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I recently purchased a Lamy Safari fine nib as my re-introduction to the world of fountain pens. I have had a couple observations/issues, though: -The pen writes extremely broad lines, especially on cheaper paper. It is definitely not what I would consider a fine nib, it seems more like a full-fledged medium. On better paper the performance is finer, but it still seems rather broad. (I have used an admittedly small sample of inks: Lamy Blue, Noodler’s 54th and Noodler’s Bad Blue Heron (the Noodler’s were definitely worse for line width, and also terrible nib creep!) ). -The nib seems scratchy. There is a definite scratchy noise when writing, not matter on what type of paper. This is alleviated somewhat if I hold the pen at an extremely low angle, but if I write at what I would consider my normal angle (about 60 degrees or so) there is a sound, and also a feeling, that occurs when writing. My questions is, are those two conditions normal for this pen? I was made to understand that writing with a fountain pen should be smooth, which is how I remember it from years past. Having been using ballpoints for quite some time, coming back to fountain pens is indeed smoother, but not as smooth as I remember it, and I certainly don’t remember the scratchy noise and feedback. And, as a related aside, are gold nibs generally smoother than steel nibs? I know that might be a can of worms, and there indeed may be no actual consensus, but I was curious...

This really happened. Suddenly I found myself at the local store, the kind of store that sells a bit of everything: toys, magazines, books, office supplies...You know the type. Despite selling allsorts, they tend to be well-sorted. Of the non-fountainpens they have a lot of Pilot and Pentel. That's allways a sign, to me at least it is. Well, there happened to be three ugly plastic baskets of "this-is-total-cleanup-sale" items, one of the baskets was with fountainpens. Sure, I had to look. Soon enough gleamed to my eyes one, two an a third Safaris. Obviously they were NOS, they looked like something mid-80's: primary colors, black nibs. I grabbed the the three brethren and tried to cool down. As casual as possible I asked the employee: "So... these don't cost much either, do they?" The employee asked the manager. Both turned out to be no part of the FP-loving family, charging me with 10,00 Euros, about 13 USD. Come to think of it, could it be they wanted to share the love, to make me happy with new-old Safaris, were they fellow-FPNers in disquise? Home I went, with a red, a yellow and a blue Lamy Safari, all black nibs. At home my wife, somewhat suspicious on my buying (it cost money), turned like a leaf upon hearing that here were three fountainpens. Somehow she spoke the magic words: I really always wanted to own my very own fountain pen. You do understand that I lovingly gave her the blue Safari. So I was left with yellow and red. Medium and fine, but the red fine proved to be scratchy. More than I liked, more than I could fix, since I'm not that much of a pen-tuner. Alas, but the yellow went to use, with joy. Untill... The top of the cap fell off, along with the clip. The platsic that connected the top with the rest of the cap just gave up. You have no idea how ugly a safari without top and clip looks. For me, there's only one option left. And a funky one, too. I now carry around a Yellof Lamy Safari with a red cap. Kind of makes me think of the china edition I once saw at the kmpn blog. Feeling funky, I proceed. kmpn blog link: http://kmpn.blogspot.nl/2012/08/lamy-safari-red-with-yellow-clip-2012.html

Hi everyone, My name is Kevin and I'm new to fountain pens! I've just ordered my first fountain pen - Lamy Safari Medium nib with the converter, along with two bottled inks - J. Herbin Perle Noire and Pelikan Brilliant Black as I use black ink a lot. I'm a student so I undertake a lot of note writing. I was wondering if you knowledgeable experts think my purchase (safari and the two bottled inks) are a good combination and good starting point for my fountain pen experience. I'm sorry if I posted this in the wrong section of the website - I just made my account 15 minutes ago. Also, how long would the J herbin 30mL and the Pelikan brilliant black 62.5ml last me (I do write a lot everyday)? Is the medium nib a good pick for the high volume writing I have to do as a student? Any recommendations/pointers for me? Any help would be much appreciated! Thanks for all the help!

