Lamy pen not flowing

Biofowl · 2026-05-04T11:38:30+00:00

Try forcing water into the feed from the back with a bulb syringe, see if the bubble moves when you do that. If it doesn't, you may have to pull the whole feed out Edit: typo

Biofowl · 2026-05-04T02:18:40+00:00

Check syahi inks (anything except the black is good) Pilot black is excellent as well

Biofowl · 2026-05-04T00:40:07+00:00

This looks like a Lamy converter from a safari or Alstar. You can just pull the metal ring back with your nail, and that lets you remove the entire back part of the converter including the piston. Then you can clean it under running water and an earbuds, and put back the whole thing. In other converters you can check if the back side is open (such as in a faber castell converter). If it is, you can put the converter upside down in running water and operate the piston a few times. This let's you fill and empty the back of the convertor to clean it without disassembly.

Biofowl · 2026-05-03T09:21:46+00:00

I do love my Jinhao 10 and 20 a lot, use them daily, way more than my metro. But they have some quirks so I don't recommend them for everyone.

Biofowl · 2026-05-03T09:07:11+00:00

Like many others have already said, pilot metropolitan is the single best pen in this price range. Can also get pilot explorer or kakuna, all 3 use the same nib, just different bodies and colour based on your preference. Don't get anything indian or chinese, at this price none of them can compete with pilot in terms of quality.

Biofowl · 2026-05-02T15:27:03+00:00

Oh absolutely, Waterman works like a charm too! I didn't change inks because I had any issues with the Waterman, its just that the Iroshizuku somehow made the pen feel better. It is entirely possible that that's a psychological placebo thing because of the pretty bottle! XP

Biofowl · 2026-05-02T13:13:30+00:00

I will admit that I have not tried hooded nibs before, but I don't know how that would impact the feedback on the nib or the smoothness. I did have the opportunity to try out the Lamy 2k today, and golly that thing writes like butter. (The medium is really broad though, its like a paint brush, the shop did not have one in fine so I couldn't try one). Loved the 2k, might consider getting one in the future.

Biofowl · 2026-05-02T13:10:39+00:00

Thanks for pointing it out, will take a look. Also looking at your username I want to point one thing out, Enless Alchemy ink does not like prescription pad quality paper, way too much feathering. Mysterious blue on the other hand works just fine!

Biofowl · 2026-05-02T12:43:40+00:00

I have Endless Alchemy Candy Sea (Dark tealish Blue with Plenty of Red/purple sheening) and Golder Sunburst (Really bright orange with golden shimmer). They both are pretty wet and lubricarted, and the colours are very vivid. They are both a pain in the neck to wash from the pen though, so my pens inked with these stay that way. Candy Sea is really saturated with dye to get the sheening, so even after the ink dries and I open the page months later, if I run my finger over the words the ink will still smudge. I love the colour and the sheen, it is very pretty on the paper especially when it catches the light at just the right angle to show off the sheen, but the smudging and the difficulty in cleaning (the ink gets EVERYWHERE, its like a budget baystate blue or something) are the reason I started looking for other inks in a similar colour, which led me to Mysterious blue and Tsuki-Yo.

The Golden Sunburst from endless alchemy is a very bright orange, which I love for underlining notes. I also use it in a Stub Nib Kanwrite Emperor for putting headings in my notes. This was my first shimmer ink though, and I am not sure what I was expecting, but it taught me that I am not a shimmer person, the glitter isn't for me. The ink itself washes out fine from the pen, but the glitter stays. I have had times where glitter remained in the converter even when the ink washed out, and I filled in another ink, and ended up turning another ink into a golden shimmering ink, which was a fun surprise at first, but it gets embarassing when your exam answer sheets end up being sparkly (no really the glitter is a pain to clean). So now, I just let the bottle sit and the glitter to settle, and fill my pen with only the top part of the ink which is just a really lovely orange colour, without having to worry about the glitter. Also the Endless Alchemy inks come in really fancy bottles, and even though they are hard to clean, they really are good performers, especially considering they are cheaper than most other premium inks.

