Lamy 2000 Sweet Spot

[KBeezie]

Yes. I'm not a nibmeister, my 2000 is a F, and it has a very generous sweet spot now after making it a stub.

How exactly did you make it a 'stub' ? Did you snip the tipping off the nib?

[jclewis33]

I agree. Semi hooded nibs are probably not for me. I do like the way it looks but performance wise it is not matching up for me.

 

I may give it a shot trying to write straighter with the nib. It will take some practice but it might do the trick, but probably not going to spend the money to get the nib ground into an oblique since my movement is slight snd doesn't happen with any of my other pens.

 

Thornton I hope your third pen works out.

 

Thanks again for all the suggestions. It seems that the 2000, as much as I want it to be, just might not be the pen for me.

[ac12]

If you want to use the L2000, I suggest you develop a practice plan, of writing for maybe 20-30 min a day, and stick to it for 2 to 3 weeks. What you need to do is to train your hand and arm muscle to "behave" and not rotate the pen as you write. Write slowly at first, so you are writing as you want to, keeping an eye that you don't rotate the pen. Speed comes as you muscles develop muscle memory, so don't push it.

[jclewis33]

That is a great suggestion. I have started working on my handwriting and training my muscle memory. Actually I am trying to change my grip and how I write. I typically write several hours per day and it is starting to make the muscle on the crease of my elbow between my forearm and bicep sore. I am trying to train myself to use my whole arm and not just my fingers. It is definitely difficult since I have been writing that way for 30 years, but I am committed to it, so I will give your suggestion a try.

[KBeezie]

If you want to use the L2000, I suggest you develop a practice plan, of writing for maybe 20-30 min a day, and stick to it for 2 to 3 weeks. What you need to do is to train your hand and arm muscle to "behave" and not rotate the pen as you write. Write slowly at first, so you are writing as you want to, keeping an eye that you don't rotate the pen. Speed comes as you muscles develop muscle memory, so don't push it.

Where's a "Thanks" or "Thumbs Up" button when you need one?

[ac12]

That is a great suggestion. I have started working on my handwriting and training my muscle memory. Actually I am trying to change my grip and how I write. I typically write several hours per day and it is starting to make the muscle on the crease of my elbow between my forearm and bicep sore. I am trying to train myself to use my whole arm and not just my fingers. It is definitely difficult since I have been writing that way for 30 years, but I am committed to it, so I will give your suggestion a try.

 

Here is what I did when I changed from finger writing to arm writing.

I practice writing ANYTHING for 1-2 hours a day.

I payed attention to HOW I was writing, trying to get the arm muscles to learn how to write. It was absolutely BAD for a week or 2, as my arm just did not know how to write. But I stuck it out, and gradually my arm began to get the hang of it. I had to keep watching what I was doing, to not revert back to finger writing.

It took me about 3 months before arm writing became more or less natural, so I did not have to think about my arm.

Note that natural does not mean the writing looked good, as that took even longer to train my arm to do that.

 

Tip. I used WIDE ruled paper. And I forced myself to use the entire vertical space between the lines.

This was a trick to get me to use my arm, as I could not finger write that large.

And writing large got my arm moving more than writing small.

[jclewis33]

That is a great suggestion. How long did it take you to get your writing looking good again? 3 months just to get it feeling natural, that is a while. I am going to stick it out though.

[dali3464]

I may be in the minority here, but I always had tremendous issues with hitting the sweet spot on my Lamy 2000 EF as well. But for some bizarre reason, I have no issues with an EF Parker 51. Moreover, the Parker's EF nib is much finer than the Lamy 2000, probably an EEF.

 

I never did think it was a nib defect (such as a baby bottom). I pinpointed it down to rotation of the hand (as others have said), and the issue only cropped up with the Lamy. I suppose it's because that as a person who has fairly large hands, the little tabs (which engage the cap's clutch mechanism) tended to irritate my fingers after a while and my grip would shift to avoid them. Unfortunately that tends to result in sweet spot disengaging from the paper.

[RMN]

That is a great suggestion. How long did it take you to get your writing looking good again? 3 months just to get it feeling natural, that is a while. I am going to stick it out though.

 

I don't know about the time, as I learned it in school 50 or so years back.

 

But my advice is to watch carefully pictures or vids of the proper tripod grip.

Then take a simple wooden pencil, and a sheet of cheap paper, hold your pencil in that tripod grip and start making waves, just move to and fro, make lines of about two inch, fast movements. Make the movements so large and fast (but not faster...) that you HAVE to use your arm muscles. Concentrate on relaxing the arm as much as possible. And release your tripod grip to the point you just hold the pencil in place, not really grip it.

Do that for a few minutes a few times per day. (not too much at once, build it up) When that comes more naturally, start making the lines smaller. When your lines are at writing size, start doing letters, take a simple one at first. making lines of Os or Ws, then progress on the alphabet.

 

 

D.ick

[dneal]

How exactly did you make it a 'stub' ? Did you snip the tipping off the nib?

 

No, and it baffles me that people do that. Ludwig Tan's article is probably the best explanation.

 

http://www.marcuslink.com/pens/aboutpens/ludwig-tan.html

 

That will help you understand the process and get the shape. What he omits is the detail of the nib-smoothing process, particular the inner tines. Richard Binder's article lays this out well.

 

http://www.richardspens.com/pdf/workshop_notes.pdf

 

 

--edit--

 

I don't recommend that anyone try this out with an expensive gold nib. There is lots of opportunity for disaster, and you are either going to have to buy a replacement or have the nib retipped.

