I'm using a Lamy Vista and usually don't have any trouble with it, but at times I tend to press down rather hard on it which seems to cause paper fibers to get rubbed off and stuck between the tines, even using decent paper. (32# hp premium laser paper usually)

Is there any way to smooth the nib or anything to make this less of a problem? I'm only interested in stuff I can do myself as it isn't really worth paying anyone for.

The pure and simple answer is not to press that hard..
If you are pressing that hard you are doing possible damage to the nib.
A well tuned FP should basically glide over the paper without needed excessive pressure to get it to write...

Hi. If you are getting fibers in the tines from 32lb HP, you are pressing way too hard, IMO. Lighten up and glide, brother, glide.

Kath

When I was using FPs in middle school, 40 years ago, this happened to me all the time. I became expert at removing the fibers with my thumbnail. But since getting back into FPs, it has never happened once, no matter what pen or paper I am using. So either papers have changed in 40 years (highly doubtful) or the operator (me) has changed.

Well when I write normally (English) I don't have any problems, but I'm learning Chinese and when I practice writing Chinese I have this tendency to press down really hard. This pen is hard as a nail and maybe I'm trying to get a broader line at the start of the stroke or something. Not sure what the deal is but the fact that the writing style is unfamiliar probably has something to do with it.

...

I have had some fine point nibs that did just what you are describing no matter how hard I pressed. The inside edge of the nib tines was such a sharp edge the when ever I drew a line (which drags the pen sideways it would begin to gather paper fibers. I have had several that would fiber up on cheap paper but this one pen did it on really good paper. I ended using one of my nib polishing sticks to gently polish the sharp edge off of the inside edge of the tines and have never had the problem since!

My experience is very similar to Captnemo's-- I currently have to make a distinct effort to turn the point to a swab, even with the crummy papers offered by my place of employment. Feathering galore, but no padding.

...on reflexion, though; the grade-school notebooks were made with paper not much different from paper towel, loosely made and greyish. That might have had as much to do with the problem as an immature operator and a $2 Sheaffer.

I think maybe I'm wrong that the fibers are actually getting stuck between the tines. Mostly I think they're just accumulating at the tip, because I can usually get them off just by rubbing the nib directly downward (in line with the slot) on some scrap paper. So if they're getting "stuck" it isn't very deep between the tines.

The pen might also just be too wet and I'm moving it too slowly (since I'm essentially writing "letters" that I've never written before). Right now I'm using Noodler's polar black. I think I might try using a different ink. Even in this Lamy Vista it creeps and seems a bit wet at times, and with this old $5 hoover it's practically dripping out of the nib slot on me.

I like how black this polar black is, but if the surface characteristics just aren't right (especially at normal temperatures) then perhaps I need something else.

Hopefully I'll be at the Ohio Pen Show tomorrow so I should be able to pick something up there.

Well, this was middle school so I was using 3-ring notebook paper, not the foolscap newsprint we had in first grade. And I am still using those exact same $2 Sheaffers from the 50's and 60's. I'm pretty sure I was just pressing to hard. I was raised with ballpoints and I was the only person I knew who wrote with an FP and had nobody to instruct me back then. (this was the 60's)

The only time I get a "mop" at the tip of the pen these days is if I'm using OldGriz's brown paper bag polishing method, but that's not "writing".