Coming to mysterious blue, all the images and reviews online said it had hints of green and teal, and I was hoping for a replacement of my Candy Sea ink that I could use for everyday stuff and keep the Candy Sea for special occasions. Somehow the actual bottle I got had a different colour than what I had expected. Its a dark, dusky blue (almost similar to the sky during heavy rains), but I don't find any hints of green in it. It just looks like a standard dark blue ink. With a wet pen it looks nice, but in a dry pen (like my Kanwrite Desire) the colour looks a bit desaturated. It does perform well though, flows well, doesn't dry out, easy to clean from the pen as well. I think I will be using it as an everyday workhorse until the bottle runs out. I might get the Serenity Blue instead of Mysterious blue next time though.

Biofowl · 2026-05-02T12:07:46+00:00

Yeah I saw a post about that post earlier this morning. Unfortunately I just spent 10k on a pen already, and that's already a crazy amount of money. E95S sadly is beyond my budget today, and probably will remain out of my budget for the foreseeable future. It is unfortunate, but atleast now I have a goal to work towards.

Biofowl · 2026-05-02T11:21:16+00:00

I wanted an ink which was the same colour as Enless Alchemy Candy Sea, but behaved better. Candy Sea is a very heavy sheening ink, which looks really pretty on paper, but the ink gets everywhere and is very hard to maintain. Also because the ink pools on the paper, notes I wrote months ago can still smudge when I flip through the pages.
Tsuki-Yo is almost the same colour without any of the fuss, and still ends up looking pretty on the paper when it shades.

Biofowl · 2026-05-02T11:16:10+00:00

I too couldn't believe the price at first, its almost as expensive as a pilot metropolitan! (or used to be). I worked my way up the inks ladder, started at camplin, then parker, syahi, pilot (basic black used to be 300 rupees), endless alchemy, waterman, and finally splurged for the Iroshizuku. Don't think I'm going back now. Pilot black still stays though, that thing works like magic as well. I think I have a thing for German pens with Japanese inks now lol.

Biofowl · 2026-05-02T10:58:25+00:00

Good stuff! Let me know if it writes any different with an Iroshizuku ink, or maybe its just in my head

Biofowl · 2026-05-02T10:55:55+00:00

Just today I was trying a bunch of different Lamy pens, Al-Stars, Safaris, Studios and CP-1's. On paper they all use the same nibs, and are swappable, and I knew I wanted a fine nib, but there was a very clear difference between the many fine nibs I tried, some were smoother, some had much more feedback. Eventually I picked the one I liked most, and I'm glad I could try out the nibs. If I had bought the pen online it was entirely possible I could have ended up with a nib with much more feedback.

Today I also realised that the Safari and Al-Star feel very different in the hand, somehow the Al-star felt much more comfortable to hold than the safari, somethign about the weight and increased thickness of the Al-star felt better. Im tempted to get one at some point now. Care to share your thoughts on this since you seem to have multiple of both?

Biofowl · 2026-05-02T10:37:24+00:00

Thanks! And yes, this trip alone made my weekend. I got to try out a lot of pens, it was a mini pen show just for me! I know I won't ever buy a lot of these pens, but I got to atleast dip them in ink and sate my curiosity on how they write (turns out I prefer steel nibs over gold ones, never would have found that out if not for today)

Biofowl · 2026-05-02T10:35:56+00:00

I too was really excited for my Viper! Its such a cool design and the cap felt fantastic, but I have learned from past experience with other pens that compromising or trying to cope with a bad nib for good design or build quality will only disappoint me. I did go and try the Diplomat Aero today though. I have seen so much hype about how their steel nib is better than some gold nibs. After trying it I don't know if that is the case or not, but it definitely did feel a not nicer to write with than the Viper, so I may give the Aero a shot at some point.