 

The best pens to practice on are the Pilot Varsities. They cost a dollar or so, and come with a ball-shaped nib. A set of Lansky sharpening stones are reasonably priced and work well. You don't need anything more coarse than a medium, but you do need the fine and extra fine. Move from the extra fine to a buff stick for the final smoothing.

 

If you want to try to use a Dremel, know that there's not a lot of room for error. Also, the pen can't be inked (unless you want a fine spray of ink everywhere...).

Edited January 4, 2015 by dneal

[Algester]

I also used Ludwig Tan's guide to my my lamy B nib a stub... but it became too... wet for my poor lefty hand... <_< off it goes to being sold... anyway I don't find my Lamy 2000's sweet spot really or probably because I'm used to a good pen control but again being a lefty I keep on changing my grip depending on the paper position and ink wetness relation

[KBeezie]

No, and it baffles me that people do that. Ludwig Tan's article is probably the best explanation.

 

http://www.marcuslink.com/pens/aboutpens/ludwig-tan.html

ahh yes I've seen that before, but I didn't think it would be applicable to a EF on the L2k as small as it is, and would have to be a sharp italic for any kind of noticeable line variation.

 

I've actually done that to a cheap untipped warranted gold nib with decent results (ie: as described in the article, where a 60x loupe comes in handy)

Edited January 4, 2015 by KBeezie

[dneal]

ahh yes I've seen that before, but I didn't think it would be applicable to a EF on the L2k as small as it is, and would have to be a sharp italic for any kind of noticeable line variation.

 

I've actually done that to a cheap untipped warranted gold nib with decent results (ie: as described in the article, where a 60x loupe comes in handy)

 

 

My 2k is a F nib. The down stroke is about twice as wide as the horizontal stroke. Admittedly it's not a lot of variation and you have to look close to see it. But line variation wasn't the intent, which is why I made it a stub and not an italic.

 

The reason I did it was to make it more forgiving. It writes like a F to EF, but the stub widens the sweet spot. It will write unless you make an intentional effort to hold it so it won't.

 

This particular nib had a lot of tipping material on it, so stubbing it off wasn't an issue. Depending on the specific nib, there's no reason you couldn't do it to an EF. Some nibs have a lot of tipping taken off at the factory though, and wouldn't leave enough to be modified.

Edited January 4, 2015 by dneal

[jclewis33]

 

I don't know about the time, as I learned it in school 50 or so years back.

 

But my advice is to watch carefully pictures or vids of the proper tripod grip.

Then take a simple wooden pencil, and a sheet of cheap paper, hold your pencil in that tripod grip and start making waves, just move to and fro, make lines of about two inch, fast movements. Make the movements so large and fast (but not faster...) that you HAVE to use your arm muscles. Concentrate on relaxing the arm as much as possible. And release your tripod grip to the point you just hold the pencil in place, not really grip it.

Do that for a few minutes a few times per day. (not too much at once, build it up) When that comes more naturally, start making the lines smaller. When your lines are at writing size, start doing letters, take a simple one at first. making lines of Os or Ws, then progress on the alphabet.

 

 

D.ick

Those are great suggestions. I will add that to what I am doing. Currently drawing letters in the air and making big X's and O's on the paper while focusing on just using my arm.

 

Thanks for more exercises to try.

Edited January 4, 2015 by jclewis33

[Aetheric Continua]

I also have a fine Lamy 2000 and it's unfortunately one of my least favourite pens.

 

Is it just me or is the 2000's tipping "boxy"? Even looking at it with a naked (albeit spectacled) eye I can see that tip has angles (though not sharp). The sweet spot is more visually apparent than with my other round nibs.

[Bold2013]

DNeal who did the nib work on your lamy?

 

Jclewis have things improved with practice? I'm in the same boat as you.

 

Thanks

[parnesh]

I also have a fine Lamy 2000 and it's unfortunately one of my least favourite pens.

 

Is it just me or is the 2000's tipping "boxy"? Even looking at it with a naked (albeit spectacled) eye I can see that tip has angles (though not sharp). The sweet spot is more visually apparent than with my other round nibs.

 

Although there might be a slight change in the way the nibs are done recently (see Hari's post https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/index.php/topic/270013-lamy-2000-new-nibs-some-observations/), Lamy 2000 nibs are cut the old fashioned way being more rectangular than rounded.

 

Some, like me, love this although on the broader nibs. Others might find it very annoying, especially on the finer nibs.

[Fozziebear]

I recently acquired a 2000 with an EF nib. I was about to give up on it as a lost cause. The tines were properly aligned but I couldn't get that "experience" so many had claimed. Then I realized I hold it differently whether posted or not. When it's posted, my grip is a little higher ... just north of the stainless section.

 

If I hold it so that my thumb hits the metal "cap prong thingy" just so, I can hit the sweet spot much more reliably. I was using the nib position as my guide, but now I seem to rely confirming correct thumb position on metal cap-thingy.

 

All of that said, I think this will be visiting a nibmeister at some point. It would be nice if were just a bit easier to hit that sweet spot and maybe just a tiny bit (more) of line variation. I'd also like it to write a finer than it currently does and ... I'd like to be able to use whatever darn ink I want to in it. Currently, I have to have high-octane ink to drive it the way I want.

 

In spite of all of this, though, I'm becoming more fond of the pen, in general. It just feels good in the hand and, when I hit the groove ... well, I've hit the groove.

 

Cheers.

[jclewis33]

DNeal who did the nib work on your lamy?

Jclewis have things improved with practice? I'm in the same boat as you.

Thanks

Things never improved. I ended up selling it and getting a Pelikan M205 to replace it.

[dneal]

DNeal who did the nib work on your lamy?

I did. Any nib meister can stub your pen for a nominal fee.