Lamy Safaris Leaking Everywhere (Multiple Pens/inks)

[heymatthew]

Hi guys,

Recently, my wife became interested in fountain pens after seeing me use them daily. I bought a large set of Lamy Safari and Al-Star Pens and she commandeered about 5 of them and she's been using them for a couple of months off-and-on. She started an internship with the city recently for her last year of graduate school and has started carrying her pens daily. She has a mix of Medium and Broad nibs on her pens. She was telling me that her pens were leaking and I looked at one of them and noticed some nib creep. I figured it was normal and explained it to her that it was just nib creep. She said it was worse than that, but that she cleaned it off. She sent me an image this morning of her Lime Green Safari inked with Kon Peki and the whole section and inside of the cap was covered in ink and when she uncapped it, the ink went all over her desk and hands. I noticed on another of her pens (a light gray Safari) that the back of the pen is covered in black ink where she posts the pen.

 

Is it the ink or are her pens defective? Should I be looking to replace feeds or send them to Lamy for repair? She's quickly becoming discouraged from using fountain pens and actually said she might like for me just to sell them for parts or as-is just so she doesn't have to mess with them anymore. I hate that she's discouraged and would desperately love to hear your thoughts.

 

I've changed inks multiple times and tried Sailor, Noodlers, Private Reserve, Iroshizuku and Lamy and they still leak. It's not all of the pens, just 3. It's rather annoying, regardless.

 

Any thoughts?

 

For what it's worth, this is what she sent me this morning after carrying her pen from her desk at home to her desk at work. Maybe a total of 10 minutes in her purse. She doesn't ride a horse to work anymore since we got the Gremlin so it couldn't be the jostling of horseback riding. And she doesn't do parkour in a skirt because it isn't ladylike. So I'm not sure how her pen could possibly leak this much in that short amount of time...

http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2830/9687648520_3fb4a163cc_z.jpg

Edited September 6, 2013 by heymatthew

[Mesu]

If every ink in every Safari she is carrying is leaking, the problem might be elsewhere.

 

How does she carry her pens to school? Do the pens leak if they are inked up and left on the desk for a couple of days?

 

Safaris are one of the robust pens i use. They get thrown around a lot in my bag but my bag never tasted ink

Edited September 6, 2013 by Mesu

[hari317]

I've changed inks multiple times and tried Sailor, Noodlers, Private Reserve, Iroshizuku and Lamy and they all leak. It's rather annoying.

 

Any thoughts?

Is the converter seated correctly in the section?

 

Are the pens being carried nib up?

 

Are you releasing a couple of drops of ink back into the bottle after filling the pen and then pointing the nib up and retracting the piston of the converter(This clears the saturated fins of the collector of the feed, prevents leaks)?

[mhosea]

Leaks in C/C pens are often due to air leaks at the cartridge or converter. Sometimes this indicates that the cartridge or converter opening is worn. OTOH, any pen will leak in certain handling situations, e.g. if dropped. Another possibility would be changes in temperature or air pressure, but this usually only causes a burp into the cap, which can get on the section but usually isn't a fill-the-cap kind of thing.

[chad.trent]

I would question the way she carries them as well. I carry a Safari every day. I have several so I rotate them in and out. Inked with various inks from various suppliers. I get some nib creep occasionally, but I've never had one leak.

[heymatthew]

If every ink in every Safari she is carrying is leaking, the problem might be elsewhere.

 

How does she carry her pens to school? Do the pens leak if they are inked up and left on the desk for a couple of days?

 

Safaris are one of the robust pens i use. They get thrown around a lot in my bag but my bag never tasted ink

 

She carries them in her purse or book bag. She has a leather pen roll that she puts them in and then ties it shut. I was mistaken when I said they all leak. It's actually just 3 of them. But they leak no matter what ink she uses. I'm like you, I've carried Safaris and Al-Stars and Vistas in horrible conditions (book bags, pockets, etc. and never had an issue).