(This is my first post on here - eep!) I ordered a Safari (neon yellow, EF nib) a few days ago on Amazon, and long story short, I wound up trying to cancel the order but it was too late and now I will be getting the pen and converter some time in the next week. My question is this - should I keep the pen or send it back? (Assuming money isn't the issue...) Some background that might be helpful: I already have a medium Platinum Preppy ED, an EF Nemosine Singularity (which doesn't seem to write very consistently, at least not with Noodler's Heart of Darkness), and a handmade pen I bought on Etsy that has a F nib but writes just like the M preppyI don't mind the thicker line when I'm journaling or just writing for my own pleasure, but I am a physics grad student and thus for my notes I really need something that lays down a pretty fine, smooth lineAlso, for a pen to be any use for me while taking notes, doing homework, or grading, I also need to be able to have it sit for a few minutes at a time without being capped and then start right away again - realize this is probably a combination of pen and inkI have plenty of ballpoint pens that are ok for taking notes and grading, so I don't need a fp for those purposes, but if the Safari will do it I might be inclined to keep it. If not, though, I don't need another pen laying around that doesn't put down a very thin line because I have plenty of those (and I really love the one from Etsy, so I plan to use that one as my main non-schoolwork pen). Thanks in advance! :-)

Show your LAMY off! I want to see differnt LAMYs, different years, different nibs, different inks! Sorry for bad pic, at lab, had idea.

Hey, everybody, take a look at my first handwritten review:

So I just bought a Lamy Safari and converter - first FP ever. The first ink up was with an ink sample I got from Goulet - Sargasso Sea. Beautiful! But, when filling the pen up I absolutely could not figure out how to get much ink in at all. In my attempts to do so I spilled a good bit down the ol' sink. I'm wondering if there is a "method" to filling these babies up from the sample vials. I did a forum search for this and there appears to be solutions,but not ones that work for my Lamy Safari. I don't believe I could do the eye dropper thing since it has to go through the little hole on the feed. I doubt I could be so accurate - I have a vision of it splattering everywhere!

Hello, I am very happy to join this network, sometimes my English could fail a little bit, because is not my native language, but I always try to do my best. I start buying fountain pens like 2 or 3 years ago, i don't have a huge collection, but i have some nice ones. I will try to start posting as soon as possible Thank you.

I'm fairly new to the forums, though i have poked around and have found quite a bit of information on here!. Though i need some help now! I have a Lamy Safari with a 1.9mm nib and i went about trying to make the nib more wet, i watched videos and consulted info on here to do so. I was coming near the end and thought i had did a quite good job, though after the pen set for a little bit, the ink will retract back further into the tines of the nib so much so that it will not start. The only way i can get the pen started from there is to twist the converter or shake the ink down, though once it gets to writing its perfect! I wouldn't suppose somebody would know if i have the nib spread out to far or what is happening? It would be much appreciated! Thanks!

We all have one. That certain pen that we are going to get "one of these days". And then when we finally get around to it, too late! They are sold out, discontinued, etc. (Some of)Mine are: 1. Waterman Phileas - I really wanted one of the "early" red marble ones (before there was any white in the swirl) 2. Lamy Safari Orange - they were serious about "limited edition" 3. Mont Blanc Meisterstruck - yes, I know these are still available, but at a substantial premium over what they sold for a few years ago. So what are some of yours?

Hi guys, Recently, my wife became interested in fountain pens after seeing me use them daily. I bought a large set of Lamy Safari and Al-Star Pens and she commandeered about 5 of them and she's been using them for a couple of months off-and-on. She started an internship with the city recently for her last year of graduate school and has started carrying her pens daily. She has a mix of Medium and Broad nibs on her pens. She was telling me that her pens were leaking and I looked at one of them and noticed some nib creep. I figured it was normal and explained it to her that it was just nib creep. She said it was worse than that, but that she cleaned it off. She sent me an image this morning of her Lime Green Safari inked with Kon Peki and the whole section and inside of the cap was covered in ink and when she uncapped it, the ink went all over her desk and hands. I noticed on another of her pens (a light gray Safari) that the back of the pen is covered in black ink where she posts the pen. Is it the ink or are her pens defective? Should I be looking to replace feeds or send them to Lamy for repair? She's quickly becoming discouraged from using fountain pens and actually said she might like for me just to sell them for parts or as-is just so she doesn't have to mess with them anymore. I hate that she's discouraged and would desperately love to hear your thoughts. I've changed inks multiple times and tried Sailor, Noodlers, Private Reserve, Iroshizuku and Lamy and they still leak. It's not all of the pens, just 3. It's rather annoying, regardless. Any thoughts? For what it's worth, this is what she sent me this morning after carrying her pen from her desk at home to her desk at work. Maybe a total of 10 minutes in her purse. She doesn't ride a horse to work anymore since we got the Gremlin so it couldn't be the jostling of horseback riding. And she doesn't do parkour in a skirt because it isn't ladylike. So I'm not sure how her pen could possibly leak this much in that short amount of time... http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2830/9687648520_3fb4a163cc_z.jpg

