My Lamy Fine is terrible!

[Doc Dan]

I have fine nibs from TWSBI that are as smooth as writing on ice. However, I just got a new Lamy Safari in Fine to complete my school colors set. They were out of stubs. I have to say that this is the worst nib I've used. It is scratchy to the point it feels like it is digging up paper. Also, it simply would not let the ink onto the page. It was so dry as to simply have a few skippy faint lines. I cleaned the pen really well. No issues with the nib off of the feed. I reassembled the pen and it was better in the ink flow department, but not great.  I ran it over and over on a cheap notebook page and finally the nib started putting ink on paper, but it was still very rough, better, but still unacceptable. I'm not sure what to do, now.

 

I have some extra Lamy nibs so I will certainly swap this nib out, but I wanted this one to work. I don't normally have trouble with Lamy nibs, so this is unusual. I did have trouble with two pens suddenly developing feed flow issues, but I sorted that out with a good cleaning. I guess I need to polish this nib, but I am too lazy at the moment. 

[Azulado]

Do not polish the tip for the moment. From my point of view, the Lamy Z50s are not the smoothest tips - don't expect it to behave like a TWSBI - but they don't write like you describe. If “It is scratchy to the point it feels like it is digging up paper” it must be because of some problem that is probably easily fixable. I have almost 20 Lamy nibs, I know them well.
The first thing you need to check is the nib slit. Maybe the nibs are too close together. This is something you should check with a magnifying glass. Another problem is the alignment of the nibs. On the thin Z50 nibs they are very sensitive to any misalignment. One of my best Lamy nibs, juicy and smooth, started to feel scratchy. With the magnifying glass, it seemed perfectly aligned. I wrote from right to left and vice versa. That helped me identify that there was a very slight misalignment. I pressed one of the tines upward to make the alignment, but less than usual. Just a little. Then the tips were aligned and the writing became smoother. 

I refuse to touch the contact surface with micromash because it is always perfect. If I want it to write like a TWIBI, I buy one. If the nib is aligned and the channel is wide enough, it can only be that there is a problem in the feed or that one tine is higher than the other. In that case, you can correct the problem with micromesh. But then you have to create a new shape, it is a bit more complicated than a simple smoothing. It can also happen that the edge of the tine is too sharp. Usually, this happens at the end. You notice it by writing completely vertically. Smooth exclusively that area following Richard Binder's instructions. The sharp edge could also be in the area of the contact surface, but I consider this very unlikely. 

You still have to try other inks and papers. Do not make a definitive judgment without having tried several combinations. With Lamy ink it should be fine. The pens are developed with that ink. Then you can use the one you want. 

More unlikely is a burr on the nib. It happened to me once. The flow was good, but it was rough. 

 

http://www.richardspens.com/pdf/workshop_notes.pdf

 

 

[Azulado]

This is a Z50 F that writes like an EF and has medium flow, the bare minimum for trouble-free writing. A smaller slit will give you problems. 

[Glenn-SC]

Why not just return the pen from where you bought it for repair or replacement?

[Doc Dan]

I had some extra nibs so I changed this fine out with a black fine. It is a lot smoother. Not as smooth as a TWSBI, but like what one would expect from a Lamy fine. It looks good with the red, too. 

[Doc Dan]

Here are a couple of attempts at photographing that rough nib:

 

 

[jchch1950]

  On 3/1/2025 at 12:41 AM, Glenn-SC said:

Why not just return the pen from where you bought it for repair or replacement?

Expand  

I agree with the suggestion. In my experience, Lamy nibs work without any problem. If you have another Lamy nib you can substitute the actual nib while you get in touch with the seller or the guarantee department of the factory.

[Azulado]

It is a basic consumer right to have a product replaced if it is defective. So far, nothing to object to.

Now, I understand that whoever consults a problem in FPN is because they are confident that they can solve it in a relatively simple way. I also understand that most FPN members have a basic knowledge of fountain pen adjustment.

From what I see in the photos, I suspect that the tines are too close together. When I buy a pen, the first thing I do is look at the nib with a magnifying glass. There are times when you already know the nib is not going to write. I don't even bother to put ink in, I correct the problem first.

To check if the slit is wide enough you need a magnifying glass. Stand against the light, looking out of a window or in front of a computer screen with a white background. You should be able to see a beam of light through the slit.

