Dry-writing Lamy Safari

[mikej165]

Can Lamy Safari owners out there tell me whether or not their Safari's tend to be dry writers? I've had one for about a week and I've not been impressed with mine, a fine-point model. I generally like this pen's design, and especially appreciate its ink window. But I find the dryness to be irritating and it makes inks look much softer than they should be. If I contrast the Lamy with the other pens that I own (Hero 329, Hero 616, Leonardo), the Safari is by far the driest writer of the bunch, and the one I use least

 

So, I have two questions:

• 
   
  
• Is your Safari a dry writer?
  
• Is there anything I can do to change this behavior?
  

 

For what it's worth, I'm using Noodler's Black. With my Hero pens, this ink leaves wonderfully dark, wet lines and it is a pleasure to use. Not so with the Safari.

[Chthulhu]

My fine-nibbed Safari was somewhat dry with Lamy black ink, better with Noodler's Black, and better still after I flossed the nib with some 0.002 inch brass shim stock. You might also want to try giving the pen a good flushing with (first) 1 cup of water with a drop or two of dishwashing liquid in it, then (second) with clean water, assuming you didn't already do that before you filled the pen for the first time.

[EMM]

PR Sonic Blue comes out looking the darkest with my Safari.

[biffybeans]

Some of my Safari's are dryer writers than others - but to first check, have you primed the converter? Try giving it a tiny twist until you see a bit of ink appear at the feed hole - then try writing with it. See if that helps. Note that certain inks have better flow (viscosity) than others. I don't usually have any flow problems with Noodler's Black.

 

 

Can Lamy Safari owners out there tell me whether or not their Safari's tend to be dry writers? I've had one for about a week and I've not been impressed with mine, a fine-point model. I generally like this pen's design, and especially appreciate its ink window. But I find the dryness to be irritating and it makes inks look much softer than they should be. If I contrast the Lamy with the other pens that I own (Hero 329, Hero 616, Leonardo), the Safari is by far the driest writer of the bunch, and the one I use least

 

So, I have two questions:

• 
   
  
• Is your Safari a dry writer?
  
• Is there anything I can do to change this behavior?
  

 

For what it's worth, I'm using Noodler's Black. With my Hero pens, this ink leaves wonderfully dark, wet lines and it is a pleasure to use. Not so with the Safari.

[mikej165]

Some of my Safari's are dryer writers than others - but to first check, have you primed the converter? Try giving it a tiny twist until you see a bit of ink appear at the feed hole - then try writing with it. See if that helps. Note that certain inks have better flow (viscosity) than others. I don't usually have any flow problems with Noodler's Black.

 

 

I think Lamy would do themselves and their customers a favor if they included the instructions you provided. When I bought the converter (and the pen) there were no instructions whatsoever; only a small piece of paper with warranty information was included. So, I didn't know about priming the converter; I just learned that from you. Nor did I know about cleaning the pen out before use, though I had read that here before purchasing the pen. I don't mind having to do these things; I just wish pen manufacturers would tell me up-front.

 

I just removed and reinserted the converter, and see now that it's possible to insert the converter incorrectly (or what appears to be incorrectly) if you don't line up the plastic posts on the converter with their corresponding slots on the pen.

 

Anyway, this pen has now been flushed and re-inked twice; the converter has been reinserted and I've primed it as you suggested. It seems to be writing marginally wetter now, but perhaps that is just wishful thinking on my part. Overall I'm pretty dissatisfied with this, my second Safari in two weeks. Perhaps it is just the way they are.

 

Thanks for your help!

[Doug Add]

Both fine nib Safari pens I have used were dry writers until I filled them with Private Reserve Tanzanite.

[mikej165]

Both fine nib Safari pens I have used were dry writers until I filled them with Private Reserve Tanzanite.

I will be visiting Art Brown's this week. Perhaps I'll pick up some Private Reserve ink. Thanks for the tip.

[Doug Add]

I'm not sure if all PR inks will have this effect. Tanzanite is known for its lubrication. It also happens to be a rather pretty ink (in my opinion).

[HenryLouis]

twist it until it's about to squirt ink out of the hole on the feed. Then write.

[adam11]

My Safari was dry writer with M and especially with EF nib. This was so iritating that I finally gave up and stopped using it. Until recently. I flushed the pen and left section to soak overnight. Discovered that probably Old Manhattan (which I used exclusively in Safari) clogged the pen. Today, filled with Tanzanite, Safari writes splendidly even with EF nib.

[jgrasty]

I have two Lamy Safaris with EF nibs and both seem to be a bit on the dry side, as compared to my "binderized" Pelikan M200 EF nib. I like the Safaris just fine, even if they don't write as well as a pen that cost 3x what the Safaris cost. I also have a Lamy Vista with F nib that seems to be a wet writer, but it has PR Tanzanite in it, so that could be the reason.

[mishugina09]

My friend had the same problem, and being a very trusting fellow allowed me and my new, Nib messing skills to work on it. Being a wet shaver i have super thin razor blades around, and i just slowly drew it away from the nib and it would write a little wetter, after about 5 tries it wrote perfectly for him. Now this is very dangerous because well you can cut yourself and totally screw up the nib, but if all else fails this did work.