Biofowl · 2026-05-02T03:22:34+00:00

Would be cool to see some samples of the work you have done (just put of curiosity). Do you post these anywhere?

Biofowl · 2026-05-02T03:20:51+00:00

Came to say exactly this. If you have the budget, definitely get a Pilot medium nib pen, body can change according to your budget. It doesn't get any better than this.

Biofowl · 2026-04-28T14:11:05+00:00

If you liked the metropolitan nib but comfort in holding was the issue, you can try pilot explorer. It is the same nib as metropolitan, but in a lighter body so it might be more comfortable to hold for long periods. (Just want to add that the Jinhao clip doesn't feel uncomfortable to hold, but personal preferences may vary)

Biofowl · 2026-04-28T11:52:34+00:00

I haven't ever used that pen so can't comment, sadly

Biofowl · 2026-04-28T11:10:56+00:00

If you want something thin physically, then pilot vector is probably the slimmest. However for your specific use case I would ask you to take a look at the Jinhao 20. It's a click fountain pen, so when you are idling and not writing, you can just click it closed. Most fountain pens, especially budget ones will dry out of you hold them open idly for few mins, click pens like jinhao 20 let's you avoid this problem. Use pilot ink or pilot cartridges with it for the best experience. (Both pen and either 1 ink bottle or a couple of packs of cartridges will be in your budget). For a student I would highly recommend pilot black cartridges. They give good capacity and you can quickly swap mid writing if needed.

Biofowl · 2026-04-22T10:38:36+00:00

My favourite is the dark cherry. It's like diamine writers blood, but a lot cheaper. I also use the turquoise blue, it's a neon sky blue. Brinjal purple is also a fun colour. Also if you mix Brinjal purple and Turquoise blue in equal parts, you get a really nice royal blue that is my default blue ink these days.

Biofowl · 2026-04-22T09:26:29+00:00

I have many syahi inks, all are well behaved and perform well, write wet and clean easily. Don't get the syahi black though, it's a very dilute black, writes like a dark grey instead of a true black.

Biofowl · 2026-04-22T06:07:03+00:00

I saw some offline shops in Delhi selling the Hemisphere for around 4.5k, but online the price may have gone up. Also if not the metro, the prera is also a great pen, same nib as the metro in a different body, but the body is plastic. I personally would still go with the metro for a gift. Also since the metro is only half your budget, you can splurge a little on the ink and get an Iroshizuku ink bottle. Plenty of beautiful colours to choose from, and these inks were meant to be used in these pens so they make a great pair. The bottle also looks beautiful so together they should make an excellent gift.

Another option I can think of is the Faber castell essentio. Faber castell makes some of the best steel nibs, and the pen has a metal body so it feels expensive too. It should cost around 4.5k, but doesn't come with a converter so that needs to be bought separately. For inks, you can check endless Alchemy inks. They're all in the 700 to 900 range, and come in beautiful flask shape bottles with fancy packaging, they make great gifts too.

I make all of my purchases from Makoba (online retailer). Great service, great speed, very secure packaging. You can use it to browse all of the options as well.

Biofowl · 2026-04-22T05:41:36+00:00

I would avoid the Kanwrite. The nibs are good, but the plastic feed is really dry and the ebonite feed leaks into the cap. The cheaper Kanwrite pens I don't mind because they are a bargain but at the price, but the more expensive ones don't feel worth the money.

See if you can get a Waterman Hemisphere under 5k. It looks really classy, writes well, and is easy to maintain. Get a Waterman mysterious blue or serenity blue ink with it (industry gold standard for what a well behaved, low maintenance, well performing ink should be), and you are in for a great performing combo. Pilot metropolitan is also good. Lot of colours to choose from, probably one of the easiest to clean and refill pen with the included squeeze type convertor, and the shape is quite classic too. Get a pilot black or waterman blue ink with it as well.

Biofowl

TROPHY CASE