Interesting Observation Re: Lamy Ink And Pelikan Pens

[gordonhooker]

I purchased an M205 on ebay some time ago and I filled it with Lamy black ink and it seemed to have a few hard starts even after changing the nib to a 14K M400 nib. I just received my 805 with a medium nib and I thought I would flush it with clean water and load it with a blue ink Lamy Royal Blue, and found it was a hard starter as well. My others birds don't have this problem but they have other than Lamy ink loaded in them. I thought I would flush the 205 and load it with Pelikan 4001 red ink and it doesn't miss a beat, I figured I would try it with the 805 I flushed it and loaded it with Pelikan Edelstein Adventurine and it does not miss a beat either.

 

The Lamy inks will only be used in my Lamy pens in future where they never miss a beat....

 

The glories of fountain pens and their whimsical ways.... :D

[OCArt]

Congratulations, Gordon, on the 805.

[gordonhooker]

Thanks David - my bank balance is now hiding in a corner licking its wounds after my recent purchases.

[sargetalon]

Thanks David - my bank balance is now hiding in a corner licking its wounds after my recent purchases.

Pelikan's will do that to you. Repeatedly.

[fplover01]

To make the devils advocate here, I have been using Lamy Blue and Black inks for the past 4 years with a variety of Pelikans, M200, M205; M605, M80x. I never had any kind of problems with them in any pen, modern or older. Good flow, wetter than the 4001, blue comes out more shiny and less schoolish like than the 4001 (while still being erasable with a Tintenkiller, if this is important to someone). I have filled dozen of pages with Lamy Blue, never had a problem. In my opinion, Lamy inks are very nice for their price range, good quality, reliable and easy to find inks, with a very practical ink bottle, that really provides help to fill the pen as the ink level goes down. Only thing, the new non IG Blue Black leaves a lot to be desired. Other than that Lamy are my most used inks together with the Pelikan Blue Black.

 

I have Edelstein Tanzanite, Saphire, Onyx laying around. In my opinion Edelstein is very expensive for what it offers, just a slightly better flowing ink than 4001, in a bottle designed primarily for aesthetics, instead of having any form of help to fill the pen as the ink level goes down (I cannot see why Pelikan dropped the old ink bottles with the flling help) and without addressing the concerns of ISO certification for documents (for example the Montblanc permanent inks do that, and it can be important in a business setting). I do no see what added value Edelstein has, in order to justify its price.

 

Bear in mind, these are personal observations, and I am certainly not the guy with the biggest ink collection on the world, i tend to use down to earth inks which are easy to find where I live. In this segment Lamy has a very good product.

 

For the sake of clarity, I own 3 Lamy Vistas, 0 Montblancs, 10 Pelikan Souverän and about 15 M20x. But i still never warmed up with Edelstein.

Edited September 28, 2015 by fplover01

[gordonhooker]

All any of us can really do is pass on our own observations and opinions. ☺

[masterguns]

I only have one Lamy ink, Copper Orange, which is loaded in my M400 at the moment. I find it to be a drier ink than my other inks, probably on par with Pelikan 4001. As compared to Diamine inks, of which I have many, the Lamy and 4001 inks give me a line approximate to the nib rating. When I load them up with wetter inks, my EFs turn into fines, and my fines into mediums.

[Calabria]

I have been trying different inks in a ca 1990 F monochrome 18C M600 and finally settled on

MB blue. It's not quite as school boyish as 4001 and gives a reliable line that corresponds to the nib tip. Waterman already gets kind of wet, and Aurora even more so. My paper happens to be very responsive to different inks, but I'm nevertheless amazed at how much the different inks change the writing experience.

 

Never tried Lamy blue but Lamy blue-black works very well in my Safari. Not much of a fan of Pelikan blue-black.

[steelblue]

Interesting - exactly the same problem with Lamy black in my M600 and in a Levenger L-Tech 3.0. Hard starts, random skipping until I cleaned both and switched to Iroshizuku Take-sumi. Not a single issue since then with either pen. Lamy black performs well in my Safari and Al Star Copperorange but I've stopped using it anywhere else. I also have an M805 EF that started out with Asa-gao and no problems at all.

[jayKellner]

You mention the 4001 ink, I have quite some problems with it, although Im a loyal to the brand and I own an amazing 200, the ink is something I really dont like, I have switched to J.Herbin inks since a long time....

[Bo Bo Olson]

Copper orange...ah ha, and cheap here in Germany.

now I have to go look that up.

Cheap is a major key word, after my last pen purchase....my second most expensive by far. A Pforzheim 14 K barleycorn overlay, with a maxi-semi-flex standing Buffalo nib.

 

Can any one clue me in on the nib?

 

My first and last gold pen. That is a way to get down to buying only one pen a year.

The other I have is rolled gold.

 

Hummm match my pen??? Copper Orange.

[stephanos]

A Pforzheim with Buffalo nib? Now that's intriguing, Bo Bo. Could we see a photo and/or a writing sample, please?

[gordonhooker]

You mention the 4001 ink, I have quite some problems with it, although Im a loyal to the brand and I own an amazing 200, the ink is something I really dont like, I have switched to J.Herbin inks since a long time....

 

Interesting I sometimes wonder why that is some people find them ok and others don't. J. Herbin I have not used before I believe there a few places here in Australia that sell so must go and have a look. I am looking for another blue/black I might see if I can get that.

[gordonhooker]

Interesting - exactly the same problem with Lamy black in my M600 and in a Levenger L-Tech 3.0. Hard starts, random skipping until I cleaned both and switched to Iroshizuku Take-sumi. Not a single issue since then with either pen. Lamy black performs well in my Safari and Al Star Copperorange but I've stopped using it anywhere else. I also have an M805 EF that started out with Asa-gao and no problems at all.

 

I have a Jinhao 159 which is my leave at work on the desk pen and I am using up my lamy blue in that pen, and black in my Lamy Al-Stars.