I purchased a lamy safari at a local store, (wooooohoooo! a store in omaha that carries fp's) and was wondering if anyone knows where I could acquire some different sized nibs for it. I got it with an F and think I might like to try the M, and I definitely want to try an italic with it. So, anyone have recommendations of good places to get single safari nibs?

I know Swisher pens sells Lamy nibs. Take a look.
swisherpens.com

Thanks very much!

(what size of nib is an "MK"?)

"M" is for Medium and "K" is for Kugel (ball). The point is rounder and advertised as easier for left-handed writers.

The standard medium Lamy nib has very slight variation in line width during writing, which sort of qualifies it as a "stub" tip (a straight stub, too). Stubs' corners aren't as sharp as on "italic" nibs (cursive or edged), but stubs can sometimes catch their corners on the paper on push motions. Left-handed writing of left-to-right scripts like Greek, Roman and Cyrillic requires lots of push motions.

I have the F too, and it is a NAIL. I think i could use it to carve my papers in sandstone. FWIW, the variation in the M brings it up to about the normal level. But you may like it. I think that Lamy might also sell their nibs, but i will second the Swisher reference.

A nail... that it is I'll try the medium and see what I think. What exactly is a stub nib? Does it write like an italic even though it doesn't have square corners?

I tried to get a MK nib from the Swisher Pen, but they said, "We're actually not offering the MK nibs at the moment, we are out of stock and I'm not sure if we are going to be re-ordering them since they're so difficult to get a hold of. " So I bought a Safari with MK nib from Germany.

I just checked and Pendemonium has a 1.5mm italic nib in stock right now (looks like the narrower 1.1mm italic is out of stock right now): http://pendemonium.com/pens_lamy.htm
(scroll to bottom of webpage)

LamyUSA.com also sells replacement nib-section units for $15 USD + $3.95 shipping (via 1st class mail within the USA): http://lamyusa.comw/safari5.html
(this is the official site for Lamy in the U.S)

(edited to correct link)

Hey Maja,

I think you've got an extra "w" in your link. Here's a corrected one:

http://lamyusa.com/safari5.html

Thanks! This is a cool resource. You could build your own custom Safari on this site!


Cheers,
Tom

Thanks for spotting that typo, Tom! I didn't even know LamyUSA sold replacement parts until someone else mentioned it ages ago. Nice to know that there is a way to replace a broken part without having to buy the whole pen! Unfortunately, those parts in the website above can only be shipped to U. S addresses.....

What store? Where in Omaha?

I just bought a 1.1mm italic nib from Pendemonium; it's fun, but I need to work on my penmanship a little to really make it look good.

It's called Alessi Gadgeteer and it's behind Borders a ways on the southwest corner of 72nd street and Dodge. There's not very many, but they have a nice stock of lamys and a few other higher quality ones. No sheaffers though.

The Writing Desk offer the full range of nibs at £3.60 [$7.20?] each - in both shiny steel and matte black, which even after postage might be rather a good deal for you Transatlantic folks.

I've building up a range of Lamy pens, and it's great fun [and so easy] to swap out nibs and ring the changes.

But a word of advice re: the MK - really, I wouldn't go there. It sounds interesting, but it's not, and instead just gives you all the thrills of a cheap rollerball on your lovely Lamy pen.

The italic nibs are a valid novelty if you have an interest in calligraphy, and any of the standard ones seem always to be as nice as you would hope.

I wish Lamy would sell the gold versions as a spare. Now that would be really cool.

John

Thanks for the link. Even just a nib is rather expensive. This isn't a cheap addiction

but 7.20ish doesn't sound that bad at all.

I have the M, B, 1.1mm stub, and the 1.5 mm stub nibs. The 1.5 is really wide. Good for Calligraphy.
I like the 1.1 stub for daily writing. Gives some nice line variation while still writing very smoothly.
The M is a good, basic medium. The B was too wet for my tastes.

Changing the nibs is simple enough. After cleaning the pen, get a finger nail behind the shoulder or base of the nib and move it just a bit, change sides and move it a bit more, keep at it and it will slide right off. If you mess up, new sections can be had from Lamy or you can just get a new pen.

Thanks for the recommendation. If buying only nibs from outside the EU, just select the ones you want and go through the complete on-line payment system. The VAT we (manually) deduct from your order will make up for the extra cost for overseas P&P.

Martin

Anyone willing to part with their EF (extra fine) nib for a lamy safari? although most say its scratchy, my hand writing is a tad more readable when using a thin marking pen. thanks!