Pen Surgery: Nib Replacement
Z50 nib on the Jinhao 80 pen
Recently I’ve featured Chinese homages to Lamy fountain pens on my show. Some would prefer the term “clones” which would be a fair description, “counterfeits” would be an exaggeration.
Lamy is one of my favourite pen brands but some of the inexpensive Chinese clones are great pens worth owning. I’m particularly fond of the clones of Lamy’s lower-end Safari model because they’re pretty much identical. I am less fond of the Jinhao 80, which is a clone of the flagship Lamy 2000. A pen I love, it’s my go-to everyday carry and everyone in my family has one. I want to love the Jinhao 80 too but using a pen that looks like one of my favourites just serves as a reminder of its deficiencies in comparison.
But it does have one advantage: unlike almost every other Lamy pen model, the 2000 doesn’t use a Z50-style nib. The Jinhao 80 does.
Chinese pens almost invariably come factory fitted with fine nibs. Fine, Extra Fine, Extra Extra Fine. For someone like me who prefers to lay down a lot of ink, a Medium is as fine as I care to go yet they’re very rarely available factory-fitted on Chinese pens. And for a pen like this, it’s a necessary modification to make it fun enough for me to use.
Typically the replacement of a fountain pen nib is an involved process. The nib and the feed require adjustment and placement within the grip to ensure proper ink flow. Tinkering like this is not recommended and there is quite a time-consuming art to it.
But not so with a Z50. These nibs are designed to be replaced and the feeds are constructed with grooves to ensure the nib is correctly positioned. It’s an easy, quick job. Usually a nib can be removed by gripping it with a rubber strip or a cloth but on the Jinhao 80 it was stuck in tight so I was forced to use pliers. This required care to ensure the nib being removed wasn’t damaged even though I’ll almost certainly never use it again I don’t like to damage and waste. Then it was just a matter of slipping the replacement nib into place. The conversion took about two minutes to complete.
The replacement nib was advertised as a “Broad Stub” which I’d translate as about a 1.1 Stub. This is okay, it’s laying down enough ink to satisfy my taste, and a quick $4 upgrade to make an $8 fountain pen something I’ll use was worth the time and cost.
I’ve been playing with the pen while typing out this article and I have a grown appreciation for it. I like that I’ve improved it’s utility and that I have a new pen in my collection I’d now like to use, won’t be too bothered to lose, and could give away to someone who might appreciate it. All of which is satisfying.
-SRA. Auckland, 1/i 2024.