 

Is the converter seated correctly in the section?

 

Are the pens being carried nib up?

 

Are you releasing a couple of drops of ink back into the bottle after filling the pen and then pointing the nib up and retracting the piston of the converter(This clears the saturated fins of the collector of the feed, prevents leaks)?

 

I'll check the converters, but they should be seated fine as they sort of snap in with those little tangs on the side. She carries them in a leather pen-roll, so no, not nib up. But I carry several fountain pens every day and they're never nib-up unless they are in my pants pocket. I haven't tried releasing the ink in the manner you suggest, but I'll give it a try! That's helpful. Maybe the M and B feeds are just collecting a lot more ink. Thank you!

 

Thanks to both of you for your insight and thoughts.

[heymatthew]

She carries them in a leather pen roll that is tied shut. They're not nib-up, but they are rather protected from significant bumps and bruises. I would understand some specks of ink (I get some specks of ink on my nibs sometimes when I carry pens in my pocket), but these are outright hemorrhaging ink.

[TheGreatRoe]

A thought. Does she fiddle with her pens?

 

I have had a couple of Safaris leak on me, and while it took me a while to figure out why, once I did I was able to solve the problem. You see I'm a drummer. And while I had the pen in my hand I was air drumming, softly--or spinning the pen in my hand--but it was still enough to cause leaking into the cap. I tended to do it with Safari's and not other pens because the Safari is so light.

 

Once I stopped doing this it has not leaked.

[Mesu]

She carries them in her purse or book bag. She has a leather pen roll that she puts them in and then ties it shut. I was mistaken when I said they all leak. It's actually just 3 of them. But they leak no matter what ink she uses. I'm like you, I've carried Safaris and Al-Stars and Vistas in horrible conditions (book bags, pockets, etc. and never had an issue).

 

If she is reading this thread, how about swapping your pens?

[heymatthew]

 

If she is reading this thread, how about swapping your pens?

 

She's not.

 

And I only have one Lamy pen now, which is a Purple Al-Star she bought me for my birthday. Yeah, yeah... It's purple. What of it? Wanna fight about it? LOL!

[heymatthew]

A thought. Does she fiddle with her pens?

 

I have had a couple of Safaris leak on me, and while it took me a while to figure out why, once I did I was able to solve the problem. You see I'm a drummer. And while I had the pen in my hand I was air drumming, softly--or spinning the pen in my hand--but it was still enough to cause leaking into the cap. I tended to do it with Safari's and not other pens because the Safari is so light.

 

Once I stopped doing this it has not leaked.

 

Well... She's a pretty mean air drummer so you may have just figured it out. I'll make sure she's not treating them like batons, but I don't think she is.

[Wolverine1]

Make sure that the convertors of her pens are properly seated. And fill the ink that way Hari has advised you to- let out a couple of drops of ink into the bottle, so as to make sure that the feed assembly isnt full of ink.

[Mesu]

She's not.

 

And I only have one Lamy pen now, which is a Purple Al-Star she bought me for my birthday. Yeah, yeah... It's purple. What of it? Wanna fight about it? LOL!

 

Sure.. Let us give fellow FPNers some time to get their popcorn

[irish_monk]

I found that my Safaris (I have four though I don't use them very much) would develop a leak in the section where the feed inserts getting ink into that little depressed just before the section and frequently onto my fingers. To fix it, and this may be an affront to the repair folks out there, I pulled the feed out and put a very small amount of section sealant (I got it from a very reputable pen repair man and in full disclosure doing this was my idea completely so he is free from any blame) around the end of the section and put it back in place. I made sure not to get any in the fins/collector. No problems after that. The "stuff" loosens with a little heat so it is reversible (I've never needed to reverse it). I figured if I ruined an 20 dollar pen I wouldn't cry too much about it.

 

And if anyone from Lamy is reading this: If the Safari had a round section I'd buy more and use them every day. I just don't like that grip.