[mikej165]

After priming the converter and flushing and re-inking, performance hadn't changed in the slightest. Out of frustration, and knowing the worst that could happen was I'd trash a $25 pen, I ran figure eights over a cardboard milk carton and suddenly my Safari is writing much better. Still not as wet and dark as I'd like, but much better than before. It also previously had a pencil-like feel; now it seems much smoother.

 

Go figure.

[biffybeans]

One thing that many people won't agree with me on, is that I believe that some pens/nibs do need a breaking in period. My Pelikan M200 was a super dry writer until I filled several pages with it and now it's as good as gold. For what it's worth, I find Sailor's Jentle inks to be the most lubricating although a bit on the smelly side.

 

 

After priming the converter and flushing and re-inking, performance hadn't changed in the slightest. Out of frustration, and knowing the worst that could happen was I'd trash a $25 pen, I ran figure eights over a cardboard milk carton and suddenly my Safari is writing much better. Still not as wet and dark as I'd like, but much better than before. It also previously had a pencil-like feel; now it seems much smoother.

 

Go figure.

[biffybeans]

PS - you wouldn't have trashed the pen - just the nib. You can buy replacements in varying sizes for about $12. Super easy to replace.

 

After priming the converter and flushing and re-inking, performance hadn't changed in the slightest. Out of frustration, and knowing the worst that could happen was I'd trash a $25 pen, I ran figure eights over a cardboard milk carton and suddenly my Safari is writing much better. Still not as wet and dark as I'd like, but much better than before. It also previously had a pencil-like feel; now it seems much smoother.

 

Go figure.

[stevo]

My Safari pens are stingy with Noodler's bulletproof inks. I had a white one filled with an Eternal Brown-Polar Brown mixture for a while. That blasted ink would creep all over the nib and around the base and be wet with ink when I opened it up. I Had to wipe if off every thirty minutes. And yet, this ink was terrible to write with - no lubrication, skipped like crazy. I finally flushed it real well and filled with Aurora and it works like a charm with no nib creep. I have an ABC and an Al-Star that are filled with Legal Lapis and a Blue waterproof mix. The ABC doesn't skip, the Al-Star does just OK. Both of them creep a lot, but not all over the base of the pen. So from my experience - I do get dryness and skipping with some inks. The flossing and nib adjustment do help at times.

 

S

[mikej165]

PS - you wouldn't have trashed the pen - just the nib. You can buy replacements in varying sizes for about $12. Super easy to replace.

 

After priming the converter and flushing and re-inking, performance hadn't changed in the slightest. Out of frustration, and knowing the worst that could happen was I'd trash a $25 pen, I ran figure eights over a cardboard milk carton and suddenly my Safari is writing much better. Still not as wet and dark as I'd like, but much better than before. It also previously had a pencil-like feel; now it seems much smoother.

 

Go figure.

It would have been literally trashed, 'cause that's where it was going if it didn't work. 8-)

[mikej165]

My Safari pens are stingy with Noodler's bulletproof inks. I had a white one filled with an Eternal Brown-Polar Brown mixture for a while. That blasted ink would creep all over the nib and around the base and be wet with ink when I opened it up. I Had to wipe if off every thirty minutes. And yet, this ink was terrible to write with - no lubrication, skipped like crazy. I finally flushed it real well and filled with Aurora and it works like a charm with no nib creep. I have an ABC and an Al-Star that are filled with Legal Lapis and a Blue waterproof mix. The ABC doesn't skip, the Al-Star does just OK. Both of them creep a lot, but not all over the base of the pen. So from my experience - I do get dryness and skipping with some inks. The flossing and nib adjustment do help at times.

 

S

Since I took biffybeans' suggestion to prime the converter, I've had nib creep. If this were a $200 pen with a two-tone nib I'd be annoyed; since it's not, I'll let it slide. I'm more about function than form, anyway.

[biffybeans]

That's because of the ink, not the pen. I can get nib creep on any/all of my pens depending on the ink I use. On the black nibbed Safari's, it not a problem but on my silver nibbed Sailors, it's annoying.

 

Since I took biffybeans' suggestion to prime the converter, I've had nib creep. If this were a $200 pen with a two-tone nib I'd be annoyed; since it's not, I'll let it slide. I'm more about function than form, anyway.

[mikej165]

That's because of the ink, not the pen. I can get nib creep on any/all of my pens depending on the ink I use. On the black nibbed Safari's, it not a problem but on my silver nibbed Sailors, it's annoying.

 

Since I took biffybeans' suggestion to prime the converter, I've had nib creep. If this were a $200 pen with a two-tone nib I'd be annoyed; since it's not, I'll let it slide. I'm more about function than form, anyway.

Mine is a glossy black Safari with the shiny steel nib, which make it stand out more. But not a big deal. I suppose as I use more pen/ink combos I'll get to know which inks do it and which don't. In this case, I'm using Noodler's Black.