Hot/Not Swapping Lamy Nibs?

Ha ha ha very funny. Whoever told me that "hot swapping" Lamy nibs is easy to do . . . is a liar. I just pulled off the ridiculously scratchy and always-clogging EF nib from my Lamy Vista (with a converter full of dark blue-black ink), and exchanged it for an F. The "F" in this case stands for Fail. The adhesive tape trick didn't work so well due to the wet nib. I finally managed to yank the EF nib from the feed, but I almost lost it down the drain. Ink splattered all over the sink and my fingers got a nice dosing of blue-black.

I thought I'd be smart and use a tissue to hold the F nib during installation, but that resulted in a tissue fragment getting caught between the edge of the nib and the feed. So I had to remove the F nib, clean it off, and re-install it. Good times.

Nussbaum Pen Co. - "Jon Ross" Fountain Pen

Many fountain pen fanatics are familiar with iSellPens, an online pen vendor. I've had nothing but great service from iSellPens, and highly recommend them. OK, enough with the free plug . . . I only mention iSellPens because you will find the Nussbaum Pen Co. (the house brand) on that site. Many months ago I acquired a Nussbaum pen (the Jon Ross Series, with Blue Rings), but I no longer see it listed on their web site. Perhaps they are discontinued or are in the middle of a restock. Oh well, here is a picture of the pen (pardon the food particles on the counter):

The pen is really handsome, and the fit and finish is outstanding for a pen that cost $45.00 (full online retail price). The black resin is nicely offset by the silver embellishments and the sparkly blue rings. The resin body is pretty solid, and the pen feels heavy to me (it weighs about 26 grams with an ink cartridge installed). The cap can be posted, and the pen feels comfortable in the hand. The "Nussbaum" branding and the blue ring can be seen better in the following picture.

At the time of purchase, this pen was only available with a medium steel nib. More specifically, an "Iridium Point Germany M" nib. The nib doesn't give very much and, if I'm honest, it doesn't write as consistently as I'd like (especially when using impenetrable paper such as Rhodia). By this I mean that the pen skips more often than it should, and sometimes the ink flow seems to be lacking. Perhaps the nib just needs a minor adjustment or a tune up. The bottom line is that I prefer the writing experience of my Sailor Pro Gear (medium), my Pelikan M205 (extra fine), and my Pilot Custom Heritage 91 (fine). But those are very good pens that are considerably more expensive than the Nussbaum Jon Ross.

I found it interesting that the threads for the cap are located at the very end of the body, rather than on the grip section. I guess this makes the grip smoother to avoid fingertip chafing? Or maybe it's designed that way to seal the cap better? Or maybe I simply need to get out more often.

I will end this post with a picture of a small writing sample that I created with the Nussbaum pen, Diamine Emerald ink, and a small Rhodia pad of paper. That is all.