The advantage of Lamy nibs is that it is very easy to regulate the flow by varying the width of the slit.

After verifying the width of the slit, you decide whether to send it to the store or decide to make the correction.

If you decide to make the correction, this video by Matt Armstrong is a classic.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uuq9tuKRbCY&t=912s

It is possible that by enlarging the channel, the tines may become misaligned. Armstrong has two other videos of corrections.

Binder has a very similar alternative technique. I prefer it because it is more gradual.

By the way, your nib is pre-2020. The burn mark next to the breathing hole is evidence of it. It's no problem, I just bought a Lamy St 65 NOS that writes very well. Just a curiosity.

[Azulado]

More or less, this is how you should see the gap between the tines. If they touch at the end, it will be difficult to have a good flow.

https://i.imgur.com/2L37J6L.jpeg

[Doc Dan]

@Azulado Yes, I agree that the tines are too close. I will take it to the shop and swap it out. I may try to fix it myself if I can find something to slip between them. 

 

I didn't know that about the burn hole. Thanks for that. I don't doubt this being an old pen. It is a red Safari and all of the cool colors sell out fast. I picked this one up because I got a weird idea of having Safaris in my various school colors. I can't do that with all of them with TWSBI or I would have. 

 

 

[Glenn-SC]

Some times parts go into a bin first and come out last (a lot latter). 

[Bo Bo Olson]

  On 3/1/2025 at 2:33 PM, Doc Dan said:

the burn hole

Expand  

Some 12 years ago I did a newspaper won tour of the nearby Lamy factory.

 

The nib in its then 22 cuts, ended up very, very, very wide V, and the nib was heated that width V vanished to the normal slit.

 

I noticed on a newer visit vidio by Goulette (sp) (the pen, ink and paper seller) that the steel nib making machine is now only 1/3rd as big as when I saw it, 5 yards long, 3 1/2 yards wide and some off and on, 2 yards high. The cuts were done with a thin diamond dust impregnated rubber disk the size of a CD/DVD disk.

 

The burn hole is a modern laser burn that closes that wide V.

[austollie]

If there is one beef that I have with the Lamy Safari, it is that the nibs are hit and miss.  I've got several Safaris/ Al Stars/ Vistas with fine nibs that perform really well.  However, one or two have been duds.  But alas, that's a function of having a robot doing the quality control.  

[Bo Bo Olson]

A robot makes the nibs.

QT is different.

When I was at the factory, there was a big paper drum 6 feet long by 4 deep, with 6-8 pen sections being tested at the same time, and those that didn't sound right were kicked out to a little old Lady, doing the tweeking to get the nib back into order. It looked like one in 12/16 needed tweeking.

This was back in the old days of heating the whole nib to get it to close. The nib was a big V before heat drew it back together. Today they use a laser to do that.

 

Sometimes a tweek took two seconds, other times she'd have to spend ten seconds putting the nib into order.

 

I don't know if the new Japanese owners will continue with Lamy's fix your pen for free. ...In it is for free, they are not fast at getting your pen back to you....but they will get it back to you. 

Of course, with a Lamy nib being somewhere about $7-8.00 it might well be cheaper to just buy a new nib than to send the nib or section across the world.

Could complain to Lamy, perhaps they would send you a new nib without having to ship it to them.

[Doc Dan]

There's an idea. I could send it back to Lamy. It was cheaper to simply get another nib. It would cost more than three Safaris to send it back. There is a guy in town that will fix the nib for me, for a fee of course. He is cheaper than a new nib. I just happen to have a number of extra nibs from where I changed out the stock nibs to various stub nibs. 

[Azulado]

I think all manufacturers can have a quality control failure and let a defective nib slip through. Obviously, the failure rate varies from one to another. 
Even manual verification can fail. Not if there is a serious defect, but there are times when drawbacks are not so easily detected. To understand this, just think of the nibs we buy: don't we often need a few days to get an accurate opinion of a new nib? I would say even more, there are times when our opinion changes from one day to the next. If yesterday it was a dream, today we see a small flaw. 

