Hello all

After using and collecting various pens over the years (nothing too serious) I decided to order up my first fountain pen. After reading a ton of posts here, I decided on the Lamy 2000 with an EF nib. It arrived in the mail today, and I have to say I really love the way it writes. Of course, I have a couple of questions

- Using the pen on a daily basis (notes for work, etc) approximately how long will each refill last? A week? Two?

- Has anyone had a bad first hand experience with the 2000 and Lamy's Blue-Black. I know it's iron gall, and I've read all kinds of anecdotal posts, but I'm wondering if anyone has had an issue. Like a lot of people, I find it hard to believe Lamy would sell it if it messed with their pens

- Lastly, relating to my point above, is there a preferred method for flushing the 2000? With the iron gall, is it really necessary to flush once a week?


Thanks in advance for all your help

Mike

Ink use varies so much. . . it's impossible to say!

I do not know about the blue-black

The 2000 is easy to take apart, you can unscrew the section and pull the nib out. You can soak the nib and shoot water into the barrel. If you do this, be very careful because you can lose the metal ring with the "fingers" on it. There is also a rubber ring on the nib.

I typically average about 1-2 pages of notes per day, and my EF L2K lasts about two weeks or so.

As far as flushing the L2k goes: I cheat. I have an ultrasonic cleaner - so I flush with water 2-3 times, give it a shot of ultrasound, then flush again. The ultrasound does wonders to get the ink to release from the pen's surfaces.

(I've got a clear eyedroper that would be a *real* pain to clean otherwise..)

That being said, I only use the ultrasound treatment if I'm changing the ink - ie. different brand or color. Otherwise, I just flush with tap water 3-4 times every few refills - and that's more of a preventative measure.

As for the iron gall: I've never looked at the internal workings, so I don't know what's inside to corrode, if anything. I've got a bottle of Lamy Blue-black, and I'm debating 'sacrificing' a stainless steel Lamy 2000 to the gods of curiosity - and just fill the pen and wait to see how long it takes the pen to show any sign of corrosion.

I'm betting I'll forget about the experiment before the pen corrodes. And that's with steel - not a platinum plated gold nib like the L2k. I recall reading that modern mass-produced iron gall inks don't have a number of the more famous issues with homemade iron gall inks.

See the last post in this thread...It is said here that Lamy Blue-Black in cartridges (as is true with MB Blue-Black in cartridges) is NOT iron-gall--just the bottled ink is. I've never used either myself, so I'm just referring you to a discussion of this.

Best, Ann

Thanks for all the info, folks

Oh, Ann, btw - my Lamy blue-black is in fact the bottled ink, not the cartridge kind ;o)

~m

Congrats on your new pen, its a winner, I imagine that if there was any pen that could handel iron gall ink well, this would be the one, however I would flush with water when ever you need a refill, or once a month, whatever comes first.

As opposed to iron gall though might I suggest you look at some of Noodles inks, that have bombproof ink that is safer to use than iron gall?

Hello,

I don't know anything about the iron gall inks, and although I agree with the idea of flushing, I really wouldn't recommend unscrewing the section from the barrel. I know it is easy, and I know the sealing with the O ring should be reliable, but there have been several incidents of leakage from the joint between the section and the barrel, and I know for a fact that on my pen it was due the the threads cracking and then breaking away from the barrel. I replaced my pen, but I have no intention of ever undoing the section. I don't believe I overtightened the section...

If you only intend to use one colour of ink, flushing needn't be too arduous; a couple of fills with water, then a good blotting with kitchen towel should be enough. In fact if you intend to flush once a week, I'd be surprised if you needed to do anymore than that anyway; mind you as I said, I know nothing about the iron gall inks, but I do realise they have a "reputation".

Congratulations on an excellent pen choice and welcome to the world of fountain pens.

Antony

Hey guys

Thanks - I am looking into Noodlers as well - I just didn't really do my homework enough before I bought the ink - I didn't realize until I ordered that the Blue-Black was indeed an iron gal ink. I wasn't looking for anything waterproof, really - I just liked the color

I will likely hold off on taking the pen apart for the first couple of flushings...perhaps after I purchase a backup ;o)

As an aside, I have a question - if you refill the 2000 when the reservoir is still partially full, does it simply expel the remaining ink back out?


I will say I am really happy with the pen - I've found that with the EF nib it writes a lot like the cheap extra fine rollerballs I've used before (could never find an EF Rollerball for my BBs) and I've also noticed that the combination of the 2000 with the Lamy ink dries pretty quickly, even in a Molskine, and it's barely visible on the backside of the pages

~m

I have a Lamy 2000 with a BB nib and even with it's wet line that it puts down it seems like a filling lasts at least a week.
I am using noodler's Zhivago.
Oberon