Can anyone verify what this Safari fountain pen is in terms of year, version, whether limited edition or not? I know I did not purchase this pen last year and in doing a basic search for a Safari Lime Green, the version which comes up when doing an internet search as the crown of the cap being the same color and mine is black. Thanks

Does anyone have experience with Lamy Safari M nib and ABC nib? ABC has only one size of nib -- medium. So far it looks different from the Safari M nib, but is interchangeable with Safari. Any difference?Which is superior?

I have a beautiful -at least to me- Lamy Vista with an awful EF nib. Having experienced more than one mediocre Lamy nibs (lucky me! ) I loose faith in Lamy and refuse to buy yet another scratchy nib. So the pen sits unused in my drawer. And here comes that topic and that post of mine (https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/index.php/topic/249626-if-your-friends-all-jumped-off-a-cliff/?p=2746375) to remind me my beautiful Vista and what a pity it is to see it laying unused and how much I would love to just replace it's nib with a smooth Pilot M nib. And then it hits me. Ok, Pilot nibs can't really catch on the Lamy feed, but how about that Preppy I bought a few months ago? After playing a little bit, I figured out that the Platinum nib DOES catch securely on the Lamy feed. The only problem is that the feed is a little large and sticks out from the nib, making the pen a bit funny/weird to look at. Considering that the nib is just soft plastic, I might try to cut it to the right size with a utility knife (perhaps tomorrow. now it's too late, I'm sleepy and I will definately ruin it) But, to be quite frank even with it's peculiar looks, I much prefer my Vista as it is now than as it used to be. At least now I can use it.

Hey guys! Just thought I'd introduce myself. I'm a 19 year old Pharamacology student (pre-med) and I actually just recently took an interest in fountain pens (about a week ago). I then went out and purchased a pack of Pilot Varsities from my local OfficeMax to see whether FP's are for me. I loved the way the FP's wrote, and now I can't even fathom how nice it would be to use a better FP for my daily writing. My professor even complimented my pen while we were taking a quiz last week. I'm currently awaiting my shipment of FP's and Ink to arrive. I ordered a Lamy Safari (F), a Pilot Metropolitan (M), The Lamy Z24 Converter, and some Waterman's Havana Brown ink. I've basically been getting my fix of FP's from Youtube video's this past week. LOL. I also went out and purchased a dip pen a few days back and a bottle of Higgin's black Ink. It's been a fun few days. I'd appreciate it if you guys could give me some advice on how I can make my FP experience as enjoyable as possible. I'd love to here from all of you FPN veterans. Also, I'm looking for suggestions as to what my next pen in my collection should be. I'm thinking of upgrading to a gold plated nib that write nicely. I'm also a college student so please keep suggested pens relatively cheap. Thank everyone! -Fahad

Hi, recent purchased a Lamy Safari Fountain pen, the swedish version of blue with yellow clip, my friend is got the package for me and when she took photos to show me, the clip doesn't look like bright yellow, but more like the standard yellow clip, does it mean this pen is put together using the normal blue safari with a yellow clip? The one i received has blue body, yellow clip and black cross cap. So does the yellow clip supposed to be a different colour compare to the yellow body from the Taiwan special edition of yellow and red clip? If any one happen to own both, can you let me know... so frustrated!!

