Posts filed under Lamy

Lamy Petrol Ink Review

(Jeff Abbott is a regular contributor at The Pen Addict. You can find more from Jeff online at Draft Evolution and Twitter.)

Every year, Lamy introduces new colors for their Safari and AL Star pens, along with corresponding ink colors. And, every year, they eventually sell out. In the case of Lamy Petrol, the rate at which the pens, ink bottles, and ink cartridges sold out was phenomenal. At this point, it's difficult to find a retailer that sells the ink, and there's slim pickings when it comes to the pen. Earlier this year, the Pacific Blue edition AL Star and ink and it had a similar effect. All that to say that people really love the Lamy special editions.

If you're in the market to pick up some Petrol ink from the used market or for samples, here's what you can expect. If you're familiar with Lamy Blue-Black, Petrol is nothing like it. Petrol is described as a dark teal, but it's really more of a teal-black. Unlike Lamy Blue-Black, Petrol actually lives up to the "teal-black" name I've given it. Saturation is dark and luscious, and there's not much shading at all. Light that falls on this ink hardly escapes. The light that does escape does so through the fairly high amount of sheen, which casts a red shade in the certain light. Overall, it's a fascinating ink and one that I wish Lamy would keep in stock.

Like all other Lamy inks, this one is well-behaved and predictable. I haven't had any issues with show-through, bleeding, feathering, or skipping. It's a balanced ink when it comes to lubrication and flow, and it suits any nib with similar results due to the dark saturation. As someone who enjoys lighter inks that shade profusely, Petrol is a bit out of my comfort zone...but in a very good way.

Dry time for Petrol can be a bit long. I've measured anywhere from 15 to 35 seconds using a fine nib. Results aren't much better in a smaller nib, and they're understandably worse in larger, wetter nibs. If quick-drying inks are your thing, this one won't hit the spot.

Like I mentioned a bit earlier, there's not much shading with this ink when writing. The only time I've noticed shading is when doing swabs. Even then, it's fairly mild. The surprise feature, however, is the sheen that pops off the page. It's really easy to see the red sheen when there's indirect light on the paper. Sheen always fascinates me because it makes the ink appear wet and also gives the illusion of a different color in the right light. It's a fun effect, and Petrol has gobs of it.

As far as color and darkness, I don't really have anything close that I can compare to. Both Franklin Christoph's Midnight Emerald and Oster's River of Fire are notably teal. Midnight Emerald is fairly dark, but it's very easy to distinguish the green and blue. Petrol, on the other hand, is incredibly easy to mistake as black.

Overall, Petrol is a pretty ink with some awesome sheen. I just wish it resembled the color of the pen more, which is the same color lightened up a bit. When I think of dark teal, I think of Midnight Emerald. With Petrol, we get a black with a bit of teal mixed in that sometimes pops up above the black surface.

(Goldspot provided this product at no charge to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)

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Posted on November 1, 2017 by Jeff Abbott and filed under Lamy, Ink Reviews.

Lamy Joy 1.1 mm Calligraphy Fountain Pen: A Review

(Susan M. Pigott is a fountain pen collector, pen and paperholic, photographer, and professor. You can find more from Susan on her blog Scribalishess.)

The Lamy Joy Calligraphy Fountain Pen is a black resin pen that comes in nib sizes of 1.1, 1.5, and 1.9.

The pen is packaged in a red cardboard box with a plastic sleeve. It comes with one blue Lamy ink cartridge.

The design is sleek with only the red stainless steel clip, the red finial, and the red tip on the bottom of the pen as accents. But, boy do those accents pop! Although there are two ink windows, they are embedded deeply in the barrel and the cartridge is so dark, it’s difficult to tell how much ink is left in the cartridge. The cap snaps on and off and can be posted.

Lamy is lightly enscribed near the bottom of the barrel. The barrel itself has two flat sides and two rounded sides. If you use the pen unposted, the flat sides of the barrel will keep the pen from rolling off your desk.

The pen is longer than average fountain pens, measuring 179mm capped, 169mm uncapped, and 176mm posted. But it is quite light, weighing only 11 grams unposted.

