Newbie Question about Nibs

[elvawenn]

My first pen was actually Lamy Joy (which I believe is 1:1 nib), and then several years later, the interest to get fountain pens resurfaced and I got a Waterman Phileas in M. Not long after, I obtained a Lamy Vista in EF nib. Now here's the thing... I find the Waterman Phileas is the most comfy for me, and Lamy Vista's famous grip irked me (I bought the Lamy Vista online - so I didn't try it out first) so for a while there, I used Waterman Phileas most of the time... until lately it started to skip! It was disheartening. I find myself not reaching for the Phileas anymore.

 

At the same time, I wanted to try an italic nib but there's no one in the city who can tune one and I'm not ready to send anything to be tuned yet. Besides, I'm not sure which one I would like: stub, cursive italic, oblique, etc etc? It's muddling.

 

Then I found my long lost Lamy Joy, pulled out the ridiculously long backend and replaced it with Lamy Vista's. Wala! It looks like a Lamy Vista, but writes really smoothly in a beautiful script style. But the famous grip still bothered me.

 

And now... after such a long winded intro... here's the question: If I like the Lamy Joy's nib, what are the options out there for me? I've always wanted to get a Sailor Sapporo and maybe get it reground into a style like Lamy Joy's, or should I just regrind my Waterman Phileas? Or is there a stock standard fountain pen with that kind of nib? What is the Lamy Joy's nib called anyway?

 

I'm sorry for the ignorance - I don't intend to start a huge collection, just concerned with finding the best fountain pen for me to use for a very, very long time. Local shops here are really... disappointing, to say the least. I sincerely thank each and every one of you who helps me with this!

[Penache]

The Lamy Joy has a 1.1mm italic nib IIRC.

 

The nibs on the Lamy Studio/Accent/Joy/Safari/Al-Star/Vista are all interchangeable so perhaps you might want to look into a Lamy Studio or Accent, which are sleeker and don't have the famous grip, with a 1.1 nib. Or buy them with another nib which you may like and swap in the Joy 1.1 nib.

 

For me, the Sailor Sapporo really shines for its finer nibs and haven't heard the best things about their stub nibs.

 

You can certainly have the nib of any pen ground to your own specifications as long as you start out with a nib wide enough. Stubs and cursive italics are the usual options available from any nibmeister and you will have to ask them which is closer to the Lamy Joy nib.

 

 

[elvawenn]

Thank you! I certainly didn't know that Studio's and Accent's nibs are interchangeable. I think I'll take that option first and probably add more fountain pens to my collection and have those ground, as per suggested.

 

[Neill78]

And now... after such a long winded intro... here's the question: If I like the Lamy Joy's nib, what are the options out there for me? I've always wanted to get a Sailor Sapporo and maybe get it reground into a style like Lamy Joy's, or should I just regrind my Waterman Phileas? Or is there a stock standard fountain pen with that kind of nib? What is the Lamy Joy's nib called anyway?

 

Lamy Joy nibs (model Z50, same as the Safari and nearly all other Lamy pens) also come in 1.5 and 1.9 sizes. Take a look at www.lamypenshop.com as they have all the nibs in one place for $12.20 USD each. I've purchased several nibs from them now, including the 1.1, which is one of my favorites. I haven't tried the wider sizes, but I wish I had bought them just to try out.

 

Then you can just choose another pen body to get away from the grip you don't like. I can't make any recommendations because I find the Safari just fine for me, even though I have a really strange grip.

 

Neill

[RevAaron]

There are other Lamy models that use the same nib. The other models all have round gripping areas, unlike the Joy/Safari/Al-Star. This list might not be complete, but these are the models I can think of: Accent, Studio, cp1, Logo, abc, nexx.