Greetings to all- I have been a member of the forum for a few months now. However, this will be my first official forum post. I usually spend most of my FPN time in the Classified section where I've had the opportunity to meet wonderful members who were more than generous in sharing with me their beautiful and timeless pens. I was introduced to my first fountain pen roughly summer of last year. Though I have experience in using dip pens for illustration, I have not tried nor even considered fountain pens as an alternative to creating artworks. My chance encounter with my first pen occurred in a quasi-melodramatic manner. As if fate had its hand in this, the usual art store that I often visited was closed for a month-long renovation process and I decided to take a trip at another art store far from where I live. I was new to that swanky store and as I fumbled my through the labyrinth-like aisles chocked full of rows and rows of paints, brushes, paper goods, and all the artsy fartsy supplies that will make even Rembrandt wet his pants in his grave, I ended up in the fancy fountain pen department that was managed by a mild manner older gentleman who happened to look like Gandalf the Wizard from Lord of the Rings film! And to add to his near-authentic looking gray hair, beard, and mystifying expression, he also sported an oversize white button-up shirt that, I swear at certain angles, glowed with faerie magic under the track lighting above! My first impressionable notion was, "Oh... my... hot potato... Gandalf is here!" He saw my big raccoon eyes staring at him, and in return he waved his modern day magic staff at me as if offering me a rare blessing into knighthood--or the last rites before you face a fire breathing dragon and become a charbroiled burger. As I walked closer, his staff was a Porsche Design fountain pen in carbon fiber trim with a rhodium nib. "Can I interest you in this pen that we now carry in stock," he said. "It is just one of the BEST writing pen around!" He followed with an upselling tactic, "Once you write with this, you'll never go back to ballpoint pens again." You know when Gandalf says that a pen is the best, you do not question the 'white wizard' of Lord of the Rings... and of Two Towers... and of The Return of the King! His word... is EPIC! I immediately grabbed the pen like a giddy kid being handed an ice cream on hot day. For a moment there, I felt the wizard's life giving aura flow through me with such vitality. It was legendary. Then I saw the price tag. "Are you nuts?!" Okay, so I didn't say that directly to him. "Oh sonova@%&*%#!" And not that one as well. Yes, the price tag quickly depleted the life giving energy from me. I felt like one of the... forsaken. I turned down Gandalf. I had to. Ofcourse, now that I think about it again, some of the pens I would like to acquire someday are worth double or even triple that price tag. But still, at that time, the whole 'shock and awe' feeling had me walking away with a Lamy Safari outfitted with an EF nib instead. I enjoyed my Lamy--yes, in white color to honor the white wizard--and as my first official cartridge converter pen, it was a wonderful instrument that allowed me to fall in love fountain pens slowly but surely. Sadly, I had to part with the pen a few months later as I found myself convinced by better 'wizards' in the Classified section of the Fountain Pen Network forum who wield pens of true power and harness mystifying concoctions of indelible inks than Gandalf! The Classified section is a place where magic meets your wallet. Thus, is my story... my tale. I hope to meet and more more FPN members soon! Thank you, all! Cheers! Ced P.S. The art store really does exist and the gentleman is still working there. He is really a kind fellow without whom I probably would not have given a thought about fountain pens.

Look what Goulet Pens is going to be stocking starting in August. I've been scouting out pink ones on e-bay for a gift for a friend, but it seems that won't be necessary! Perhaps they heard the shouts of dismay from those who were not delighted by the Neon Yellow. Woo!

I'm a student and am trying to find a good pen setup for myself. I'm a bit heavy handed with a pen; I tend to ruin ballpoints by pushing the ball upwards with a little writing, and with felt tips tend to grind the felt tip down before the ink runs out. I decided to try a Pilot Vpen and it went really well as I developed a lighter writing style with it (which helped with hand cramps too). As Pilot Vpens are pretty expensive throwaway pens I was thinking of getting a re-usable fountain pen when my friend gave me a Lamy safari for my birthday. I'm now finished the first cartridge but have had quite few problems with it and am hoping I can change some things to get it working well so it can be my main pen. The problems I've had are mainly that the ink doesn't flow very well or very fast especially compared to how the Vpen worked. With the Vpen I was able to write really quickly but with the Lamy I had to write slowly or else I'd have sections of my writing where no ink came out and so letters were missing. Also, after a while the ink from the nib dried up completely. I removed the nib and ran water through it and it worked again for a while before becoming quite scratchy. I have a size M nib - would an L nib be better at letting the ink through without clogging up? Also, a problem I had with both fountain pens was that when I used a highlighter over my writing the ink became very pale - would that be because the ink is water-based? Is it possible to get a fountain pen ink that doesn't do this? Finally I'm wanting to switch to a refillable cartridge and find a different ink. Is it likely that I could find a cheap ink to use with the Lamy that won't clog up? As a student I do a lot of writing but don't have a lot of money to spend on stationary.