The Lamy Joy comes with one blue ink cartridge, but you can purchase a Lamy converter if you wish to use bottled ink.

Like Lamy Safari pens, the Joy has a triangular-shaped grip meant to keep your fingers in the proper position. Some people love this grip, others (like me) don’t. It’s a matter of personal preference.

This pen has the 1.1mm nib. It’s a stainless steel nib and, in typical Lamy minimalist fashion, it is unadorned. It bears only the nib size and the Lamy name.

So, how does it write? Well, I’m no calligrapher, but I do use italic nibs quite often, and this nib is, after all, a 1.1mm italic. I found it to be adequate in terms of wetness, though I like my nibs much juicier. However, it isn’t a smooth nib. I’m not sure if the tines are slightly misaligned or if there’s some tipping material causing the scratchiness, but it feels like the nib is digging into the paper on every stroke. In other words, my writing experience was not pleasant. Perhaps a bit of micromesh would fix the problem.

In any case, I wrote a couple of test pages, and the 1.1mm offered some line variation and shading with the Lamy blue ink.

For calligraphy, I would suggest choosing the 1.5 or 1.9 size nib since the 1.1 seems a bit narrow.

Neverthless, for everyday writing, the 1.1 nib is a good choice as you can see with the following writing sample.

You can purchase the Lamy Joy from Pen Chalet for $28.00. The converter is an additional $4.70.

At $28.00, the Lamy Joy is quite a bit more expensive than other plastic calligraphy pens, such as the Pilot Parallel ($8.00 at JetPens). Granted, the Lamy Joy looks much nicer than the Pilot Parallel. But if you’re wanting a decent calligraphy pen for a good price, the Pilot Parallel pens are excellent. I own the 1.5mm and the 2.4mm Pilot Parallels and both nibs are smooth.

Pros

The Lamy Joy is a sleek resin calligraphy pen. The red accents make the pen pop.
The pen is very light, so it is easy to work with during long writing sessions.
It sports a grip that many users find very comfortable.

Cons

I honestly think the Lamy Joy is overpriced at $28.00.
Although many people like the triangular grip, I find it inhibiting. I tend to rotate my pens a bit when writing, so I feel like I have to fight the grip on this pen.
The nibs on Lamys can be hit or miss. This steel 1.1mm nib was scratchy.

(Pen Chalet provided this product at no charge to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)

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Posted on October 6, 2017 by Brad Dowdy and filed under Lamy, Fountain Pens, Pen Reviews.

Lamy Pico Pearl Chrome Ballpoint Pen Review

In all of my recent discussions around pocket pens on the blog and the podcast, the Lamy Pico was left out of the primary conversation. That was a mistake on my part, because it is one of the best pocket pens on the market today.

The main feature of the Pico is the unique retractable mechanism it offers. When closed, it is a sleek, compact pen that is easy to slide into a pocket or a bag. When deployed, the pen extends into a full length writer that is comfortable to hold in any situation.

Many compact pens offer a standard length when in the writing position, but what sets the Pico apart is the full-sized, or even over sized to some, barrel diameter. Pocket pens generally have a slimmer profile to suit their reason for existence, so it is nice to see a normal barrel width in a compact pen. The Kaweco Sport series is another pocket pen that does this well.

The refill is above average quality for a ballpoint, but the size is proprietary. So, there is no swapping of refills for your favorite D1 or Parker. The Pico ships with a medium black ink cartridge, but Lamy offers a fine blue refill, which is always my go to choice if possible.

Aside from being an excellent pen, the Pico is part of Lamy’s limited color rotation, so you will see fun colors like Neon Pink and Blaze Orange pop up about once per year. This Pearl Chrome is part of the stock lineup, and features a satin silver finished that feels great. And since the barrel is metal, is is perfect for engraving, which makes the Pico a great gift.

This makes my second Pico, although I can’t seem to find my white one at the moment. Regardless, it won’t be my last, especially if Lamy keeps releasing fun colors in this lineup.

(Pen Chalet provided this product at no charge to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)

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