Hello members of Jet Pens forums!

I'm interested in a Lamy fountain pen as my first fountain pen. I'm reading pretty good things about the Lamy.

question being, if I toss in the converter, would I be able to use the following inks inside the pen?

- Higgins waterproof drawing ink
- Higgins Black Magic india ink
- Dr. Ph Martin's Bombay black india ink
- Speedball Super Black india ink
- Black India Rapidograph "ultradraw" ink

these are the inks available in the art store I work at, just curious if any of these would fare well inside the pen, or if I should stick with the cartridges.



Some other questions about the Lamy pens.

- Fine or Super Fine? Anyone have the measurements or guesses on those? .5 .05 .005? Or rough estimates?

- Cleaning the pen for storage, treat it like a technical pen? pen cleaner and water flushes?


Any light that someone could shed on the topic would be wonderful!
thanks!

You should stay away from India inks as they are made for dip pens.
I'm not sure about the first ink on your list, but to be safe I'd stick with Noodlers and other well known brands.
Lamy fps tend to run a bit fatter than other fps from what I've read. Ex. a fine is more like a medium-fine ect. So choose accordingly.
Water flushes should be sufficient. Warm water.

Thanks for the quick reply Passion!
Much appreciated.

After looking around at some material on india inks and the like, looks like I surely won't be clogging up a Lamy with them!


Also, very much appreciate the insight on the nib size, was really curious about that, and I'm glad you knew something about how their sizes "run."



Again, many thanks.

No problem. Glad I could help.

India inks are PIGMENT inks. Pigment inks WILL eventually clog a fountain. I don't even use them in technical pens any more. If they dry in the pen you will never get it clean enough again. I'd take Passion's advice and stay clear of India inks. I've almost ruined several calligraphy cartridge pens buy using India ink in them! As far as the Higgins ink goes, ANY Higgins ink, like the Waterproof ink, STINK! I tried several types of Higgins and they all had flow problems no matter which pen I put them in! If you want a nice black "Bulletproof" ink then again, as Passion suggested, go with Noodler's Bulletproof Black ink (or any of the Bulletproof Noodler's inks). I really like the Bulletproof Black! Also may I suggest that you forgo the Lamy for right now,and get a Pilot Penmanship instead, for now!? It's considerably less expensive and has an EF point that lays down a super fine 0.2 mm line! It will accept the Pilot converters, but I just refill the ink cartridge that came with the pen. :roll:

thanks for the insight into some of your own pens onelonegunman, I appreciate it :)

So I was looking over inks. And man, some look good with good reviews, then you look at the price : quantity and you're paying almost as much as you do for standard noodler's but 1/3 the quantity...


So I'm thinking 12.50 for noodler's bulletproof black isn't really as high as I originally thought. And it's local to the US, so perhaps the stock will remain pretty steady for this brand, looks like it's got quite a cult following! :)



I think I'll give that pilot a whirl, with some noodlers!



I'm assuming the CON-50 converter would work with the Penmanship?
If not I've got a good syringe laying around for ink, can probably swing with refilling the cartridge.

You're correct, Noodlers is a great value! Good ink, too!

The converter should work seeing as how the cartridges fit all the Pilot pens.

I personally can't justify a device to hold ink that cost as much as the pen itself. That's why I just refill the empty cartridge. The long term problem with this is the cartridges are not made to last forever (except in a landfill) so probably over a period of years they will wear out. What I wish they made were stronger empty cartridges like Staedtler makes (made?) for their technical pens. These are fillable with ink and are made to be used for a lifetime and then some. You should be able to buy a dozen for less than $3.00, in a nice world.

Oh, well. if you are a diabetic, like me, just use some old insulin syringe. If you have an injet printer refill kit then use the syringe that comes with that, or just use the ol' eyedropper, I still do from time to time.

I hope that you enjoy your first fountain pen, I know I really like the Pilot Penmanships as well as their cousins, the Pilot Plumix! If your not familiar with the Plumix them please see my review in the Pen Reviews forum. 8)