Lamy Safari vs Platignum Studio (This is my first review) Introduction I have owned quite a few budget fountain pens over the years such the Parker: Reflex, Vector, Jotter, frontier as well the rotring: Skynn and Freeway (my favorite). I have always enjoyed using fountain pens the safari and studio are two of are my most recent additions to my collection. I bought both of these pens for about £15, the safari from Paperchase and the studio from Rymans. Both of these pens are similarly priced and appeal to the same consumer and a are probably classed as school fountain pens. Design, Appearance and Build Platignum Studio (Unusual clip design) The studio is mainly made from aluminium with a spring steel pocket clip, brass screw threads and a rubberised grip section. The body has a tapered cylindrical cigar shape throughout with black trims. The grip section is resembles the section found on the parker frontier and is comfortable. The pen sits comfortably in the hand and is well balanced both posted and unposted. The most appealing and unusual aspect of the design is the pocket clip which resembles a nib which I particularly like. The pen weighs 20 grams uncapped and 30 grams capped. The pen is available in a wide range of vibrant colours ( see http://www.platignum.com/pick-your-pen/studio-range/studio-pen-rainbow/) Lamy Safari (The Safari’s apple green colour) The safari is made from ABS plastic with a chrome plated sprung pocket clip. The safari has a unique design with flat and curved sides and finger grip groves on the grip section. The pen is comfortably in the hand and however it is a little light for my liking weighing approximately 17 grams and 10 grams unposted. The pen has never really appealed to me until recently. I’d known of it’s existence for around 10 years however this changed recently when I saw the apple green 2012 limited edition pen in the flesh the colour in my is perfect and really suites the design I knew I had to have it. The pen comes in a wide range of colours varying every year with limited editions. Design, Appearance and Build Winner DRAW The materials used in the studio are more premium and represent better value than the safari however the bold design and vibrant colour makes the safari really stand out. Nibs and Filling (Nibs, grip sections) Studio The studio has a steel nib as well and however only comes in a medium size. The nib writes fairly smoothly however it is a little dry and skips occasionally and unlike the safari it does write in a standard medium thickness. In other reviews it has been questioned whether the studio takes standard international cartridges or proprietary ones? I have tried both standard cartridges and a Faber-Castel converter and both work fine and don’t leak. Safari The safari has also has a steel nib and however is available in a wide range of nib sizes F/M/B/LH. The fitted Medium nib writes a little broad which I dislike as I tend to write fairly small. However it writes extremely smoothly and is quite wet. It takes proprietary ink cartridges as well as a proprietary converter which is available for around £5. Nib and Filling Winner SAFARI The nib on the safari wins it as even though it takes proprietary cartridges the smoothness of the nib is amazing. Price and Value Both pens represent good value for money the platignum has a solid traditional metal design build and the safari has very smooth nib however it very light and doesn’t have the same reassuring weight. Price and Value Winner STUDIO The Al-Star is a good £10 more for a similar build to the studio the studio wins as feels more premium so represents better value. Conclusion Overall Winner SAFARI Both pens are good choices for a budget/school/everyday fountain pen and both represent great value for money however I slightly prefer the safari as I really like the vibrant colour and the smoothness of the nib which makes it the winner. However the studio does represents better value for money it has feels more comfortable in the hand as it is more heavy.

A great ink in a loud pen, I've written a review on this pen-ink combo. Here are the scans and a few pictures of the pen and ink bottle. http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-1lvqj_OqInM/UZaWtFbQ-JI/AAAAAAAABzQ/R1bra4AF0rU/s1600/comeback+post+50,000_0004.jpg http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-F7Y_NqHasH0/UZaYBsi3odI/AAAAAAAAB1c/Khj33xGBgyA/s1600/IMG.jpg http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2avBWXbinM0/UZaWuydIkRI/AAAAAAAABzg/0mp8BZnWisE/s1600/comeback+post+50,000_0006.jpg http://4.bp.blogspot.com/--58pqBTWUlw/UZaW9k00fwI/AAAAAAAABz8/4CKL80R_JVM/s1600/DSC07867.JPG http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-rjOKSijOR5Q/UZaXCzB_gqI/AAAAAAAAB0o/eNt9sFz0tLs/s1600/DSC07893.JPG http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-_7rj6YYLxyQ/UZaW85gz6FI/AAAAAAAABzw/WrJKCTAuDFA/s1600/DSC07863.JPG

I've just added a yellow Safari to my little collection. This is the regular yellow, and not the limited edition neon yellow. I wanted to steer clear of inks that could potentially stain the section, near the nib. So, I'm guessing I'll avoid using the BSB, as has been repeatedly discussed elsewhere on this forum. Are there an other inks that I should be particularly wary of? Though I assume not, but it cannot hurt to ask - would an iron gall such as the Montblanc midnight blue stain it?