Now we can transfer the situation to the lady who reviews the nibs at Lamy. I have no doubt that she must be a very competent professional, with extraordinary sensitivity, but even so, I imagine that it is possible that at some point an imperfection will slip through her fingers. To judge a nib, sometimes we see someone who makes a thousand stripes and circles and doesn't seem quite sure. 

This forum is composed of amateurs. There are cases in which they have advanced knowledge. However, we rarely find comments from people who have participated in the development of a nib or work in a fountain pen factory. In a Youtube documentary, I learned a lot watching Peter Bock speak for 2 minutes, explaining the process of compressing the foil with which the nibs are made, in order to have the right thickness. If it is too thin, it will come out of the unit. If it is too thick, it will fit with difficulty.

I must have about 20 Lamy nibs. Only one was clearly defective. The foil must have fallen wrong in the stamping machine and it came out asymmetrical. I am amazed at the consistency of the Hongdian nibs. But even this brand can make a flawed unit, I recently got one that had one nib higher than the other. It wasn't a big problem either, I managed to level them with micro-mesh.

I think most FPN forumers are knowledgeable enough to adjust a defective nib. If it is cheap, like the Lamy one, the fear of ruining it will be less. On the other hand, even a defective nib can write well. I have nibs with an off-center cut - half a ball larger than the other - and they write fine. Even one that is off-center with respect to the feed and writes very well. 

[Dillo]

One of the big problems with Lamy nibs is that even though the nibs can be easily swapped, it's easy to misalign the nib if it's not sitting straight on the feed. Back when I was doing nib grinds and adjustments, I would always ask people to send the entire pen that they were going to put the Lamy nib on. That way I could make sure everything was aligned and the flow and other things would work correctly on that particular pen. There have been different versions of the Lamy feeds as well, and they all work differently with the nibs, so I needed to make sure that everything would work together.

 

With Lamy nibs, if something is scratchy, my first thing is always to make sure the nib is inserted fully and is sitting straight on the feed. That said, I've had my share of bad Lamy nibs. Usually I have been able to adjust and tune them and use them, but it does happen. Lamy has also changed the nib grind profile on their nibs over the years. The new nibs in the past year are ground differently than the previous nibs. I've noticed large differences with the F and XF in this time period.

[Bo Bo Olson]

  On 3/29/2025 at 12:29 PM, Azulado said:

But even this brand can make a flawed unit, I recently got one that had one nib higher than the other. It wasn't a big problem either, I managed to level them with micro-mesh.

Expand  

No...no...no!

Take your thumbnail, on the up nib and press it under the down nib for 2 seconds, two to three times.

That should level the misaligned nib............ 

 

With man and machine competing to whom can kick the package the highest, nibs become misaligned due to the display case not being post office proof......Goullet packs his package B-52 bombing proof.

My B&M, gets his pens delivered by truck and a small pallet, so there was no throwing around....and no nibs misaligned.

 

Micro mesh takes away forever.

 

It is seldom that it is the down tine that has to be risen. If so, stick the thumbnail under the shoulder and raise over the up tine.

[Azulado]

  On 3/29/2025 at 1:32 PM, Bo Bo Olson said:

No...no...no!

Take your thumbnail, on the up nib and press it under the down nib for 2 seconds, two to three times.

That should level the misaligned nib............ 

Expand  

There was a misunderstanding, I meant that one tine was longer than the other.

 

  On 3/29/2025 at 1:17 PM, Dillo said:

 I've noticed large differences with the F and XF in this time period.

Expand  

Are these modifications noticeable in the writing characteristics? Or only in the fact that they scratch less?

[Bo Bo Olson]

  On 3/30/2025 at 11:38 AM, Azulado said:

one tine was longer than the other.

Expand  

I didn't catch the era, or the maker of your pen.

Could the nib be an oblique? ..... Normally a 15 degree grind, sloping to the left, when held top to you.

 

Many of my pens are pre-98, so have a couple of the more modern teardrop tipped, '97-factroy stubbed semi-flex to call it 1950. Not counting a handful of older pens.

 

I have two or three  ('82-97) springy regular flex Pelikans, probably two in OB and the other would have to be an OM.

Call it 5 or so vintage ('50-70) factory stubbed semi-flex nibbed pens, so they are not rare.

 

I don't worry about post '98 pens, so they could have oblique nibs also.

Don't know about Lamy, do have a stubbed nib.