Interesting Difference Between Black And Green Safari

[Nerdyhistorian]

So, I bought a black Safari (M-nib) a while ago and a few days ago my green Safari came in the mail (lefthanded nib). I have read about being a difference from nib to nib due to Lamy's "quality control", but I found this difference rather striking

 

The green Safari writes smoother and wetter. Gives much thicker lines. While the black Safari seems more a Fine then the Medium it should be.

 

 

[Nerdyhistorian]

Hm, after cleaning my black safari is a bit smoother and a more wetter when writing. Sometimes still a hint of scratchiness....

[Darth_Roo]

The Z50 nibs are very hit and miss. I've bought maybe 20 in the last year and only about 4 were writeable straight from shipping.

The rest need a lot of work.

I'm using the A nib as my go to medium these days

[Glenn-SC]

I don't own quite as many "Z50" nibs (but I may be close).

None of mine were "unusable" upon delivery.

And while no two nibs of the same size (all I have are Medium or Fine) write exactly the same, none need "lots of work" to be usable.

Edited December 30, 2018 by Glenn-SC

[chravagni]

Are you writing with your left hand? If yes, that could be a reason: the LH nib is optimized for left handed and thus working "better" (in this case) than the M, which isn't.

[carlos.q]

I think I'm missing something here. You have a Safari M nib and a Safari LH nib. They don't write alike. What seems to be the problem?

[Nerdyhistorian]

Are you writing with your left hand? If yes, that could be a reason: the LH nib is optimized for left handed and thus working "better" (in this case) than the M, which isn't.

 

I am indeed a leftie , But my other fountain pens - which aren't optimized for lefties - work just as well. And I read posts that the difference between an M and LH is nihil, eg. mostly marketing speak. Just not sure how true this is. Perhaps others can chime on this?

 

I think I'm missing something here. You have a Safari M nib and a Safari LH nib. They don't write alike. What seems to be the problem?

 

Well, the M-nib was a bit scratchy and quite dry, compared to the LH-nib. That was what I found an interesting difference after comparing the two. And I thought it might hint at a problem. Luckily after cleaning the M-nib is wetter and a bit smoother. The scratchiness has improved, but there is still a hint there. I can certainly live with it, but I might get an LH nib to exchange the M one.

Edited December 30, 2018 by Nerdyhistorian

[Astronymus]

Make sense if you are.. leftie...

[Calabria]

There are differences between nibs of the same designation. I just bought a Nexx F which writes like an EF; I also have an F that writes like a F/M. I like those variances - no two nibs are alike. That's why buying a new fountain pen is so much fun - there's no repeat!

 

A new Lamy benefits from rinsing the feed and converter to improve ink flow (there are threads about that.) My Nexx also responded positively to running the nib a few times over 12000 mesh at my particular writing angle to smooth the tip.

 

All of this is part of the hobby of using fine mechanical writing tools.

[tamiya]

That's why buying a new fountain pen is so much fun - there's no repeat!

Rubbish! If you can't manufacture (let's say clothing) to stay within set sizes without overlapping the next size/s I'd say that's not very good "quality/control".

 

Pilot is able to crank out nibs that write indentically wide in each stated size, as do most others,

 

Luckily for Lamy I'm an addict & I know to choose which nib shape I like best... might take an embarrassing long time to searching at the pen counter though

[Glenn-SC]

Rubbish! If you can't manufacture (let's say clothing) to stay within set sizes without overlapping the next size/s I'd say that's not very good "quality/control".

 

So you don't try cloths on before you buy them, because "I wear a Large size and every Large shirt is the same size!"?

[tamiya]

So you don't try cloths on before you buy them, because "I wear a Large size and every Large shirt is the same size!"?

that would be the expectation, yes, when I rebuy same model shirt from the same company I've bought from for many years

 

I loathe clothes shopping I hate "fast fashion" & every other high-turnover industry where I can never get to rebuy the same favourite item again when the first unit gets wornout - I'll admit I'm getting anti-consumerism to the point I CBF'd even buying anything new anymore

 

Lamy new colours excepted dayum they're addictive

[Glenn-SC]

That's funny!

Every new piece of clothing (even a replacement item) must be a true adventure for you.

[Nerdyhistorian]

So, the plot thickens. My petrol Safari arrived. It has an M-nib and it is just as great as my green lefthanded Safari. Just as smooth, just as wet.

 

So there is defintely something wrong with my black one, because it isn't as smooth as the other two. It is scratchier and doesn't give so much ink as the other two.

 

Will it just be a case of replacing the nib? Or would there be more issues and am I better off with replacing the complete pen?

Edited January 11, 2019 by InkedSophie

[Anne-Sophie]

I think it would be valuable to you to buy multiple LH nibs and replace the M one, on your black pen.

 

After using a B nib on a Studio, I tried it on a Vista, and have been buying B nibs, ever since.

 

 

When the black pen is empty, rinse it off with plain water, then add the equivalent of a bubble of eco friendly dish washing liquid, gathered in a toothpick to the black pen's converter.

 

 

Another reason for a not so smooth nib could be a slight tine's misalignment.

 

In order to find that out, you need a magnifier.

 

I became less nervous about new pens with nibs, not as smooth as I expected after reading this post.

 

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/187706-five-bad-things-that-happen-with-new-pens/

Edited January 12, 2019 by Anne-Sophie

[Astronymus]

Z50 nibs are a low priced mass article. You'll always have scratchy nibs in a charge. It's a known fact, always has been that way. Why the fuss?

[pen2paper]

Have you moved the LH nib to the black pen to check if your problem is the M vs LH nib?

If both nibs perform poorly then perhaps it's actually a feed/ink supply problem?

Edit to note Safari has a warranty, so if a thorough cleaning, & tight correct ink supply doesn't resolve your problem, contact the seller or warranty service with description of problem.

Don't tinker with the nib (other than removing & replacing) or try to remove the feed, you'll void the warranty.

Edited January 12, 2019 by pen2paper

[Nerdyhistorian]

The problem is not M-nib versus LH-nib, because the M-nib on my petrol Safari is behaving perfectly and I don't notice any difference with my green Safari which has the LH-nib.

 

But between my black and petrol Safari (both M-nibs) there is a world of difference. So there must be something wrong with the black one. Might be taking it to the specialized pen shop in my city to get it looked at. I am not sure FNAC (where I bought it) will take it back....

[Olya]

From what I read, black nibs tend to run into problems... Smoothness can be affected and the coating can be "damaged" over (sometimes a short period of) time (nothing terrible though, just know that the coating on black pens doesn't necessarily hold up). So I think that's what's the problem here, the coating; or just a not well enough smoothed nib.

 

And yeah leftie nibs seem to be a bit of a marketing ploy.

 

I think it's a good idea to switch the nibs and see if it's just the nib; and then to either replace the pen (if it turns out your good nib behaves badly with the pen) or just buy a replacement nib (or contact the seller or Lamy because of warranty).

[Nerdyhistorian]

My black Safari has the standard steel nib so it should be easy to replace it. I saw video's on how to do it yourself, so I am gathering the courage