Besides those three who do a professional job at presenting the pen, telling you exactly what flex the nib has, you can also try Laurence Oldfield, and Peter Twydle(son of the famed Arthur)

 

The Pen Repair book is dedicated to Arthur Twydle who was in his day one of the two top two repair men and teacher of pen repair; along with with Frank Dubiel, who's Dabook, was the first home repair book of pens.

 

I have an autographed copy of The Pen Repair.

It is a very fine book indeed.

Dabook is more for US pens...and there is a couple of things repair folks now disagree about, like his using nail polish instead of shellac on lever fillers.

[UltraMagnus]

As I said about Swans, there are three professionals, on English Ebay "Buy Now" That show the full pen, nib and are re-conditioned.

I have seen you mention them several times here, but you never name them, which makes things more difficult. Can you tell us exactly who they are?

[Bo Bo Olson]

I didn't mark them down.

 

:embarrassed_smile: I'd go look at them, then go look at cheap...looking for the bargain.....go look at them.

I'd finally decided to bite the bullet and buy exactly what I wanted in a nib...full flex medium, and stop fooling around.

A full flex pen came up near by, and a couple other pens I collect. So I've not yet bought a Swan.

 

I will.

 

 

It's very simple, in English Ebay.... Swan, mark Buy Now...and look for the best looking full sites, with a 'form' that go into great detail of the pen, with a number of pictures.

What it is, when from, type size and flex of nib, condition.... are all listed.

Full restoration.

 

They are a good 1/3 to half of what wild pens can go for...but the wild pens are WOG to the max....most sellers don't know nor care what they have.

 

One guy is a real rip off....normal teeth marks, normal brassing, needs a sac, and yep it's got a nib too.

He has a 'professional' site too. I always warn of him.

 

 

Oldfield and Twydle also offer good pens.