Hello dear influencer, I matched the gold nib from the Imporium with the all black AL-Star in the fall of 2020. I discovered your TH-cam video today. I have not yet used Waterman blue Inspired. I stayed in France in 1983 in a boarding school in Pontoise and fell in love with the South Sea blue ink from Waterman. I am glad to learn that it is now called Inspired blue. Please keep reviewing fountain pens!
The "Imporium Nib" is - in terms of Lamy spare parts - the Z57, If you want a nice black steel nib the Z52 is a cheap option - the nib has the same laser etching to show the stainless steel below the black coating..
The current black Lamy Al-Star is different from the matte black special edition. The matte black safari is closer in appearance, but of course it is plastic instead of aluminium.
Sorry for the late response... Comments in TH-cam were less in my face with the current client. Anyhow, the answer is yes, it is the same slip-on feed. However: it is a little bit fragile. I would not mind blowing the feed on a $25,- Al-Star, if it is on a Lamy Imporium, I'd be a bit more hesitant to replace it frequently.
I think permanent and easy maintenance are somewhat mutually exclusive, and non-acidic added to that list is making it a very hard find, if it even exists. How about a tweet to #askTPA?
I think this was from www.lacouronneducomte.com/lamy-z57-14-karat-black-gold-nib.html but any dealer that has Lamy nibs is able to order this nib for you.
I loved the lamy brand *before* buying a gold nibbed pen. Bought the Dialog 3, and I must say, the gold nib sucks balls (pardon my words, but it is just very frustrating). It hard starts, skips, and is too soft to use. It "flexes" a little, but it lacks the springiness that it needs. This means that overtime, your nib will be bending upwards and upwards until it's unusable. Bought the Dialog 3 thinking it'd be the best thing, since the Safari is such a good pen. But the gold nib is just far too frustrating to use. Most definitely, not worth it to use the gold nib rather than the steel nib. Switched out my gold nib for a steel nib sine it is *really* frustrating to use it.
@@gerardzonjee Yes, I tried everything. Changing the ink, flushing it clean, soaking it in water, soaking it in water + soap, flossing the tines, opening the tines, tightening the tines, using a micro mesh etc. Ended up just selling the pen, even though it had a lot of sentimental value.
M-T The dialog 3 has that same nib, just the non-black version of it. Hmmm. It might have been overpolished at the factory resulting in babies bottom perhaps? Although you could grind that off, repolishing a nib of that price is not something one would expect or even willing to do. I hope the person that bought that pen has the skills to fix that, unless he or she writes on newspaper only (which would unlikely show that hard start and or skip problem). An expensive frustration... I feel ya!
@@gerardzonjee The main problem I had was that it wrote *TOO* dry when I use 0 or little pressure, and too wet when I apply a bit of pressure. I tried polishing it on micro mesh and nail buffers, but still nothing. I have had to "troubleshoot" a lot of pens before (since I really like chinese pens), and I have not had any pen that did not work after fixing it. Except for the dialog 3, lol.
@@estoylaroca You can't grind babies bottom away with micro mash or the smooth side of nail buffers, unless you like growing a beard while doing it. It involves going down to a course grid abrasive and basically sandpaper the babies bottomed tip of the nib flat. Then smoothing it out again (carefully, as not to reintroduce the same problem), using finer and finer grids, ending on the micro mesh or nail buffers polish side. Again, not something I would hastily like to do on a 300 dollar pen...
Mine is a broad nib, so there's not a heck of a lot of line variation to begin with. Compared to a steel broad nib, it has a bit more give but line variation? Meh, about a 2 on a scale of 1 to 10 with this broad nib and comparible with the steel one.
A video about polishing such a nib would have been great... I've ruined several Lamy nibs by polishing; granted they were steel, but it was disappointing nonetheless.
It would be SO hard to explain the amount of pressure to use. Or something as subjective as 'smoothness'. I'd say micromash (or the same nailbuffer) and doing figure 8th's with the lightest touch possible, and checking after every few 8's. Hardly video material :(
Just came across this video and it is superb!!!! Your narration makes it perfect!! Well done, all around!
Julian 3 Thanks! I like the fact that even after a few years the contents of the video, being a rather unusual hack, is still relevant for you.
You can use the finest grit of the nail buffer to polish a nib too.
Hello dear influencer,
I matched the gold nib from the Imporium with the all black AL-Star in the fall of 2020. I discovered your TH-cam video today. I have not yet used Waterman blue Inspired. I stayed in France in 1983 in a boarding school in Pontoise and fell in love with the South Sea blue ink from Waterman. I am glad to learn that it is now called Inspired blue.
Please keep reviewing fountain pens!
Hello 👋 this is me again. I just want to say that The Unplanned...said farewell here on TH-cam 5 months ago to the Waterman South Seas ink.
....The Unplanned Life....
I sure hope this newly named South Sea blue ink is indeed Inspiring Blue as well :)
The "Imporium Nib" is - in terms of Lamy spare parts - the Z57, If you want a nice black steel nib the Z52 is a cheap option - the nib has the same laser etching to show the stainless steel below the black coating..
I love your dutch humor,, "..or it will look like roadkill!"
Santos Katia thanks for showing the appreciation!
