Lamy 2000

Before this I was using a Lamy Al Star. It was fine, I guess — mostly it just took a beating and felt decent in the hand.

Then I lost it.

Well, if it’s lost, buy a new one. I saw some deal site posting that the Lamy 2000 was on special via overseas purchase, so I grabbed it.

My handwriting is garbage and I’m not a fountain pen hobbyist — I just buy pens to write with — so all I can give you is a personal opinion.

1. Build first: it’s genuinely good. The material on the barrel is interesting as hell and looks great. Hard to describe, but you get it the second you touch it.
2. The design is a bit clever. The knob at the back for filling beats the low-end Lamy entry models by a mile, and the suction is strong too.
3. The nib is EF, but it’s not as smooth as the cheap Lamy EF. There’s a bit of a curve on the side — supposedly that makes it easier to get stroke variation.

What stroke variation even is, I couldn’t tell you. My writing is as trash as ever. A few days ago I asked a veteran about it: at my age, is there any hope for my handwriting?

The veteran, with great gravity, said: “No hope.”

Just as I was despairing, he added: “Your penmanship may be beyond saving, but you can still write cleanly and neatly. Just aim for neat and tidy. Most people’s handwriting is unreadable anyway — as long as it’s tidy, the masses can’t really tell whether the letters look good or not.”

Fair point. Probably time to focus more on tidiness.