Excellent 'dry' review - expressed with your usual precision. If you lived in Australia I'd buy you a coffee.
Feels like watching National Geography channel ...
Nice video ..purchased one..thanks
Love your videos - keep making them please!
+Heinkle Thanks for the feedback. And I'm already working on more :)
The current black Lamy Al-Star is different from the matte black special edition. The matte black safari is closer in appearance, but of course it is plastic instead of aluminium.
wonderful video excellent details thank you Gerard 2/02/2018
intriguing. A related question: can you swap out nibs on Lamy Imporium (the pricey one) as easily as on the Al-Star or Safari?
Sorry for the late response... Comments in TH-cam were less in my face with the current client. Anyhow, the answer is yes, it is the same slip-on feed. However: it is a little bit fragile. I would not mind blowing the feed on a $25,- Al-Star, if it is on a Lamy Imporium, I'd be a bit more hesitant to replace it frequently.
What was the 4001 that gave you problems? Blue-Black? I'm dealing with one of those right now and saddly I have no other ink at the momment.
Pedro Jose it was the Royal Blue.
oh my another nib I have to purchase
June Lopez :)
Lamy Joy-Imporium
why would you put a gold nib on cheap lamy?
Because you can. And to have a nib experience similar to a much more expensive Lamy Emporium...
Waterman ink is the best.
Best shading purple. Akkerman #13 Simplisties Violet beats Murasaki-Shikibu in my opinion (shading and colorwise).
Great review..Would u kindly suggest me an ink which is non acidic, permanent and ease to maintenance .... !!!
I think permanent and easy maintenance are somewhat mutually exclusive, and non-acidic added to that list is making it a very hard find, if it even exists. How about a tweet to #askTPA?
What site did you order the nib from
I think this was from www.lacouronneducomte.com/lamy-z57-14-karat-black-gold-nib.html but any dealer that has Lamy nibs is able to order this nib for you.
I loved the lamy brand *before* buying a gold nibbed pen.
Bought the Dialog 3, and I must say, the gold nib sucks balls (pardon my words, but it is just very frustrating). It hard starts, skips, and is too soft to use.
It "flexes" a little, but it lacks the springiness that it needs. This means that overtime, your nib will be bending upwards and upwards until it's unusable.
Bought the Dialog 3 thinking it'd be the best thing, since the Safari is such a good pen. But the gold nib is just far too frustrating to use.
Most definitely, not worth it to use the gold nib rather than the steel nib.
Switched out my gold nib for a steel nib sine it is *really* frustrating to use it.
M-T Did you try changing the ink?
@@gerardzonjee Yes, I tried everything. Changing the ink, flushing it clean, soaking it in water, soaking it in water + soap, flossing the tines, opening the tines, tightening the tines, using a micro mesh etc.
Ended up just selling the pen, even though it had a lot of sentimental value.
M-T The dialog 3 has that same nib, just the non-black version of it. Hmmm. It might have been overpolished at the factory resulting in babies bottom perhaps? Although you could grind that off, repolishing a nib of that price is not something one would expect or even willing to do. I hope the person that bought that pen has the skills to fix that, unless he or she writes on newspaper only (which would unlikely show that hard start and or skip problem). An expensive frustration... I feel ya!
@@gerardzonjee The main problem I had was that it wrote *TOO* dry when I use 0 or little pressure, and too wet when I apply a bit of pressure.
I tried polishing it on micro mesh and nail buffers, but still nothing.
I have had to "troubleshoot" a lot of pens before (since I really like chinese pens), and I have not had any pen that did not work after fixing it. Except for the dialog 3, lol.
@@estoylaroca You can't grind babies bottom away with micro mash or the smooth side of nail buffers, unless you like growing a beard while doing it. It involves going down to a course grid abrasive and basically sandpaper the babies bottomed tip of the nib flat. Then smoothing it out again (carefully, as not to reintroduce the same problem), using finer and finer grids, ending on the micro mesh or nail buffers polish side. Again, not something I would hastily like to do on a 300 dollar pen...
does this nib give some line variation or is it hard as a nail?
hard as a nail :D
Mine is a broad nib, so there's not a heck of a lot of line variation to begin with. Compared to a steel broad nib, it has a bit more give but line variation? Meh, about a 2 on a scale of 1 to 10 with this broad nib and comparible with the steel one.
A video about polishing such a nib would have been great... I've ruined several Lamy nibs by polishing; granted they were steel, but it was disappointing nonetheless.
It would be SO hard to explain the amount of pressure to use. Or something as subjective as 'smoothness'. I'd say micromash (or the same nailbuffer) and doing figure 8th's with the lightest touch possible, and checking after every few 8's. Hardly video material :(
Is it a flex nib?
No, not at all.
Gerard Zonjee thank you
Another great video! Keep up the amazing work
+tyzator Thanks!
I was going to do this, changed my mind as the nib price in India makes it kind of unviable. still in the to-do list.
Lamy imporium star
Lamy nib ef=f=m=b every ink-sea on page XD
im so spending the 80 euros for this nib and coz im even poorer im going to put it on a safari.
That would work perfectly fine to create a “Safporium” 😉
This man is plainly a loony - But I would believe anything he told me.
Dude, your nails.